Behold Hell's Heart

IN HUMAN history, little has proven more powerful than the power of hate. In that context, Peter Daou, a liberal political consultant, worries about “the awful power of Rush Limbaugh” in his latest blog post.

He writes: “There’s no denying that Limbaugh is a major player in American politics, feeding a stream of liberal-bashing propaganda to rapt listeners.”

Quoting liberal blogger Mike Stark, Daou describes it this way:

Rush Limbaugh is heard by more people on a near-daily basis than any other person in the world. I’m not positive about that, but pretty damned sure. A good cable news audience (Bill O’Reilly sets the standard here, I believe), may reach 5 million people on an excellent night. Network news shows get 7-8 million people.

For three hours every single weekday, Rush Limbaugh reaches (for at least part of those 3 hours) 20 million people. The naked fact is that he is the most influential political voice in the United States. Probably more so than the President himself. … Hannity is close on his tail in terms of reach. Just behind him, you find Beck. And Ingraham.

What is more scary? The fact that these folks vote in wildly disproportionate numbers. They aren’t passive listeners. … All of that gives them an outsized voice in our politics. It’s why our issues poll well, but we can’t elect people that do what we want them too. The talk radio crowd, combined with the moneyed interests, crowd progressive voices out.

Daou concludes that “there’s an entire universe of liberal-bashers on the air, but Limbaugh remains a central figure. Hard to imagine what the country would be like without the anger and hatred he peddles.”

It’s an interesting point, though I think Daou overstates Rush’s influence. The fact is that in a nation of over 300 million souls, most of us don’t listen to the conservative blowhard, let alone heed his counsel. But if we dismiss him and his "dittoheads" outright, then we do so at our peril.

Throughout history, human desperation for answers or divine comfort has made it all too easy for hate's power to prevail, especially during turbulent times. Professing to offer the One True Way, hate cloaks itself in benign righteousness. It preys on ignorance and fear. Its charismatic voice enraptures recruits with near religious fervor. It then tightens its bony grip on its unquestioning converts by perpetuating their ignorance and fear even more. Human tragedy – be it slavery, terrorism, lynching, crusade, genocide or holocaust – is always the inevitable end result.

And after feasting on the carcasses of its targets, hate's malevolence turns to cannibalize its own. Only then do its disciples belatedly realize their folly, when Melville's reaper reaches for them and cries, “To the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.”

That said, Rush is not the Devil incarnate. He isn’t that bright. Instead, he is a money-grubbing narcissist who peddles snake oil more cleverly than the rest. But the “dittohead” consumers of his product do bear watching. They worry me more than he does. For they form the potential armies of blind righteousness that could usher in history’s next madman – or madwoman – from hell's heart.