Rush Limbaugh continues to speak from the grave, his message is more relevant today than ever. There is a prophetic video message circulating from almost 30 years ago where the radio icon was able to demolish the concept of virtue-signaling. And Rush lived up to his name, he only needed 45 seconds to do it.
According to Merriam-Webster, virtue-signaling is: “The act or practice of conspicuously displaying one’s awareness of and attentiveness to political issues, matters of social and racial justice, etc., especially instead of taking effective action.”
The Boston Globe published an article that indicated the word “virtue-signaling” first surfaced in online message boards in 2004. Another article published in 2015 by “The Spectator” was titled: “The awful rise of virtue signaling.” Google Trends said that the idea of “virtue signaling” was not significantly used until the summer of 2017, and then the term exploded in June 2020.
But Limbaugh understood the concept of virtue signaling back in 1993. He knew the dangerous flaws of virtue signaling, and he could effectively lampoon the concept before anyone even knew what to call it.
In the 1990s, you couldn’t just put a filter on your Facebook profile picture or use specific pronouns on your Twitter feed to show your moral support for the next big thing. People would wear ribbons to promote their moral high ground on different causes.
You wore an orange ribbon if you cared about leukemia, yellow to bring awareness for missing children, lavender to fight against urban violence, and a blue ribbon the way to stand against bullying.
In the 1990s, red ribbons were worn to bring the spotlight to HIV/AIDS. During that time, the Los Angeles Times wrote, “When Billy Crystal emceed the Academy Awards on Monday night, we were surprised to see that he wasn’t wearing the red ribbon that symbolizes AIDS awareness.”
While radio hosts all across the country responded to this with criticism for Crystal, Rush Limbaugh called him “the bravest man in Hollywood’ for not feeling like he had to follow the herd.”
Limbaugh pinned six different-colored ribbons on his suit, and then with his tongue in his cheek, told the studio audience, “Because I’m wearing these ribbons, I care more than any of you about anything. And these ribbons say so.”
He had his audience look down and see that they were not wearing any ribbons.
“It means you’re a bigot, it means you’re a racist, it means you’re a sexist, it means you’re a homophobe. It probably means you’re a white guy, it probably means you’re a European, and you and you alone are responsible for all the ills of America.”
He then boasted, “But I’m not, because I’m wearing these ribbons. I care more than you.”
The audience then erupts into laughter over such an absurd premise.
The classic video from the radio icon is an example of how easily he can destroy a liberal ideology. It just recently resurfaced on social media this weekend and Limbaugh’s timeless grasp on truth became evident to the masses. The clip from 1993 went viral and it now has almost 800,000 views on Twitter in just a matter of days.
Without even knowing how big of an issue virtue signaling was going to be 30 years ago, Limbaugh gives a powerful and clear less to the American public. You can watch this clip on Twitter here:
Rush Limbaugh’s wife was right, on his death certificate she had this description given to her late husband: “Greatest Radio Host of All Time.”
