I thought to myself, “What kind of guy uses someone’s cancer to sarcastically make political points against them?” Then I decided to not be so judgmental and to try to understand.
To the Editor:
On Friday I was listening to Rush Limbaugh. Occasionally I do. He was talking about the recent news that Senator Dodd of Connecticut has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He used this to try to score some political points.
He said, “I wonder where Senator Dodd is going to get his treatment, Canada or England, because he certainly wouldn’t want to get health care here, because, according to him, we have such bad health care in the United States.”
I thought to myself, “What kind of guy uses someone’s cancer to sarcastically make political points against them?” I remembered when Limbaugh accused Michael J. Fox of faking his Parkinson’s symptoms. I thought, “What kind of freaks listen to this guy?”
Then I decided to not be so judgmental and to try to understand. After all millions of people do listen to him. They are Americans as well, and it is probably useful to try to understand where they are coming from, rather than just dismiss them as “freaks.”
I am going to start with the proposition that most people, probably the vast majority, do not think of themselves as “bad.” They think that they are justified in their actions and thoughts.
So how can people feel justified making fun of a person who just found out that they have prostate cancer? First they much think that the person is part of the other team, the enemy. So Chris Dodd is, to people who listen to Limbaugh, part of the enemy. Now in order to hate your enemy you must feel threatened by him. I think this is true. I think many people in politics think of themselves as victims. They feel they have been wronged and they nurse a sense of grievance.
This is how I think they can feel justified in making fun of someone who has recently found that they have cancer.
Limbaugh encourages this sense of victimization and this dividing up into teams. He speaks disparagingly and disrespectfully of Democrats, environmentalists, activists for women’s rights and Obama.
I think for an insecure person it is good to have someone to dislike and feel morally superior to.
Democrats do this as well. There is this talk show host on Air America named Randi Rhodes who is hateful to Limbaugh and other conservatives.
I think this kind of conflict is good for radio ratings. I think it might actually be a guilty pleasure to listen to someone who disrespectfully bashes people with whom you disagree.
But it isn’t right.
I am going to go ahead and say that in practically everyone there is an aspect of good. They might feel beat up. They might feel that they are a victim of forces that they only vaguely understand. They might act out because the world is not treating them the way they had hoped.
Anyway I am going to go with this rather than thinking that everyone who listens to Limbaugh is a freak.
As in everything else we are stronger when we work together and weaker when we are divided.
I think Limbaugh and Rhodes help to divide us and that is bad for the country.
Sincerely,
Ken Gordon
Ken invites people with opinions on this topic to post comments at his Web site.