Rush Limbaugh has long been known for his controversial opinions, especially as they pertain to politics. A well-known voice on talk radio, he has an opinion on everything. It does not matter if it is a political scandal or a religious discussion, Mr. Limbaugh rests on the far right of the political spectrum and believes if the public does not agree with him, then they are to be considered less than, or anti-Christian. With the recent scandal of Anthony Weiner, Mr. Limbaugh brings to the forefront his vitriolic hatred of women in power.
According to transcript of the 13 June, 2011 show, the heart of the matter is the women surrounding Anthony Weiner. He, himself, has done nothing wrong – his transgressions are just a byproduct of the feminist movement. It is not him behaving inappropriately, but rather it is him “being a guy” (para. 9). Mr. Limbaugh’s argument appears to be that women who are working to support themselves and their families, have their own opinions and thoughts, and are no longer chained to the home unless by choice will not allow men to behave like men. Because apparently, being a man means sending inappropriate and unsolicited pictures of oneself to women. Perhaps the most repugnant statement in the whole transcript was, “When was the last time you heard — now, I’m serious — when’s the last time you heard about a Navy SEAL or a race car driver or car mechanic getting caught in a sex scandal? They don’t have anything to prove about their masculinity” (para. 21).
Men should never feel they “have something to prove” when it comes to their masculinity; they especially should not have something to prove just because they find themselves surrounded by powerful, opinionated women after thousands of years of subjugating women. Blaming the behavior of any man on the women he is surrounded by is as bad as blaming the rape victim because of how she dressed. Mr. Limbaugh, like many of the Fox News Channel contributors uses fallacies rather than sound reasoning or logic. The outrage that Mr. Limbaugh shows over women in the media (para. 19 – 20) is an obvious smoke screen – he is upset over what he sees as the “chickification” of ABC due to the release of a photo of the women of the ABC news shows. Initially, it might appear that these women are relevant to the discussion about Anthony Weiner, but they are not. He is using them to distract us from that next statement about the men of racing, auto mechanics, or even Navy SEAL’s. It is his hope we will get so caught up in how much of a failure he considers Katie Couric that we will not recall the Tailhook scandal that shook the Navy in the early 1990’s or the scandal involving the FIA president Max Mosley. The fact that he brings up “car mechanics” at all is a smoke screen in and of itself as this is not a high profile career. Chances are, there are many convicted sexual offenders who currently work as mechanics, or did prior to arrest. They just are not high profile enough to make it to the national news.
Mr. Limbaugh ends his show by stating, “You know, without generalizing I have made the point that real men in Washington are not the real men of the Marlboro days. They’re just not. And feminism does have consequences, and it has had” (para. 136). Again, his argument is a fallacy, this time he is rationalizing. “Men are no longer real men because women stood up for themselves all those years ago and are trampling the real men into oblivion.” Mr. Limbaugh is right when he says that Anthony Weiner is not a “real man” as a real man would not cheat in his relationship, nor would he send unsolicited photos of himself to someone. Had Mr. Limbaugh kept his argument relative to the actual topic – Mr. Weiner and what he did wrong – then his argument would have been valid and garnered support outside his ring of listeners.
References
Limbaugh, Rush. (2011). Tony Weiner: Feminized playboy in the chickified political universe. Retrieved June 13, 2011 from http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_061311/content/01125107.guest.html.
Orlando Sentinel. (2008). Max Mosley denies ‘Nazi connotation’ in sex scandal. Retrieved June 13, 2011 from http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_nascar/2008/04/max-mosley-deni.html,
PBS Online. (2011). Tailhook ’91. Retrieved June 13, 2011 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/navy/tailhook/91.html.