Talk:Rush Limbaugh

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Editorial notes Article is fairly disorganized, also very bullet-pointy. Some bullet points definitely need expanding on.

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Soros-DNC Conspiracy Theories?

This page really underplays how much he's gone off the deep end in terms of Alex Jones-ian conspiracy theories. Rush Limbaugh accuses George Soros of paying millions of liberal protesters to march, says Obama orders movies to have secret subliminal messages, pushes conspiracy BS like Seth Rich, says that Obama is still running things through a deep state conspiracy etc. I think it's his defining feature in the Trump era, and deserves a section. I could write a section, but I'm not too familiar with Wiki editing... ^{— Unsigned, by: 73.67.148.110 / talk / contribs}

Feminazi?!

we should give feminazi its own page. it's use is similal to grammar-nazi and the like so I dont think it should redirect here.^{— Unsigned, by: Betrix5068 / talk / contribs}

Don't wish to step on any toes, but

I'm not sure I'm too fond of the way that drug addiction is kinda being used as an insult here. I don't know much about this guy, so I may be missing something, but either way, it kind of makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Petrichor (talk) 11:38, 14 August 2016 (UTC)

He's being attacked for hypocrisy, of criticising drug addicts while being one himself, and promoting draconian law-and-order policies while breaking the law. Annquin (talk) 11:49, 14 August 2016 (UTC)

Oh, righto. That makes more sense. I don't know if I just missed that in translation or what, but would it help if that wasade more obvious? Sorry, I feel I'm being irritating now. I'll leave it. Petrichor (talk) 11:54, 14 August 2016 (UTC)

Misattributed quotes

There's some quotes floating around that have been attributed to him that are either misleading or outright fabricated. Credit to Newsone for the alleged quotes.

“I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.”

“You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray. We miss you, James. Godspeed.”

The first one I've seen circulated a bit online but it seems to be cribbed from 101 People Who Are Really Screwing America, and there's dubious sourcing for that one. Rush also denies ever saying that too. I think we need to document those dubious ones in our attempt to curb the spread of misinformation. --It's-a me, 🎄LeftyGreenMario!🎄 00:26, 12 February 2020 (UTC)

Comedian ?

I'm going to need a source proving he was a "comedian" Now, no doubt he would claim that so that when he said something too horrible for even his audience and spondors he could claims "it was just a joke". But other than a cover story, I don't believe he there was anything comedic about this tragic waste of skin and oxygen. 142.183.104.181 (talk) 08:05, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Recent edits about Rush's racism and misogyny

There are a bunch of edits in the last few weeks that I'm certain are good-faith additions intended to highlight and unpack Rush's hatred for minoritized people, but they read to me like reframing the issue to center white male liberals. In particular, I think we might be putting too much emphasis on the assessment of John Wilson in the Nothing Personal? section:

Rush is actually proud of his racism. It's his way of signaling to his audience how much he resists liberal orthodoxy. If he is willing to violate the "politically correct" barriers of race, then it proves he is beholden to nothing about liberalism. As with everything else about Mr. Limbaugh, his racism is really all about his hatred of liberalism, not some deep-seated hatred of black people.

Limbaugh is a racist because he hates liberalism. That doesn't mean that anyone who hates liberalism is a racist. It means that Rush Limbaugh expresses racist ideas because he despises everything associated with liberalism. Since fighting racism is a core principle of liberalism, he is constantly skeptical of it. And he expresses that skepticism using racist language.

Bluntly, US political journalism — yes, on both sides of the fence — has a long history of bending over backwards to explain away racism or sexism. (Cough cough economic anxiety.) We don't need to imply he's only racist and sexist as a way to "own the libs," and I think RationalWiki should be very careful about granting undue weight to "well ACTUALLY"-ing about racism and misogyny. I'd like to rewrite those sections considerably — but I'd also like to seek consensus before doing so. I humbly solicit your opinions. Antikythera⚙Mechanism (talk) 14:21, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

You can check out the source at the Internet Archive.

Personally, that source seems... iffy? I'm not a fan of the above quote at all. I wouldn't mind it taken out, it seems unsourced and "just an opinion".

My opinion: When Limbaugh started out, I recall that his show was more of an appeal-to-the-Archie-Bunker crowd "un-PC" jokester and shock jock, like an Andrew Dice Clay or a reactionary Howard Stern. It was more obvious it was half-act then. Hell, there's an old New York Times article early in his career where he actually expresses regret running a bit on AIDS and homosexuals, something I doubt would have happened later when he became established as the #1 reactionary troll (and #1 voice of the Republican party). When he started, shock radio was big; those were the days when liberal talk shows (with the same shock bullshit) actually existed, every morning show was trying to out-trash Stern, and talk shows were devolving into Jerry Springer circuses. All chasing ratings, of course.

So I don't like the above paragraph; to me, what drove Limbaugh was not hatred of liberalism per se, but ratings. Now, I don't doubt his conservatism or racism or sexism or all the rest, mind you (even in that Times article he professed a following for William F. Buckley, so yeah), but the edgelord troll aspect of his show was half an act. At least, at first. (There are parallels, methinks, between what happened in right-wing talk radio and what happened in reactionary Internet places like 4chan... eventually, edgelord trolling consumes you...) BobJohnson (talk) 15:34, 15 June 2023 (UTC)