When I was 12 years old...
When I was 12 years old, just before or just at the start of high school, Rush Limbaugh came on at 9:30 at night on a TV show. I watched it because it came on before one of my favorite shows. I was intrigued by it and didn't know much about politics yet. I took what he said at face value and saw how the audience reacted. The most interesting parts of the show was when he made a joke about the Democrats saying that the Republicans were not doing enough even though the Republicans were doing more.
One example was an issue dealing with school lunch where Rush kept saying that Democrats wanted you to believe that 2.3 was BIGGER than 3.1 (or something close to that) when dealing with children's school lunches. I laughed at it because they did a funny graphic thing with showing 2.3 BIGGER on the TV screen than 3.1. I kept watching the show for a little while not knowing enough about any of the issues to know better.
Then one day he talked about the environment. That's when the lies he told me came crashing down. He showed two statements saying:
1/3 of all polutants come from cars.
2/3 of all polutants come from Buses, other public transportation, and other things.
Then he said, "They keep complaining about cars trying to make you feel guilty when buses and public transportation polute more than cars!"
I knew math and I knew about the environment and polution. That is when I realized that he had been telling manipulated truths that supported lies that he wanted people to believe. The worst part was that the audiance clapped at that just as they clapped at every other story he ever told. It showed me how you have to not know what he is talking about in order to believe anything he says. Or you have to be in denial, which I will not allow myself to do.