I am sorry to hear of Rush Limbaugh's passing, though we knew he was losing his battle to cancer.
Rush Limbaugh was one of the most influential people of his era, perhaps, the most influential person of his time.
I hate the descriptions. the templates, the cliches that describe this luminary: Right-wing, conservative, political lightning rod, etc. He might have been some of those things and he might have been all of those things, but he was bigger than that. Much bigger.
Most of the world only knows the caricature of Rush Limbaugh, as they only know the caricature of anyone who threatens the status quo. Donald Trump, for instance. It is sad, if not tragic, that most people do not understand or appreciate Limbaugh's significance.
There were times when I would point out that the media had an overt bias and reflexively, the zombioid would spew "Fox News and Rush Limbaugh." Let's skip Faux News for now. The fact that the brainwashed actually considered a man with a microphone and fewer than ten employees with roughly ten hours (minus commercials) of midday programming, a counterbalance speaks loudly about the sheeple's skewed perceptions.
What is frustrating for me is that the Lefties never understood Limbaugh and they were so repulsed by his existence that they never took the time to listen to him. In his limited airtime, Limbaugh did not have the capability to advance a counter news cycle. He might have started out with an agenda, writing books like "The Way Things Ought To Be" but he soon morphed into a media pundit/critic/destroyer. An iconoclast extraordinaire!
Another expression of frustration: Limbaugh got us to a point where we no longer trusted the MSM and importantly, he spawned other media heretics, but the next step is to advance our own news cycle. We can save that subject for another day.
As someone who does not consider himself a Conservative and who thinks Ronald Reagan was overrated and felt no allegiance to or fellowship with Jesse Helms, Oliver North, Dennis Hastert, Bob Livingston, Bob Dole, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, and Phil N. DeBlanc, I am shouting to the heavens that Rush Limbaugh was more inspirational than all of these figures combined. His message was more universal than any ism.
More than anyone else, Rush Limbaugh freed our minds from the vice grip of news media. He might have started his career as a Reagan apologist, but he morphed into something much more powerful. By pointing out falsity after falsity after falsity promoted by MSM, Limbaugh (and other imitators who followed) advanced freedom of thought and expression on a scale never before witnessed.
Rush Limbaugh might be most responsible for the polarization of America (May God bless him once more.) The gulf is not Left vs. Right or Liberal vs. Conservative or any other such empty blather. We are divided by those who believe MSM is authoritative--if not infallible--and those of us who acknowledge that MSM is composed of nothing but high-priced whores who promote truth only when truth is to their advantage. The Hive Mind vs. the free mind.
By paper cut after paper cut after paper cut, Limbaugh bled the MSM and they are now but hollow imitations of their mighty personas.
Rush Limbaugh did not invent freedom of thought. Rush Limbaugh did not invent freedom of speech. Rush Limbaugh did not invent media heresy. Rush Limbaugh did not invent truth. Rush Limbaugh did, however, promote these values more successfully than anyone who has ever lived.
