RUSH: Riley is who is 19 in San Antonio. I wanted to get to your call. I hated to have to interrupt you. For people who may not have heard, he wanted to know if I thought the American people were prepared for the result if Iraq falls to ISIS and Al Qaeda-related groups. I said, “I don’t think they care. The American people are worn out on Iraq. The media has convinced us it was a total waste of time, not our business. There are too many pressing things here: The economy, the jobs, the border practically nonexistent,” and you wanted to react to that and I wanted to hear what you say. So have it.
CALLER: Yes, well, just for the first thing I think most Americans are always complaining about is oil prices. If they do obtain Iraq, oil prices are going to go up probably twice as much.
RUSH: Yeah, but let me… Riley, let me interrupt you there, because here again, most people think that oil prices are the oil companies. Exxon is in charge of the gas prices. The low-information segment is not going to associate Iraq with gas. You’re right, by the way. I’m not arguing with you. I’m playing devil’s advocate.
The Low-Information Crowd is not going to associate the fall of Iraq, and Al-Qaeda gaining control of the fourth largest oil-producing country, with rising gas prices. They’re going to think that it’s a conspiracy of the oil companies taking advantage of that to raise the prices, and there will be people in the media encouraging that. Now, you’re right. Don’t understand. You’re right. I wish people looked at it the way you do. Okay, go ahead and finish what you were saying.
CALLER: Second, it’s just, you know, I see my own youth and you know, people my age — in the next 10 to 15 years, we’ll be running the world. We’ll be having all the jobs, the communities will be in politics and such like that. The greatest thing I see that just frustrates me when it comes to my youth is the lack of just… knowledge, the ignorance to not know what is going on out there. The fact that they don’t know and they do not care.
RUSH: That’s the thing.
CALLER: I don’t get it.
RUSH: I always vowed… I’m 63 and I always swore to myself I was never going to become your crazy grandfather in the basement always preaching to you about how it was in the good old days. So I think back to when I was 19 as you are, and I think, “Did I care?” Well, I did. But I was raised in a family to whom issues like this were commonly discussed with passionate opinions.
In our house, there was respect for everybody’s opinion, but there was no squishiness. You had your opinion and you better back it up or you’re going to be destroyed. And usually it was my dad doing the destroying. My friends used to come over and watch him destroy other squishy kids and their squishy opinions, but they left knowing what was right. So when I was 19, yeah, I cared.
But I also was hell bent on myself, too.
I was soon to be leaving home to strike out on my career. So I’ve asked myself, “Is it really that different in that sense as it was in 1969, ’70, ’71 when I was your age?” I have to think that it is. I mean, I have to think that you’re right. There are so many more media distractions. There are so many more places you can go today to avoid these things. There was no social media, there wasn’t any Internet when I was growing up. So if you wanted to watch television, you had three networks.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: And if you wanted to read magazines, you had the news magazines. There wasn’t a sci-fi channel. This wasn’t TMZ or E! Entertainment TV, none of that. So anybody who was immersed in media back when I was a kid was immersed in news media and public affairs as well as entertainment media. There was no escaping it. Today you can if you want. Maybe you can’t blame them. Some days I wouldn’t watch this junk if I didn’t have to for my job.
CALLER: Sometimes yes and sometimes no. But I feel in my heart that, you know, even if you do choose to look at the media distractions that are out there — such as the music, hip-hop news, whatever is on there — educating yourself about what’s going on other than your own world is the best way, I believe, to defend yourself against something that you do not agree with. Somebody who’s trying to take over your world or your point of view is going to take over by ignorance. Ignorance is by far the best weapon any kind of terrorist or any kind of scandal has. Ignorance is by far the greatest weapon anybody has against the American people.
RUSH: There’s no question about it. That’s an interesting term that you’ve used, and you are mature beyond your years. You are a delight. But let me ask you something, because you know a lot more people your age than I do. My perception… Tell me if I’m write or wrong. My perception is that a lot of people your age think “ignorance” today equals people who, say, oppose gay marriage or equals people who are conservatives or whatever.
CALLER: Absolutely. It’s just insane. It’s not as common here in Texas, because we are after all — I’m proud to say this — the buckle of Christian faith on the southern border and such like that. We’re a little more conservative than most other states. But you know, we still have places like Austin where if you’re against gay marriage or Planned Parenthood, such like that, you’re an ignorant bigot. That’s what they’ll call you, as an example.
RUSH: You’re an ignorant bigot, therefore domestic Americans are the big ignoramuses, not them for not understanding the threats the country faces.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: They think the biggest threat is posed by people who oppose gay marriage, for example. The biggest threat is posed by people who are pro-life. The biggest threat is the people who believe in a traditional set of values. They’re not even thinking about the threat that’s posed by Al-Qaeda or ISIS. In that sense, they’re the ones — this is what you’re saying — who are truly ignorant.
CALLER: Yes. I fear we’re turning into a world where it’s upside down, where right is wrong and wrong is right. It’s like a cancer. If we don’t stop it while it’s small, it just continues to grow and grow and eventually it will come consume us.
RUSH: How do you deal with people your age? Because I have to tell you, Riley, it’s frustrating for all of us and I assume you’re a minority where you are in thinking.
CALLER: I’m somewhere in the middle. In some places, I would be an extreme minority. In some places, I would be a majority. It just depends on where you are.
RUSH: That’s true.
CALLER: You were asking, how do I deal with that. How do I deal with people who, you know, call me an ignorant bigot because I believe in traditional values, Christian values and such like that.
RUSH: Yeah. Yeah.
CALLER: It’s just patience, honestly. I have been known to have a temper, mind you, but I pride myself in knowing that I can hold my patience with a conversation because I choose not to lose my anger. I choose to have an intellectual conversation with someone who has a different opinion than me so that I may educate myself and learn what their opinion is. And if I do not agree with them, I will respectfully tell them I don’t and show my points of view. That’s the perfect conversation I like to have.
RUSH: Let me ask you, how many of those conversations do you get to have? How many people do you really get to have what you’re describing as an intellectual conversation with? Meaning, so many people aren’t using their minds. They’re simply feeling certain ways and that’s all they can convey to you. If they feel something is wrong, then it’s wrong. You get into an intellectual conversation with them about substance — “No. It’s not the way you see it; here’s the way it is” — and they just totally ignore you, because they don’t think it’s true.
CALLER: When it’s older men from around 29, I would say, 31 to about your age, Rush, and a little older, I’ve always been comfortable talking to adults. It’s been children and kids just slightly my age when I was growing up that I always had trouble talking to, always. Because as a kid I always felt more comfortable speaking at a higher — I don’t want to say I’m smarter than everyone. I just want to say I’ve always been more comfortable speaking to people who have more experience or more of a higher vocabulary than of my own. So that I may improve my own.
RUSH: I get it. I mean, you’re a thinker.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: I was the same way as you. I much preferred being around adults. It was more stimulating to me than particularly younger people. But everybody is different. There’s no right or wrong about that. But I just want you to know I understand that. I’m curious, a lot of people probably are, you deal with it with patience. But how much of it is there? I mean, do you ever throw up your hands in frustration on how surrounded you are by people you think ought to know more and ought to care more about some of these really serious things that don’t?
CALLER: Absolutely. Whenever I go into town or, you know, I strike up a conversation with friends of friends or something like that or I’m in a group or something like that, and you know, there’s this big crisis going on or this big scandal going on. All they want to talk about is Katy Perry or Lady Gaga or just whatever is on the hot news right now —
RUSH: Justin Bieber.
CALLER: — on the American media and the American teenage media. And I sit there, like, why does that really matter? Do you like their music? Okay, that’s fine. It’s good music. But do you not know what’s going on here? And normally about 95 to 85% I would say, do not know what’s going on outside of their own —
RUSH: So Riley, what is it like for you dating? What are the women your age like?
CALLER: About my age, 19, 18 to 20, about that age.
RUSH: Do they believe there’s a War on Women being conducted by the Republicans? Do they really believe all that and are they militant in ways? Can you treat them as women and they appreciate it?
CALLER: Well, the nice things about living in Texas is —
RUSH: Well, that’s true. The reason I ask that. I had a story — I didn’t get to this story, holding it for a week. It’s “8 Acts Of Chivalry.” It’s an advice piece. How to be chivalrous with a woman. And when I looked at it I said, “You mean to tell me this is new to some people?” Opening a car door, you take the street side if you’re walking on the sidewalk, the man does.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Eight common ordinary decent manner things were being written about as though nobody knows this. It was just standard, just genuine decency and politeness. I will admit that the feminists of my age didn’t like you opening the door for them. They didn’t like you complimenting their appearance. They took everything as an insult to their intelligence when did you that.
CALLER: It’s mostly the complete opposite over here. They expect you to open the door and to you know, be kind to them. Treat them as adults, treat them as women, but country women down here, they do not take any BS from feminists or people who think they’re better than other people. They will not take any BS.
RUSH: Well, Riley, you keep on. I’m flattered, honored that you started out as a Rush baby and you’re still hanging in there. And I can hear why, so thank you very much. All the best. Stay in touch.