Rush lied and people died

I am sorry to hear of any person’s demise. Rush Limbaugh undoubtedly had family and close personal friends whose lives are poorer for his passing. But to hear him lionized as a patriot is a bridge too far. Rush used his radio program to enrich himself and to boost his fame, and damaged America in the process. (“Mourn Rush Limbaugh’s death, then bury his shock-jock approach to politics,” Feb. 18)

Let’s set aside for a moment his political agenda, although one could argue that for him, everything was political. But in March of 2020, Rush told his listeners that COVID-19 was nothing more than the common cold, and that it was numbered 19 because there had been 18 others before it. Neither of these statements had any basis in fact. In July, he spoke out against masks. Of course, there were “only” 140,000 Americans dead from the coronavirus at the time, so maybe that didn’t seem like a very high number to Rush.

Today that number stands at half a million. Some of those people didn’t need to die. Rush could have used his microphone to promote awareness of the real danger of the virus, and to encourage mask wearing, both of which would have saved lives.

Knowing that Rush died of lung cancer after downplaying the dangers of smoking shouldn’t give anyone a feeling of satisfaction. Sadly, he led his listeners down the same path, some of whom have no doubt continued to smoke, and perhaps gotten sick or died, because Rush told them smoking was okay.

How many people are dead today because Rush chose to pursue money and notoriety over the health of his listeners? Is the number a thousand? A hundred? Ten? If the number is “only” one, that’s one unnecessary death too many. Rush Limbaugh spent a career telling people not what they needed to know, but what they wanted to hear. People died as a result, and he became rich. This is not the legacy of a patriot.