Limbaugh And The Future

 Deaths of polarizing figures always carry mixed messages. So on the one hand, family, friends, and fans are mourning the death of Rush Limbaugh and condolences should be expressed to all who mourn. Rush was a person who was loved by other people, and thus their loss should be respected and appreciated.

At the same time, the death of some carries with it a possible end to some dysfunctional traits. And that applies to the death of Rush Limbaugh.

Why  would I say that there were, with Limbaugh's life, some dysfunctional traits? It is because Limbaugh significantly contributed to the current state of divisiveness in America today. He did that by being an effective messenger of having a black-white message view of American politics. To him, conservatives were good and liberals were a serious threat to this country. Conservatives were the guys who were patriotic and were there to help people and liberals betrayed America's founding principles. Conservatives brought success and security and liberals could only bring destruction. That was the Limbaugh I remember.

And what did we see on January 6th at the Capitol? We saw self-proclaimed patriots feeling entitled to mount an insurrection because they believed that they alone represented patriotism and America while all politicians who were not loyal Trump supporters were viewed as the enemy of the nation. Thus many of those who mounted that insurrection felt entitled to disregard The Constitution by trying to stop a Constitutional process and even try to hunt down politicians, fellow Americans, whom they regarded as traitors.

We have to say that Limbaugh significantly contributed to current state of divisiveness in this nation because he and his fans are no longer the only ones who see Americans in black-white terms. There are now liberals and Leftists, note that there is a significant difference between the two, who see America and the world in black-white terms.

The results of this black-white view includes entertaining animosity to those who follow other ideologies, to assume that those with other political ideologies have nothing to contribute, and sometimes to embrace cultism as we see in Trumpism.

It matters not that Limbaugh has passed away and Trump may be in too much legal trouble to ever run for office again, the damage that Limbaugh's black-white worldview will sustain and maintain the current divisiveness in our nation for a while. If that black-white worldview, regardless of the ideology of the people who think that way, does not decrease, we could see other attempts at insurrection or other violent attempts to take the law into one's own hands. We should note that some of the summer rioters employed black-white thinking too. Thus we see that black-white world views not only can rationalize such attempts, it sometimes demands them.

If we were to see our ideologies for what they are, we could avoid this black-white thinking. After all, no ideology is omniscient. That means that we can't rely on any single ideology as providing all of the answers to our questions and problems. That is because every ideology has faults and weaknesses. We must borrow from other ideologies, we must create and practice appropriate hybrid solutions. But doing so is impossible for as long as we have a black-white view of things.

Yes, Rush Limbaugh's death is very sad for his family, friends, and fans. And all of us should respect that. But if we are not honest with some of the harmful messages and thinking Limbaugh promoted, we will not only continue to increase the divisions in our nation, we could become cult followers of people like Limbaugh.