by Nomad
Shaking the Limbaugh family tree and something amazing falls out.
Here's a story to brighten your mood a little. The satirical news site, The Daily Currant, has this hoax-story about Rush Limbaugh was denied service in a Mexican restaurant (due to his history of racial slurs against minorities) and was asked to leave the premises. In the fictional story, Rush lost his cool.
According to the story, Limbaugh bellowed to the owner how..
"My ancestors built this country while yours were sacrificing 10-year-olds to the Aztec gods. This isn't your country. It's our country. You're a guest here in America..."Unfortunately, although it might sound plausible, the event never actually took place. Yet, there's always hope that somebody will have to courage to confront this man in such a way.
The Other Rush
Still it did get me curious about the Limbaugh family history. It was interesting to see how little in common Rush Limbaugh III has with his more honorable origins.
Rush Limbaugh, Sr., Limbaugh's grandfather and namesake, served on the Missouri Commission for Human Rights (MCHR) back in the late 1950s. The Commission was established in 1957, but was originally meant to gather information about discrimination and publish a report and recommendations after a two-year period and it is still in operation. (Last year, the commission investigated and closed nearly 1500 cases of employment discrimination in Missouri.)
Biographer, Dennis Boman, author of the book,"The Original Rush Limbaugh: Lawyer, Legislator and Civil Libertarian" explains:
"The commission was created to help implement new civil-rights legislation and court decisions that affected the struggle for equality in Missouri, when Mr. Limbaugh served on the commission, he was steadfastly on the side of desegregation and equal rights for minorities. This did not endear him to certain elements of the state opposed to his efforts, but he was fearless in the face of death threats designed to keep him from enforcing equal rights in Missouri."The Commission was created to foster mutual understanding and respect racial, ethnic, religious or other group protected by this chapter, members of these groups or persons with disabilities and it is still in operation. According to the website:
The MCHR investigates complaints of discrimination in housing, employment, and places of public accommodations based on race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, disability, age (in employment only), and familial status (in housing only). The MCHR also provides training to inform people of their rights and responsibilities under the Missouri Human Rights Act.
And how does this work, which his grandfather worked hard to promote compare to Rush Limbaugh III work on radio? Let's see, here are some notable but typical public remarks he has made.
Regarding black Americans, he has told his audience:
“They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?”
When Obama was running for office as America's first black president, Limbaugh called Obama "an ‘affirmative action candidate.’
Let's compare. Rush received some college education from Southeast Missouri State University but left the school after two semesters and one summer. According to his mother, "he flunked everything".
Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review. One might dismiss Rush's attitude problem with the president as the mere jealousy and bitterness of an under-achieving failure.
But there's more to it than that. He doesn't just hate Obama. He hates all minorities.
He made this revolting remark as well.
"You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed."
He has even come out in support of the merits of slavery.
"I mean, let's face it, we didn't have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark."
When it came to coverage of demonstrations against sexual harassment, Limbaugh said
They’re out there protesting what they actually wish would happen to them sometimes.”
Because women like being groped by their employers, according to Limbaugh. It's a secret women must have been keeping mum about.
In his lucrative career, Limbaugh has made bigoted remarks not only about race or gender, and also religion. Here is a stereotypical remarks made in 2010 about Jews:
“To some people, bankers — code word for Jewish — and guess who Obama’s assaulting? He’s assaulting bankers. He’s assaulting money people. And a lot of those people on Wall Street are Jewish. So I wonder if there’s starting to be some buyer’s remorse there.”
In short, the Rush Limbaugh of today is undoing all of the hard work on civil liberties of the Rush Limbaugh of sixty years ago.
When you compare the Rushes, grandfather to grandson, only one of them brings any credit or dignity to the Limbaugh name. The other brings notoriety disguised as fame.
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