Take the Limbaugh Challenge

[Danno 1,228]

Take the Limbaugh Challenge

Liberals who hate Rush Limbaugh -- why don't you actually listen to his show before bashing him?

By Andrew Klavan

LA Times

March 29, 2009

If you are reading this newspaper, the likelihood is that you agree with the Obama administration's recent attacks on conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh. That's the likelihood; here's the certainty: You've never listened to Rush Limbaugh.

Oh no, you haven't. Whenever I interrupt a liberal's anti-Limbaugh rant to point out that the ranter has never actually listened to the man, he always says the same thing: "I've heard him!"

On further questioning, it always turns out that by "heard him," he means he's heard the selected excerpts spoon-fed him by the distortion-mongers of the mainstream media. These excerpts are specifically designed to accomplish one thing: to make sure you never actually listen to Limbaugh's show, never actually give him a fair chance to speak his piece to you directly.

By lifting some typically Rushian piece of outrageous hilarity completely out of context, the distortion gang knows full well it can get you to widen your eyes and open your mouth in the universal sign of Liberal Outrage. Your scrawny chest swelling with a warm sense of completely unearned righteousness, you will turn to your second spouse and say, "I'm not a liberal, I'm a moderate, and I'm tolerant of a wide range of differing views -- but this goes too far!"

There is more untruthfulness in that statement than in a speech by President Obama. Even the commas are self-deceiving. You're not a moderate or you wouldn't be reading this newspaper. You're not tolerant of a wide range of views; you are tolerant of a narrow spectrum of variations on your views. And, whatever you claim, you still haven't listened to Rush Limbaugh.

Which leads to a question: Why not? I mean, come on, the guy's one of the figures of the age. Aren't you even curious? I listen to all your guys: NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, The Times, the New York Times, the New Yorker -- I check out the whole left-wing hallelujah chorus. Why are you afraid to spend a couple of hours listening to Limbaugh's show and seriously considering if and why you disagree with him?

Let me guess at your answer. You don't need to listen to him. You've heard enough to know he's a) racist, B) hateful, c) stupid, d) merely an outrageous entertainer not to be taken seriously or e) all of the above.

Now let me tell you the real answer: You're a lowdown, yellow-bellied, lily-livered intellectual coward. You're terrified of finding out he makes more sense than you do.

I listen to Limbaugh every chance I get, and I have never heard the man utter a single racist, hateful or stupid word. Do I always agree with him? Of course not. I'm a conservative; I think for myself. But Limbaugh, by turns insightful, satiric, raucously funny and wise, is one of the best voices talking about first principles and policy in the country today.

Therefore, I am throwing down my gauntlet at your quivering liberal feet. I hereby issue my challenge -- the Limbaugh Challenge: Listen to the show. Not for five minutes but for several hours: an hour a day for several days. Consider what he has to say -- the real policy material under the jokes and teasing bluster. Do what your intellectual keepers do not want you to do and keep an open mind. Ask yourself: What's he getting at? Why does he say the things he says? Why do so many people of goodwill -- like that nice Mr. Klavan -- agree with him?

The mainstream media (a.k.a. the Matrix) don't want you to listen to Limbaugh because they're afraid he'll wake you up and set you free of their worldview. You don't want to listen to him because you're afraid of the same thing.

Don't believe me? Well, then, gird your loins. Gather your courage. Accept the Limbaugh Challenge. See what happens.

I dare you.

Andrew Klavan is a contributing editor to City Journal.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...0,5456892.story

[HannahP 119]

Does Rush love lesbians more than he loves his narcs?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

[Sofiyya 1,687]

18 year listener here. Rush is waay cool

[Danno 1,228]

Does Rush love lesbians more than he loves his narcs?

Was there a Lesbian angle in this story I missed ...or are you having secret thoughts?

[Ban Hammer 13,984]

someone say lesbians?

[almaty 19]

he made Time, recently

[EasyRider 3]

I've heard his show. He's a buffoon.

[luckytxn 2,265]

Lesbians? Where?

[fozzie 41]

Take the Limbaugh Challenge

On further questioning, it always turns out that by "heard him," he means he's heard the selected excerpts spoon-fed him by the distortion-mongers of the mainstream media. These excerpts are specifically designed to accomplish one thing: to make sure you never actually listen to Limbaugh's show, never actually give him a fair chance to speak his piece to you directly.

What mainstream media? The network news stations are mostly republican biased.

[Peikko 1,575]

I have never listened to his show. The article appeals to those who like Rush. So what? He is not a politician, I don't need to know what he says or thinks - I do not even care what he says or thinks.

If he ever stands for election, I would of course seek to find out more about him - but I do not foresee that eventuality.

Edited March 31, 2009 by Madame Cleo

[Craneman 2]

I have never listened to his show. The article appeals to those who like Rush. So what? He is not a politician, I don't need to know what he says or thinks - I do not even care what he says or thinks.

If he ever stands for election, I would of course seek to find out more about him - but I do not foresee that eventuality.

[/quo

Living proof that the article is correct.

[SaadBell 0]

Hypocrisy: hy-poc’ri-sy, n.(LL. hypocrisies; G;R. hypokrisis, a reply, acting a part, feigning, from hypokrinesthi, to answer, play a part, pretend; hypo, under and krinisthai, to contend, dispute.) a feigning to be what one is not; the acting of a false part; a deception as to real character and feeling, especially as regards to morals and religion.*

“Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. ... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up,”

However, once his drug use was revealed, did Rush Limbaugh have to answer to the harsh penalties he demanded for other Americans? So far, the answer is a resounding ‘No!

On the contrary, after a very short few weeks in rehab, Mr. Limbaugh is back on the air, declaring his righteousness to radio listeners. How arrogant is it to declare that you, personally and individually, embody truth? Yet that is what Mr. Limbaugh did when he reopened his radio show after emerging from rehab.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME, how can you even listen to this lowlife. He should have been sent to prision like the common folk, if I had been caught with the amount of drugs he was holding, I would be in for twenty to life.

[almaty 19]

Hypocrisy: hy-poc’ri-sy, n.(LL. hypocrisies; G;R. hypokrisis, a reply, acting a part, feigning, from hypokrinesthi, to answer, play a part, pretend; hypo, under and krinisthai, to contend, dispute.) a feigning to be what one is not; the acting of a false part; a deception as to real character and feeling, especially as regards to morals and religion.*

“Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. ... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up,”

However, once his drug use was revealed, did Rush Limbaugh have to answer to the harsh penalties he demanded for other Americans? So far, the answer is a resounding ‘No!

On the contrary, after a very short few weeks in rehab, Mr. Limbaugh is back on the air, declaring his righteousness to radio listeners. How arrogant is it to declare that you, personally and individually, embody truth? Yet that is what Mr. Limbaugh did when he reopened his radio show after emerging from rehab.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME, how can you even listen to this lowlife. He should have been sent to prision like the common folk, if I had been caught with the amount of drugs he was holding, I would be in for twenty to life.

spot on sister gangie

[Peikko 1,575]

I have never listened to his show. The article appeals to those who like Rush. So what? He is not a politician, I don't need to know what he says or thinks - I do not even care what he says or thinks.

If he ever stands for election, I would of course seek to find out more about him - but I do not foresee that eventuality.

Living proof that the article is correct.

Along the same logical lines you would also believe a Simon Callow fan saying it's not possible to understand what it's like to live in America if you don't watch American Idol.