How To Use Digg and Reddit to Piss Off Rush Limbaugh Listeners

A few days ago, I (a liberal) took some advice from Rush Limbaugh. Yes, that may seem strange, but before you scream, “Sellout!” just hear me out. Just because I disagree with someone on practically every issue doesn’t necessarily mean that the other side doesn’t make a valid point now and again, and I found one of those rare, honest moments Rush had on YouTube. Every week on this blog, I post a video related to the theme of the site and write some short commentary on what I just watched. Last week, I used an old interview I found where Rush explains the ins and outs of talk radio, specifically focusing how he gets people to listen to his show, even if they don’t agree with him. It really doesn’t take a psychologist to figure out what he’s done – he gives his opinion, but delivers in the strongest, nastiest way possible to get people talking and tuning in to hear what crazy things he’ll say next. He gets his message out there (convoluted as it is), entertains himself and his listeners, and calls it a day. It’s a formula that has worked since talk radio began and still works to this day. It all sounded good to me in theory, but I wanted to test it out for myself, so instead of just posting the video and elaborating on his message, I delivered my opinion Rush-style, and the results were priceless.

I started off with a title that re-words what he is essentially saying: “Rush Limbaugh Explains How He Manipulates Radio Listeners”. This isn’t inaccurate, but it’s a harsher way of reiterating one of his main points. The following is an exact quote from the video:

Rush: If you embellish the opinion with confidence and cockiness, then you’re getting into generating hatred and so forth. ‘Cause a lot of people would love to be confident about what they think. Most people aren’t. Most people are trepid about their opinions, and if they are subjected to someone, such as myself, who is not, then it tends to offend them. But the key is knowing that nobody can get everybody to like them, keeping in mind that the law of averages indicates that half the people who listen to you are not going to like you [and you’re] still going to find a way to make those who don’t like you enjoy listening to your program. And that is really the key to the entertainment value that the program contains.

If that’s not manipulation, then what is? So instead of bringing out statistics or analyzing anything in depth, I followed this up with calling his listeners brain dead zombies who could easily be led off a cliff if that’s what he wanted and then took the obligatory potshot at his weight. The last paragraph just descends into vulgarities that have nothing to do with the original topic. I call him a puppet fucker (for some reason there is a mannequin on the show sitting opposite him) and just kind of trail off, completely moving away from radio entertainment and its listeners. I could have easily done what I always do on the site, which is examine my topic line for line and explain my point of view in painstaking detail, but this often receives little to no attention. My well-researched articles average between 30-40 diggs on Digg, and my Reddit submissions maybe get 1-5 votes. This throwaway post received over 100 diggs in 2 days and over 150 votes on Reddit. Just as Rush said, my cockiness and confidence in my opinion made people pay attention, not the intellectual value of the discussion. (Who really expects anything intellectual out of Rush anyway?) There are better ways to say, “Rush is an asshole,” but I can’t think of a funnier way to say it than by using his own cheap methods.

So, of course, the comments started flooding in. If I had traced Rush’s career in detail and explained in a calm, rational manner why this blowhard doesn’t deserve another second of the national spotlight, the comment thread would have been silent. But it seems whenever I go on the hunt and start tearing down douchebags like Joe the Plumber, or in this case, Limbaugh, the trolls come out of the woodwork to defend their ideologues. That’s when the real conversation gets started, because preaching to the choir is all well and good, but reaching that untapped audience is when it’s really going to get interesting. Let’s take a look at those who fell for the trap hook, line, and sinker…

Ian (not the Ian that posts here, by the way): Hey little fella, I think you missed the point of what he was saying in the interview. He’s saying he is trying to taunt and get a rise out of the people who don’t agree with him so they will continue to tune into his show. Just like he did with you which is why you found this youtube video and posted it so you could bash him on your blog. He said ” I know their going to so mad at hearing the song, that it’s going to take a while before begin to understand the message.”

Actually, you missed the point of what I was saying. I wasn’t really mad at all, if you read back what I said. I insulted his audience, sure, but I don’t have to be mad to do that – just rational. Had you absorbed his point instead of jerking your knee and attacking the nearest liberal in your way, you might have caught on to that. Get the talking heads’ ballsacks out of your mouth and start thinking for yourself for once.

kw: Where’s the bait and switch? Sounds like he’s just saying that he expresses an opinion(which everyone is entitled to), and he expects someone to disagree with that opinion(IMAGINE THAT), and he puts that person on the air.
I was expecting him to say, “Well, I say one thing, and then the caller calls up saying something intelligent, and I make fun of him for what he didn’t say and intentionally misrepresent him.” That’s what bait-and-switch means to me.
But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s immoral to have an opinion, and express it over the air. I mean, that’s been the substance of the fair use bill, right?(I am genuinely asking. I probably have the wrong name). wasnt that the law that required everyone on air to offer both sides of the story.
Let me clarify. I don’t consider myself a limbaugh troll, and I haven’t listened to his show for a while, and I expect many to dismiss me simply for taking his side. I just think that the text surrounding the video was misleading and ill-suited. Perhaps there was a better video and you accidentally linked to the wrong one?

The bait and switch is very simple, although a shiny object may have flashed by your window at that moment, so I’ll take you up to speed. He baits the listeners by saying something outrageous, such as, “I hope Obama fails.” If he had said, “I hope that in four years, the American people will see the mistake that they made and vote in another Republican,” then no one would have batted an eye. But because he said something offensive that can be taken in more than one way (Does he mean he wants the country to descend into chaos just to be proven right?), his words became a headline in every major news source. Now that he has your attention, here comes the switch – he didn’t really mean it that way. The next day, he is able to clarify his statement, saying that he doesn’t really want the country to fail – just Obama’s policies. If he had just said that Obama’s policies will fail, no one would have taken the bait – that’s not juicy enough. Now that he’s got your attention, we switches to his real opinion, which is certainly more reasonable, but still absolutely stupid. Got it?

And if you’re going hit up comment boards and pretend to be the “smart guy” who rights the wrongs of those evil liberal bloggers, you may want to research your shit before correcting everyone else’s knowledge. The “Fair Use” bill? Fair use involves copyright law, not free speech on radio airwaves. Try “The Fairness Doctrine,” dipshit. It’s not immoral to have an opinion, but it’s certainly pointless to have an uninformed one.

Kathleen: I guess Rich doesn’t have any education or a dictionary since his crude words are dug up from a filthy ditch. I don’t like Rush but Rich’s language is worse that what Rush says.

Actually, I have a degree in English, I write for a local newspaper, and I correct English essays for a local college – I have a fairly extensive vocabulary. If I called Rush a repugnant, infantile nuisance whose sophomoric antics are unbecoming of an individual of his influence and social stature, I’d venture to say that you wouldn’t have read past the second sentence. (And you missed the point, as Ian did.) Only in America can Ms. Conservative over here get all riled up over “dirty” language but be completely cool with a guy who makes frequent race jokes, imitates and laughs at guys with Parkinson’s disease, and habitually stretches facts to match up with his worldview. Yeah, four-letter words are the real problem with this country, not people who get paid $33 million a year to lie to millions of daily listeners.

But that aside, is this your first day on the internet? I know ten-year-olds whose language puts mine to shame. To be fair, I was only utilizing that filthy imagery to articulate through satire my distaste of those who refuse to discuss imperative social topics without resorting to attention-grabbing exhortations. Cunt.

Wess Stewart: As a former radio DJ, that’s how it works, regardless of the type of show. You DO have to control your callers/listeners to an extent. Otherwise, you get all sorts of weird people. I enjoyed your post almost as much as I enjoy listening to Rush. And I form my own opinion about both.
Interesting video, thanks for posting it!

Thankfully, there’s always at least one level head amongst the mess. I agree that callers must be controlled – as Rush mentions in the video, if you don’t do so, it’s not your show anymore. And I quote:

Rush: Callers are like records on a music station. You play the top ten. You don’t take bad calls. You don’t just sit there and open the lines and say, “Ok, what do you want to talk about?” When you invest in callers, your whole hope or your whole chance for success, you’re going to fail. You have to lead them. You can’t get along without them and I don’t disparage them, but you can’t let them control the show.

See, the word “lead” there implies that, like sheep, they must be led to his inevitable verbal slaughter. Anyone who listens, liberal or conservative, will be controlled so that no real discussion of the issues is possible. Saying, “I hope Obama fails,” is not a mature or reasonable way to discuss his problems with our current president. It gets people to call him up, scream until they’re blue and make fools out of themselves, and then he retorts with his actual argument, which makes the caller seem irrational and he has now “put them in their place.” That’s entertainment, as he admits in the video, but it’s certainly not an intellectual conversation. Forgive me if I’m not entertained, but rather disappointed that this is what millions of people choose to listen to. No wonder nothing ever changes.

And finally, I have to mention this awesome plug we got from a conservative blog called Verbal Thermite. Remember that guy that I just said seemed levelheaded? Well apparently he’s as two-faced as his conservative hero. After he just got finished saying that he enjoyed the post, Wess went over to his own blog and attempted to rip me a new asshole, which felt more like a poke with a butter knife when I read his argument. (Ah, the joys of the internet.) He apparently isn’t a fan of spin, although he freely accepts the spin of Limbaugh and other conservative pundits, but bashes Alan Colmes (Does anyone actually consider that guy a real liberal?) and other hosts that don’t fit his political persuasion for doing the same thing. He claims that my post is a product of spin, which it is in this case, so I guess that means he kinda got the point, right?

Wess Stewart: Another factor that I just don’t get is why people can’t see that regardless of who says what on the air, RADIO IS A BUSINESS PRIMARILY. I’ll let you enter your own comment about the “fairness” doctrine below (I will refrain for the time being).
Essentially, the video was spun to portray Rush as having a bunch of idiot zombies as an audience, which is NOT what he was “admitting” in the video.

Nope, he just goes off on this hypocritical tirade instead. So your argument in Rush’s defense is that radio is a business and money must be made, so that means that he should blatantly bullshit people as long as it gets ratings? Wow, that’s impressive stupidity.

He’s not saying, “My listeners are really brilliant people. Once we’ve screened the calls and found the real scholars, I feel like we really get to the heart of the issues and actually develop sound and reasonable solutions to the problems that plague this country.” He’s saying, “The formula for making you, the viewer or the listener, mad hasn’t changed a bit, yet people keep falling for it.” He’s not giving anyone credit here – he’s saying, “You fell for it, dumbass.” You are, as I originally stated, a mindless zombie. If you’re taking him seriously, you’re an idiot. You’re absolutely right – he’s out to make money, and he’s brilliantly making it off of people who don’t even like him. (I think I hate liberals who listen to him almost as much as I hate his fans.) But what he’s also saying is that more than half of what he says is for show. It’s all just “entertainment.” I’ve debated with conservatives who use his talking points more frequently than they stop to take a breath. What’s wrong with that? Well, Rush just explained that even he really doesn’t believe a lot of what he is saying. Quote:

Rush: And all I’m trying to do is grab people’s attention for what I say, and I know that they’re going to be so mad hearing the song that it’s going to take a while before they begin to understand the message. But that’s ok. I’m prepared for it to take a long time. The bottom line for them is to get the message.
Host: And be entertained.
Rush: Absolutely. The whole thing here is a lot of people say, “Do you really believe the stuff you say?” I don’t know – that’s for you to figure out.

Do you really sit there and decipher the Limbaugh Code, Wess, or do you just nod your head in agreement like the rest of the faithful? He’s the new leader of the GOP, right? What does that say about your party? It says that your party doesn’t mind being represented by a guy who’d rather entertain and sit on a fat paycheck than generate dialogue that can truly make this country a better place. I don’t have a problem with your opposing opinions – I have a problem with the fact that you formed them by listening to entertainment and not by reading a goddamn book.

When he said the torture in Abu Ghraib prison was justifiable as “emotional release” for the troops, did you think that was a plausible excuse? When this college dropout claims that global warming is false and that all scientists are just bullshitting us because they to hug trees, do you trust his selfish ranting over the legitimate findings of award-winning scientists? When Rush said, “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,” did you scream, “Fuck yeah! Take that, niggers!” out of your pick-up truck as you drove home from your KKK rally? These are silly, aggrandized versions of opinions, like Stephen Colbert lampoons – not a way of life. But most of his simple legions, like yourself, don’t seem to grasp that. Sure, there’s a real point in there somewhere, but judging by the sheer amount of YouTube videos in your posts, I can only assume that you’d much rather have your opinions spoon-fed to you by Fox News and the like than research a topic yourself. You make a last minute jab the mainstream media…

Wess Stewart: Oh, did you know mainstream media does this all the time? Whoops…did I say that outloud?

…but most of your posts are videos from these very same networks! Turn off your radio, risk a paper cut, and open a book. And not Limbaugh’s book, either. Try something challenging to your level, like “My Pet Goat.” Until then, go crawling back to the conservative blogosphere with your tail between your legs. They’ll keep patting you on the back and telling you how sharp your content is. Just don’t hit your head on that little bubble you’re living in when you get up from your computer…we wouldn’t want you losing any of those precious “BRAAAAINS!!” you fuckin’ zombie.