Peace out

Yes, Rush Limbaugh just died. We’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but reading the obits, the immediate reaction is, “really”? Just ignore the sigh of relief from a million democratic mouths, including Chelsea Clinton’s? Turn a blind eye on the hurtful and incendiary words from Limbaugh’s pulpit, and let death atone for his actions?

From a review of obituaries coming out, it’s disappointing, and even infuriating, to discern attempts by many publications to provide a “balanced” perspective in reporting his death. Meaning, they ferret out what could be deemed as good or humane aspects, while also breezing through the evil he did.

There’s a sob story of the lung cancer that hit him, and the pain he was going through and relaying to his listeners. There was the power and influence he exerted on the Republican Party, the honors he received from them, including a final Presidential Medal of Freedom from another vile man, the then-president of America. And then comes the acknowledgment, the barest recognition, of his impact on ordinary humans.

But that’s the problem. Limbaugh was a cauldron of the vilest stuff imaginable, and he uttered those from a platform that reached millions. To pay him any form of last “respects” seems almost an attempt to whitewash his sins. It’s as if his death canceled out the life, when such life embodied so much hatred and caused so much suffering.

When the next generation grows up, they’re going to look back at this era, and what will we have taught them? Will they shake their heads at the dismal state of affairs we seem to have steered the world into?

They will look at all the scientific discoveries and the advances made in medicine, including vaccinations for so many diseases, and at the same time, the shocking ignorance by so many. Ignorance not just by half-forgotten tribes in the forest, but even within America, a supposed first-world country, where religious sects and anti-vaxxers managed to convince their peers to abstain from life-saving shots.

They will look at the marvels of spaceflight and the expeditions to other planets, and at the same time, the refusal by many earthlings to believe the world is round.

They will observe how so many basic agreements as to respect and decency for humanity have been arrived at, international conventions on human rights. At the same time, they will exclaim at how human beings like Limbaugh, who spouted incivility and even cruelty to fellow humans, were awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. Oh yeah, the person who awarded the medal was himself was cruel, sexist, and racist, but the fact is he was elected to the highest possible position by citizens of the land of the free and the brave.

“How psychotic!” our descendants will exclaim. How bizarre that world was. How unimaginable, that with so much wealth generated, able to feed every soul on the planet, that famine and hunger still exists. How crazy, with all the scientists warning about climate change and plastic waste, that most leaders preferred not to lead, but to line their pockets with short-term gains.

How lamentable, that with previous pandemics come and gone, that nations would be unable to provide protection, vaccines, and solutions for their citizens.

Well, it’s the same world that now intones “rest in peace” to Limbaugh, a man who gave no peace to AIDS victims, sufferers of Parkinson’s disease, or even just brown or black-skinned humans. He preached to his listeners that COVID was just the common cold, and no way should they wear a mask.

So, yeah, maybe he should take a rest now. But for the world he left behind, there is still the poison he unleashed to deal with. No rest for us, the wicked.