Rush Limbaugh dead at 70

[Benjamin Frank]

This will be a civil thread

You can have civility or you can have honesty.  

I'll just point out that should anybody for whatever reason in the future want to use this thread as a reference for what people thought of Rush Limbaugh, this board is heavily censored.

[Lourdes]

https://twitter.com/acnewsitics/status/1362100808439844867

[Mopsus]

I heard on the radio that he turned towards God at the end of his life. I genuinely hope that's true.

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

This is a very interesting thread to say the least

[ChiefFireWaterMike]

A tragic moment, and one that shows the true problems of this forum.

https://twitter.com/samthielman/status/1362114206296928258

And as a member of the community which he mocked through that, that's disgusting. That does not give YOU, especially, the right, on any level, to mock his death. Do not use my community's pain for your own damn gain.

[darklordoftech]

How can anyone who knows who Rush Limbaugh is think that the GOP was “suburban” until 2015 or even until 2008?

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Your comments on Rush are tame and civil compared to the dribble that Twitter is allowing.

[ꙮ]

A tragic moment, and one that shows the true problems of this forum.

https://twitter.com/samthielman/status/1362114206296928258

And as a member of the community which he mocked through that, that's disgusting. That does not give YOU, especially, the right, on any level, to mock his death. Do not use my community's pain for your own damn gain.

And who elected you the President of the AIDS Victims? Spare us all the crap about how only “your community” has the right to care about Limbaugh saying horrible things. Anyone can call him out on that regardless of whether they have the permission of LordRichard.

[pbrower2a]

I know who and what he was but celebrating or speaking ill of the dead is pretty horrible.

I found Rush deplorable but I never wished him harm, just as I don’t wish Trump harm (nor will I celebrate his death when that happens).  People need to be more respectful, even toward people who lack respect; even toward people who did terrible things while alive.

In another chat line I gave a clip of "Ding, dong! The witch is dead!" in reference to murder-cult leader Charles Manson. There are thoroughly evil people devoid of any mitigating qualities. Dancing on the grave of Chemical Ali, Pol Pot, or (when his time comes) the Green River Murderer is appropriate.

Pervasive, unqualified evil is one thing. Controversy is another. I thought such treatment wrong when it was applied to Margaret Thatcher. Just about any high-profile figure in politics, business, journalism, or creative work will engender some controversy. I did not think that lead-in appropriate to her.

Rush Limbaugh was a horrible person. This said, so was Phil Specter.

 
Counter-argument:

I’m not a huge Hitchens fan and am not even taking a side in this “don’t speak ill of the dead” argument, as I can see both sides. But I do find the idea that just because someone is dead, we should whitewash everything bad they did while alive and act like it never happened, a little absurd.

It's astounding to think that this is from 14 years ago (May 2007); moreover, both Alan Colmes and Christopher Hitchens are now deceased. It's also interesting to see how Sean Hannity was the same smarmy and arrogant character then as he is now, though not surprising. But nevertheless, while I certainly don't think we should ignore the accomplishments-good and bad-of someone, I'm also, as I've made clear repeatedly before, not someone who likes to dance over the graves of others. And I'm glad to see that some people on here have been exercising restraint with their responses to Limbaugh's death.

Death does not redeem people unless the death comes with some heroism. Were such so one might feel right about executing Adolf Eichmann before he was hanged and feel guilty about it after the fact.  I remind you that I once saw an editorial cartoon after the announcement of the death of Josef Mengele, the doctor who performed horrific experiments upon helpless people. Mengele was depicted in the company of demons, being turned on a spit over flames.  The caption read "What do you mean he got away with it?" Limbaugh is not in that category.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

After my mom died I have a different view of death, leaving is your reward

[...]

It's not the end, days and time are different in space than on Earth plane, but the dead will be missed,.
They are no longer suffering

Reading this again... this is exactly how I feel about my mom.

Thank you again, OC. I unironically wish I could hug you.

[Alcibiades]

After my mom died I have a different view of death, leaving is your reward

[...]

It's not the end, days and time are different in space than on Earth plane, but the dead will be missed,.
They are no longer suffering

Reading this again... this is exactly how I feel about my mom.

Thank you again, OC. I unironically wish I could hug you.

All memes aside, that OC post truly was one of the most touching things I’ve read in a while.

[Badger]

There is a difference between celebrating the death of someone versus pointing out the truth, even ugly ones, about the way that person conducted themselves as they lived.

Some people wish to confuse not celebrating someone's demise and the old adage of not to speak ill of the Dead. The two are distinct. I choose not to necessarily follow the latter when they are a famous person who spent their entire professional life injecting themselves into the mainstream of public discourse.

In Limbaugh's case, his participation in public life was entirely ugly. I think people on this thread don't understand that there is a fundamental difference between being a principled conservative liberals could have adamantly disagreed with all their lives, versus someone who was simply a bigoted hateful individual who made tens of millions of dollars in a decades-long career of unapologetically punching down.

If you take this as celebrating the man's death as opposed to pointing out that he was simply not a good person, and not remotely just because he was a conservative, well, learn nuance 101.

[RFK Jr.’s Brain Worm]

I heard on the radio that he turned towards God at the end of his life. I genuinely hope that's true.

And I hope that God looked at Limbaugh’s life and recognized it for what it was.

[Progressive Pessimist]

I'll say something positive.

He was funny on Family Guy.

That's only because that episode seemed to have been written in a way that wouldn't offend him. I actually hate that episode for that reason. If he had demonstrated a sense of humor more consistently in his every day life then maybe I wouldn't have minded that episode as much.

Anyway, that's all I'll say about him in this thread.

Though I will say something about this cartoon: I can't tell if it's pro or anti-Limbaugh, but if it's the former, it's just embarrassing.

[Sumner 1868]

I am reminded of when Rush Limbaugh trivialized the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, AIDS victims, and countless others. I'm trying my best to afford him the grace he failed to give to so many more deserving than himself.

Don't forget his classy broadcast from April 11, 1994!

Kurt Cobain was, ladies and gentleman, I just - he was a worthless shred of human debris.

...

It is--this Kurt Cobain stuff and this is all symptomatic of what we in this country are doing. We're trying to make a victim out of everybody, absolve anybody of responsibility, and that's just absolutely wrong because the people who play by the rules are the ones on whose backs the burden of supporting these losers falls. And it's about time it came to a screeching halt.

I do not celebrate his death, but I must say it's pretty rich that his fans now demand a standard he never followed in life.

[Devout Centrist]

A tragic moment, and one that shows the true problems of this forum.

https://twitter.com/samthielman/status/1362114206296928258

And as a member of the community which he mocked through that, that's disgusting. That does not give YOU, especially, the right, on any level, to mock his death. Do not use my community's pain for your own damn gain.

Lol, yes it does

[Kingpoleon]

“Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.” - Coretta Scott King

[Esteemed Jimmy]

Oh what he did while alive is absolutely fair game and shouldn’t be discarded.

But his actual death and/or suffering while alive shouldn’t be celebrated just because he was a terrible person.  Absolutely talk about the bad things he did.  But I’ve seen considerable hate and making fun of his death even.  I think that’s where we should draw the line.

For everything bad he said, did, and stood for he still had a family and he was still a human being.  I think we should extend some dignity even if he wouldn’t have done so to others and yes, even if he didn’t deserve it.

[HisGrace]

I just remember a bunch of lefties doing handwringing about celebrating Bin Laden or Castro's death, a mass murderer and tyrant, but apparently Rush Limbaugh being a big meanie is where that line gets crossed.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I will say I fondly remember his "Deficit Spending Awareness Ribbon". It was a folded up dollar bill in the shape of the multiplicity of various awareness ribbons that proliferated in the 1990s.

[RFK Jr.’s Brain Worm]

I'll say something positive.

He was funny on Family Guy.

That's only because that episode seemed to have been written in a way that wouldn't offend him. I actually hate that episode for that reason. If he had demonstrated a sense of humor more consistently in his every day life then maybe I wouldn't have minded that episode as much.

Anyway, that's all I'll say about him in this thread.

Though I will say something about this cartoon: I can't tell if it's pro or anti-Limbaugh, but if it's the former, it's just embarrassing.

The comic is from the Onion.

[McGarnagle]

Rush Limbaugh dead, Sheldon Adelson dead, Trump's old casino demolished. All within a very short span of time.

I'll hold off on the more callous remarks that I could be making.

[Joe Haydn]

The Simpsons had a funny parody of him:

[Kamala's side hoe]

I'll say something positive.

He was funny on Family Guy.

Say what you will about Seth MacFarlane or his shows, he's an incredibly talented voice actor and vocalist.

[AtorBoltox]

I just remember a bunch of lefties doing handwringing about celebrating Bin Laden or Castro's death

No you don't, lol