When a Bastard Falls Ill
Should we celebrate, or forgive?
I’ll state this at the outset: In consideration of the deaths of monsters such as Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and others who have directly killed innumerable innocents or have directly ordered others to do so — which may well be the difference makers for me — I have no compassion.
Onward.
I do not expect to please everyone with the words that follow, and I’d be disingenuous if I stated my articles on this platform are posted solely to build a readership.
Clearly, they’re not. Sometimes, I need to vent.
I consider myself an honest writer. As in, I wear it on my sleeve. Though building a readership and being honest are not mutually exclusive, I will never make everyone happy with all my posts.
Nor will I try to.
What follows, then, is honest, from my political views to matters of life and death.
And bastards.
Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh made the following announcement on his radio program:
He is presently undergoing treatment for advanced lung cancer.
Almost immediately, social media had a field day. Those on the right lamented the conservative icon’s illness, while many of those on the left veritably celebrated it.
Here’s my two cents on the Rush Limbaugh should burn in hell lung cancer controversy ...
If Donald Trump was diagnosed with cancer tomorrow, would I care?
That’s my contemporary red line. My answer:
I would.
Though before that I may feel like spitting in his face and have no regrets as to the thought, here’s the rub:
That son of a bitch has a kid like Barron, who may not as yet have been corrupted, or otherwise have learned to play the system, like his father.
Maybe there’s hope for him.
Let’s say one day Barron has a child, or children, who carries on the Trump bloodline/dynasty.
There would be nothing more powerful than Barron himself or said child, or children, to age and publicly reject the family legacy while working to better it from there forward without resenting a hateful public.
It’s a hell of an obstacle to clear.
(My vague pass of Trump admittedly becomes nearly intolerable considering the deaths of immigrants and others for which I believe he’s been indirectly responsible. If he did not have Barron, I may well not be so humane.)
I know people whose parents have abused many, for example, who have lived life as if hanging by a thread and yet have made big successes of themselves.
If our current President ultimately passes of a horrific disease without celebration, perhaps young Barron would not be as resentful as he could be moving forward.
Perhaps. No one knows, really. My comment is not an absolute, and to be clear I am not wishing illness upon anyone.
I am choosing a perspective from which to express my thoughts on Rush, however, and going from there.
So to that other monster, and he is, Rush Limbaugh, there are times my old Brooklyn attitude would come out and I’d say the same as I would with Trump: ”Good riddance. I’d piss on his grave when it happens.”
Am I a bigger man than that? Of course I am and I would never follow through. But that fact does not diminish my anger at his negative and dangerous contributions to society.
If you are not aware, here’s a choice selection of Limbaugh’s abject racism and other poison from his highly influential radio platform:
The truth is, though, I am not a monster, as bold as my words could sometimes be. Limbaugh has relatives — no children — who would suffer, and some to my knowledge do not take part in his hateful garbage.
So there’s that.
Can the same be said for the families of murderers? Maybe, which makes this commentary all the more difficult, and complex.
Exploring death penalty issues will be an article for the near-future.
Otherwise, Limbaugh’s lung cancer and karmic justice issues aside … don’t smoke. Look, I knew Morton Downey, Jr. and did some work on his old show. He was a bastard on air. I liked him behind-the-scenes but the point is he died of lung cancer. He then spent his last few months making television appearances doing what he could to get kids and adults off cigarettes.
Don’t smoke. And don’t be a motherfucker during your lifetime. You won’t be here forever, and you have family (and/or friends) who have lives of their own that you risk forever stigmatizing.
They need to move forward. Limbaugh, as with Trump, I don’t give a shit about. They‘ve hurt millions.
Regardless, to me it’s now about the family.
Let Rush Limbaugh fight his battle in peace.
Thank you for reading.
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