Fear Is An Adrenaline Rush

Six months ago, the nightmare I might have woken up from (bathed in cold sweat) would have been Sarah Palin sitting in the Oval office, smiling vapidly as she asked Joe the Plumber what he does to keep his head so shiny.

Now my nightmare is vastly different. In it, I see a figure dressed in KKK white, who walks up to me and takes off the conical mask to reveal the snarling face of Rush Limbaugh.

No, really - the man makes my skin crawl. And not just because he has strong opinions, nor only because his opinions are hugely popular and apparently reflect the sentiment of a vast majority of Republicans. I realized to my utter amazement, that he makes my (liberal) heart beat doubly fast precisely because he comes across as a villainous stereotype - the embodiment of the ugly, dark side of the conservative party. In other words, when I see him, I see clenched in his fat fist, an alarmingly huge population of racist, gun-toting, environmentally unfriendly, redneck, homophobic, greedy capitalist, intolerant, sexist religious fanatics. He makes me want to lock my doors, board up my windows and hope that the San Andreas fault swallows me whole before his creationist fans can come anywhere near me.

The funny thing is, I haven't the slightest doubt in my mind that Keith Olberman and Bill Maher elicit the same reaction from many Republicans.

I am supposed to be more open-minded, more tolerant, open to discussion, willing to accept differences, agree to disagree and all that jazz. But if I allow this fear, resentment and blinkered perception of the GOP to brew, how am I any different from the very people I accuse of harbouring those feelings?

At any rate, Limbaugh's star is on the rise, making it ever more unlikely that I will come face-to-face with him. But if our paths do cross, and he looks at me and screams "Terrorist!" I promise not to throw up my hands, yell "Racist!" and run in the opposite direction.