Channel Surfing

Over the weekend I had some time with nothing pressing to do, so I sat down to see what was on the tube. While scrolling through the stations, my attention was diverted a couple of times by shows that could not have presented a more stark dichotomy of world-views, and giving me something to think about, and now to post.

The first was on C-Span, which broadcast Rush Limbaugh's address to the CPAC Conference. I'm no fan of Limbaugh, and nothing he said made me view him any more favorably. To me, he demonstrates nearly everything that is wrong with political discourse in America: he is mean, dishonest, and imputes motives to those who don't share his views based on his own self-serving biases and twisted perversions of the truth. Despite all his professed love for the principles upon which this country ws founded, he betrays a profound ignorance of what the Constitution actually says. Whatever he says that may have some value is so couched in demagoguery and phony victimhood that there's little reason for anyone (except his devotedly unthinking "dittoheads") to see him as anything but a loudmouthed obstacle to real constructive solutions to the nation's problems.

Surfing on, I came across a documentary on PBS devoted to the life and career of Pete Seeger. Seeger is the anti-Limbaugh, a man of modesty, compassion, and tolerance who has devoted his life to helping people see past their differences to the common humanity they share. Although associated with the opposite side of the political spectrum, Seeger, unlike Limbaugh, never threw up any barriers between himself and his counterparts on the other side. Despite their efforts to blacklist him, and on one occasion (in Peekskill) to do him bodily harm, Seeger kept hammering away with his music, bringing forth a message of harmony that eventually won over even some of his biggest critics.

In the end, Seeger's efforts have done much to make the world a better place: teaching youngsters and adults the unifying effects of music; inspiring support for the Civil Rights movement and other forms of grass roots political activism; bringing together a massive coalition of interested parties to clean up the Hudson River; and in many other ways. What is Limbaugh's legacy? All I can see is a potentially fatal dose of misdirected, unrequited anger that does more to distract than engage with the issues of the day. All things considered, I'd rather follow Seeger's path.