Introduction
Rush Limbaugh is a radio talk show broadcaster. He developed the radio talk show broadcaster’s disorder: a bloated and distorted sense of self so profound that he has lost the ability to accept the idea of being wrong in anything that he does. He has developed a need to stay relevant that has reached histrionic and desperate levels.
Some of the words from his own mouth will be used to illustrate his growing pack of problems that extended into illegal drug abuse without having to do a prison sentence and a series of vitriolic personal attack so foul that some of us want him off of our airways for good.
The problem with talk radio
The process of being a radio talk show host is one where words must fill the air. Any words will do because the greatest failure is to allow even a second of “dead air”. Some hosts are so desperate that they will make juvenile or bizarre noises, repeat worn out catch phrases or do anything to fill the airwaves with noise.
The process is one of complete control over the conversation, of hiding from the public view, and of great and easily earned income.
The problem with talk radio is that the hosts run out of things to say during their first week on the job. The rest degrades into a series of desperate grabs for attention, each one more offensive than the last one.
Radio talk show hosts can be stupid to the point of near mental retardation. They do not need much by way of formal education and they only accept the facts that support their point of view. They lose their ability to think critically, to think of other perspectives and people, and to deal with the consequences of their actions.
Such individuals can easily dodge responsibility for their behavior because they control the discourse. Unless they go too far, radio talk show hosts rarely are sanctioned or taken off the air. Whites can go miles down the wrong road while other ethnicities cannot slip far at all.
They suck the last drop of public respect for freedom of speech. They distort the conversation to the point where people sound like small children, tempermental and ignorant of the world. They go beyond testing the boundaries of outrageous speech. As they age, they exhaust their limited talent and expertise, and begin to use facts that anyone can get from the web. Their personalities and mentalities decline.
They must resort to more and more outrageous speech in order to stay relevant. They become shills for the right wing and they clearly are given orders to start trouble on a schedule and agenda that is hidden from the rest of us.
Propped up by the corporations and by their bloated and undeserved paychecks, some radio personalities become so powerful that they cannot be gotten rid of, no matter how they offend the public trust or violate the rules.
For example, the greatest hypocrisy comes when a White radio talk show host whines about Black sports star’s salary. No one seemss to notice that the radio personality refuses to release information about how they have become rich enough to buy the sports team.
More important, the sports stars obviously have to work hard and to accomplish much more than the radio personalities, at least one of whom could not even finish a semester of college. (more…)
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