| Rush Hudson Limbaugh III | Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale |
|---|---|
| Notoriously conservative talk show host. “Excellence in broadcasting.” | Fictional character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. |
| New York City, broadcasting early 1980s to present. | Colonial Boston, Massachusetts circa 1642. |
| Idol of many American conservatives; exemplifies ideological rectitude. | Idol of the Puritan citizens of Boston; exemplifies theological rectitude. |
| Keeps hidden an addiction to painkillers that has caused him to lose nearly completely his hearing. | Commits adultery with a member of his congregation, causing psychological turmoil and torture that must be hidden from other colonists. |
| The secret was kept for five years or more. | The secret was kept for seven years. |
| Maintains an outer appearance of exemplification. Allegedly refers to “long-haired, maggot-infested, dope-sucking hippies”. | Maintains an outer appearance of exemplification, despite his less-than-sincere denouncements of his own character. “I, your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a pollution and a lie!” |
| Apparently becomes even more apt to criticize drug addicts while keeping his addiction a secret. | Attempts to justify his and others’ motivations for hiding sin from their peers. |
| (My own entirely amateur psychological opinion of Mr. Limbaugh is included in the following.) The characters justify their insincerity by using their experience with sin to lead a more effective crusade against it. This eventually breaks down and the secret is not carried to the grave. | |
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