Attacks on Akin, Limbaugh similar, say ISU professors
Four Idaho State University researchers said similar attacks have been used on Missouri Rep. Todd Akin as were used on radio host Rush Limbaugh in February.
According to the study, both incidents involved persuasive attacks, which an ISU news release defined as “a common form of communication used to cast blame on others or discredit their actions.”
After Sandra Fluke testified to the Senate about the importance of birth control coverage in insurance plans, Limbaugh came under fire for calling her a slut and prostitute.
On Sunday, Akin, a Republican contender for Senate, said that in instances of “legitimate rape” the female body has ways of stopping a potential pregnancy, according to CNN. This has unleashed a political firestorm that has caused Democrats and Republicans to call for him to step out of the race, despite apologies from Akin.
In the Limbaugh case, said Nancy Legge, the study’s lead author, the most effective persuasive attacks against Limbaugh explained how his insults of Fluke applied to virtually all adult women in America. The attacks also attached pejorative labels to his comments, increasing their offensiveness. Finally, and most damaging, the attacks linked Limbaugh’s values with Republican Party values, said Legge.
“In the latter strategy of persuasive attack,” said Legge, “Limbaugh was portrayed as the face of the Republican Party, which was personified as anti-abortion, anti-contraception, anti-female autonomy, and generally misogynistic. Although our analysis suggested that these lines of attack were successful in the short-run, their long-term effect is less certain.”
However, the same persuasive attacks used against Limbaugh are now playing out more strongly and more successfully in the Akin controversy, according to the study. Jim DiSanza, one of the study’s co-authors, said, “Because Akin is a member of the House of Representatives running for a Senate seat, and close to presumptive Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan, it’s even easier for Democrats and other opponents to inextricably tie Akin to the Republican Party.”
The full article, titled “‘He sounded like a vile, disgusting pervert. . .’ An Analysis of Persuasive Attacks on Rush Limbaugh During the Sandra Fluke Controversy,” is authored by Legge, DiSanza and Aubrey Shiffler, all of the ISU Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies. It will appear in the November issue of theJournal of Radio & Audio Media.
