The current Rush Limbaugh controversy brings up some issues that might be considered ethical questions. How far should the American public go to control its talking heads and entertainers? Should we ‘vote with our remote?’ Should we boycott movies. TV and radio shows, and products that sponsor people and shows we do not like? Obviously the answer here is yes. It isn’t just a simple yes but a yes with all sorts of ramifications and considerations.

Obviously if a movie or recording is offensive, lame or just unappealing, not buying the product is a good way to send a signal. Movies that have poor attendance obviously make no money. That cuts out the middle man pretty much. Some entertainment is far less direct and obvious. What do you do if a TV show becomes dull, offensive, or unacceptable in some other way? For starters, you can call your cable company and complain. I expect that is probably a fairly slow and ineffective way to get someone’s attention.

A more direct and effect way to voice your displeasure is find out the sponsors of the show and write to the sponsor. Tell them you simply will not buy their product present or future. The fact that you don’t, never have and never will varies with product. Let’s take Carbonite, the latest company to defect from the Rush Limbaugh Show.

Any of us who have ever lost data know how devastating it can be. I had no idea Carbonite sponsored Limbaugh. If I had known that, probably I wouldn’t have it on 3 different computers in my home. But I didn’t know and sometimes convenience overtakes my sense of principle. I love Carbonite. It is a backup program that works behind the scenes better than anything else I have ever used. No muss, no fuss. Its also a pretty good way to transfer data from one computer to the other. Overall, it is not very expensive considering you buy it, install the first time and then forget about it forever. It auto-renews yearly.  Its the forget about it forever part I like the most. I liked this product so well, I even bought stock when the the company first went public back in 2011.

So Carbonite is a Rush sponsor. Could it survive the Rash Rush slut scandal? Probably not, if the public wanted to play hard ball. The IPO was last August and the stock really hasn’t done all that well. I bailed in January. Loved the product but the stock was not my friend. The digital Goddess, Kim Komando who has syndicated radio shows all over the USA, a terrific website and some TV appearances is a large sponsor of Carbonite, which also was one of the earlier online backup companies. I am not sure Carbonite was a strong enough company to survive an all out product assault like takes place in a boycott. Non-renewals would be a huge problem for them and there are other companies out there that do the same thing, although not nearly as well, in my not-so-humble opinion. Is that a gamble most companies are going to risk? I also use Pro Flowers. They have bailed also.  Again, they aren’t the only show in town. 

Is it even ethical to try to economically crush people to bend them to your will? Is that really what we are doing when we insist that someone like Rush STFU? He has made millions and millions of dollars from broadcasting political commentary that often borders on hate speech. He attacks and ridicules anything seen by him as liberal. He has created words like ‘feminazi’ and has gone after presidential children like Chelsea Clinton and the Obama children. He has destroyed candidacies and labeled politicians. Yet, he is also the American way and embodies pushing free speech right up to its limits of acceptance. He has been sued many times although I probably can’t tell you by whom and if any suits have really been successful.

Rush has a big mouth. Often he has gotten away with doing pretty much what he wants. Other times he has been booted out of positions like Monday night football because he didn’t weigh his words carefully enough. It seems to be more dangerous to be working for someone else other than one’s self. Product sponsors seem to be the most forgiving. Yet, when they decide enough is enough, They seem to go all at once and without forgiveness. And their departure is often a forever move.

Rash Rush surely isn’t as popular as he was 20 years ago, during the Clinton years when he was almost a shock jock sensation. He is pretty much an old has-been who relies on an aging crowd of ditto heads to keep him going. He might have just about come to the end of his rope and he might be his own worst enemy. Very few people are accepting his half-assed apology. Others have been dealt with more harshly like Don Imus was excoriated by his insensitive, unnecessary remarks about ‘nappy headed ‘ho’s.’

What is the goal here for Rash Rush? Do his enemies want to send him a message to tone it down or do they really just want to silence him at this point? I am not sure I even know.  What do you think and how far should a boycott go?

29 Thoughts to “Controlling others by financial ruin”

  1. Need to Know

    Moon, I just finished a post on money in politics and corporate power in the McDonnell thread (#27) and think that I’m in complete agreement with you and Elena there. I’m going to have to differ somewhat here. Yes, Rush has a big mouth and says things that I disagree with. As I recall, I was the only conservative to post my objections to his calling for taping sex being had by people using taxpayer-funded contraceptives and making those tapes available for free public viewing. Rush has on many occasions stepped over the bounds of what I find acceptable or appropriate. Give him credit in that he apologized over the weekend for those remarks and for calling Ms. Fluke a “slut.” However, I would not boycott sponsors of his show if they are offering me a product or service I need at a good price.

    You know that I dislike Bill Maher as much as you dislike Rush. As a Christian, Maher says things that offend me as much as Rush’s comments on reproductive issues offend you. However, I have not cancelled my subscription to HBO because of it. If enough HBO subscribers like Maher to make it financially sound for HBO to keep him on, I’ll exercise my right not to watch him and be offended as those who dislike Rush should just not tune him in. I won’t try to use my economic power to deprive others from hearing views they want to hear.

    Where would I draw the line? Anyone advocating violence or disobedience of laws (aside from MLK-type passive resistance) goes beyond the pale. Rush Limbaugh and Bill Maher both are offensive to some people (often for both intentionally so) but neither go beyond the freedoms guaranteed to them by the Constitution. I won’t boycott their sponsors, or those of Rachel Maddow, Ed what’s-his-name, or any others. Locally, I would not boycott any businesses that advertise on Moonhowlings, BVBL, Virtucon, Not Larry Sabato, Blue Virginia, etc. or any other blog that is just stating a point of view, even if it is doing so in a way some find offensive.

    I might be dating myself a bit, but this reminds me of an episode of the old “Murphy Brown” sitcom in which Candice Bergen played the head of a left-leaning “60 Minutes” type show. In that episode they were going to run a story that they thought would be highly offensive to their largest sponsor, which was a corporation run by a really right-wing guy. Their dilemma was to say what they thought and risk losing the sponsor, or cave for the money. Murphy paid a visit to the guy to discuss the issue, and his response was essentially that the show was making money for him and he would not get involved in their editorial control, or freedom to say what they thought, even though it conflicted with his own views. I like that episode also because it portrayed a conservative in a very positive light; something not common in Hollywood sitcoms.

    So that’s where I am. No, I don’t agree with some things Rush says, and disagree often with Maher. However, I won’t boycott either.

  2. Cato the Elder

    @Need to Know

    I’ll take the other side of the argument. While clearly a matter of personal choice, this seems to me to be a pretty clear-cut issue of freedom of speech. It’s entirely appropriate for people who disagree with Rush to refuse to do business with his sponsors. On some level, advertising on a show or sponsorship implies a sort of endorsement, which is the same reason moral turpitude clauses are often part and parcel of these types of agreements. If you find something/someone offensive to your values, by all means exercise your right not to part with your hard-earned cash purchasing their goods and services.

  3. Bubberella

    I wrote to four of Rush’s sponsors — only those who’s products I have actually used — to let them know that they would get no more business from me until they severed their relationship with Limbaugh. He has a right to free speech (though no right to a microphone via the public airwaves), and I have the right to take my business elsewhere. I’m not going to boycott over a political disagreement, but calling a woman is slut and prostitute because she uses birth control is really beyond the pale.

  4. Elena

    I do have concerns about “punishing” people for their right to free speech, but when I think about Rush, and his utter repugnant comments about Ms. Fluke, I just don’t feel bad for him.

  5. Did I take a side here? I hope not. I don’t know what the goal should be. Do we want to teach him a lesson or kill him off? I think the Rush situation brings about ethical, financial, Constitutional and political questions. Its easy to call from someone’s head, until you have to decide what to do with the head.

    His apology was lame at best. It was a not-apology. On the other hand, the glass is half full or the glass is half empty. It was more than he usually does.

    Bill Maher is another person who often pushes the enevelope way too far. Because he is on HBO, the sponsor thing doesn’t come up, which is probably the best way to deal with an extemist. There are a couple of female shock jocks I find far more offensive than Maher. I also think Hannity is over the top. O’Reilly was pushing it on this topic. He pushed it on Dr. Tiller with me, calling the man Tiller the Killer. However, to his credit, OReilly also can be right on the money with some topics. He doesn’t open his mouth and instantly piss me off like Hannity and Limbaugh.

    I boycotted Coca Cola. I did it over new coke. I did it in such a way that resembled religious fervor. That was such an egregious mistake it almost took on a political overtone. I can’t think of anything else I boycotted.

    Part of my more recent problem as far as sponsors go, I rarely notice who sponsors or who doesn’t. You have to work to find out who a sponsor is.

    I wouldn’t be sorry to see Rush go the way of the dinosaur. I wasn’t sorry to see Ed Schultz get put in the corner for a week. He had misbehaved. I don’t like diminishing women by implication of sexual impropriety. Period. Pick a different ugly name to call females. I have never known Rachel Maddow to be rude or impolite. She, like Greta Van Sustern, always seems extremely professional.

    The comediennes- it is what it is. I believe SNL is the most offensive. I boycotted the entire show for years over a skit about Chelsea Clinton.

  6. Huffington Post:

    During the day on Friday, Limbaugh sponsors began responding to the outcry over his statements. Jaybercrow updated the Reddit list several times on Friday as sponsors pulled their deals with Limbaugh. By Saturday morning, Legal Zoom, Citrix Success, Heart and Body Extract, AutoZone, Quicken Loans, Sleep Train, Sleep Number and Oreck said they yanked ads from Limbaugh’s show.

    Nine companies remain on the list: ProFlowers, CARBONITE, Inc., Mid-West Life Insurance Company of Tennessee, American Forces Network, Mission Pharmacal Company, Life Quotes, Inc., Life Lock, Tax Resolution and AOL, parent company of The Huffington Post.

  7. Need to Know

    @Moon-howler

    The way to boycott Maher is to cancel your subscription to HBO, which I have not done. I just don’t believe in trying to muzzle people with whom I disagree or even find offensive because they are exercising their First Amendment rights.

    Going back to my post in the McDonnell thread, I do not believe corporations are “people” like you, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Maher and me. The individual people associated with the corporation, the employees, stock holders, etc. enjoy full freedom and First Amendment rights, but contrary to the ruling in Citizens United, I do not believe the corporation does.

    1. @NTK, I think that Citizens United was a horrible ruling, for sure.

      I don’t hate Bill Maher. I just don’t watch him. Sometimes he is funny, other times he is just a jerk. You are right, he is horrible about religion. Its part of his schtick though.

  8. George S. Harris

    The simplest thing to do is not watch/listen to these clowns. And I think it is proper to write to sponsors and voice your opinion. I have taken the time to write to Clear Channel Media whose spokesperson has said that they respect the rights of Limbaugh to say what he does as well as respecting the rights of folks to disagree with what he says. I don’t watch or listen to any of them–life is too short to clutter it up with their kind of male bovine merde. Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Maher, Buchanan, and all of these types of talking heads thrive on appealing to our basest instincts and the more we watch/listen the more they get off on it. As to whether Rachel Maddow is ever rude or impolite–well that might well be in the eye of the beholder just as my opinion of all those I mentioned are. It is kinda like the Supreme Court justice who said he couldn’t define pornography but he knew it when he saw it. Your “MBM” alarm doesn’t have to go off to recognize it when you see it.

    1. I am remiss in not mentioning again that Pat Buchanan has been fired, Judge Napolitano, the same. A couple other people have been fired and I can’t even remember them. There are just lots of people disappearing.

      I can’t remember Rachel being rude or impolite, even when she strongly disagrees. Can anyone think of an example?

      A funny one is Jon Stewart. Outside his skits, he is very politel to his guests. His skits…well…he is a comedian. They can be rude.

  9. punchak

    The only boycott I’ve been involved in was the boycott against California grape growers in the 50s and 60s. Cesar Chavez made a plea for the farmworkers that my husband and I couldn’t resist. Our kids to this day talk about how they were “deprived” children 🙂

  10. Need to Know

    @Moon-howler

    I remember the article that came out a few weeks ago that said that liberals like Jon Stewart and conservatives like Jay Leno. I still feel conflicted because when we are up that late, Mrs. NTK and I enjoy watching Stewart and then switching to Leno at 11:30.

    1. @NTK, I guess I never thought about Jay Leno’s political leanings. I f I had to pin a label on him I would say he was a moderate.

      Jon Stewart as a liberal….nah. He actually isn’t. But I understand why he is cast there. The dead giveaway was the jon Stewart event in DC. I think lots of liberal groups like to hang their hats there. I would say he was a progressive which is liberal lite at best. Moderate isn’t quite risky enough. :mr.green:

  11. Need to Know

    @Moon-howler

    I don’t think the article was categorizing the entertainers; only their fans. I would peg Leno as a moderate also.

    I recall the Stewart event. Colbert showed up as well. It was a satirical response to the rally Glen Beck had. Beck thought his event was the beginning of a political movement with him leading the way. Stewart and Colbert were there mostly to make jokes and have fun.

  12. Elena

    Here is the way I see this is Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer who wishes he were an elected official. He is put on a conservative pedestal at events like CPAC. He believes he speaks for the conservative republican voice.

  13. Elena

    AND…..he has to be told, inequivically that he speaks for no one, especially the Republican party!

    http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/george-will-republican-leaders-are-afraid-of-rush-limbaugh/

  14. Steve Thomas

    @Elena

    Kinda like Bill Maher’s repugnant comments about Sarah Palin (He used the “C” word) or Ed Schultz calling Laura Ingraham the exact same word that Rush used?

    Plenty of outrage for Rush. Calls for boycotts. Where was the similar anger when two personalities on the Left were using the same misogynistic language.

    1. @Steve, so glad you asked. 1. Bill Maher–no one was aware he called Palin the C word. Actually I don’t watch Maher very often because his standards are too low. Yuck. I was probably busy jumping all over Dave Letter man for his nasty sexist remarks about Palin’s daughter.

      2. I have addressed the Ed Schultz situation 3 times this week. His own network put him on suspension for 1 week before the public outcry even hit. It was almost instant. He apologized without public prompting and was in the naughty corner for a week. He said unequivocally that he was wrong. I don’t know where you go from here. He didn’t try to blame others and he didn’t say the other guy did it first.

      The bottom line is, calling women, even ones you don’t like or agree with sluts is totally unacceptable. It is a practice that has gone on for centuries and it gets even more repugnant as time goes on. You won’t get an argument from me on that one. Using the C word is a like calling someone a slut except on steroids.

      Steve, the outcry is because there was a huge amen chorus at Rush and because very few stepped up to the plate to disavow what he said.
      Rush claims to be a Republican and a conservative and he speaks as one at various conventions. He had standing room only at CPAC.

      I can’t think of an instance where Bill Maher represented the Democrats or the Liberals. I think like Rush, he is sort of a has-been. He got a shot in the arm over Christine O’Donnell but has since come back to earth.

  15. Steve Thomas

    “The bottom line is, calling women, even ones you don’t like or agree with sluts is totally unacceptable.”

    I agree.

  16. @Steve, except in the privacy of your own home and then anything goes. :mrgreen:

    I am the one who defended that gross Dawg the Bounty Hunter. He was in his own home. I have some sort of bastardized castle doctrine rule about my language in my own house.

    It seems my kids think *I* am politically incorrect at times. I have had to tell them on more than one occassion that it was my house and I would talk the way I wanted to talk in my own home and if they didn’t like it, leave.

  17. George S. Harris

    @punchak
    As I said, it’s all in the eye of the beholder.
    BTW–another biggy has pulled its advertising–AOL. Am beginning to think Lumbago is gonna get squashed! Sic Semer Tyrannis!

  18. Emma

    Rush is a tiresome windbag who represents everything I have come to hate about the Republican Party. So my solution is simple: Don’t listen. I also never hear the advertisements, because I don’t listen. I love those audiobooks!

  19. Elena

    Steve,
    I don’t have HBO so never heard Bil Maher. I did know about Ed Shultz and I believe he was punished and was clearly very sorry for his word choice. Rush,on the other hand, is a gratuitous self serving egomaniac with no ability to truly feel contrite. He went after a woman who is a private citizen trying to have civil discourse about the needs of women and their individual reproductive needs. Ms. Fluke is no Sara Palin or Laura Ingram. Rush was behaving like a bully and I don’t like bullys, not at all.

  20. @Emma

    Emma, I agree with you. Finally we have found common ground. I love audio books also but I have had to train myself to enjoy reading that way. Don’t ask me why but it isn’t as simple as it seems.

    I have a problem training my mind not to do other things. I also have a problem with getting too comfortable. zzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzz Am I unique having these problems?

    The rest of you all….I have been fighting with Emma for weeks and we have finally stumbled on common ground. I like Emma so the rest of you all talk amongst yourselves please…. please forgive me for doing that cardinal sin of blogging which is getting off subject.

  21. @Elena

    Anne Coulter needs a little taste of lye soap also. Didn’t she call John Edwards a ‘faggot?’ Now if she had just waited she could have joined the chorus of EVERYwoman calling him every name in the book for what he did to his poor wife. Sometimes there are good reasons to stoop low.

    Rusheroo is really in deep trouble now he has lost 9 sponsors but he says they can all be replaced. What sponsor has a death wish? I don’t even think Apple could survive sponsoring Limbaugh now and they have an ipad announcement this Wednesday. Well, maybe Apple, Google or Facebook…maybe.

  22. Pat Herve

    When Ed Schulz called Ingraham – whatever he called her – it was not appropriate and he was rightly slapped on the wrist. I do not recall Ed doing the same thing for three consecutive days on his program the way that Rush did it last week. This is not the first time Rush has had controversies with what he has said on his program. I just wish, the people that hold this entertainer in high esteem would realize that he is gutter trash.

  23. SlowpokeRodriguez

    It is interesting to see who is abandoning Rush’s show. Half these companies…..I didn’t know they were still viable entities! How did AOL manage to survive this long being associated with HuffPo? Astounding!

  24. SlowpokeRodriguez

    Rush should go to Sirius XM.

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