Rush Limbaugh Mocks Frightened Children

Ranting isn’t my thing.  I tend to focus on the positives in life rather than the negatives, but at times that can be a cop out.  “Always looking on the bright side of life,” as Eric Idle joked may enable us to cope with difficult aspects of life, but at times it is necessary to shine the harsh light of day upon the negatives and give them a close look.

Sure, I get as irritated as anyone by aggressive and inconsiderate drivers, disinterested store clerks, faceless call center attendants, and unfairness in the workplace.  My usual response to such behaviors is to grimace and bear it like most sane citizens, unless of course it’s a situation that I feel I have some ability to influence.  I’m not going to hop out of my car to confront a disrespectful fellow commuter (that could get you shot in this country) nor am I likely to enlighten an intractable clerk about the finer points of customer service (an important aspect of my job for nearly 27 years).  I have, however, talked with friends and loved ones about many vexing and troublesome aspects of life in 21^st century America, voiced my dissatisfaction about situations in the workplace through effective channels, written to the editor of my local paper, and shared numerous points of constructive criticism via email with television networks.  The degree to which these actions have any bearing on subsequent behaviors is often difficult or impossible to gauge, but doing something feels good even when it’s uncertain that I’ve actually made a difference.

So, it’s with the understanding that several hundred words tossed into the seemingly infinite universe of the worldwide web are unlikely to find purchase in the minds of enough people to change anything that I humbly comment on the dreadful state of the gun laws in the United States of America.  If you seek an authoritative commentary on 221 years of Constitutional history tracing back to the origins of the Second Amendment, you won’t find it here (but here’s a link to get you started: Second-Amendment-History.  If you seek statistics to quote with friends and family about the rates of gun violence in the U.S. compared to other nations, details about America’s high gun ownership and homicide rates are just keystrokes away through your trusted browser (like this one:  US Gun Ownership Facts).  However, if you’re looking for another voice of outrage against conservative zealot Rush Limbaugh’s recent disgusting mockery of school children being frightened of getting shot, then I’m happy to oblige.

I can’t recall when I last observed something a callous, misguided, and pathetic.  During his January 15, 2013 show, he accused President Obama of using children as human shields and then went on to say: 

“He brings these kids, supposedly who wrote letters to the White House after Newtown… It’s going to be very difficult, very difficult to oppose it.  They got these little kids there, [and while pretending to cry and sob says,] they don’t want to die…( “How can you, how can you not listen to them? You’ve got to do something!”

If you haven’t heard it in context and you can stand the sight of him, here’s a link (scroll down to the Hardball interview):

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/01/17/gun-control-debate-how-both-sides-use-children/

For more criticism of Rush Limbaugh on this topic and many others, you may find this link to the Daily Kos and an entry by contributor Joan Mar of interest:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/16/1179542/-The-Filthy-Cowardly-Repugnant-Limbaugh-Mocks-Children

CBS New’s Bob Schieffer rightly described Sandy Hook as “probably the worst day in this country’s history since 9/11.”  Surely, even someone as apparently heartless as Limbaugh recognizes in hindsight that he crossed the line.  But, then again, he acknowledges that he always crosses the line of propriety, if he didn’t would he have an audience?  Would his many sponsors from AT&T to McDonalds to Wal-Mart continue to buy time if he wasn’t so controversial? 

Perhaps Mr. Limbaugh has done American’s a service.  Perhaps by crossing a line farther from our definition of civility than anything in recent shock jock history, he has helped to mobilize and galvanize the previously silent majority of caring, compassionate, cooperative who will now actually express their concerns, their wishes, and their demands for change.  Our society is full of cases where rules and regulations have been developed and implemented in response to accidents and catastrophes.  This will be different though.  Bob Schieffer believes that the impending battle with the gun lobby that has been reactivated by this event will be more formidable than defeating the Nazis (admittedly a rather extremist statement as well).  Mr. Schieffer’s full comments can be heard here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/bob-shieffer-tom-brokaw-gun-control-civil-rights-movement_n_2497028.html

While I don't agree with that comparison, I do agree that this is another turning point in our country's history.  I also agree with his statement that:  “Unless we figure out a way to make sure that something like Newtown never happens again, we’re not the country that we once were…”

So, what will you do?  You might start by finding out what radio stations broadcast his rants in your area:  http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/stations/all_stations/

Then you can find out who the local sponsors are here:  http://stoprush.net/rush_limbaugh_sponsor_list.php#current_a

Finally, you can contact them and ask them not to support him.

You might also contact your elected officials and encourage them to support President Obama’s efforts to rein in this crisis.  I suspect we will hear specific remarks aimed at this problem in his inaugural address on January 21, 2013.  Hopefully he will dare us solve this problem as JFK put it, “…not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”

With his leadership and the will of the people of this nation, I’m willing to look on the bright side that we can indeed be the country we once were.

What about you?