{"id":246489,"date":"2017-09-11T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=246489"},"modified":"2017-09-12T16:19:49","modified_gmt":"2017-09-12T20:19:49","slug":"one-of-the-greatest-smears-of-my-career1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2017\/09\/11\/one-of-the-greatest-smears-of-my-career1\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the Greatest Smears of My Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Level check, test, one two — hey, you know what, this may be working, bring the mix minus up just a little bit. We\u2019re in Los Angeles today, folks. The first day is always a work in progress, have to test it on the air. Bring the audio up just a little bit. Right there we go. My gosh, we did this in 30 seconds. The only thing not working is the clock, so be patient. We\u2019ve got a digital clock but I never use digital. Likely you won\u2019t even know the difference, folks. It\u2019s great to be here from Los Angeles, as I say, although as long as I\u2019m here, it doesn\u2019t matter where “here” is. It\u2019s Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network. Here\u2019s the telephone number if you want to be on the program: 800-282-2882. The email address, ElRushbo@eibnet.us.<\/p>\n

\"\"Under normal circumstances, I would not mention this because the rule of thumb is, you don\u2019t talk about nattering nabobs that don\u2019t matter a hill of beans. But in this case, we may be, I may be — you\u2019re not — I\u2019m going through one of the greatest smears of my career, and, believe me, folks, there have been many smears. (interruption) You think I\u2019m wrong to talk about this? Good, \u2019cause it doesn\u2019t matter even if you did think I\u2019m wrong, I\u2019m gonna bring this up.<\/p>\n

‘Cause this smear is — well, I was gonna say harmless. It\u2019s not harmless to me. But this is all over the place that I told people there is no storm. That I told people you don\u2019t have to run away from Florida, you do not have to evacuate, because I said the storm isn\u2019t coming. I did not say that. I did not say the storm is not big. I didn\u2019t say the storm is gonna go somewhere else. They did. I didn\u2019t say anything. There is not a thing that I said about this that anybody can prove I was wrong about, not a single thing.<\/p>\n

Now, why is this happening? I\u2019ve had a lot of people send me emails: “Rush, I don\u2019t understand. I heard what you said.” Let me explain this, folks, as best I can. We in the United States — and this is a recently evolved theory of mine — that we in the United States are actually living 1984, the novel by Orwell, in a number of ways. And what has taken over is the concept of groupthink.<\/p>\n

I am one of the last remaining powerful, influential members of the media that does not participate in it. I do not participate in consensus. In fact, I run away from it. Consensus is what everybody else thinks, such as the consensus of scientists on global warming. You cannot have consensus in science. Science is not up for a vote. It doesn\u2019t matter that 90% of scientists think anything. That doesn\u2019t make anything so, and it doesn\u2019t make anything scientifically unassailable. Scientists use various theories to establish credibility of theorems and various other ideas that they have, and it\u2019s constantly tested. It\u2019s not up to somebody\u2019s opinion and it\u2019s not up to somebody\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

\"\"But the whole notion of groupthink and consensus — and this is another way of saying what the media does. Let me illustrate it this way. I\u2019ve made the point over the years, recent number of years, that when the media reports a story, they have this knack of making it appear that everybody thinks this. So if you\u2019re an outlier or if you don\u2019t think that, you\u2019re in a tiny little minority, and then you become castigated and regarded as a kook or whatever.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nothing more than groupthink and consensus. And it exists because the people who believe in groupthink or consensus are simply people who doesn\u2019t wish, cannot accept, cannot accept or cannot deal with a challenged worldview or an alternative idea about anything, because they have developed this little safety of a cocoon in which they live, and they congregate together.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s climate change or any other issue, if anybody comes along and doesn\u2019t comport and doesn\u2019t go along with it, that person has to be stigmatized, destroyed, and cast out. And what happens when everybody falls pray to groupthink or consensus, that\u2019s the end of truth. That is the end of inquiry, it\u2019s the end of curiosity, and it\u2019s the end of suspicion.<\/p>\n

Now, in our era here, you know, somebody has to define groupthink, somebody has to be the, quote, unquote, leader of it. Global warming or climate change is one of the most convenient ways to illustrate this. But almost all of these groupthink or consensus beliefs originate on the left, and that\u2019s why everything in America is becoming politicized.<\/p>\n

I played golf on Saturday with a noted Hollywood actor. Not gonna mention his name because of course I did not seek his permission to share details of discussions. One of the things when people talk to me, I assure them it\u2019s all off the record, and we were talking about Hollywood\u2019s bad box office. And I said, “What do you think of the theory Hollywood believes it\u2019s Rotten Tomatoes is the reason why the box office is down?”<\/p>\n

He said, “What?”<\/p>\n

I said, “Rotten Tomatoes, you know, the crowd-sourced public review and opinions of movies<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

He said, “No. That\u2019s not what it is. How long has Rotten Tomatoes been around?”<\/p>\n

I said, “A long time.”<\/p>\n

He said, “Right, so why now is Hollywood having a –” cut to the chase. He believes that Hollywood\u2019s politicization of their entertainment medium is now starting to catch up to them. Look at the National Football League. The National Football League opening game Thursday night, Tom Brady, biggest marquee star in the NFL against Kansas City Chiefs, nothing else going on except the hurricane forecasting, and their ratings were down 17%. I mean, it was a huge decline.<\/p>\n

People said, “Well, it was the hurricane.” Yeah, except the U.S. Open being televised the next night was up 36% while the hurricane coverage was even more intense. That\u2019s not what it is. It is the politicization of everything. And especially now our entertainment venues, entertainment options, everything\u2019s becoming politicized. You can\u2019t escape it. They\u2019re forcing it on you. And there are however many people voted for Trump, 60 million, whatever the number is, there are that many people who are, at one stage or another, resisting all of this.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re either not going to the movies. They\u2019re not watching the Drive-By Media. They\u2019re not watching the NFL. It is a slow creep that is happening, and of course the leaders of these industries trying to figure this out because of groupthink and because of consensus, cannot be honest with themselves about what their problems are, which means they\u2019re never gonna be able to fix them. You look, ESPN\u2019s numbers and subscribers are way, way down, I mean, hellishly so, and that\u2019s bringing down Disney.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something in common with all of this, and that is the politicization. At the Steelers-Browns game yesterday, I don\u2019t know how many people know this, they had a problem, one of the preseason games, a number of Browns players sat down for the national anthem or otherwise protested it. And so the Browns players decided to do something different.<\/p>\n