RUSH: This is – looks like Lillia, I never heard that name, Lillia in Palm Beach.
CALLER: Yes, sir. Hi.
RUSH: Hi.
CALLER: Thank you for taking my call.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: I am a high school senior this year, and I have been bullied for the past three years by liberal teachers because I’m conservative.
RUSH: Yeah?
CALLER: And, you know, I’ve had issues this past year with a teacher who had a Che Guevara flag hanging in her classroom and, you know, now I’m editor of the school newspaper, and I was wondering if I would be able to ask you a few questions and run an article about it.
RUSH: Oh, you want to interview me right now for an article for the school paper?
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: Absolutely. In fact, I’ll tell you what. Let me take a brief obscene profit time-out right now so we’ll have a little bit more time for this when we come back, okay?
CALLER: Okay, thank you.
RUSH: And I’m not even going to cheat and ask you in advance what the questions are.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: All right? See, this is great. Way to go, Snerdley, this is a perfect Open Line Friday call.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Okay, now back to Lillia in Palm Beach, editor of her school paper. She wants to ask me four questions for an interview in the paper. Welcome back, Lillia. What’s the first question?
CALLER: How do you feel about First Amendment rights for students in a public classroom?
RUSH: How do I feel about First Amendment rights for students in a public classroom?
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: Well, now, this is interesting. The First Amendment says that the ‘government’ cannot do anything to abridge your speech. It doesn’t say that your teacher can’t.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: It doesn’t say that your boss can’t. There are many instances in a workforce or in a classroom or any other place where you can’t say certain things if you want to remain either an employee or a student. Could you be a little bit more specific? Is your teacher denying somebody or you or your classmates an opportunity to say what you really think?
CALLER: I have been singled out by teachers. You know, I quit Latin after two years because my teacher would call me out in the middle of class. She told me to not listen to my parents because their conservative views are wrong. So that and the censorship with the newspaper, too. We run into that a lot.
RUSH: Well, these are good life lessons for you. You’re gonna run into people that want to censor you throughout your life. Political correctness is all about censorship. There are a lot of people who simply don’t want to hear what they don’t agree with, or they don’t want to hear things that will challenge the little cocoon in which they live that has their little worldview.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: I would try to rise above this. I know it’s infuriating, and I know that it’s gotta be very offensive to boot, to have a teacher tell you to forget what your parents are telling you.
CALLER: Oh, yes.
RUSH: But there are certain things that you can do at the moment, and certain things that you can’t.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: This, I think, is a teachable moment for you because these kinds of things are going to happen to you as you continue to study. In fact, as a conservative and the more outspoken you are, the more there will be attempts to shut you up or to intimidate you or what have you. Learn to deal with it now and do not fall prey to it. Do not let them shake your faith in what you believe. Do not let this teacher shatter what you know to be right. You have to deal with her because right now she is the person of authority in that classroom. You can test it. You never know. This teacher might be testing you. She might be wondering how far she can push you before you’ll rebel against her. She may be trying to get you to do that. These are things I don’t know; I’m not in the classroom with you.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: But you have to respect the authority and the circumstances that you’re in. I had a similar circumstance to you in a math class junior high. I just had a personality conflict with the teacher. I just couldn’t handle it. I was close to flunking out, and I would call every night the head of the department, another teacher whose class I wished I was in, and she would tell me how to solve the problems. She said, ‘The important thing here is for you to learn the math. If this teacher is not helping you to learn the math, I’ll do it.’
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: The important thing for you here is to learn. This is a great learning opportunity for you here. Don’t let it shatter your belief in yourself. What’s the next question?
CALLER: How do you feel about First Amendment rights for teachers?
RUSH: The First… (laughing)
CALLER: (giggles)
RUSH: Okay, the third question is how do I feel about First Amendment rights for who else? What’s the third question?
CALLER: The third question is: How can we push back against the liberal monolith?
RUSH: That’s what I do.
CALLER: (giggles)
RUSH: What’s the fourth question?
CALLER: So many kids think that being liberal is cool and hip and whatever. What can we do to combat that?
RUSH: Okay. Let me try to combine questions two, three, and four.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: First Amendment rights of the teacher. She runs the classroom. She has whatever First Amendment rights that she wants. She can run that classroom however she wishes. When you get to college, you’re gonna run into some college professors who will be merciless to you. If you become a lawyer you’re going to have a judge, have a series of judges and you can’t do anything about it. You have to do what they say. They run the courtroom. It’s part of life. Now, what can you do about kids who think that being liberal is cool? What can you do to combat it? Laugh at them. Mock them. Make fun of them.
CALLER: (chuckles)
RUSH: Ridicule is the single greatest rapier. Ridicule is the single best way to embarrass somebody and get other people laughing at them. Whatever you do, do not be defensive. Don’t let them set the agenda. Don’t let them let you always be reacting or responding to what they do. Be on offense. Be assertive. Be confident. If they say something you disagree with, laugh at them, tell ’em you feel sorry for them.
CALLER: (chuckles)
RUSH: Tell ’em when they figure it out better you’ll be happy to talk to them but you don’t have time for him right now. Snerdley, would you get her number? We’re going to call you next week when we have more time. I’m out of time now, Lillia, but I want to talk to you further about this.
CALLER: Okay!
RUSH: These are great questions you’ve got and I would like to have a little bit more time with you, okay?
CALLER: That would be wonderful.
RUSH: Wonderful. We’ll do that next week.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, just one thing before we get outta here: If I’m Lillia’s parents and she comes home and says the teacher is telling her not to listen to me and her mother, I go to the school. I mean, that is intolerable. I go to the school and I get that rectified. But we’ll talk to her more next week about this, because this all goes back to being in the big clique, not being in the big clique. How do you survive? She’s in the right place at the right time and I’m going to tell her that.