Cult Leader Limbaugh

Yesterday while driving back and forth to Atlanta I caught a bit of Rush Limbaugh on the radio. Call it me trying to understand why the other side is so opposed to everything. The man is definitely smart. He knows exactly what he's doing and I bet he believes very little of what he says.

He's obviously after an audience with limited critical-thinking skills. He spouts more crap than a poultry barn. That people buy his crap is just amazing to me. The point is clearly to incite rather than to inform. As I kept trying to get my head around the motivation of his followers, it dawned on me that Rush Limbaugh is really a cult leader.

So I Googled "cult characteristics" and found a great check list. You can make your own assessment and will likely find that I was overly generous. Rush and the dumb-asses that follow him meet at least 10 of the 15 criteria on the checklist. I decided they do not engage in mind-altering practices (at least as described on the check list), require members to cut family ties or live in a compound (though it probably happens all the time), and are not preoocupied with making money or recruiting new members. Like I said, I was generous.

In my opinion, the remaining criteria fit. The authors are clear that the checklist is not a diagnostic tool, but is intended for analytical purposes. And that's exactly what I was doing--analyzing my thoughts on Rush Limbaugh. My conclusion is that Limbaugh and his fans, while not exactly a cult, are detinitely cult-ish.

That gives me hope. You can draw your own conclusions about why. Ever yours...

The Crotchety Old Man