Rush Limbaugh
When Rush Limbaugh created a new format for talk radio in the eighties a lot of people where quick to dismiss it as something less than serious. 'He's an entertainer' was the mantra then. Lately President Obama has told members of Congress: "Don't listen to Rush Limbaugh if you want to get along with me." RNC leader Michael Steele recently distanced himself from Limbaugh, calling him an 'entertainer.'
The president spends an awful lot of time trying to discount Rush Limbaugh and the RNC is running from association with him. Some media pundits are arguing awfully hard that am radio is a dying medium.
For an entertainer in a dying medium, Rush is getting an awful lot of free publicity.
So what is Rush really? I have long held the opinion, based on something Rush once said, that he is something more. Limbaugh likes to talk about "those teachers you remember, the ones who challenge you... ...they make you stretch your mind and think." Yes, they are the ones you never forget. So may I humbly offer this opinion, that Rush is one of those master teachers.
I have taught adults and middle school boys. Each time I have assumed the mantle of teacher I consider it a sacred trust. It is important to present information of course. But information alone is often dry and unchallenging in its raw form. To engage students and wrap them into the learning process, that is a skill and a gift. Having shamelessly crafted some of my own methods after those of Limbaugh [imitation being the sincerest form of flattery] I must conclude that he possesses both the skill and the gift.
I was given the task of teaching the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. To break the barrier of thinking it a book about a bunch of old guys in robes I came up with the "Nehemiah of the Week" feature. Entertaining, yes, but the use of modern examples of Nehemiah's way of thinking created a dialogue that would not otherwise have happened. Some of my "Nehemiah of the Week" people have become "Milestone Monday" stories on this blog. I freely admit that I have seen Rush masterfully use similar methods to make the complex understandable.
Having used some of his methods has only convinced me further that the man is brilliant. If he were to switch off the golden EIB microphone today and spend his days on the golf course, his legacy would live on. Hannity, Ingrahm and a host of others have taken the medium and shaped it into a variety of engaging forums. Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor made it a point to show up on Rush's show after we were told not to listen to him. President Obama himself points to Bob Michel, minority leader during the years of Democrat dominance as his example of 'bipartisanship.' Michel couldn't really do anything with the deck stacked as it was so he was decidedly non-adversarial. Limbaugh used Mr. Obama's description of Michel as a 'great Republican' to show us that the president clearly wants to stifle the discussion of opposing viewpoints.
Which brings me to the 'Fairness' Doctrine. Why is it even an issue if am radio and its 'entertainers' are dying?
Update: Constitution or Dclaration?
This morning I received some "news" update email talking about Rush mixing up his source. May I humbly suggest, as one who has so flubbed himself, that this merely suggests that Mr. Limbaugh is so conversant with the founding documents as to unthinkingly rattle off the concept and missplace it. I wonder how many people are triumphantly revelling in this "news brief" who have never read our Constitution themselves?
Past Milestone Monday Features:
Dr. June McCarroll and the White Line
Henry "Box" Brown Ships Himself to Freedom
Richard Ankrom's 'Guerrilla Signage'
Preston Tucker and John DeLorean
General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. [1], [2], [3]
Meta Warwick Fuller
Franklin Graham [Son of Billy]
Francis Collins and Jedadiah Hotchkiss
Motherhood and Invention
Eric Liddell
Bob Childress
William H. Howland [Mayor Who Made a Difference]
Tolbert S. Dalton
Davy Crockett and Mark Warner
Noam Bedein
The Nehemiah Project
Perley A. Thomas
Warning: The above articles might prove inspirational to "Dangerous" Home Schoolers, as described in my piece: Public Servants Should Remember Who They Serve.
No comments:
Post a Comment