Talk Radio: All Anal Sex All the Time

I've been spending way too much time on the road lately, ping-ponging back and forth between the Twin Cities and Faribault for an upcoming City Pages story, and therefore have been listening to way too much talk radio (and largely ignoring this blog).

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent sodomy decision has the right-wing cranks in a veritable frenzy. My favorite caller on this topic was a self-professed former John Birch Society member who dialed up Ron Rosenbaum's show on KSTP to basically concede that the fags have won. The man seemed to have grudgingly come to terms with the novel idea that people--even two men!--can engage in carnal relations of whatever sort they want without the government busting the door down.

Most of the conservative punditocracy were not so gracious. All week long Rush Limbaugh and Jason Lewis have been frothing like rabid raccoons. Granted, this is not exactly a startling development. That's what conservative talk-show hosts do. They froth.

But what struck me was how personally Rush and--in particular--Lewis seemed to be taking the Supremes hands-off approach to bedroom practices. Minnesota's "Mr. Right", and many of his callers, repeatedly professed the belief that the sodomites have taken over the world. According to these folks, gays are recruiting our children, invading our churches, and destroying our government. (One of the great ironies--and comic motifs--of conservative talk radio is how much time is spent lamenting the "culture of victimhood" that is supposedly destroying American society, while at the same time repeatedly casting themselves as grievously persecuted martyrs.)

What exactly could be responsible for such a venomous, paranoid view of the world?

At first I was convinced that Lewis's sleep is plagued by incessant anal rape nightmares. While I'm not completely discarding this possibility, after further reflection I've settled on a different root cause of this right-wing fear and loathing: temptation.