Who Is Responsible for All of the Hatred in America?

[heidiho]

My vote is Rush Limbaugh. He and his other right-wing idiots have spewed hatred for the Democratic Party and the moderates and liberals for so many years that there is never a chance of working together or reaching across the aisle. I've never seen anything like
it and it is far-reachikng and devastating to this country.

I started to think about it because I got into a little tiff at work with a right-winger who quoted Limbaugh ad nauseum. This is where mainstream Red-State America is getting their opinions.

When is this guy going to jail where he belongs? I know another Rush will take his place, or a Hannity or an O'Reilly.

Do you have any other votes?

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. The Right Wing

[ArkDem]

2. PETA

[Doohickie]

3. Barney the Dinosaur

[Hawkeye Pierce]

38. ELMO

:)

[Vincardog]

4. KKKARL ROVE

[Unstuck In Time]

5. The levels really ramped up during the Gingrich era. n/t

[ElectroPrincess]

6. Bingo - Hate radio and their simplistic TALKING POINTS!

[icymist]

7. Don't forget Pat Robertson and that type....

Their hypocritical form of Christianity has done more damage to the truth since the Dark Ages!

[Cross_and_Flag]

8. It starts at the top

The Republican Party is not promoting racial harmony. Rush is a disgrace and not a real leader.

[Ron Green]

9. I vote for Karl Rove,

if he is indeed responsible for the Bush political agenda, because RW pudits like Limbaugh and Hannity have to be nurtured in order to maintain the fear- and hate-mongering on which Bush's regime relies.

[sui generis]

10. stupid gullible dumbfucks are responsible

nt

[SaintAnne]

37. okay

short simple and to the point, I like it

[H2O Man]

11. I tend to think

that everyone is responsible for the exact amount of hatred that they house and/or distribute. It's like other toxic wastes: a Sean Hannity clearly produces larger amounts than most, but we are really only responsible for ourselves. If we are really interested in doing something about hate in America, donate to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

[htuttle]

12. Jesus

If he came back now, he'd say 'I should have been a plumber' like Einstein did. Or maybe a carpenter.

[SaintAnne]

19. jesus?

ummmmmm I don't know what to think....

[htuttle]

27. Good!

If you don't know what to think, you're getting closer to the truth than ever.

[SaintAnne]

34. cool

closer to the truth, through not knowing what to think... ? it's a little strange, but maybe it will grow on me

[Hawkeye Pierce]

13. not to defend rush

but, I wouldn't say he is responsible for the hate a lot of people are haters in the first place and he simply plays to them. People give him way to much credit for supposedly shaping a movement when all he has done is took a movement and spouted their talking points on the air. I also hope the going to jail is RE to the drugs and not him being on the radio because if we start jailing people for political beliefs that will end up bitting every single one of us in the ass. The answer I would give to the question you presented is that human nature is to blame for all the hate. Hell, I have seen some knock down drag out fights over a football game if people can get that riled up over something that trivial then we see why folks get so bent out of shape over politics.

[forgethell]

35. I agree.

Hatred has been around for a lot longer than Rush, or any of us, was on this planet. Josef Stalin wasn't a hater? How come he killed 20 million people in the Ukraine.

The French revolutionaries weren't haters? Sure they were.

The Turks and the Crusaders weren't haters? Why did they impale and crucify each other.

What about Sennacherib, who "came down like the wolf on the fold"? The Huns, the Mongols, Pol Pot, the Isralie/Palestinian situation.

Disagreeable as Rush is, I can't think of one person that he has killed.

Compared with the people above, hatred in the USA today is a mild, pale, sickly thing, rather than the full blown cancer that history has seen in other places and times.

[rndmprsn]

14. RW Media and think tanks

what we are now seeing is the fruits of a 30 year/200 billion dollar rethuglican investment into RW think-tanks (ideas-message) and RW media (messenger).

[Sleepysage]

I think ideological trench warfare is to blame.

Most of the conservatives I've seen don't seem to need an excuse to be the way they are. I see the Limbaugh, Hannity, and the rest more as propagators of lies more than hate. The hate is already there in spades.

[juliagoolia]

15. YOU ARE RIGHT.. its HATE RADIO

I agree with you..and I started this campaign to call it
Hate radio..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1356110

[alexisfree]

16. the education..at home...

I have teach my children to be tolerant...compassionated and kind to the leaving ...also to learn about other cultures and customs, no matter what they learn at school education continues at home...if it was like this since the beginning will be no fox, no rushes limbos, no orallys...etc call me ignorant is just me..

[Midlodemocrat]

17. I agree with you

...his holding up Chelsea Clinton's photo and remarking that the Clintons also had a dog was one of the most hateful things I have ever heard. Can you imagine if Al Franken, not that he would, but if he did something like that?

[AmandaRuth]

18. hate radio

and the right wing echo chamber

[soleft]

20. Not who - the question is - what. And the answer is

Fear

[SaintAnne]

22. yes fear

I can agree that fear is what makes everyone hate America. I think it's more then just that though, someone has to induce that fear... and drive us all crazy

[soleft]

30. no one is immune to fear

We just experience it and respond differently. It's universal to project our fears onto the other. The key is to be aware of it and not act out our fears in ways that hurt others. I believe more people on the left are capable of that than the other side. But no one is immune.

[SaintAnne]

36. right

the right like to label fear, they like to know exactly who the enemy is. The left however, I think, doesn't percieve enemies like that, the left knows there is no black and white picture, it's all grey and mish mashed.

[lpbk2713]

21. If you're looking for one individual, then it's got to be Gingrich.

He single-handedly altered the course of civility in America. He's a lowlife sleazebag through and through and everything he is involved becomes slimy by association.

[VOX]

63. Agreed, lpbk2713. Newt is the architect of all this current hatred...

Years ago, he created all the initial fearful talking-points for Republicans, and made sure that certain words and phrases carried very negative connotations, and that the entire right wing was in lock-step with their common "language."

Newt paved the way for Rush, and all the hate-spewing talking heads who followed.

Newt is the head of the serpent.

[JVS]

23. People in general

Hating is fun and easy, thus we do it.

[tanyev]

24. Richard Mellon Scaife

is responsible for a lot of it. Read David Brock's Blinded by the Right.

[Borgnine]

33. Yeah, I was about to mention Blinded by the Right.

Although I don't think there's one person that it can be pinned on. I think that book shows how a lot of like-minded individuals just sort of came together and a great evil was born. This hatred that now grips our country developed naturally from the collected works of several of these slimebags, although Scaife is near the top of the list.

[tanyev]

39. Yeah, the hatred was already there,

but the massive $$$$$$ from Scaife enabled the creation of all the conservative foundations and media influence so that it could permeate the country.

[PurityOfEssence]

25. Everybody

We're all to blame, and we need to accept our guilt. Lefties sat back and let hatemongers have too much sway. Economic monarchists split the weak and poor by scaring them about affirmative action, regulation and taxes, and they've set the underclasses at each others' throats.

Then there's religion: the accomplice of privilege.

There's plenty of blame to go around, but a good place to start is always oneself.

[SaintAnne]

26. ignorance

I think ignorance is the real problem. There are just too many people who fail to see the mulitple paths. Republicans get their opinions from people who think like them... and then when faced with the other side they say no no I don't want to hear it

[MARALE]

28. I agree!!!!!!

And he was the one who started it all. I don't think he should be censored though. I think that all the violence that we have grown up with make people numb to all that is going on in the world. I also think that people are working harder than ever before for not much in wages, that is keeping them busy, angry and worn out. This is great fodder for the Rushes of this world. If people were happy they would get tired of the hate talk. Also the repub agenda seems to be keeping people that way. They need to slow down and figure this out. If people are happier, they are more productive and will do a better job in a shorter time. Companies know this, but they will take stress and unhappiness in their workers if it will give them tax breaks and more profits. It is a vicious circle. I hope you understood this, I am rambling a little. Vent over!

[SaintAnne]

29. haters

I've only ever noticed the republicans really really trashing people and hating people. Some of them are nice people, but they will never ever admit there are good things about democrats, not even one good thing. I can thing of some very good things about bushie boy, they don't balance out the bad things at the moment, but he has done some good things. Ask a republican to say a good thing about Kerry or any other democrat, they say nothing. they are too negative about people who are different

[Tomee450]

31. The Right Wing

and the Democratic Party. I include the Democrats because for almost twenty-five years they have stood by an allowed the party to be trashed. They did nothing to counter the right wing think tanks or media. The right wing media was allowed to spew its hatred unchecked. Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, O"Riley and others were allowed to vilify minorities without any fear that the Democrats would object. When Lott made his unfortunate remarks, Dashle and Pelosi said nothing until conservative African Americans columnists spoke out against him.

[AlinPA]

32. Conservative hate radio, Crossfire, Hardball, Fox, Falwell, Robertson,

Bob Jones..........

[Butterflies]

40. Rush the drug addict has sure been destructive

I'm guessing that the bad karma that he's building up will kick his ass for all eternity. I've personally seen many cases where he's helped split up families, ruined friendships and coworker relationships - he's vile.

[oneighty]

41. Unreasonable fear of death

and dying make ripe fruit for the picking by the "God Stuff People" and the "Warmongers" working in cahoots to gain fabulous wealth. Which they do do do!

Hate of one sort or another being tools for manipulation. Gays, Ethnic groups, Liberals and so on. Give people someone to hate and their hearts are won.

180

[Redleg]

42. Limbaugh has done a lot to foment hatred.

When we finally revolt, that fucking swine should be the first up against the wall.

[against all enemies]

43. Newt, though he did love his mistresses.

[donheld]

44. I would agree

Rush and his clones have been spreading hateful over tones for a long time now.

[Silent Tristero]

45. Everyone who Hates

Everyone, left right or in the middle is responsible for the hate they show, neither side is "without sin" yet both sides endlessly cast stones. An "eye for an eye" may not leave us all blind but it does keep us from taking a good hard look at the politicians who manipulate our convictions and pursue their own agendas.

[Zenaholic]

46. Its the parents of course

In the field of mental health there is a saying, "It is either your parent's fault or it's your parent's fault"

Meaning: It is either genetic or it's environment (either way it's your parents fault).

[Justpat]

47. Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Hannity, O' Reilly etc.

Hate radio has played a big part in it, but I place a lot of blame
on the right wing think tanks and groups headed by people like
Grover Norquist who use hate as a cover for their actual policies.

They use the demonetization process to whip people up into a self
righteous frenzy and solidifies their adherence to the group.

All of the processes they have used to gain control of the people's
minds has as it's base hate and fear. It has worked splendidly for
them though and I don't see them relinquishing these tactics anytime
soon.

And I place the blame on all those too lazy or unwilling to think
for themselves. Their adherence to these right wing sites is
repulsive. No where in all my spiritual reading have I found any
a reference to the teachings of Jesus where he tells his followers
to abandon their power of thought to the first fool who commands
them to do so.

And my own personal belief is that there is a very deep pit in hell
for those who use tell their followers that God wants them to hate
their fellow citizens.

[jupiter5001]

48. Rush Limbaugh

Yes, I would agree, Rush has certainly laid it on thick and heavy over the years, but even he's a small-town piker compared to some of those who in my opinion have influenced him the most, among which I would nominate Ayn Rand and William F Buckley. He would of course deny the Randian influence, or at the very least downplay it, but I can hear Rand speaking through him loud and clear every time he opens his mouth, I mean the utter disdain and contempt for human frailty, the absolute intolerance to the nth degree of contrary or competing viewpoints, the smug dismissal of charitable intentions, etc. The Bucklian influence comes out (in my opinion) in Rush's speech patterns and mannerisms. Just listen to him whenever he mentions Jesse Jackson by name: that to me is pure Buckley, the swishy/preppy, Ivy league school, insincerely sincere, good ol' boy type insouciance. You would think he would have moved on after a few years of this nonsense, but he never seems to tire of it. Not that anything is wrong per se in wanting to imitate the people he most admires: after all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and probably best not to be mocked. But he seems to have swallowed his influences whole, lock, stock, and barrel, unable or simply not bothering to move beyond them. Criticism would be unthinkable at this point, even heretical. And so he's drawn his line in the sand, made his pact with the devil so to speak. Rand admittedly is an intellectual heavyweight, let's give her that. But, my God, what a failed, miserable personal life. What was it about Rand that inevitably in the end pushed everyone away in horror? As an aside, to compare Rush to H.L. Mencken is foolish, as the two in my opinion aren't even close to each other in stature. Mencken is/was far too broad-minded, intelligent, cynical, and downright ballsy for Rush to imitate. Superficially they are both nominally conservative, but the resemblance ends there.

[mitchum]

49. "Rand is an intellectual heavyweight"???!!! On what planet?

No, I'm not giving you that one at all.
But you are right about Limbaugh being a Randian

[jupiter5001]

64. I stand corrected

Yes, Mitchum, you are absolutely right regarding Rand. What I said does seem a little far-fetched and overstated. Let me modify it somewhat, tone it down as it were, and say, “Rand admittedly was no intellectual slouch,...” Perhaps putting it that way strikes a better balance, sounds a little more fitting. Of course the claims she and her followers made for herself were absurdly grandiose and inflated, as I think everyone recognizes. Still, I try to give so-called “thinkers” the benefit of the doubt, no matter how bull-headed and wrong. But to rank her in the class of “intellectual heavyweights” is, as you say, simply jumping the gun and going too far. I stand corrected. Cheers.

Regarding my original post, it should have been titled, “Thoughts on Rush Limbaugh”, as I really wasn't answering the question about Hate, but simply chiming in with random thoughts about Rush. Your answer to the question, DNA, is about as good an answer as any, in my opinion. Perhaps there is no escaping Hate, and ambivalent feelings in general, just from the prima facie fact of being born into the human predicament, if I may be allowed such an expression. Anyway, but I ramble. I think this thread is now officially dead.

[President Jesus]

50. Clinton, of course. Everything is always Clinton's fault. (nt)

[Mr.Green93]

51. white people

[dpt223]

67. bingo!! n/t

[mitchum]

52. DNA

[The Straight Story]

53. Individuals

People are responsible for their own feelings and actions, blaming others is scapegoating your own power over your life.

Much the like abortion debate - your body your choice, the same is tru with feelings of hate. Take away that, say others are to blame, then that will be co-opted by others for their own uses (ie shut down dissentors because they are 'making' people do things).

[Kipepeo]

54. Rush Limbaugh

And all of his various clones.

They put out their hateful talking points every day. They dumb down America and play up prejudice.

Assholes, every one of them.

[Starlight]

55. media n/t

[Jack Schitt]

56. Most of the right-wingers are responsible for the hatred.

Not all, but some, especially freepers, Limbaugh, Hannity, and O'Reilly.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

57. Florida

Or possibly the supreme court.

I think (although I'm not as well up on the specifics of American politics as I should be) that you've had plently of elections in the past fifty years wherein there was as big an ideological divide between the two sides, but in general one side won and the other side lost fair and square, acknowledged that the will of the people it and retired to lick its wounds and regroup. Since 2000 the left has had to live with the fact that they really should be in power, so we've come to hate the right even more than normal. The worst riots after football games always come when one side believes "we woz robbed".

There is nothing wrong with hatred. An awful lot of people use love and hate as virtual synonyms (sp?) for good and evil, but in point of fact I get the impression that what motivated Martin Luther King, say, or Nelson Mandela, was more akin "hatred of injustice" than "love of justice". Angry people make better crusaders.

[iconoclastic cat]

58. All the ignoramuses (ignorami?) who raise children by screaming at them

all day.

[FarLeftRage]

59. RepuKKKes- the nasty reich wingers

And if I had a picture, they'd look like this:

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

60. The police state nt

[sakabatou]

61. I believe

that everyone in this world is to blame for some sort of hatred. Everyone spawns some sort of hatred at one time or another and then sometimes act irrationally with it. That's my take on it.

[The River]

62. Hate Radio

without a doubt.
Flush and his ilk play on peoples
fear of x, y or z and brings out the worst
in their listeners. They know what they are doing.
But to be honest...I see a lot of hate right
here on DU. Is hating the haters any better?

[drdtroit]

65. The MEDIA!

never challenging any of the ridiculous charges and statements made by irresponsible people in the administration and their attendant RW radio assassins.
May the media of the USA rot in HELL.

[indigobusiness]

66. Propagators of 'individuality' as sacred.

Selfishness is the result.

[winston61]

68. Limbaugh is the king

I almost choke when Bill O'Reilly gets this serious look on his face and asks some guest (usually liberal or moderate)'Why all the hate'? Uh dip shit, Rush Limbaugh? And Rush is usually effective. He is the communications director for the RNC and I'm sure is on a first name basis with Rove. He's a con man and demagogue of the first order. Read any work on the rules of propaganda and you'll see that Rush just goes by the numbers. Any one who can turn the working men and women of America on themselves has got the most low down human filth ever to walk upright. And people love him.

[OnionPatch]

69. Rush Limbaugh

hands down.
Before he came along, the kind of filth and lies he spews on the airwaves were unheard of. He's made if OK to hate and lie.
It all started when he started getting popular.