Rush Limbaugh, bless his cold little heart, claims he has cracked a major mystery. As he spews his nonsense, he basically acknowledges the power behind his strongest nemesis - a grassroots organization called
StopRush. In Tuesday's
Rush Limbaugh.com blog titled,
"The Hidden Story Behind StopRush," Limbaugh reveals 'dark secrets' about the devious organization that lives to expose and bring him down. Here are some of his claims. They are followed by my own commentary.
Please note, I do not speak for, or represent, StopRush. I am contributing my own personal experiences with StopRush, FlushRush, BoycottRush, and the massive anti-Rush Limbaugh protests/petitions.
Most #StopRush members are politically-motivated activists who send out tens of thousands of bullying tweets and Facebook posts.
No,
most StopRush members are everyday consumers who are sick and tired of Rush Limbaugh’s racism, misogyny, homophobia, and bigotry on public radio. Now, through social media, consumers are able to contact and let his sponsors know they will not buy from companies that support hate/hate speech.
#StopRush leaders develop and indiscriminately publish targeting lists for bullying and harassment by computer and phone, but hide in anonymity themselves. They even target charities and public service organizations for bullying.
StopRush volunteers monitor radio stations nationwide, report sponsors heard on Limbaugh's show, create sponsor contact lists and document all of the information in the StopRush Database, so that the public can personally contact these companies. Many of the volunteers and StopRush folks, started becoming active in the protest after being outraged over Limbaugh's attack on Sandra Fluke in 2012. The disgusting talk show host should have been taken off the air then, but Koch-owned organizations like FreedomWorks and Heritage Foundation have helped to keep Limbaugh afloat in lieu of the 3,000+ sponsors he has lost via protests, boycotts, and petitions. The FCC has done nothing. Clear Channel has done nothing. So everyday people, along with activists, decided to do
something. In doing so we realized the power of our consumer dollars, and that is the power that is bringing Rush Limbaugh down.
When challenged, #StopRush leaders claim they have been threatened with violence as an excuse for using fake identities, but produce no evidence of that at all. And #StopRushexpresses no concern about the safety of those on the targeting lists they distribute themselves. They simply need anonymity to bully with impunity.
From what I've witnessed, bullying of any kind is discouraged, and yes, some folks do use aliases to protect themselves and their families. Rush Limbaugh fans/Dittoheads are made up largely of radical Tea Party members. They are extremists who will resort to the lowest forms of attack to defend their fearful leader, Rush Limbaugh. It gets dirty out there. I have had Tea Publican sponsors' call me names that would make a truck driver blush. I have been threatened. I have been memed, and I will continue, along with many others, to use my free speech to pursue a cause in which I believe.
The simple fact that #StopRush activists refuse to provide their names is clear evidence of the deception at the core of the #StopRush intimidation effort. Real consumers tell you who they are.
No, when it comes to the despicable tactics of Dittoheads and Tea Party extremists, real consumers don't always feel safe telling you who they are.
In fact, 80% of all #StopRush attacks are from activists not even in the same state as their target.
I'm not sure where Rush is getting his info. StopRush is only one of the hubs in the protest. There are women's rights organizations that have been after Rush for decades. There are Facebook pages with close to 100k followers like Boycott Rush Limbaugh's Sponsors To Shut Him Down, which reaches page followers and their family/friends with information about Rush Limbaugh sponsors courtesy of StopRush. There are petitions containing the signatures of hundreds of thousands of concerned consumers.
As measured over a 24-day period, almost 70% of all targeted Twitter #StopRushmessages came from only 10 Twitter accounts. The #StopRush movement is simply a small number of extremists sending tens of thousands of tweets and other messages.
So there are only 10 Twitter accounts that send all of those 'tens of thousands' of tweets?
#StopRush members use automated Twitter software to send and retweet messages quickly and without any thought or effort. Users simply click on a tweet supplied by #StopRush, and it’s automatically sent to targeted sponsors.
And for fast retweeting of leadership “seed” posts, another piece of software is used, which allows users to retweet with just one click:
So sad technology is working against you, Rush Limbaugh. But then it worked for you when you created your bogus
Rush Babes Facebook account and paid for your 75k+ Likes, that came mostly from India and Turkey. You are a fake. You are a poser. And you are projecting who and what you are, because you are being backed into a corner and your career is crumbling.
During a measured 24-day period, 88% of all tweets were identified as coming from Unite Blue member accounts.
Why would there be any surprise to find out a good portion of the Rush Limbaugh protestors are Left-Leaning Liberals/Democrats? Limbaugh stands for everything that is wrong in this country. What Rush does/will not admit, is a good portion of his enemies and adversaries are Republicans and Conservatives who cringe whenever they think the public recognizes Limbaugh as a Republican 'leader.' Many Republicans think Limbaugh is a joke, or worse - they see him as damaging and detrimental to the party -
which he is. By insulting, alienating, and provoking hatred against women, blacks, Hispanics, minorities, teachers, unions, the poor/homeless, students… Limbaugh is driving voters away from the GOP in masses.
#StopRush supporters use the email associated with their employment – without permission from their employer – to give added authority as they harass and bully targets from the published lists. Below is an email from a staff member at Kent University:
I'm not even sure what to make of this. If volunteers didn't feel safe using their employer email accounts, they wouldn't use them. What Rush Limbaugh also doesn't grasp, is that he is hated and despised by the majority of this country. There are probably many employers who applaud their employees for being proactive against hate speech. That said, personal email accounts are given to faculty, staff, and students at colleges/universities to use however they wish. Their emails do not reflect the opinions of that school. Good try, though.
In summary, #StopRush is an organized effort by Media Matters for America to widely and indiscriminately distribute lists of targets, and harass and bully them, under cover of anonymity. It is not grassroots, but deployed by extremist activists using deception and automated software to appear bigger and more prevalent than they are.
In summary, you are full of shit, Rush Limbaugh, and the people of this country are on to you. You haven't any real idea of what's going on. Media Matters is an incredible organization, and they are not running StopRush. What Media Matters is doing is documenting your mistruths via audio, and they have done this for over ten years. They did not form the current grassroots StopRush organization. Angelo Carusone is not the 'StopRush leader'. There are no leaders. The members you list in your rant are not the entire organization. StopRush is made of up of hundreds of thousands of concerned consumers/citizens who are signing, sharing, and creating petitions. The grassroots organization is made up of volunteers willing to do whatever they can to get Limbaugh's fifth off public radio. StopRush members are the people who not only document sponsor information, they use that information to contact the sponsors asking them to pull ads, and the members vow not to buy products/services from the Rush Limbaugh sponsors who opt to stay.
Here is the bottom line. If sponsors were making good money from Rush Limbaugh these days, or if they were content with his commentary, they would not be scared off by a 'few extremists,' who Limbaugh claims are the only ones out there. If sponsors were being so threatened, they can and most likely would contact the authorities. Sponsors are run by people who can see what's happening and can make up their own minds as to how to handle their ads with Rush Limbaugh.
Most sponsors are leaving Rush Limbaugh, because they realize if they don't, they will lose customers. It's very simple. There is no mystery, here. It's not about the money. It's about THE MONEY.
You are losing the war, Rush Limbaugh. No, you have lost the war, and it's only a matter of time until your career is over. That's not because of StopRush or any one entity. That's because you are a vile, hateful and despicable man, and a dirty and embarrassing stain on American media and on the country itself. A massive amount of people has had enough. You are going out, because we are stepping in. And as you've noticed, we're not leaving - not until our work is done.
_________
To find out more about the Limbaugh protest/get involved, you can join hundreds of thousands of people who are protesting Rush Limbaugh's racism, homophobia, misogyny and bigotry. The folks at StopRush, FlushRush and BoycottRush work hard to make it easy for anyone to join this incredibly effective protest:
Sign: Limbaugh Sponsor & iHeart/Clear Channel Petition
Visit/Like: BoycottRush Facebook Group
Join: The Fight To Flush Rush
Visit: StopRush.net for a list of Limbaugh Sponsors
Tweet: #FlushRush and #StopRush on Twitter
Thank You Daily Kos Diarist, Richard Myers. Rest In Peace. We Will Finish This.
Reference Diaries (for additional info and links):
Rush Limbaugh Is In Ruins - Bad News Coming From Every Direction
Fading Rush Limbaugh Loses 4 Radio Stations - Protest Movement Closing In
