Great tribute Alan. I'm still saddened by the news of his death as well. He was a top bloke to me in our limited email correspondence, he read out an advertisement for a poetry competition I ran free of charge and including the poetry journal on his blog roll without me asking. I sent him a copy of my Imperium Press debut for Christmas one year. He also took the time to respond to a random email on a topic of probably no importance that should have been in the comment section instead of clogging his inbox. I always valued his podcast and his largely calm demeanor in dealing with the madness. We lost a real one.
I listened a lot to Rush Limbaugh, but I was never a 'Dittohead'.
One thing I noticed about Rush over time is that I don't think that he was a "reader". He never mentioned being influenced by something that he had recently read. Occasionally, Rush paid lip service to Edmund Burke, but I don't think that he actually read any Burke.
Rush's gift (and he was gifted) was entirely verbal.
I grew up listening to Rush while traveling with my dad and I didn’t pay him much mind as I was a huge G Gordon Liddy fan as a really young man. But during the first Trump election I became glued to him. My Dad had passed before the election and Rush just made me feel like he was still with me. I never appreciated his true talent and intelligence until then he was the only conservative talker who looked at Trump and his supporters objectively and his insights were outstanding. I know Rush didn’t delve a lot into what he was reading or in depth philosophy but you have to remember he was on national talk radio where your only really getting 10 or 12 minutes a pop to make your points and lead a dialogue before you go to break. To me he gave me a lot of hope that Trump had a chance to pull through and win and he did that by looking at the campaign objectively and not as an overt cheerleader. He was also genuinely funny and although sarcastic at times was an upbeat person. When he passed it felt like losing my Dad again in some small measure by not having that voice that was very intelligent but never claimed to have all the answers at once. I totally understand the para social relationship lol and I think Rush was the absolute best at it within the format he utilized. I am grateful for this new world of Substack that writers like Alan and others are a part of as it can be much more in depth and personal than traditional media. This kind of format has really led to an explosion of ideas and debates that needed to be had that could never occur on traditional media. I never read a Z man but I will now and I’m sorry to hear he passed it is truly strange how relative strangers can impact our lives through the strength of their words and their personalities.
Someone should really systematically archive all such content, texts, podcasts, etc. Especially from platforms or accounts that could disappear. Maybe make it into a batch bittorrent.
Great tribute Alan. I'm still saddened by the news of his death as well. He was a top bloke to me in our limited email correspondence, he read out an advertisement for a poetry competition I ran free of charge and including the poetry journal on his blog roll without me asking. I sent him a copy of my Imperium Press debut for Christmas one year. He also took the time to respond to a random email on a topic of probably no importance that should have been in the comment section instead of clogging his inbox. I always valued his podcast and his largely calm demeanor in dealing with the madness. We lost a real one.
This. Just this
Thank you for a fitting tribute to a truly unique intellect.
I listened a lot to Rush Limbaugh, but I was never a 'Dittohead'.
One thing I noticed about Rush over time is that I don't think that he was a "reader". He never mentioned being influenced by something that he had recently read. Occasionally, Rush paid lip service to Edmund Burke, but I don't think that he actually read any Burke.
Rush's gift (and he was gifted) was entirely verbal.
I grew up listening to Rush while traveling with my dad and I didn’t pay him much mind as I was a huge G Gordon Liddy fan as a really young man. But during the first Trump election I became glued to him. My Dad had passed before the election and Rush just made me feel like he was still with me. I never appreciated his true talent and intelligence until then he was the only conservative talker who looked at Trump and his supporters objectively and his insights were outstanding. I know Rush didn’t delve a lot into what he was reading or in depth philosophy but you have to remember he was on national talk radio where your only really getting 10 or 12 minutes a pop to make your points and lead a dialogue before you go to break. To me he gave me a lot of hope that Trump had a chance to pull through and win and he did that by looking at the campaign objectively and not as an overt cheerleader. He was also genuinely funny and although sarcastic at times was an upbeat person. When he passed it felt like losing my Dad again in some small measure by not having that voice that was very intelligent but never claimed to have all the answers at once. I totally understand the para social relationship lol and I think Rush was the absolute best at it within the format he utilized. I am grateful for this new world of Substack that writers like Alan and others are a part of as it can be much more in depth and personal than traditional media. This kind of format has really led to an explosion of ideas and debates that needed to be had that could never occur on traditional media. I never read a Z man but I will now and I’m sorry to hear he passed it is truly strange how relative strangers can impact our lives through the strength of their words and their personalities.
Very nice tribute. I was an avid reader of his material, and I will miss his wit and perspective.
Someone should really systematically archive all such content, texts, podcasts, etc. Especially from platforms or accounts that could disappear. Maybe make it into a batch bittorrent.
Haven't tried it yet, but this has been done:
https://x.com/ShawnEng10/status/1939853294978928991
I'm hoping to make a book compilation of selected writings and podcast transcripts this year.