Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Rush Limbaugh, You Can't Be Serious


Unfortunately in this case, advertisers and listeners get what we pay for.  Rush Limbaugh, give me a break, you can’t be serious; but history would suggest he is.

Unlike my wife, who is much smarter and more discerning then I am, and would never listen to his radio broadcast, I occasionally listen to his show. Why?  It’s been my long-time practice to experience a variety of viewpoints on political, historical and religious issues. It’s important to hear what thousands of others who live in the same community I live in listen to and adhere to.  

For many people, religious and non-religious, Rush Limbaugh is more than an “entertainer.”  He is a “conservative voice that interprets current political and social reality.”  Unfortunately, a sober examination of his body of work and personal attacks on a variety of people would suggest that his motto is certainly not, “Do no harm”.

His latest attack, on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, has resulted in what is purported to be an “apology,” the loss of over 30 advertisers, and being dropped by two radio stations. Limbaugh claimed that Ms. Fluke testified before a congressional committee because she wanted to “be paid to have sex.”  Distorting the truth and story behind her intent and content is one thing, but calling her names I will not repeat in this article, is absolutely bizarre and insulting to all women and civil minded people.

Insulting behavior is not the sole property of only one political party, or self-described “conservatives” or “liberals.” Mr. Limbaugh, however, has run amuck with a steady diet of fear pandering and denigrating insults.  You only need to Google his quotes to be assured that the common good and respect for others is not high on his list of core values.

Two brief quotes give us an entrée into the millionaire radio broadcaster. First, “If Obama (as in President Obama) weren’t black, he’d be a tour guide in Honolulu.”  Second, on January 13, 2010, he discouraged donations to support Haiti following the earthquake, “We’ve already donated to Haiti.   It’s called U.S. income taxes.”
 
Rush, you can’t be serious! 

Even if it takes me another 30 years of marriage, I hope to learn to follow the wisdom of my wife.   Anybody who openly prays and publicly declares they “hope the President fails,” as Rush Limbaugh did, can’t be trusted to champion the common good. 

·         Shame on us for allowing hate speech to flourish and civility to be trampled upon in 2012.  

·         Shame on Rush Limbaugh for his insults directed at Sandra Fluke. 

We are living way beneath our Kingdom potential when we allow the abandonment of respect for others to give license to “anything goes.”  There is a better way and it begins with an old but never-outdated rule; Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!”
 
The words of Ted Koppel are very appropriate at this time in America, Aspire to decency. Practice civility toward one another. Apply a rigid standard of morality to your lives and if periodically you fail as you surely will, adjust your lives, not the standards.”
 
I am turning off Rush Limbaugh for good and joining my wife to write letters to advertisers of his show.  It’s time for him to sign off!


Be Encouraged, 

Bishop Julius C. Trimble

6 comments:

  1. A blessed message Bishop Trimble. Thank you!

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  2. Amen, Bishop Trimble! I've been convicted during this Lenten season that we have to speak truth and light into the darkness. We let far too many things go by (from all sides of the political spectrum) without saying anything and in many ways, we are hiding our light under a bushel basket. Thank you.

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  3. Bishop, thank you for your leadership, and for some wise words I can share with my congregation this Sunday. We are beginning a three-part series on "Three Simple Rules" this coming Sunday. I knew I wanted to use this latest hot controversy in my preaching, and I find myself in my first year in a community that, for the most part, does not share my long-held distain for the rhetorical stylings (let alone political viewpoints) of Mr. Limbaugh. Thank you for publically naming what this man has been allowed (and encouraged) to do for years as hate speech.
    With hope of true Shalem,
    Rev. DeeAnne L. Lowman
    Shenendehowa UMC
    Clifton Park, NY

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  4. I agree, though I do wonder where the public outcry is for others who have similarly used their public platforms to bash people whose choices and opinions they do not approve of.

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  5. Way to go, Julius! I am glad you addressed this matter from a Wesleyan perspective. Thanks for your leadership.

    Galen Black, EO Conference

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  6. Bishop Trimble, thank you for your wise and courageous statement. Not only is Limbaugh's language uncivil, as a United Methodist he is behaving in a very unloving way to another United Methodist, Sandra Fluke. I would observe that Limbaugh, like many, many other public figures of some notoriety, did not confess that he was wrong or ask forgiveness; he just said that he made a bad choice of words!
    I appreciate your leadership in our United Methodist Church, Bishop. Keep up the good work. Jim Magaw

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