Jewish groups react to Limbaugh - but ignore the bigger problem
Isn’t there something off key in the reaction of a growing number of Jewish leaders to talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s latest outrage? Limbaugh, who has built a stellar career out of carefully orchestrated rage, apparently crossed a line when he likened Democratic health care reform advocates to Nazis and said President Obama has “a health care logo that’s right out of Adolf Hitler’s playbook.”
Say what? Do people actually believe this stuff?
Leaders of the American Jewish Congress came closest to getting it right, I think, when they said in a statement that “ Rush Limbaugh’s comments comparing President Barak Obama (and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi) to Hitler and the Nazis are grossly offensive and intolerable. They reflect a nasty and hyperbolic tendency in our political culture, one which makes reasoned discourse impossible, confuses disagreement with evil, and which makes it impossible to distinguish evil from ordinary politics. It is not acceptable from either the right or the left, both of which have in recent memory used such analyses.”
But most of Limbaugh’s Jewish critics have a long history of ignoring a broader talk show culture that has turned incitement into a major industry.
Why didn’t they react when popular cable TV and AM radio talkers accused President Obama of a “hatred” of all whites? The racial venom spewing from the airwaves these days would have been unthinkable a few years back, but I don’t hear much criticism from Jewish boardrooms.
I didn’t seen any press releases in response to this weekend’s claim that “Obama’s ‘death panel” will decide who lives and who dies under Democratic reform plans (oh wait, that was Sarah Palin; maybe she has a great future as a talk show host).
You don’t need to be a supporter of Democratic reform plans to see the claim “Obamacare” is meant to promote euthanasia for the reckless incitement it is – a kind of rhetorical terrorism, meant to invoke fear and rage, not discourse.
For that matter, why the silence in the face of the wacky “birthers” who insist President Obama wasn’t born in the United States, and the prominent network talkers who give credence to a crude conspiracy theory without a shred of evidence to back it up?
Why has only the ADL gone after politicians and talk show hosts who boost ratings by openly and recklessly scapegoating immigrants?
Only Holocaust analogies, apparently, are seen as sufficient grounds for criticism from Jewish leaders, which strikes me as doubly odd because those same leaders are often silent when it’s Jews making such comparisons.
The point is that American political culture is being degraded by talk show hosts whose stock in trade is slickly packaged outrage meant to tap real frustrations and longstanding biases, vicious scapegoating and conspiracy theories that should have disturbing historical echoes for Jews.
This isn’t a right-versus-left thing; there are plenty of left-wing wingnuts who promote theories every bit as anti-democratic as those coming from the far right. But in 2009 America, it’s the far right that has the biggest megaphone in the form of nationally syndicated talk shows.
With sporadic exceptions, the Jewish leadership has been reluctant to speak out – perhaps cowed into silence or fearing charges of partisanship, maybe operating under the assumption that publicly criticizing these media demagogues only gives them added visibility.
Well, guess what: the ranters already have that visibility, using new media to spread the message of intolerance and populist rage to vastly bigger audiences. Even when the slurs and conspiracy theories have nothing to do with Jews, they promote an angry, scapegoating mindset and a disregard for facts that can only endanger all minorities.
Responding only when the Holocaust is invoked diminishes the Jewish community’s credibility as advocates for civil discourse and as opponents of scapegoating of all kinds.
Tags: ADL, AJ Congress, Limbaugh, talk radio
August 9th, 2009 at 11:36 am
The incitement industry stumbled over the other “N”-word in the healthcare debate because they “Rushed” into it. Their taunts and counters were more strategically engineered in how their tactics were hatched for the Sotomayor confirmation hearings and the “birthers” faux conniptions.
In general, the “incitement industry” not only watches out for the sensibilities of the Jewish faith, but also includes a few among its’ captains. Remember “The Holocaust” but don’t lose sight of the other holocausts, especially those whose wheels are still spinning when you ask why Jewish outrage is so muted to new horrors in our faces.
August 9th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
What is truly sad is that this gets more exposure on the media than the murder of innocents in Israel because they are GLBTQ. We have become so partisan in our approaches that the us/them divide is growing. The discourse of crisis is becoming increasingly the tool of choice by leaders who are running out of ideas and are scared of change.
Once, our Jewish leadership was engaged in true Tikkun Olam - healing the world, through social justice and engagement with the wider society. Now many of our leaders are busy defining who is and is not Jewish. Splitting us with fundamentalist ultimatums, or intolerance of those who choose to believe differently to their particular way of being.
When we once again rise to our highest calling. When we stop empowering these (mainly) angry white men and their (very succesful tool of) partisanship, then American Jewish leadership will be busy dealing with the brush-fires that distract us from what is truly important. Living up to the highest within us all.
Let us respond to these ‘particularists’ by actively ignoring them, and coming out with creative ways to move forward. Let us create, rather than criticize. The Jewish world truly needs leadership in dealing with a changing future.
We need an American Jewish leadership that can look over its own horizons and provide leadership. Not deal with the tantrums of a spoilt child trying to get the adults to ‘play’.
May these High Holidays open our eyes to new ways of seeing things, and may some of the sweetness of the new year grace the tongues of those who have tasted sour lemons for too long.
Shimon de Valencia
Spiritual Director Eitz Hayim Centre
August 11th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I have also noticed that jewish leaders only comment on issues that affect their communities such as those dealing with Israel or anti semitic behaviour. They (identified as Jews) very rarely speak out on American or world issues involving other nations or ethnic/religious communities. Do they not care or do we expect them (for historical reasons) to take a position on these issues? Jewish leaders and their communities are very effective in defending their economical and political interests so we could expect them to be more pro-active in promoting and defending other similar causes that affect the general public.
August 11th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
@Robert: Huh? A lot of the activism of the Reform movement — the largest in Jewish life - focuses on issues not involving Israel or anti-Semitism. Jewish groups were leaders in the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s. More recently, Jewish groups have played a huge role in pressing for action to end the genocide in Darfur. Many are very active in the health care reform debate now taking place. Gun control, civil rights, child care, adequate funding for social services have all been priorities of the major Jewish groups.