rush is a cult leader, similar to Jim Jones, with 20 million Kool Aid drinkers

[Philosoraptor]

I've always been fascinated with cults, particularly huge suicide cults. I know several members of this cult, and I'm sure you do too. One lady I know, actually puts her fingers in her ears and says 'la la la la' if anyone says anything negative about her beloved rush.

All cults have a central cult leader, whose every word must be considered sent from God, and who must be obeyed absolutely. And right now, the cult leader and the cult itself are under supposed attack, and the very core of the cult is collapsing in dramatic fashion.

Nothing can break the spell of the devotees, no negative press, no logical argument, they are totally devoted to their cult leader, and will follow him straight into hell if given the order. This can be heard in their calls to cspan, they've been mortally wounded by the fact that Barack Obama is in the White House and it cuts them to their core, and it scares the hell out of them, because they are panicky, cultists.

The rush cultists resist change, resist hope, resist inclusion, resist logic and they are coming unglued, more each day that Obama is president.

Even the republican party's senators and congressmen must obey the cult leader, even if they have to humiliate themselves by kissing his giant ass in public. This cult and it's leader are in a crisis like they've never experienced, and the Jim Jones model becomes more and more possible. The cult and it's leader are under attack, losing their grip, and they are mixing up a monstrous batch of tasty and delicious Kool Aid.

[cali]

1. actually, no he's not.

there are clear differences. And there are people on the left who stick their fingers in their ears and won't hear anything bad about their respective idols. That's not a measurement of adherence to a cult.

I remember back in the primaries when lots of dems here were insisting that Obama was a cult leader and comparing him to Jones.

It's a silly comparison because religious cults are simply not the same as political fandom.

[Kokonoe]

8. The people on the left who put their fingers in their ears are called STUPIDS.,

[ColbertWatcher]

28. Actually it's a good framing.

The GOP always wants to inject religion into everything, I say give it to them with both barrels: they're a cult.

Instead of accepting their framing that they are some kind of "strict father," it's time they deal with our framing.

[DrDan]

2. its not really 20 million (I think)

don't they like add up the daily numbers to get the number of listeners? or something like that?

Isn't it really like 3 million?

[AnotherMother4Peace]

13. I doubt it's 20 mil - hard to believe that it would even be 3 mil - When he's the only thing on the

radio, it's either him or music. He & his ilk have a monopoly in most places.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. It's About 3.5 Million

The 20 million is the Arbitron cumulative weekly value. That's 6 shows a week (including saturday replay), with lower numbers for the replay. So, it's 3.5 to 3.7 million actual listeners.
GAC

[DrDan]

16. that is what I thought - thanks

so when that blowhard mentions 20 million, he is really stretching it.

I wish this was more generally known.

[Johonny]

24. remember many of them have no choice

due to the ending of preventing monopolies in the US. Many areas of the country have no choice in what the listen to. If they are interested in political talk they have to suck it up and listen to Rush.

[BOSSHOG]

3. One bit of evidence

that lends credence to your post (I know nothing of cults) people call up him and hannity and say they are great americans. You have to be a fucking moron (brainless cult member?) to think those two are great americans. They have never done anything positive or good for our country. They are failures if you take away their microphones. I might add that one has to have incredibly low self esteem to have to turn to the likes of right wing hate radio for "facts."

[cali]

4. there's a difference between that sort of brainless rhetoric

and living and breathing the rarified air of a cult, as Jones followers did. Rush listeners tune in for a couple of hours a day, not 24/7, and they don't live by Rush rules.

[Royal Oak Rog]

5. That's Great

You put that together succinctly and clearly, nice piece, I agree completely!

[cali]

6. Why?

the OP presented no real comparisons. And what he said about rush fans can equally be said about the fandom of some Obama supporters, for instance. There are no parallels between rush fans and members of cult groups like Jones'.

[SAXMAR]

7. Limbaugh is the McCarthy of our age.

Luckily Limbaugh is not in the Senate.

I am a Democratic Party and Labor Union activist. There is no conspiracy to make the USA a socialist state. This Limbaugh and his followers fear of a conspiracy regarding socialism is similar to the Communist Red Scare of McCarthy.

I think we all would be better off if the country functioned the way it did under Bill Clinton. I believe that is what Obama is trying to do.

The people I know who are Limbaugh followers are less educated and not very well paid blue collar workeers. I don't say that with malice because some of the Limbaugh followers I know are family members.

Getting back to McCarthy/Limbaugh comparison. US Senators and others who disagree with Limbaugh risk getting on his blacklist.

The bottom line is Limbaugh is an entertainer. But a scarily powerful one.

saxmar

[Dreamer Tatum]

27. More like Walter Winchell nt

[KharmaTrain]

9. The Cult Of Personality

Radio more than any other medium is the most intimate. People listen alone...in the car, office or at home. People can and do get attached to a radio personality like a close friend...someone they can tune into every day and know they're always there. Surely many of us had a favorite deejay who became as important as the music. It's a magic radio has used and Rushbo and his ilk have abused.

The Rushbo game is one of suspending any association with reality. He has both all the answers and solutions. At one time he had a list of "undeniable truths"...kinda his bible of beliefs that were both irrefutable and undeniable. From this base he was able to hook an audience who could relate to some, if not all of those "principals" and then found common cause among others. Since Rushbo agreed with me on one issue, he must then be right on others. Thus you have the "dittohead".

For his ilk, what Rushbo says is their daily affirmation...a narcotic they've grown addicted to over the years and take in doses without questioning. It makes life a lot easier than having to confront reality.

Cheers...

[BlancheSplanchnik]

17. well said--and though he may not be leader of a cult, per se...

he does have influence over those who most willingly guzzle his toxic waste.

If he WERE to start insidiously suggesting to his braindead minions that they act out his hate, I have no doubt they would march forth, like a scene from Dawn of the Dead!

[Duppers]

29. R for your post

Rush Limballs espouses an ideology and they drink his koolaid.

Not much difference.

[corpseratemedia]

10. Isn't he leading his followers to the same dead end?

ideologically at least. Worse, since his followers can't adhere to their own creed of taking personal responsibility and instead project onto others, their dead end will make them lash out, i.e., go on those mulit-person anonymous/family killing rages.

[EnviroBat]

11. If they found his fat,bloated corpse in a dumpster.

It would be one of the greatest events to aid in the progress of this country.

He truly is a worthless pig.

[peekaloo]

12. more like Dr. Moreau

the ass kissing is part of his experiment to lead a Half Human/Half Anal Wart Nation.

[FredStembottom]

15. I think it is a fair description.

In so far as he is someone who leads his followers right off the cliff. He espouses ideas that are directly against his followers own self-interests - and yet they obey in lockstep.

His followers are clearly in it for the effect of being in something larger than themselves. For the effect of being cleansed of their own failures. For having Rush identify a permanent enemy that caused it all.

The fact that Rush also represents the very people who work day and night to keep his followers down goes un-noticed. They aren't there for solutions. They are there for the "born-again' effect.

The True Believer by Eric Hoffer explains all this in a way you will never forget. How people can get caught up in large movements to "wash away" their own failures rather than to accomplish something.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

18. also well said! Thanks for the book suggestion too! :) n/t

[FredStembottom]

19. Thanks.

And the book really will be one you'll never forget.
Because it sympathetically and plainly describes the psychology of so many of these self-destructive cults.
Turns out people have understandable reasons for getting caught up in them.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

22. understanding is really important for me

I have a hard time having empathy when I can only see qualities I ... strongly dislike

I'm looking forward to getting this book.

:thumbsup:

[Marr]

21. Wow, that's true. At first I found the comparison to be a bit silly, but

there are similarities. Interesting.

[Marr]

20. He's managed to convince many of his listeners to put right wing ideology ahead of their

own self interest and love for country, that's certainly true.

When he was interviewed on CNBC the other day, he said that he hopes Obama fails because he doesn't embrace Limbaugh's ideology. He would prefer to see the county fail than see his ideology discredited. It was sickening.

[Prophet 451]

23. Not the "leader" exactly

More like one of the high priests.

I'be been saying for years now (check my DU journal) that conservative Republicanism is gradually morphing into a religion. I call it Christopublicanism, a melding of very extreme Old Testament Christianity (of sorts, I'll come back to that) with very extreme right-fringe politics. What makes it a cult (and what differs from mainstream conservatism) is the acceptance of articles of faith which must not be questioned. For example, the faith article that says government can never do anything right and anything that it appears to do right is wrong. Another would be the unearned and unwarrented victim complex. These articles are unquestioned, they cannot be questioned, they are simply accepted as articles of faith. For example, I've had numerous conversations with conservatives about universal healthcare. They claim that it would bankrupt the economy, that SS and Medicare/aid are going bust. I patiently point out that the rest of the civilised world manages this and I might as well have said nothing at all because the point isn't even heard, they just restate their position more loudly.

I first noticed this from a religious viewpoint. In my day job, I work for Beliefnet.com, a multi-faith religion and spirituality site so, naturally enough, I observe and talk to people of all religious viewpoints every day. Some of those are fundementalist Christians and a while back, I noticed that a percentage of them (as a very rough guess, I'd say 15-20%) were adopting a very selective interpretation of the Bible. Now, I'm not Christian (I'm actually a Satanist) but I have read the Bible and I seem to remember that Jesus had quite a lot to say about caring for the poor, tolerance, compassion and reaching out to the outcasts. He didn't say one word about homosexuality or abortion but he said an awful lot about caring for one's fellow man. But that particular percentage of fundies were all about homosexuality, abortion and very conservative social values. In short, they put virtually all of their emphasis on the punishment verses and almost none on the promise verses. Now, that's not unusual for fundies but what struck me was that this percentage not only held highly conservative social values but they elevated them to the same level as scripture. Those conservative social values, even ones that had nothing to do with Christianity like adherence to unregulated capitalism (Jesus seems to have been a kind of proto-socialist), violent hostility to government ("Render unto Caesar"), these things assumed the level of holy writ.

Then you marry that with a violent anti-intellectualism that's endemic to fundementalism generally but assumed the level of a social force in the American South (probably left over from the Populist movement of the 1800s) and you end up with a new religion which emphasises the violent parts of the Bible; which virtually worships Ronald Reagan (their attitude to him really is verging on idolatry) and which places The Way Things Ought To Be equal with the Bible as a holy book. Far from being a religion which got dragged into politics through conflicting interests (as is usually the case), it is a religion which exists because of and in symbiosis with extreme-right politics. In effect, it is a form of fascism which carries the cross and wraps itself in the flag. Fascism historically used religion to further politics but Christopublicanism melds the two together into a force which treats it's political views as a holy crusade. The only difference between Christopublicans and jihadists is that jihadists have a higher body count (so far).

Rush is not the leader of that movement. He didn't originate it, he isn't the only public voice and, unlike most cults, the movement would outlive him if he died but he is one of the most prominent public voices so I would say he was closer to a high priest.

As someone interested in history, religion, politics and so on, it's fascinating to watch but as someone who has to share the planet with these nutters, it's terrifying.

[fascisthunter]

25. Rush is the Pied-Piper of Mentally Imbalanced Morons

[sofa king]

26. He's a trusted authority for right-wing-authoritarians.

A big, big part of Rush's job is to feed enough disinformation to his listeners so that they are confused, so that they must rely on the opinions of the authority figures they trust--like himself. "Rush is right" is more than just a catch phrase. It's part of a belief system.

That is of course similar to cult leaders, who usually claim their authority through "secret knowledge," but there are fundamental differences, too. Though Rush may appear to be a leader and is probably accepted as such by his followers, he's actually working for someone else: the shadowy monied interests which are attempting to control America's political course. The information by which he confuses and controls his audience is not self-derived; it too is provided to him by Republican political operatives such as Karl Rove.

Because of these things, Rush cannot so easily re-write the record as a cult leader can. He can't say, "everything is different now because our efforts pleased God," as cult leaders habitually explain away the fact that the world didn't end when they say it will. He can't convince the herd that John McCain is a good guy because he already spent a couple of years trashing him back in 99-00, and his audience couldn't easily forget that. He's constantly forced to pick up new listeners as old ones tune into his contradictions and drop off. He can't explain away pink slips and foreclosures to those who actually get them, though he tries.

In many ways, Rush is beneficial to us because in many ways his interests coincide with ours. He knows his audience is deeply stupid, and he therefore keeps them running in circles, which keeps them busy when they could be out lighting torches and putting on arm-bands. He's also a direct and public line into the political machinations of the GOP. Those with the fortitude to listen to him can predict much about which fights the GOP wants to pick and which ones they wish to avoid. He's scum and I dislike him, but he's also fungible and taking him out would only cause him to be replaced with someone possibly more competent and less personally vulnerable.