On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh claimed that diet and exercise are part of left wing conspiracy that is being carried out by liberals.
Audio via Media Matters:
Transcript from Rush Limbaugh:
LIMBAUGH: It’s all political. It’s all rooted in the fact that I distrust liberals, and every one of these groups is a liberal group that is doing what they’re doing as a way of eating. This is how they live. They live on grants. And I happen to know this, too. Ask anybody that does a newsletter about the stock market, and they will tell you the best way to goose subscriptions is to forecast a disaster, to forecast a crash, to forecast crisis. Well, the food Nazi people have figured this out. X is gonna kill you, and you’ve got their attention. And maybe you’ll donate to their cause. And maybe you’ll become an evangel and you’ll start telling everybody else to stop doing that stuff and maybe these people have got something against the meat industry for political reasons and they’re just trying to make you think that they’re independently unbiased, all they’re interested in is your health.
Remember all this Oprah business and these people trying to get everybody hog-tied into not eating beef for a while on the basis it was gonna destroy the planet, that eating beef resulted in or caused all of these cattle to graze, and they were eating all the grass, and somehow this was causing global warming. Don’t tell me this stuff is not political. It’s all political. All of science is become politicized. All of education’s become politicized. All of the news media’s political. You point to me something that isn’t. The Catholic Church, in certain elements, has become politicized. It was taken in by the notion that welfare states equal charity, and socialism equals charity. So they became big believers in that stuff. I mean, you can’t avoid it.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is succeeding in banning coconut oil, which is one of the most healthful oils you can consume, and they won’t let you buy it. And all these people have to do is come up with a logo, get a fax machine, fax out a press release, the media will cover it because they will report crisis and panic and impending disaster and doom. They never tell you when an airplane lands safely. It’s no big deal. I never avoided fast food, and there has been a movement against that. You take your pick. Exercise, ditto. And look at all the conflicting evidence there is about exercise.
All I’ve done is live. I didn’t even go in for this moderation business, folks. If I like something, I like it, until I get tired of it, and I move on to something else that I like. I’m not advocating replicate me, don’t misunderstand, I’m just telling you that I just know how much better everybody would be if they understood that everything like this, that all of this originates from people of a left-wing political persuasion. And of course they’ll tell you that they’re just interested in compassion and helping people and improving people’s lives and all of that, and I would contend to you that that’s the least of what they end up doing. Anyway, forget all that ’cause I know that it’s probably thinking that I can’t bring up anything without adding politics to it, but I’m telling you it’s undeniable.
Healthy foods and exercise are part of Limbaugh’s vast left wing conspiracy, but the problem is that Rush never explains what evil thing the left is trying to accomplish. Evil First Lady Obama wants kids to exercise so that they are healthier. Republicans are outraged by the fact that anyone would dare tell their little bouncing case of morbid obesity that it might be better for them if they put down the chips and went outside to play for an hour.
If the right wants to sit around and eat themselves to death, the country might be better off if we let them do it. It is ironic that the same people who swear to repeal Obamacare are the ones would benefit the most from it. The right is ignoring the fact that their opposition to healthy eating and exercise is setting themselves up for several preexisting conditions that would not be covered under the totally private healthcare system that they dream of.
I don’t know what sort of “research” Limbaugh has been looking at, but scientists still believe that exercise is good for the human body. Americans are exercising more, but they are still gaining weight because their diets are horrible. There is no conflicting evidence. Exercise is good for people, but it is most effective when paired with a healthy diet.
Republicans will oppose anything, including the common sense behind fitness and nutrition. It is almost as if Rush Limbaugh is trying to kill his own audience one piece of bad advice at a time.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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