1/ All I keep thinking about in this moment are all the horrible things that Rush Limbaugh did and said. Just flashes of them.

Like how following Trayvon Martin's death, he tried to convince people it was okay to say "n word" now as long as you ended with an "a" (and said it).

2/ Or how, one of his "undeniable truths" was that "Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of pop culture."
3/ Or how if a prominent woman would publicly defend another woman, he would refer to it as "solidarity of the vaginas."
4/ How he absolutely hated Michelle Obama...and used to refer to has as "moo-chelle." He really liked this because it both attacked her for mooching off system as he claimed and because it was his way of calling her a cow (he thought she was fat).
5/ He had this one song called "Barack the Magic Negro." The lyrics were even more racist than the name. And he played it all the time. He was still playing that song during his show a few months ago.
6/ How Limbaugh described watching football: "Look it, let me put it to you this way. The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it."
7/ Or, how enjoyed mocking asians: "Hu Jintao was just going, “Ching cha. Ching chang cho chow. Cha Chow. Ching Cho. Chi ba ba ba. Kwo kwa kwa kee. Cha ga ga. Ching chee chay. Ching zha bo ba. Chang cha. Chang cho chi che. Cha dee. Ooooh chee bada ba. Jee jee cho ba.”
8/ Or, that time he was super pissed that Native Americans believe they experienced a genocide: "Holocaust?” Ninety million Indians? Only four million left? They all have casinos -- what's to complain about?"
9/ Or, that time he used lots of racism and white supremacy to prognostic who would win the season of Survivor:
10/ When he warned listeners that Obama was gonna target white kids: "But in Obama's America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering 'Yay! Right on, right on, right on, right on.'"
11/ When he complained that more people weren't attacking women politicians' looks: "There are plenty of lard-ass women in politics, and they get a total pass on it."
12/ Or, how Limbaugh pretty much only referred to transgender people as "Add-A-Dick-To-Me's"

More from For later read

The common understanding of propaganda is that it is intended to brainwash the masses. Supposedly, people get exposed to the same message repeatedly and over time come to believe in whatever nonsense authoritarians want them to believe /1

And yet authoritarians often broadcast silly, unpersuasive propaganda.

Political scientist Haifeng Huang writes that the purpose of propaganda is not to brainwash people, but to instill fear in them /2


When people are bombarded with propaganda everywhere they look, they are reminded of the strength of the regime.

The vast amount of resources authoritarians spend to display their message in every corner of the public square is a costly demonstration of their power /3

In fact, the overt silliness of authoritarian propaganda is part of the point. Propaganda is designed to be silly so that people can instantly recognize it when they see it


Propaganda is intended to instill fear in people, not brainwash them.

The message is: You might not believe in pro-regime values or attitudes. But we will make sure you are too frightened to do anything about it.

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