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 The author argues that Rush Limbaugh didn't really apologize for maligning a Georgetown Law student.
March 6th, 2012
01:05 PM ET
My Take: Rush Limbaugh's 'apology' fails test for public confession
By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN Dear Rush, which part of “I’m sorry” don’t you understand? The ritual of public confession is so formulaic in American culture that it’s hard to imagine that someone as media savvy as Rush Limbaugh doesn’t know how to do it. But his so-called apology for calling Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” shows he doesn’t know the first thing about this rite, so here is how it goes. First, admit that you have done wrong. Say this straight. Do not hedge. Do not confuse things by saying that others have wronged you. Do not say that others have committed similar sins.
Here the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church is a good model:
Second, show that you are truly sorry. Saying “I’m sorry” (which Limbaugh did not do) is a good start, but it isn’t enough. You have to make yourself believable. Here tears are not necessary, but they help. Others need to believe that you are confessing for the sake of your soul, and not merely for the sake of your career. Hint: the best way to make that happen is to actually be sorry. Third, humble yourself. Admit that you are a human being like the rest of us. This can be difficult for people with a high opinion of themselves. So what. Suck it up. Fourth, repent, turn around, promise that you will go and sin no more. Look familiar? It should, if you’ve ever gone to Catholic Mass or observed Yom Kippur. But Limbaugh flubbed it big time. First, he didn’t really apologize for turning a public policy question into a vicious personal attack. In fact, he said, “I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.” Second, he tried to justify his unjustifiable behavior by claiming that he was trying to be “absurd” and “humorous.” He wasn’t trying to libel or slander Fluke, or to shut her up or humiliate her. He was just trying to have a little fun. Third, Limbaugh stopped apologizing almost as soon as his apology had begun. Instead of detailing his many and manifold sins, he launched into a reprise of his argument against birth control coverage in U.S. health plans, and criticized President Obama along the way for coming to Fluke’s defense. In other words, he changed the subject, so the bulk of his ”apology” wasn’t an apology at all. Finally, when he got to something approaching apologizing, Limbaugh did not apologize for what he really did. He did not apologize for launching a multi-day ad hominem attack against a private citizen. He did not apologize for dragging the American public through the muck and mire of his misogynistic fantasies. He did not apologize for inspiring a series of copycats in the right wing blogosphere. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories Instead he apologized for “insulting word choices.” In other words, he apologized for using the word “slut” instead of some less insulting synonym. Given this abysmal performance, we should not be surprised that Fluke did not find his remarks particularly apologetic, or that she and many others believe he issued it not out of genuine remorse but in an effort to stanch the hemmoraging of advertisers from his show. “I don’t think that a statement like this issued, saying that his choice of words was not the best, changes anything, and especially when that statement is issued when he’s under significant pressure from sponsors who have begun to pull their support,” said Fluke, a Georgetown Law student. Neither should we find it surprising that advertisers, including AOL, are fleeing the show en masse, and that some radio stations are now refusing to air it. Limbaugh could have stanched the bleeding by practicing what historian Susan Wise Bauer has described as “the art of the public grovel.” Instead he gave us the art of the public equivocation. Why? So why couldn’t he say, "I'm sorry"? In a word: ego. Republicans and Democrats will doubtless disagree about vices and virtues of the man who would be a GOP kingmaker. But there is no doubting that Limbaugh admires himself. And he is not about to sacrifice that form of worship at the altar of Sandra Fluke or anyone else. That is why he is now blaming not himself but the companies who have stopped advertising on his show for their decision to separate themselves from his hate speech. “They’ve decided they don’t want you or your business any more,” he told his radio audience on Monday. This in my view is a foolish course. Americans are a forgiving people. Many of the public figures profiled in Bauer’s “The Art of the Public Grovel” have come back into the public eye, not least President Bill Clinton. But the American public will not forgive you unless and until you confess and repent. And so far at least Limbaugh has refused to do either. At this point, what is dragging Limbaugh down is not so much his incendiary attack on Fluke but his refusal to admit that, like the rest of us, he is a sinner, too. Until he does that, he will continue to float around in a celebrity limbo of his own making, praised by his true believers but damned - and rightly so - by most of the rest of us. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Stephen Prothero.
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  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Editor's Note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of "God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World," is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor.
Do yourself a favor.
Vote Democrat.
Stop the poison.
End the madness.
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We appreciate your news tip and thank you for choosing CNN as your breaking news source.
So, message received. I'll keep you posted.
And this is one of those few cases where I think abortion would have been the better alternative.
This troll has no value to humanity whatsoever.
Well, too bad for you that YOU don't get to make the choice, honey.
That's what choice means-that the woman who's pregnant gets to choose.
Are you pregnant?
Poor little you! Not your decision.
Apparently Rush called this gal a two bit wh ore. She then slugged him with a sack of quarters.
Oh, Republicans... they just keep showing the quality of their morals.
On Sunday they go to church and hypocritically pretend to be God's sheep, the rest of the week they lie, cheat, insult, slander, undermine, and deminish anyone that does not think like them.
There is an easy way to fix this .. just order her to clean up the house and iron you shirts. She'll turn off the supply and she won't need the pills. No kids: natural birth control.
I sent a post stating that I was concerned that a poster was abusing his children. I gave the screen name "Nah".
I have no idea if CNN will follow up. but I hope they do.
Sorry, tom, but you lost. You tried too hard at trolling, became desperate, and didn't quit while you were (conceivably) ahead.
Hopefully you'll learn from this experience.
Oh, it's a bit early to conclude that CNN won't contact me. If it does, I fully intend to report my concerns.
You may be right; CNN may not follow up.
Regardless, I'll have done what I could.
I do feel sad for your kids. They have an azzhole for a father. One can only hope they leave as soon as possible and don't have any kids themselves.
Eh. Like I care.
Tom = pwned.
Next?
Babie's must play!
Definition: Liberal is someone who thinks goverment only has the answers. People are to stupid
Liberal is someone that thinks free enterprise is bad People are to stupid
Liberal is someone that uses poltical correctness to stop any real debate about this country's problems & solutions
Oh, how roads go both ways...
A conservative is someone who thinks they have all the answers, even though they never bothered to learn any of the facts.
A conservative is someone who thinks they have a chance just because someone tells them they do, or someone who exploits that gullibility.
A conservative can't have a proper debate without degrading into personal attacks and profanity.
I Win dibs
Where was the outrage when Bil Maher called Sarah Palin a c**t? Amazing how libs have no problem with that. Where were the calls to boycott Maher and HBO??
@Laura
1) Why does it matter what happened before? That doesn't make this any less wrong.
2) If you think that both were in the wrong and stepped over the line, then I agree.
There is an important distinction between the two women who were insulted though. Sarah Palin is a political shark, and Sandra Fluke is a student at a university with no political power to speak of. The only real reason anyone has given her much of a second glance is because of Limbaugh's insults.
I'm glad I drove Nah away. Lol. He couldn't handle it. Lol.
Babies must play.
tom: "Babies must play."
Talking to yourself, eh?
How sad 🙁
Nope.
Tom: "Nope."
Schizophrenic much?
It's a sad thing when a father tells his kids he'd rather they die of cancer or become pregnant because they *gasp* had s2x before they were married.
Really, why did he have kids at all? Or why not just murder them in their sleep?
In fact, why didn't he just abort them in the womb? That way they wouldn't exist at all and he wouldn't have to deal with their messy post-natal deaths.
And he wouldn't have to worry about condoms or s2x either.
Knock it off, infant.
I SAID KNOCK IT OFF. YOU'RE REALLY STARTING TO MAKE ME MAD OKAY?
Tom, take a chill pill. Who are you talking to?
I'M TALKING TO YOU F4GGOT.
Okay. Time to calm down, tom.
Prayer changes things .
Pray that Limbaugh will get smarter.
Is that some sort of auto post that just gets put on all of these blogs... is the Belief Blog putting those there? Say something of substance!
Prayer changes things
Proven.
Rush Limbaugh may be the most misunderstood genius of our times.
Yeah, and so might Michael Moore, but neither is as likely as is the chance a meteor will hit Earth in the next 24 hours, you moron.
I'll bet Rush Limbaugh prays.
All religionists should be executed. They're sc-um and they've done nothing but hurt this world and the people in it since the beginning of time. If there were no religionists, there would be no war, no famine, no poverty, no crime.
I say we start by burning the bible. That way people will finally be free and educated to live how they want to live.
Babies must play
Oh that's right. You can't spell S3X correctly on this religous web page.
Or... inst!tution.
Sex. Institution.
No sex or tits?? That fucking sucks.
Rush could care less about what people think of him. He has his dedicated ditto-head listeners who are as depraved as those who listen to Howard Stern.
Prothero is right that Limbaugh's apology wasn't actually an apology. He never really apologized for what he said, just that he's sorry that he's misunderstood. A classic non-apology apology.
Rush is not sorry..hell not in the least bit. I'm sure if you had a candid moment with him, he's thrilled with being the center of attention. Does anybody really think that his listening audience will decline after all of this publiciity? Rush is like Paris Hilton, Snookey, Kim Kardashian, etc. Famous for being a moron.
And like their moron audiences, his moron audience goosesteps to every hateful thing he says.
Rush doesn't care what people think of him, just that they tune in to his show.
Definition: Liberal is someone who thinks only goverment can make the right dec. People are not smart enough
Liberal is someone who thinks free enterprise is bad because people are not smart enough
Liberal is someone that uses politcal correctness to stop any real debate about the problems this country & it's people face
Can we at least agree that being liberal is a disease that birth control can eliminate
Extremism is a mental condition. That means you, too, pally.
whoa whoa whoa. I am not extreme. I am a conservitive
whats the difference?
i looked in the dictionary and next to the word extremism was a picture of Sandra Fluke
It's a spectrum, genius. Liberalism is the other end of the one you are on. There's this big wide area in the middle where people aren't extremists (you might have heard of them), and they think you're as much of a tool as they do the liberals you are trying to make aszumptions about. They make similar aszumptions about you. Because you're both lunatics, just slightly different flavors. All bitter, though.
oh and you are the decider of this
Typical... you couldn't define liberal. Is Franklin Delano Roosevelt diseased? How about LBJ? How about Eisenhower? Hell what about Nixon? It's stupid statements like this that show you are not really interested in what's best for the country, just that you'd rather attack people.
Is being for readily available contraception make you a Liberal? I guess that would make George H.W. Bush, Reagan, Nixon liberals as well?
Does it really make sense going back to the stone age with a population explosion really smart?
I really am amazed at how so called conservatives....stopped thinking about 20 years ago.
Does believing in statistics make someone a liberal? Does seeking solutions, make someone a liberal? Does believing that we spend too much on military and homeland security make one a liberal? Does acknowledging that the nation should be actively seeking energy sources beyond fossil fuels make one a liberal?
It's one thing to argue, that the government is spending too much or taxes are too high. Reasonable people can respectfully disagree with each other. It's another to join in with people like Rush Limbaugh and just attack people because it's either 'more fun" or easier.
I guess it saves you from actually thinking.
Why yes, yes I am.
Called dibs.
acby: "Typical... you couldn't define liberal."
Typical... you can't spot a troll no matter how obvious he is.
Hook, line and sinker. Bravo.
ok ok ok tc is to smart foor but you acb. you just think you are smarter than me
Rush will start to pick on his pubic hair soon during his three hour time.
Hopefully he'll let me eat them.
HERPICUS DERPICUS, WELCOME TO MORONSVILLE
Isn't this slander? I'm sensing a big fat Rush Limbaugh size lawsuit against this absolute representative of none and people of his ilk, to help shut them the f#@k up! Crawl back under the rock you came from Limbaugh and while your at it take Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, and anyone else at the alleged Fox News with you!
They should sue fox noise too for being complicit in the conspiracy against Sandra Fluke.
Free speech comes with responsibilities. And when you use it wrongly, we can take it away from you.
Babies must play!
tomtom: "The poster Nah would rather subject his child to cervical cancer risk than allow her to receive a Gardasil vaccination."
Another strawman, eh?
Since you're (evidently) new at trolling, here's a hint: try to be more subtle. And when you don't get the reaction you want, stop trying. Otherwise you end up looking desperate.
🙂
nah: You are clearly a seasoned veteran – all the buzzwords in hand. Somehow you suggesting subtlety seems incongrueous. I think we all are fully aware from where the desperation is originating.
Hit the mark, I see. Bully for me.
Sad for your spawn, though. My sympathies to them, having an imbecile for a da.
tom: "Hit the mark, I see. Bully for me."
K.
Oh, too bad for you. I don't care if I win. I just care to beat the sh2t out of you.
tom: "I don't care if I win. I just care to beat the sh2t out of you."
So desperate 🙁
Oh, honey, it's not for my benefit. It's in hope that someone here will see your posts and recognize you and will rescue your kids from your abuse. That's all.
tomtom: "oooh, that's the difference, is it? Gosh, in one case it's a weakness of character and in the other it isn't, is that about it?"
Nah. Addictions are created because of a physical need for a medication. Moral culpability hinges on intention. Hence, a person who becomes addicted to their own prescription medications – because of the prescription itself – is not blamable.
The drug addict who seeks a fix by taking medications (which he never needed in the first place) intended something completely different from the hapless patient who's given necessary medication for pain.
I'm sorry you're too stupid to see the difference.
And I'm sorry you are too stupid to figure out you're delusional. And an abusive parent.
I hope the CNN monitors are watching.
tom: "And I'm sorry you are too stupid to figure out you're delusional. And an abusive parent."
Another brilliant rebuttal by tom the troll.
How cute 🙂
Not a problem.
Reported to CNN for being a paeodpihle.
I hope CPS catches you. You gonna respond now??
Sure. I can absolutely defend myself. Can you, honey? I doubt it, or you wouldn't be so threatened.
WHY WON'T YOU RESPOND?? I'm reporting you to CNN OKAY??
Whoa, calm down tom. It's just the internet.
Yeah. Too bad.
Rushed Loinflaw just doesn't get it. He is the poster child for birth control.
He's not like us mortals. He's got birth control built in. Hence why he has no children. Pretty sure that if I seen that coming at me, my virginia would disappear into itself trying to escape.
I think he might also apply for the position of 'Girth Control' poster boy. I know, I know – just couldn't resist after reading so much mindless drivel. "I've become one of them".
Nah stated that giving a kid the Gardasil vaccine would be tantamount to approving of s3xual congress outside of or previous to marriage! One couldn't have that! My God!
It would be far better to allow one's progeny to suffer the consequences of premarital s3x in the form of pregnancy or STDs or CANCER, don't you know?
Nah.
Yu p. Go look at the Health forums and check out the threads on Gardasil. You'll find Nah there. I'm sure he's proud of his stance on vac cinating his children to prevent ce rv ical, a n a l, or pe ni le cancer. He'd rather they die of such diseases as punishment for pre-marital s# x than tell 'em he loves them too much to allow them to suffer if they succu mb to temptation.
What a great da!!
Yu p. Go look at the Health forums and check out the threads on Gardasil. You'll find Nah there. I'm sure he's proud of his stance on vac cinating his children to prevent ce rv ical, a n a l, or pe ni le cancer. He'd rather they die of such diseases as punishment for pre-marital s# x than tell 'em he loves them too much to allow them to suffer if they su c c u mb to temptation.
What a great da!!
Go look. You'll see what kind of dad Nah is.
tom: "Yu p. Go look at the Health forums and check out the threads on Gardasil. You'll find Nah there. I'm sure he's proud of his stance on vac cinating his children to prevent ce rv ical, a n a l, or pe ni le cancer."
Lol, you're trying so hard.
Hmm. If so, why are you just 2 minutes behind me, denying everything I reported. I've a good mind to take this further and report it to CPS.
tom: "Hmm. If so, why are you just 2 minutes behind me, denying everything I reported. I've a good mind to take this further and report it to CPS."
K.
Sad dad and pity for the kids if that is true..
It is one thing to take a decision that effects ones own life.. But entirely different when for one's own "beliefs" they force others to follow their skewed ideas.
Reported to CNN.
You still there? Denying everything I said. Lol. You're so dumb. K?
You can knock it off, troll. I e-mailed CNN with my concerns.
Look, I'm not trolling okay I just wanted to report you to CPS for being a child abuser.
U mad bro???
Lol. Yeah, I'm mad "bro".
Be mad all you want. I e-mailed CNN and said that I was concerned you were abusing your children.
Not my problem if you think it's a joke.
Contacted CNN again, just now. I hope they get back to me; I am truly concerned about Nah's treatment of his kids.
Thank you for contacting CNN. This email is to notify you that your news tip has been received and will be reviewed in a timely manner. You will be contacted if the news tip is valid and we need further information and verification.
We appreciate your news tip and thank you for choosing CNN as your breaking news source.
I'll keep you all posted as to any further developments.
Shut YOU right up, didn't it.
You bunch of cowards! Why aren't you giving this two-bit thimble rigger her walking papers? You passle of pus si es! Get yourselves and your lily-livers together!
What is your problem? Bunch of two-bit losers.
What a BRAVE guy Nah is!
aahhahhhhhah.
Best laugh I've had all night, watching the ball-less wonder run away.