A Note From Chicken Little

<- lifted from my email to a local radio talk show host:/p>

I've prided myself on being just smart enough to listen to people who know more than I do. You've been to college, Bob, law school, in fact, and although I don't get to listen to your program all the time I have appreciated your insights, your opinions, and especially your legal expertise. But that's not why I'm writing to you.

Yesterday afternoon I was on my way home from making phone calls for the GOP, and caught the beginning of your last hour. You were using the "would you buy a used car from this guy" tactic to describe Rush Limbaugh, and before you mentioned his name, I wasn't sure which radio talk show personality you were describing.

Rush fans are used to the criticisms but your little diatribe yesterday belied your stated mission, that of "think before you fear" and giving us "quality" talk on the law and politics.

If I were in trouble with the law, you are just the kind of lawyer I would want. Except in yesterday's situation, you were wearing your prosecutor's hat and trying to get we the "jury" of your listeners to think that Rush wasn't smart enough, educated enough, or trustworthy enough to give political analysis or advice; that his opinion comes from the depths of depravity and we would all be fools to allow ourselves to be taken in by him. Your final pitch to the jury might have gone like this:

"And once you folks find Limbaugh guilty, he should be locked up and the key thrown away so he never again poses a danger to society."

Bob, I lost a lot of respect for you as a broadcaster yesterday because with all your education and your drive to help we the people find our way to the state of political enlightenment, you came off sounding like an elitist. I no longer mind a little arrogance in my broadcasters, my pundits, but I resent elitism.

My grandfather, Virgil J. Taylor, was a slight man, with just a basic education, yet was able to sit at the kitchen table with his daughter one afternoon in the 30's and explain to her why this European political form called Communism wasn't for him and never would be.

Then, of course, one of the world's least educated and most respected thinkers was Eric Hoffer. And from Hoffer, we can swing over to the highly-educated Viktor Frankl. Both men learned in their own way, and each wrote seminal works from the perspective of their own lives - something that I think Limbaugh does.

I would just ask you to be careful and think about your audience, some of them learned and some of them not. And if you don't want people to be scared by what you might consider theatrical hyperbole, you have to consider that even Chicken Little had something to worry about, that his sky really was falling.

You might better serve your audience by encouraging them to listen to a Rush Limbaugh and see if they can successfully argue against him. That's what I did.

Early on I found Rush's arrogance so annoying that I rarely listened to him. Then one day I realized that I didn't know enough to hold my own in a debate with anyone, let alone Rush. As it has turned out, however, after reading and listening more and more, I found that I am a rabid Conservative - but happily I am one who listens intently to hear reason from either side.

Regards,