I find the calls to ‘not speak ill of the dead’ truly bizarre. Being accurate is not unethical. The real disservice to morality would be to whitewash Rush Limbaugh’s history.
As one of my favorite writers Ijeoma Oluo said, let’s “speak honestly of the dead.” The only thing I’m interested in honoring today is the truth.
So if you don’t have anything nice to say, feel free (within reason) to say it here.
I just read an interview by Emily Atkin claiming that Rush Limbaugh talked about climate change more than any other journalist/reporter/talking head to date. His deadly chatter about 'environmentalist wackos' changed the Republican Party and made it impossible for common ground. His shitty legacy involves so much more death to come.
In the 1990s and early 00s, I would listen to a rush Limbaugh radiate through my grandparents house in maternal in Maryland and paternal in SC. On my mother's death bed (she was 49), her father drove six hours to NC and when he didn't know what to say, he started talking about politics, things I know he heard from Limbaugh. And I was just like, "not now" to my 80 year old grandfather who was highly educated and a Coast Guard veteran. It's like he forgot how to be a human, if RL talks that way, then I will, too. It was devastating.
I’m just an ordinary person of average intelligence and I’ve managed not to be brainwashed by Rush or FoxNews. If I can do it anybody can. If someone is then that is on them.
Now Jessica on the other hand has me completely under her spell. It’s taken a while (I first got introduced to her writing at The Nation 20 years ago) but I’ve come around to her viewpoint over the years.
I hadn't heard of him. But I see that whole "Aids update thing" and that's all I need to tell me i shouldn't feel even a little remorse or sadness about this.
it's good to see people who can just read a CNN headline talk trash about someone that they didn't listen to ever in their whole entire history just know about being part of cancel culture. Keep it up, you are showing exactly what you are made of. A headline that you saw on your favorite news source therefore it must be true. He's a racist yet Bo work with him forever. He has his point of point and at least unlike you he was honest and not a rat. You get into communities like this to not hear other point of views and to say protected from someone making you think. Grow up, and learn to come to your own concussions and not repeat everything that is flashed in front of your face like a 2 year old. Just go back to eating your McDonald's, blaming all your problems on everyone else and living off the government. You are the reason I hate what the democratic party has gone from the party I loved to the party we need to fix.
The whole 'you only watch CNN' thing.... So tired. Y'all need some new material. Quit copy/pasting these insults and accusations and realize that you actually don't know anything about how someone on the other side of a screen consumes and synthesizes information. That is: Grow up and learn that most people ARE capable of coming to their own conclusions - and that suggesting otherwise suggests that it's YOU who isn't capable of coming up with an original thought.
I've listened to Rush first-hand on many occasions. Among other things, he celebrated the deaths of people who died of AIDS on his show. Personally, I'm not *celebrating* his death, but I'm not going to shame anyone who is glad that a guy who literally celebrated the deaths of others himself is now dead.
"Go live off the government" ? LOL Do you know ANYTHING about welfare? The U.S. hasn't had welfare for close to 30 YEARS. The maximum number of years in a lifetime one can collect even close to enough to live on is 3. Unless, of course, you mean have a government-paying JOB - because only those people, like Ted Cruz (currently vacationing in Cancun) actually "live off the government." Your arguments are old and tired, just like Rush's misogyny and racism, which I heard from the horse's ass himself. Nice try.
Is there a Republican book of things to say, because you just listed close to every one I've ever heard. You know literally nothing about who I am, or who any of these people are, but you're ready with all these assumptions and lines you've been fed. I need to give the "other side" a chance, I'm brainwashed because I don't listen to Fox News and Rush even though it's all I ever heard 24/7 growing up and did thankfully have enough brain cells left to rub together, unlike yourself, to figure out it was lies, propaganda and vitriol. Continuing on, my problem is that I need to grow up, take responsibility and pull myself up by the bootstraps, right? I'm not working hard enough, I need to get a job and stop living off welfare, but if I get a job at McDonald's or bartending or something like that it's still not a "real job." I mean is it a real job unless I'm listed as a Republican anyway, or is it an excuse to further tear people apart? Also, I'm being childish because I refuse to hear your side, and if I disagree it's ONLY because I haven't listened, because you can't fathom someone having a different opinion than you and being correct. Ironically enough this also comes after you not reading a single, solitary post on here, although you'll probably say you did read them, or justify not reading any of them because it's a waste of your time. Lastly, and one of my personal favorites, I'm a braindead "dumbocrat" because I disagree with you, despite having no idea about my political beliefs, any of my views, or whether or not we could even possibly agree on some things. After insulting me and everything in my life up and down you will tell me I'm the problem, democrats are the problem, and we're the ones against unity. There will be no wiggle room for discussion because you will have worked yourself up and convinced yourself that you are "fair and balanced" and unbiased because you spent 5 minutes watching CNN out of the 5 hours you spent watching Fox News, even though those 5 minutes were spent mocking whatever was said and not even TRYING to hear any of it. All of these accusations are bogus and based on the latest thing Fox News has told you to think but you do nothing aside from spend your time projecting it all onto everyone else. You're not even capable of a single original line or the ability to think for yourself, but you've convinced yourself it's everyone around you that's like that because you project your own insecurities onto them. It's always the same predictable accusations that amount to nothing at the end of the day, but your spiteful, stubborn, and hateful nature will continue to drag the rest of us down when at the end of the day maybe all you really wanted was to be a part of something and be accepted yourself. You didn't come here for discussion or with open ears like you're accusing everyone else of doing, you just want to make people feel small and insignificant like how you probably feel on the inside. Take it somewhere else.
Brad, I am betting you didn't read one comment on this thread - the stories of families torn apart, the experiences of hearing your dad laugh at misogyny for the first time, or Rush mocking dying gay men. If you really believe in reading past headlines and listening to other points of view, perhaps you could take the time to do that.
All of that said, if you continue to make personal attacks on here (calling people a rat, saying grow up etc) I'll ban you.
Oh shut the fuck up "bRaD". We have our own conclusions-- Rush Limbaugh was a shit-stain on society and I'm glad he's dead, hope it was painful too. Don't cry over dead fascists. And if you liked him, fuck you too.
Thrush Limpbag was reading the names of men who died with AIDs on the radio and ringing celebratory bells and whistles while my cousin was dying. I have no jokes about him today, but if I did I would go big. Here is my eulogy:
Rush Limpbag originated talk hateradio, built his career on making white men angry, and helped to invent fake news. He made the U.S. a worse place to be, specializing in misogyny, racism, and homophobia. He deserves to be remembered for the hateful person he was and for his role in destroying civility, facts, and progress. If there is a hell, he is where he deserves to be. #RUSHwentTOhell
Nothing to add because all of you have commented all of my thoughts. But WOW it's nice to not feel alone in having -no- remorse over this man's death (and possibly some joy). Hateful, family splitting, evil, vile piece of shit.
Had something of a epiphany last night during a discussion thread on my Fbk page — an old high sch friend of mine was criticizing us for having a double-standard, that we were just jumping on the Meanie Wagon while speaking ill of Rush. I countered that Rush is in the same category as Hitler, Eichmann, Mengele, Stalin: they and Rush were all unrepentant, remorseless sociopaths who reveled in the deaths of others. So I asked the friend if he would defend any of those historical figures when they died? I actually think he got the message and stopped criticizing us all with that libertarian tone he took.
My father was a Rush fan — not quite a Rush shittohead but he listened to Rush during the day at work and during the drive home — we were both working at the same place while I was a student. (I spent a lot of time listening to my Walkman so I wouldn’t have to hear that ugly voice.) Just about everything that Dad spouted from the early 90s forward was one of Rush’s opinions. We eventually figured out how to deflect conversations like that with him but he was very insistent on it at family functions, holiday dinners, etc.
Rush did more to divide the country and he tried his hardest to keep that division going, perhaps hoping that one day this country would end up a Republican dictatorship. We have to brace ourselves for the next pundit to fill the void. Could be the Most Recent Former President, could be someone like Tuckey Carlson. Let’s keep our guard up folks!
Back in the late 80s, I actually used to listen to Rush. I found him entertaining, but didn't take him seriously. Then around '90 or so I watched a PBS documentary about the spotted owl. I remember listening to Rush the next day, and he quoted a sentence (I forget which one) from that documentary, but it was completely out of context. For the next few days (or weeks?) he seemed to launch an entire campaign against spotted owls based on his lie that he pulled at random from the documentary, apparently without actually watching it. Then (can't remember when), I listened one day while a woman (who didn't seem adversarial to Rush at all), called in to talk about what she and her husband were going through- Between the two of them, they had three Master's degrees and a doctorate. Her husband had lost his job of 20 or so years, and they were in a position of working three jobs between them. Rush proceeded to belittle her on air, yell at her and call her "Lazy". The woman was just silent while Rush went off yelling at her, and I believe she was crying at the end of the call. It was the last time I listened to him on purpose. Then a few years later, I was in the car with my brother, who was listening, and I heard him making fun of Chelsea Clinton, just calling her "ugly" and some other names, and I thought, "What a disgusting human being! A grown man with a nationally syndicated radio show is using his bull-horn to make fun of a teenager?" I could not imagine anything lower. I also blame him for the rise of "Trumpism". I point to him as the personality who first made it OK to say things like "Liberals should be shot", and "Democrats should be hung for treason"
His was the first anti-woman voice I ever heard and it chilled me. I was in junior high and was so upset that people with such hateful ideas had a mouthpiece. Watching his fame, platform and influence grow over my lifetime has been so sad and infuriating. I blame him for contributing to Trumpism and conservative ideology in the states. May his death remind us to keep fighting fuckers like him who want to narrow our ideas of humanity, judge others for being nonconformist, and not leading with love. Sending love to all the wonderful folks out there who are building a better world.
I remember the Sandra Fluke incident and the "Flush Rush" campaign(it was a big topic in my college class at the time) fortunately my dad never listened to his show so i've only ever heard his voice in clips. I remember in my sex-ed college course my female instructor told me about how in one of her classes one of her students(who happened to be a big Limbaugh fan) called in a death threat to the school which forced classes to be cancelled for that day.
Ive taken it upon myself to write a fitting dirge for the upcoming #RushLimbaugh parade to hell, I'm sorry, funeral. The tune should come naturally, feel free to join in. Ahem.
🎵Ding dong that bitch is dead/which dumb bitch/this stupid bitch/ding dong that little bitch is dead🎵
Rush loved to call women who wanted to take birth control sluts, as he did Sandra Fluke. By Rush's definition, I am one of these college-aged sluts, who he so kindly offered to buy "as much aspirin to put between their knees as they want.” I am happy to report that I'm not in need of any free aspirin, as I take birth control (for free, too! Wouldn't he be so proud!?) When I took my little blue pill today, I thought of Rush, and all the birth-control-taking, sex-having, college-aged sluts who will live on in spite of him.
The radical right and left have so much in common - it can be bewildering. What stands out about Rush Limbaugh is how he expertly centered the right around hate. As I become more and more radicalized on the 'left' it's clear to me how much I need to center my actions and words on the opposite; use my anger to fuel love and kindness. Rush gave us that - something to observe, painfully digest, and do the opposite.
First of all, Sarah - hello! (I don't know if you remember but you did the flowers for my wedding over ten years ago haha) Thanks for this truly, I think it's an important reminder. I feel like yesterday was my day for catharsis, and today - and moving forward - is my day for working towards that kindness you're talking about.
I’m so glad he’s gone. My father’s problems were not all RLs, but there was a definitive before and after. We haven’t spoken in almost 5 years, and we never will again. Over this covid summer a dear friend, whose job requires him to spend long hours driving, began throwing out Rush lines in conversation. It escalated and before it ended I knew that he, too, was gone forever.
I will never forget his voice. I wish I could. It's not just what he said, it's how he talked. He spoke as if he was so sure of himself, that everything was exactly as he said it was, and that he alone was here to educate the listeners. His arrogance was beyond measure. There are so many who speak just like him. It's exhausting to live in a world full of Rush Limbaugh's. But today, there is one less. And, that is always worth celebrating.
it's unfortunate that the conservative perspective will invariably be one of disgust and contempt for any such discussion; it's unfortunate that a man so vile and heartless can be beloved by so many, pointedly ignoring the series of blemishes and faux pas that marred his entire legacy purely because he hated the same people they did; it's unfortunate that they draw comparisons between this cruel, bitter man and those who passed before him, failing to understand that the circumstances of their lives couldn't possibly be more dissimilar.
there are a lot of unfortunates these days, but the death of a man who dedicated his life to hurting and to hating with callous disregard for humanity is not one of them. his legacy was not one of greatness, of compassion, of character. his legacy was one of unabashed spite, of unbidden vitriol. his legacy was that of a scared, vengeful man; a prideful, angry man in a world that wished only to leave his ilk to the wayside, much like the body shedding its skin after prolonged exposure to the sun. this man was a malignant tumor, a cancer that spread predictably, insidiously, reaching out and growing its roots of despair and unbridled fury within the hearts and minds of those weak enough to be preyed upon. pardon the tone-deaf analogy.
i don't think i can bring myself to celebrate it, in good conscience... but i'm not particularly saddened by the loss of a life that brought so much pain to so many.
fuck him, i’m glad he’s dead and hoped he suffered some the pain he was complicit in driving throughout the world. there shouldn’t be tolerance, nor respect after death, for those who perpetuate intolerance of other livings things. it’s a beautiful and harmoniously driven paradox that i stand by.
my cousin's husband used to listen to the his radio show back in the day, "he has some smart ideas". my cousin used to roll her eyes and now she's posting crap about today being "a sad day indeed ". FUCK Rush for making this shit mainstream. Half my fucking extended family has turned into people I would avoid if I saw them in public.
Thanks for radicalizing my grandpa, Rush. He may have died in 2006, but the legacy of your racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic beliefs continues to ripple throughout my extended family today. He listened to your show everyday, and I'm grateful he didn't live to become the Trump loving piece of shit I know he would have been. Fuck you forever, Rush.
Your thoughts about your grandpa not having a chance to become a Trumper is one I've had about my dad. He used to listen to Rush a lot when he was working. He died in 2012 of Alzheimer's and one of the changes in his personality that signaled to me that he was slipping away was that he decided in 2008 that Obama would be just fine as a president - and maybe even Hillary. But had he lived, in sound mind, I have no doubt that MAGA would've radicalized him. It's a painful thought, which is maybe why I'm airing it on the Internet with a bunch of strangers.
What makes me really mad is that there are talk show hosts all around the US and the world who are trying to emulate what he did, and be the next Limbaugh, without a thought for the harm they are causing.
I don't have anything insightful to add to the conversation, but I just love, love, love these comments. They are fantastic! He was a vile, damaging blowhard who spewed poison and caused immense harm. Let's "speak honestly of the dead" indeed!
This vile man did untold damage to this country and the people in it. I'm fortunate in that my close family members never listened to his show, but I feel for those whose relationships are strained/destroyed because of him and his ilk on right-wing media.
Rush poisoned my relationship with my mother. Starting in the 90s she would bring up the oddest topic in the oddest way, and I soon realized it was from his show. And we couldn't talk politics starting then. Fox News contributed later, but Rush got the ball rolling.
Thanks! I know he poisoned lots of people's relationships, and it's... interesting to hear him always lionized in right-wing media as some truth-teller and great conservative. If that's what conservatism is about (and I think it is) screw them
I remember when he rose to fame and the hateful, disgusting venom he would spew. I fucking hated him then and I fucking hate him with now with my entire Gen X soul.
Rush was just one of many toxic right wing influences in my family. I can't count how many arguments and screaming matches my narcissistic mother and I got into because of some topic he decided to bring up that day. No matter what I said if it wasn't 100% in compliance with Rush I was wrong, stupid, and "subhuman" as she put it. I'm glad he's gone and can't utter another spiteful, hateful, disgusting word. There's a lot left to tackle but I'll cherish this day for now, because it is still a small victory. As far as trying to say nice things, we need to take a good hard look in the mirror and start being honest and truthful about how downright dirty and slimy some of these people are. If we keep playing nice we're never going to make progress.
yes yes yes. I don't know if you saw it, but way down below I linked to a post by another writer who talks about his relationship with his family and how it was torn up by conservative media. I don't want to say you might 'enjoy' it, but you def might relate.
I'm seeing so many relatable stories as it is, and that's exactly the problem. Things like this shouldn't be happening and my heart breaks for those of us who have gone through it. Thank you for this space to air our grievances and mourn not Rush Limbaugh, but the family members he ripped away from us.
I’m a millennial. My entire life of understanding has been shaped by men like him. His particular type of bile has marked this country’s decline. I loathed him and all of his emulators. Like rog@n, making the discourse toxic for women and minorities.
Well let me tell you, while living with my mother and her three TVs blasting morning ladies shows, I discovered that he and Matthew Mcconaughey are buds. And that explained my revulsion to MM.
This is a doozy. As an impressionable young southern man I heard Rush Limbaugh's voice on many rides to school. I once jokingly referred to someone as a "feminazi" and my chorus teacher completely called me out for it--thankfully. Rush Limbaugh was crass, unthoughtful, and shitty in ways that overly influenced my white parents. He put entertainment and his own money above what was right or kind or just. I think the world is better without him and his selfish choices. Very glad I got out from under the veil.
I got called out by someone for using the term "reverse racism", I didn't hear it from Rush(never had to listen to his show thank fuck) but I picked it up from somewhere else and it sounded reasonable enough to me at the time, thankfully I realized how wrong I was and never said anything like that again(and fortunately I didn't say it to a black person).
Thank you for acknowledging your chorus teacher for calling you out. All of us need to be encouraged to call boys and men out when necessary. My brothers once thanked me for such calling out, said it made them better men. (Alas, I’ve been away from them for too long, it seems, and they’re regressing a bit. It’s been harder to call them out as they get older and more inflexible.)
Rush Limbaugh brainwashed my father in law and in turn made my life hell for years. He was the fucking worst and I cackled when I saw that he was dead. Can't wait to forget his name.
A lot of my relatives listened to Rush. I detested him but I really started to hate him when he was talking about Michael J Fox. Making fun of a person with Parkinson’s was too much for me and I tuned him out then.
The fact that MJF is still living with Parkinson's (30 years, to date) and what he's done for the community, I'd say he gets the last laugh here. I hope MJF and Tracy find some comfort in this monster's passing.
Adam Serwer wrote, early in Trump’s time in the White House, “The cruelty is the point.” So it was for Limbaugh. We rented our house out in 2000-2001, and the (horrible) tenants left a Limbaugh book behind. It made me feel as if I needed to fumigate the place.
It is natural to feel relief when someone who wished you harm & harmed ppl goes & w that relief other things. He was a disgusting homophobic, racist, sexist, xenophobic grotesque arse. The tributes to his arseholery could also do with fucking right off. I don't celebrate the lives of sick & twisted monsters - not knowingly. Not when they are alive & not when they die. May he rot. The sick fuck is dead. It is what it is.
As soon as I heard this morning, I texted my ex-husband, "I feel bad that I'm not sad about Rush Limbaugh dying but I'm not." He quickly texted: "He was truly terrible. Racist, hypocrite, chicken hawk. Found with a Dominican prostitute whom he fucked even though he is racist against Dominicans." Yup, good riddance.
Rush Limbaugh and his ilk were on the radio all the time in my house (and family car) growing up. His horrible, calloused, bigoted and sexist views influenced how I saw the world and myself, and his toxic perspective helped form a pattern and permission structure for my dad to be cruel and distant and (I think) unhappy to this day. I'm glad Rush isn't able to make the world he inhabited worse anymore, but I'm sad about what's irreparably lost or damaged because of his influence.
Thanks, Jessica. My tiny kid memories of my dad listening to this motherfucker in the car are so, *so* vivid. He was terrifying, a monster in the closet, and that was just his voice. But I especially remember him mocking Chelsea Clinton, and I remember my dad laughing, and that's just really fucked up. Imagine being such a ghoul that the harm you inflicted on LITTLE KIDS lingers for decades, and that being a relatively minor aspect of your shitty, poisonous legacy. Good riddance.
Thank you for this, Jessica! I 100% agree that we should speak truth about the dead. My opinion is that the world is a better place today with out his hatefulness and poison in it.
This is probably overly optimistic, but any chance with Trump off twitter and Rush six feet under, some of the right wing baby boomers may lose a little of their steam? A gal can hope?
Wouldn't that be nice?? What I worry about is that a lot of that energy is going to get channeled into random Facebook groups, QAnon shit, etc. But I really really hope I'm wrong!
I wish it was just Rush Limbaugh on his own leading the charge, but honestly there's an entire cadre of like-minded commentators his audience listens to. Like my dad gets his white/religious nationalist propaganda these days by watching Tucker Carlson and being on Facebook (I hear from my sisters; being off Facebook for years has been good for me).
I'm still on Facebook because a friend of mine is on there and is very doom and gloom about this whole COVID thing and is somehow convinced we're going to be locked inside our homes forever so I feel I have to stay on there just to keep him sane.
Presidential Medal of Freedom... Really? I was and am still aghast.
I know I'm late to the party, but Rush was truly one of those people whose death immediately made the world a better place.
I just read an interview by Emily Atkin claiming that Rush Limbaugh talked about climate change more than any other journalist/reporter/talking head to date. His deadly chatter about 'environmentalist wackos' changed the Republican Party and made it impossible for common ground. His shitty legacy involves so much more death to come.
In the 1990s and early 00s, I would listen to a rush Limbaugh radiate through my grandparents house in maternal in Maryland and paternal in SC. On my mother's death bed (she was 49), her father drove six hours to NC and when he didn't know what to say, he started talking about politics, things I know he heard from Limbaugh. And I was just like, "not now" to my 80 year old grandfather who was highly educated and a Coast Guard veteran. It's like he forgot how to be a human, if RL talks that way, then I will, too. It was devastating.
I’m just an ordinary person of average intelligence and I’ve managed not to be brainwashed by Rush or FoxNews. If I can do it anybody can. If someone is then that is on them.
Now Jessica on the other hand has me completely under her spell. It’s taken a while (I first got introduced to her writing at The Nation 20 years ago) but I’ve come around to her viewpoint over the years.
I hadn't heard of him. But I see that whole "Aids update thing" and that's all I need to tell me i shouldn't feel even a little remorse or sadness about this.
8f anyone could please fill me in on what other awful options and statements this guy had im curious to know.
He called Chelsea Clinton, age 12 or so then, a Dog.
What a garbage comment from a deluded mind in a spoiled rich man’s body.
He got addicted to OxyContin and increased hassle for true patients and pain control as a whole.
I have not head of this guy ( I’m in Australia )
He sounds just like a person who used to rule the airwaves here. Alan Jones
He is a misogynistic, racist areshole
They are very much alike! Heard him rant the other night about ms. Markle
it's good to see people who can just read a CNN headline talk trash about someone that they didn't listen to ever in their whole entire history just know about being part of cancel culture. Keep it up, you are showing exactly what you are made of. A headline that you saw on your favorite news source therefore it must be true. He's a racist yet Bo work with him forever. He has his point of point and at least unlike you he was honest and not a rat. You get into communities like this to not hear other point of views and to say protected from someone making you think. Grow up, and learn to come to your own concussions and not repeat everything that is flashed in front of your face like a 2 year old. Just go back to eating your McDonald's, blaming all your problems on everyone else and living off the government. You are the reason I hate what the democratic party has gone from the party I loved to the party we need to fix.
Please go away.
“... and learn to come to your own concussions...” from the looks of it appears you already have.
The whole 'you only watch CNN' thing.... So tired. Y'all need some new material. Quit copy/pasting these insults and accusations and realize that you actually don't know anything about how someone on the other side of a screen consumes and synthesizes information. That is: Grow up and learn that most people ARE capable of coming to their own conclusions - and that suggesting otherwise suggests that it's YOU who isn't capable of coming up with an original thought.
I've listened to Rush first-hand on many occasions. Among other things, he celebrated the deaths of people who died of AIDS on his show. Personally, I'm not *celebrating* his death, but I'm not going to shame anyone who is glad that a guy who literally celebrated the deaths of others himself is now dead.
"Go live off the government" ? LOL Do you know ANYTHING about welfare? The U.S. hasn't had welfare for close to 30 YEARS. The maximum number of years in a lifetime one can collect even close to enough to live on is 3. Unless, of course, you mean have a government-paying JOB - because only those people, like Ted Cruz (currently vacationing in Cancun) actually "live off the government." Your arguments are old and tired, just like Rush's misogyny and racism, which I heard from the horse's ass himself. Nice try.
Is there a Republican book of things to say, because you just listed close to every one I've ever heard. You know literally nothing about who I am, or who any of these people are, but you're ready with all these assumptions and lines you've been fed. I need to give the "other side" a chance, I'm brainwashed because I don't listen to Fox News and Rush even though it's all I ever heard 24/7 growing up and did thankfully have enough brain cells left to rub together, unlike yourself, to figure out it was lies, propaganda and vitriol. Continuing on, my problem is that I need to grow up, take responsibility and pull myself up by the bootstraps, right? I'm not working hard enough, I need to get a job and stop living off welfare, but if I get a job at McDonald's or bartending or something like that it's still not a "real job." I mean is it a real job unless I'm listed as a Republican anyway, or is it an excuse to further tear people apart? Also, I'm being childish because I refuse to hear your side, and if I disagree it's ONLY because I haven't listened, because you can't fathom someone having a different opinion than you and being correct. Ironically enough this also comes after you not reading a single, solitary post on here, although you'll probably say you did read them, or justify not reading any of them because it's a waste of your time. Lastly, and one of my personal favorites, I'm a braindead "dumbocrat" because I disagree with you, despite having no idea about my political beliefs, any of my views, or whether or not we could even possibly agree on some things. After insulting me and everything in my life up and down you will tell me I'm the problem, democrats are the problem, and we're the ones against unity. There will be no wiggle room for discussion because you will have worked yourself up and convinced yourself that you are "fair and balanced" and unbiased because you spent 5 minutes watching CNN out of the 5 hours you spent watching Fox News, even though those 5 minutes were spent mocking whatever was said and not even TRYING to hear any of it. All of these accusations are bogus and based on the latest thing Fox News has told you to think but you do nothing aside from spend your time projecting it all onto everyone else. You're not even capable of a single original line or the ability to think for yourself, but you've convinced yourself it's everyone around you that's like that because you project your own insecurities onto them. It's always the same predictable accusations that amount to nothing at the end of the day, but your spiteful, stubborn, and hateful nature will continue to drag the rest of us down when at the end of the day maybe all you really wanted was to be a part of something and be accepted yourself. You didn't come here for discussion or with open ears like you're accusing everyone else of doing, you just want to make people feel small and insignificant like how you probably feel on the inside. Take it somewhere else.
I enjoy you.
Brad, I am betting you didn't read one comment on this thread - the stories of families torn apart, the experiences of hearing your dad laugh at misogyny for the first time, or Rush mocking dying gay men. If you really believe in reading past headlines and listening to other points of view, perhaps you could take the time to do that.
All of that said, if you continue to make personal attacks on here (calling people a rat, saying grow up etc) I'll ban you.
Oh shut the fuck up "bRaD". We have our own conclusions-- Rush Limbaugh was a shit-stain on society and I'm glad he's dead, hope it was painful too. Don't cry over dead fascists. And if you liked him, fuck you too.
Thrush Limpbag was reading the names of men who died with AIDs on the radio and ringing celebratory bells and whistles while my cousin was dying. I have no jokes about him today, but if I did I would go big. Here is my eulogy:
Rush Limpbag originated talk hateradio, built his career on making white men angry, and helped to invent fake news. He made the U.S. a worse place to be, specializing in misogyny, racism, and homophobia. He deserves to be remembered for the hateful person he was and for his role in destroying civility, facts, and progress. If there is a hell, he is where he deserves to be. #RUSHwentTOhell
Nothing to add because all of you have commented all of my thoughts. But WOW it's nice to not feel alone in having -no- remorse over this man's death (and possibly some joy). Hateful, family splitting, evil, vile piece of shit.
YUP.
Yeah right... Like Id head the name but holy sh*t I had no idea how truly vile this man was.
Had something of a epiphany last night during a discussion thread on my Fbk page — an old high sch friend of mine was criticizing us for having a double-standard, that we were just jumping on the Meanie Wagon while speaking ill of Rush. I countered that Rush is in the same category as Hitler, Eichmann, Mengele, Stalin: they and Rush were all unrepentant, remorseless sociopaths who reveled in the deaths of others. So I asked the friend if he would defend any of those historical figures when they died? I actually think he got the message and stopped criticizing us all with that libertarian tone he took.
My father was a Rush fan — not quite a Rush shittohead but he listened to Rush during the day at work and during the drive home — we were both working at the same place while I was a student. (I spent a lot of time listening to my Walkman so I wouldn’t have to hear that ugly voice.) Just about everything that Dad spouted from the early 90s forward was one of Rush’s opinions. We eventually figured out how to deflect conversations like that with him but he was very insistent on it at family functions, holiday dinners, etc.
Rush did more to divide the country and he tried his hardest to keep that division going, perhaps hoping that one day this country would end up a Republican dictatorship. We have to brace ourselves for the next pundit to fill the void. Could be the Most Recent Former President, could be someone like Tuckey Carlson. Let’s keep our guard up folks!
He divided countries, he divided families.
Sorry not sorry
Back in the late 80s, I actually used to listen to Rush. I found him entertaining, but didn't take him seriously. Then around '90 or so I watched a PBS documentary about the spotted owl. I remember listening to Rush the next day, and he quoted a sentence (I forget which one) from that documentary, but it was completely out of context. For the next few days (or weeks?) he seemed to launch an entire campaign against spotted owls based on his lie that he pulled at random from the documentary, apparently without actually watching it. Then (can't remember when), I listened one day while a woman (who didn't seem adversarial to Rush at all), called in to talk about what she and her husband were going through- Between the two of them, they had three Master's degrees and a doctorate. Her husband had lost his job of 20 or so years, and they were in a position of working three jobs between them. Rush proceeded to belittle her on air, yell at her and call her "Lazy". The woman was just silent while Rush went off yelling at her, and I believe she was crying at the end of the call. It was the last time I listened to him on purpose. Then a few years later, I was in the car with my brother, who was listening, and I heard him making fun of Chelsea Clinton, just calling her "ugly" and some other names, and I thought, "What a disgusting human being! A grown man with a nationally syndicated radio show is using his bull-horn to make fun of a teenager?" I could not imagine anything lower. I also blame him for the rise of "Trumpism". I point to him as the personality who first made it OK to say things like "Liberals should be shot", and "Democrats should be hung for treason"
Yup, he really did pave the way for the moment we're in now
What's the difference between Rush Limbaugh and the Hindenburg?
One's a flaming nazi gasbag and the other's a dirigible.
His was the first anti-woman voice I ever heard and it chilled me. I was in junior high and was so upset that people with such hateful ideas had a mouthpiece. Watching his fame, platform and influence grow over my lifetime has been so sad and infuriating. I blame him for contributing to Trumpism and conservative ideology in the states. May his death remind us to keep fighting fuckers like him who want to narrow our ideas of humanity, judge others for being nonconformist, and not leading with love. Sending love to all the wonderful folks out there who are building a better world.
I say we set this (cough cough) somber time of Rush Limbaughs passing to music and a song sung by none other than the man himself.
https://youtu.be/s4DMpgbabKE
May this forever be part of the skidmark he left in history.
I remember the Sandra Fluke incident and the "Flush Rush" campaign(it was a big topic in my college class at the time) fortunately my dad never listened to his show so i've only ever heard his voice in clips. I remember in my sex-ed college course my female instructor told me about how in one of her classes one of her students(who happened to be a big Limbaugh fan) called in a death threat to the school which forced classes to be cancelled for that day.
Ive taken it upon myself to write a fitting dirge for the upcoming #RushLimbaugh parade to hell, I'm sorry, funeral. The tune should come naturally, feel free to join in. Ahem.
🎵Ding dong that bitch is dead/which dumb bitch/this stupid bitch/ding dong that little bitch is dead🎵
Rush loved to call women who wanted to take birth control sluts, as he did Sandra Fluke. By Rush's definition, I am one of these college-aged sluts, who he so kindly offered to buy "as much aspirin to put between their knees as they want.” I am happy to report that I'm not in need of any free aspirin, as I take birth control (for free, too! Wouldn't he be so proud!?) When I took my little blue pill today, I thought of Rush, and all the birth-control-taking, sex-having, college-aged sluts who will live on in spite of him.
My wife is one of those sluts! She quit being a slut while we had a couple kids, then got back on the birth control and totally slutted out again.
So glad my slut wife and I planned things. 😊
The radical right and left have so much in common - it can be bewildering. What stands out about Rush Limbaugh is how he expertly centered the right around hate. As I become more and more radicalized on the 'left' it's clear to me how much I need to center my actions and words on the opposite; use my anger to fuel love and kindness. Rush gave us that - something to observe, painfully digest, and do the opposite.
First of all, Sarah - hello! (I don't know if you remember but you did the flowers for my wedding over ten years ago haha) Thanks for this truly, I think it's an important reminder. I feel like yesterday was my day for catharsis, and today - and moving forward - is my day for working towards that kindness you're talking about.
I’m so glad he’s gone. My father’s problems were not all RLs, but there was a definitive before and after. We haven’t spoken in almost 5 years, and we never will again. Over this covid summer a dear friend, whose job requires him to spend long hours driving, began throwing out Rush lines in conversation. It escalated and before it ended I knew that he, too, was gone forever.
I'm so sorry, Heather - that's terrible and obviously not an uncommon story here
I will never forget his voice. I wish I could. It's not just what he said, it's how he talked. He spoke as if he was so sure of himself, that everything was exactly as he said it was, and that he alone was here to educate the listeners. His arrogance was beyond measure. There are so many who speak just like him. It's exhausting to live in a world full of Rush Limbaugh's. But today, there is one less. And, that is always worth celebrating.
it's unfortunate that the conservative perspective will invariably be one of disgust and contempt for any such discussion; it's unfortunate that a man so vile and heartless can be beloved by so many, pointedly ignoring the series of blemishes and faux pas that marred his entire legacy purely because he hated the same people they did; it's unfortunate that they draw comparisons between this cruel, bitter man and those who passed before him, failing to understand that the circumstances of their lives couldn't possibly be more dissimilar.
there are a lot of unfortunates these days, but the death of a man who dedicated his life to hurting and to hating with callous disregard for humanity is not one of them. his legacy was not one of greatness, of compassion, of character. his legacy was one of unabashed spite, of unbidden vitriol. his legacy was that of a scared, vengeful man; a prideful, angry man in a world that wished only to leave his ilk to the wayside, much like the body shedding its skin after prolonged exposure to the sun. this man was a malignant tumor, a cancer that spread predictably, insidiously, reaching out and growing its roots of despair and unbridled fury within the hearts and minds of those weak enough to be preyed upon. pardon the tone-deaf analogy.
i don't think i can bring myself to celebrate it, in good conscience... but i'm not particularly saddened by the loss of a life that brought so much pain to so many.
The world is better without him in it. And my God, but isn't that just the saddest thing to say about a life?
fuck him, i’m glad he’s dead and hoped he suffered some the pain he was complicit in driving throughout the world. there shouldn’t be tolerance, nor respect after death, for those who perpetuate intolerance of other livings things. it’s a beautiful and harmoniously driven paradox that i stand by.
To quote my brother when Falwell died, “Fucker didn’t even have the courtesy to die on a Saturday so we could celebrate properly.”
Ha!
my cousin's husband used to listen to the his radio show back in the day, "he has some smart ideas". my cousin used to roll her eyes and now she's posting crap about today being "a sad day indeed ". FUCK Rush for making this shit mainstream. Half my fucking extended family has turned into people I would avoid if I saw them in public.
That's so distressing, I'm sorry
Whenever someone awful dies and people get all 'don't speak ill of the dead' i go back and read Hunter S. Thompson's obituary for Richard Nixon.
Thanks for radicalizing my grandpa, Rush. He may have died in 2006, but the legacy of your racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic beliefs continues to ripple throughout my extended family today. He listened to your show everyday, and I'm grateful he didn't live to become the Trump loving piece of shit I know he would have been. Fuck you forever, Rush.
Your thoughts about your grandpa not having a chance to become a Trumper is one I've had about my dad. He used to listen to Rush a lot when he was working. He died in 2012 of Alzheimer's and one of the changes in his personality that signaled to me that he was slipping away was that he decided in 2008 that Obama would be just fine as a president - and maybe even Hillary. But had he lived, in sound mind, I have no doubt that MAGA would've radicalized him. It's a painful thought, which is maybe why I'm airing it on the Internet with a bunch of strangers.
I hope he SUFFERED. I hope it HURT. He was a horrible creature, full of hate, and he hurt people who did nothing to him.
A must share - something I just saw on Twitter:
'Dear Liberals,
If Rush Limbaugh is so transphobic, why is his grave the world's biggest gender neutral toilet?'
Had us in the first half not gonna lie.
What makes me really mad is that there are talk show hosts all around the US and the world who are trying to emulate what he did, and be the next Limbaugh, without a thought for the harm they are causing.
exactly. he was the model for modern conservative media
I don't have anything insightful to add to the conversation, but I just love, love, love these comments. They are fantastic! He was a vile, damaging blowhard who spewed poison and caused immense harm. Let's "speak honestly of the dead" indeed!
This vile man did untold damage to this country and the people in it. I'm fortunate in that my close family members never listened to his show, but I feel for those whose relationships are strained/destroyed because of him and his ilk on right-wing media.
Rush poisoned my relationship with my mother. Starting in the 90s she would bring up the oddest topic in the oddest way, and I soon realized it was from his show. And we couldn't talk politics starting then. Fox News contributed later, but Rush got the ball rolling.
I'm so sorry. My friend described Limbaugh as her Dad's "on-ramp" to the highway to the hell of America far-right conservatism.
I'm so sorry, Scarlett. You definitely aren't alone - I'm so struck by all the stories like this.
Thanks! I know he poisoned lots of people's relationships, and it's... interesting to hear him always lionized in right-wing media as some truth-teller and great conservative. If that's what conservatism is about (and I think it is) screw them
Upon hearing the news my 65 yo mother said, "Really hmmm no loss"
moms know what's up
I remember when he rose to fame and the hateful, disgusting venom he would spew. I fucking hated him then and I fucking hate him with now with my entire Gen X soul.
Rush was just one of many toxic right wing influences in my family. I can't count how many arguments and screaming matches my narcissistic mother and I got into because of some topic he decided to bring up that day. No matter what I said if it wasn't 100% in compliance with Rush I was wrong, stupid, and "subhuman" as she put it. I'm glad he's gone and can't utter another spiteful, hateful, disgusting word. There's a lot left to tackle but I'll cherish this day for now, because it is still a small victory. As far as trying to say nice things, we need to take a good hard look in the mirror and start being honest and truthful about how downright dirty and slimy some of these people are. If we keep playing nice we're never going to make progress.
yes yes yes. I don't know if you saw it, but way down below I linked to a post by another writer who talks about his relationship with his family and how it was torn up by conservative media. I don't want to say you might 'enjoy' it, but you def might relate.
I'm seeing so many relatable stories as it is, and that's exactly the problem. Things like this shouldn't be happening and my heart breaks for those of us who have gone through it. Thank you for this space to air our grievances and mourn not Rush Limbaugh, but the family members he ripped away from us.
I’m a millennial. My entire life of understanding has been shaped by men like him. His particular type of bile has marked this country’s decline. I loathed him and all of his emulators. Like rog@n, making the discourse toxic for women and minorities.
THANK YOU for pointing out that connection between Limbaugh and Joe Rogan, the bro version of Jordan Peterson.
Ugh, Jordan Peterson is another version of the same animal
Somehow Peterson’s existence just passed me by and then I read a profile in the Times this weekend. Holy moly, what a mess.
Men who like Peterson are an instant, giant red flag for me.
Well let me tell you, while living with my mother and her three TVs blasting morning ladies shows, I discovered that he and Matthew Mcconaughey are buds. And that explained my revulsion to MM.
Whew!
This is a doozy. As an impressionable young southern man I heard Rush Limbaugh's voice on many rides to school. I once jokingly referred to someone as a "feminazi" and my chorus teacher completely called me out for it--thankfully. Rush Limbaugh was crass, unthoughtful, and shitty in ways that overly influenced my white parents. He put entertainment and his own money above what was right or kind or just. I think the world is better without him and his selfish choices. Very glad I got out from under the veil.
Thanks for sharing this - it makes me feel a little hopeful that other young men in moments like those will learn something similar!
I got called out by someone for using the term "reverse racism", I didn't hear it from Rush(never had to listen to his show thank fuck) but I picked it up from somewhere else and it sounded reasonable enough to me at the time, thankfully I realized how wrong I was and never said anything like that again(and fortunately I didn't say it to a black person).
Glad to hear that.
Thank you for acknowledging your chorus teacher for calling you out. All of us need to be encouraged to call boys and men out when necessary. My brothers once thanked me for such calling out, said it made them better men. (Alas, I’ve been away from them for too long, it seems, and they’re regressing a bit. It’s been harder to call them out as they get older and more inflexible.)
i have nothing to add to the many insightful comments on this blog. i’m just glad you’re all here.
"You should never say bad things about the dead, only good… Rush Limbaugh is dead. Good.”
Rush Limbaugh brainwashed my father in law and in turn made my life hell for years. He was the fucking worst and I cackled when I saw that he was dead. Can't wait to forget his name.
As I'm sure you've seen in comments, you are far from alone.
A lot of my relatives listened to Rush. I detested him but I really started to hate him when he was talking about Michael J Fox. Making fun of a person with Parkinson’s was too much for me and I tuned him out then.
I didn't even know about this until I saw people tweeting about it today. Monstrous.
The fact that MJF is still living with Parkinson's (30 years, to date) and what he's done for the community, I'd say he gets the last laugh here. I hope MJF and Tracy find some comfort in this monster's passing.
Adam Serwer wrote, early in Trump’s time in the White House, “The cruelty is the point.” So it was for Limbaugh. We rented our house out in 2000-2001, and the (horrible) tenants left a Limbaugh book behind. It made me feel as if I needed to fumigate the place.
That line from Adam is going to go down as the most important observation of the Trump era, hands down.
"They're hurting the wrong people."
It is natural to feel relief when someone who wished you harm & harmed ppl goes & w that relief other things. He was a disgusting homophobic, racist, sexist, xenophobic grotesque arse. The tributes to his arseholery could also do with fucking right off. I don't celebrate the lives of sick & twisted monsters - not knowingly. Not when they are alive & not when they die. May he rot. The sick fuck is dead. It is what it is.
As soon as I heard this morning, I texted my ex-husband, "I feel bad that I'm not sad about Rush Limbaugh dying but I'm not." He quickly texted: "He was truly terrible. Racist, hypocrite, chicken hawk. Found with a Dominican prostitute whom he fucked even though he is racist against Dominicans." Yup, good riddance.
you shouldn't feel bad at all.
Rush Limbaugh and his ilk were on the radio all the time in my house (and family car) growing up. His horrible, calloused, bigoted and sexist views influenced how I saw the world and myself, and his toxic perspective helped form a pattern and permission structure for my dad to be cruel and distant and (I think) unhappy to this day. I'm glad Rush isn't able to make the world he inhabited worse anymore, but I'm sad about what's irreparably lost or damaged because of his influence.
So much lost and and damaged, it's true.
Thanks, Jessica. My tiny kid memories of my dad listening to this motherfucker in the car are so, *so* vivid. He was terrifying, a monster in the closet, and that was just his voice. But I especially remember him mocking Chelsea Clinton, and I remember my dad laughing, and that's just really fucked up. Imagine being such a ghoul that the harm you inflicted on LITTLE KIDS lingers for decades, and that being a relatively minor aspect of your shitty, poisonous legacy. Good riddance.
I'm so, so sorry that this happened to you. There is something really sick about adults who find other adults picking on children entertaining.
Thanks for sharing this - it's so true and telling, and I think a lot of commenters have had similar experiences.
Thank you for this, Jessica! I 100% agree that we should speak truth about the dead. My opinion is that the world is a better place today with out his hatefulness and poison in it.
This is probably overly optimistic, but any chance with Trump off twitter and Rush six feet under, some of the right wing baby boomers may lose a little of their steam? A gal can hope?
Also, fuck that guy, Rush Limbaugh.
Wouldn't that be nice?? What I worry about is that a lot of that energy is going to get channeled into random Facebook groups, QAnon shit, etc. But I really really hope I'm wrong!
I wish it was just Rush Limbaugh on his own leading the charge, but honestly there's an entire cadre of like-minded commentators his audience listens to. Like my dad gets his white/religious nationalist propaganda these days by watching Tucker Carlson and being on Facebook (I hear from my sisters; being off Facebook for years has been good for me).
I'm also off Facebook and it's great. But yeah, there's definitely a new class of bigots as well
I'm still on Facebook because a friend of mine is on there and is very doom and gloom about this whole COVID thing and is somehow convinced we're going to be locked inside our homes forever so I feel I have to stay on there just to keep him sane.