Rush Gets His Turn

I have never cared much for Rush Limbaugh. I find him arrogant, dramatic, and pretentious. I don't care for his caustic way of revealing things and to be honest, I haven't caught his show for years. Often I wonder, why do people continue to listen to him? People that earn a living by running their mouths eventually manage to say things that get them in a lot of hot water.

I am thinking of Howard Stern and Don Imus as two notables. Many politicians fall in this class.

People that talk for a living are typically not very good listeners. How could they be? They are in a constant state of pre occupation and preparedness with what they are going to say next. They desperately try to be clever. They don't listen for a living- they talk.

I consider that to be President Obama's single biggest problem. When you are a narcissist and find yourself talking for a living- pretending to listen is just a chance to gather and assemble your thoughts so that you can talk some more. These types of people don't listen- they preach. Listening is something a student does. A teaching narcissist thinks they already know everything- they see themselves in some superior position- enlightening the hoi polloi with their wisdom and intelligence. They are encouraged by some subset of listeners and believers, people who do not possess the gift of diarrhea of the mouth.

People I think, are often not so enamored with the intelligence of speakers so much as they admire a speaker's ability to speak and convey things that they have been thinking. I don't see that as some form of intelligence. I see that as a skill delivered by an overwhelming need to feed one's own ego. A preoccupation with self.

I do not see writing and writers much differently. That includes myself. Thankfully, I do not do this for a living. It would be a spartan and paltry existence even at it's zenith.

Of course, the atom bomb of running your mouth occurs when you characterize some innocent 30 year old female as a slut for no other reason than you don't like her position on health care and birth control. Attacking people you don't know and drawing gigantic, derogatory, and erroneous conclusions about them- allows your detractors the ability to attack you without fear of reprisal. Your statements are so off base that even the President- the greatest talking narcissist of my time- uses it as an opportunity to launch a counter attack and come off like a good guy in the process. Consoling some young and upset- female victim.

Not only do you lose face, credibility, and advertisers when you say something that stupid - but you actually impair your ability to practice your craft. Your enemies are vigilant and many. They are just waiting to pounce. And they do.

Howard Cosell, Jimmy the Greek, Don Imus, and Howard Stern all died the same death. There are hundreds of other broadcasters and journalists, politicians and talkers, who have taken the same walk of shame. They were castigated and isolated by their detractors- marginalized to the extent that anyone seen listening to them was viewed as a racist or an idiot. Career suicide.

Even the right wingers, the mighty Ace of Spades himself, are distancing themselves from Rush. Tossing him under the bus. Rush doesn't represent my views.

Welcome Rush. It's your turn. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46620985/ns/business-us_business/