October 20, 2010 5:34 AM

The death of civility and rational thought

Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid.

  • Heinrich Heine

It’s a rare occasion anymore when I dignify anything Rush Limbaugh says with a response. In this case, I’m not going to respond to the beyond silly and hateful tenor of his comments. They’re ignorant, inflammatory, insulting, and beneath contempt. You don’t need me to know what an ignorant, self-absorbed blowhard Limbaugh is.

No, my concern is with what his comments represent, and the reality that there are millions who hang on Limbaugh’s every word as if they were manna from On High. It’s certainly not newsworthy that civility and rational thinking have long since expired, their death rattles fueling the currently vacant, brain-dead state of public discourse. What saddens me is that it didn’t have to be this way…and yet there are those who profit handsomely by sowing hatred, propaganda, and divisiveness.

We’ve always been a fractious, disputatious collection of disparate political personalities. Unity is something that America has really only known in times of great triumph (WWII) or great tragedy (the aftermath of 9.11). Throughout our history, American political theater has been the moral equivalent of a massive game of tug-of-war. Somehow, though, through it all our better angels have managed to prevail, even if only just. Now, though, there’s an edge, a mean-spiritedness that leaves me fearing for our future. On the one side, there are the culture warriors, those who feel that their religion/ideology is the One And Only True Faith, and that those who do not subscribe deserve to be crushed under the boot heels of the faithful. On the other side, there are those who think that we’re all in this together, that tolerance, charity, and compassion aren’t merely antiquated concepts. Yeah, you say “bleeding heart Liberal” like it’s a bad thing….

Of course, both sides have their faults, and both can be and often are astonishingly intolerant. Those of us who believe in the idea of community, that we’re all in this together are often astonished at the selfishness and ignorance of those convinced that they have no responsibility to anyone or anything but themselves and their own interests. Conversely, we can be very intolerant of dissenting viewpoints. Then again, ignorance and selfishness are not merely dissenting viewpoints. They serve to disconnect us from each other, to create the feeling that “I got mine; you can damn well get your own.”

Voices like Limbaugh and his ilk seek to divide and sow mistrust. His words, when taken to heart, create suspicion and anger. This is how otherwise well-meaning, thoughtful people can come to believe that the poor are where they are because they choose to be. It’s how people can come to hate those who think, act, believe, and/or love differently than they do. It’s how people come to fear the Other, anyone perceived as different.

We’re better than this…aren’t we??

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on October 20, 2010 5:34 AM.

And you wonder why I'm so militantly anti-smoking? was the previous entry in this blog.

Stupid...and not afraid to prove it for attribution is the next entry in this blog.

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