The Gospel According to Rush

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The Gospel According to Rush By TOM JOAD

Published On June 16, 2013 | By Veruca |

 

by Tom Joad


by Tom Joad
It’s Sunday – so let’s take a page out of the Gospel of Rush to see if there’s something that we can learn (because I believe you find truth when you pursue information that flies in the face of your already hard-wired beliefs). Rush Limbaugh recently said:

“I would submit to you that people on the left are religious, too. Their God is just different. The left has a different God. There’s a religious left in this country.”

Liberals and progressives go to church? Thank goodness they’re not using the Bible as the basis for their belief system. Wait, what? They do? Then how on earth can they be worshipping a “different” God? According to Christians and Muslims alike – there is only one God (He or She just goes by many different names – sort of like Jason Bourne, depending on what country he’s in at the time).
Rush went on to say that;

 ”… the religious left in this country hates and despises the God of Christianity and Catholicism and whatever else.”

And here’s where the wheels fall off the wagon of his argument – because to be “religious” means that you are “scrupulously faithful; conscientious” in your beliefs. Since the “religious left” uses the Bible as the cornerstone of their faith, Rush is now presenting his audience with a logical fallacy that they’ll go for like a river trout to a fly lure.

“They despise it because they fear it, because it’s a threat, because that God has moral absolutes. That God has right and wrong, that God doesn’t deal in nuance, that God doesn’t deal in gray area, that God says, “This is right and that is wrong.”

Actually, Rush is only describing the vengeful God of the Old Testament. There’s a New Testament as well. But whether you believe in God as love – or God as a spiteful and vindictive celestial being who says ‘believe in me or spend an eternity in a lake of fire’ – faith isn’t as easy to define as Mr. Limbaugh would have his listeners believe.

Francis Bacon said “The human understanding, when it has once adopted an opinion, draws all things else to support and agree with it.” Rush’s opinion on the superiority of a morally-absolute Republican Jesus™ (laughable since he’s the guy that flew off to the Dominican Republic with a suitcase full of Viagra® and has been married four times) ties in nicely with the authoritarian model of governance Republicans prefer. His “logic” is tailor-made for his audience.

This is the “strict daddy” vs. “nurturing parent” political analogy of the two-party system. In this model, Republicans prefer to elect people they see as strong – people who will do the voter’s homework for them and then tell them what to do. Right or wrong – facts be damned – Ted Cruz and Michele Bachmann (as examples) have very strong opinions and stick to their guns no matter what evidence is presented to disprove their policy positions. Their intractability is seen as strength by their supporters.

Democrats and progressives (who worship a “different” God) elect leaders they believe will work cooperatively because “e pluribus unum” (out of many, one) is on the Great Seal of the United States for a reason. We fought a Civil War NOT to free the slaves, but to preserve our union. Like it or not, we’re all participating in this experiment in representative democracy together – but the goal of men like Rush is division, not multiplication.

Conservative voters love Rush Limbaugh because he offers them confirmation bias on a daily basis. In the movie “The American President” there’s a great scene near the end which might help define Rush Limbaugh. Michael Douglas (as President Andrew Shepherd) says;

 ”He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for it. … You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and character … you scream about patriotism and you tell them [liberals are] to blame for their lot in life.”

Liberals must not worship Republican Jesus™. And by suggesting that liberals HATE God – Rush walks right up to the line of saying liberals worship the Devil. Remember, Rush’s audience doesn’t want news – they want confirmation for their biases. Many on the right (let’s use Michele Bachmann as our example again) believe that President Obama is the antichrist and we are currently living in the End Times. Rush gets himself as wound up as “Pastor” Fred Phelps belching fire and brimstone in one of his Apocalyptic sermons – and his listeners adore him for it.

They see him not unlike the heroic musicians of the RMS Titanic, playing “Autumn” as our ship of state sinks. Every psychological study proves confirmation bias is nearly impossible to avoid. You’re a reasonably intelligent person, right? It’s only natural that you’ll look for sources of information which confirm your beliefs (and you will studiously avoid evidence and opinions that challenge them). You believe in God? Quick – which one? And the band plays on.

You’re welcome.

Tom Joad |  GOP Stopper  |  Contributor |  Follow Tom Joad on Facebook
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