With all due respect to Jimmy Carter, the racist component of Obama-hatred has been undeniable since the summer of 2008, when Sarah Palin rallied all-white mobs to the defense of the “real America.”
He goes on to point out that Congressman Joe Wilson's crying out "You lie," which sparked the debate on race, was shocking not so much in its presumed racism but in the fact that it breached a previously secure barrier.
It was the first time that the violent rage surging in town-hall meetings all summer blasted into the same room as the president. Wilson’s televised shout was tantamount to yelling“Fire!” in a crowded theater. When he later explained that his behavior was “spontaneous” rather than premeditated, that was even more disturbing. It’s not good for the country that a lawmaker can’t control his anger at Barack Obama. It gives permission to crazy people.
Isn't it a fascinating concept that what we do and what we say may influence others? I would say that unspoken in that acknowledgment is the fact that we bear a certain responsibility for the results. This is especially true if we enjoy the public spotlight. That's is where Glenn Beck comes in.
Beck has notoriously defamed Obama as a “racist,” but the race card is just one in his deck. His ideology, if it can be called that, mixes idolatrous Ayn Rand libertarianism with bumper-sticker slogans about “freedom,” self-help homilies and lunatic conspiracy theories. (He fanned Internet rumors that FEMA was establishing concentration camps before tardily beating a retreat.) It’s the same crazy-quilt cosmology that could be found in last weekend’s Washington protest, where the marchers variously called Obama a fascist, a communist and a socialist, likening him to Hitler, Stalin, Castro and Pol Pot. They may not know that some of these libels are mutually exclusive. But what they do know is that they need a scapegoat for what ails them, and there is no one handier than a liberal, all-powerful president (who just happens to be black).
Beck likes to say he predicted 9/11 and that another Timothy McVeigh is on the way. Among his audience of millions, one presumes many hang on every word. But the point Frank Rich makes in conclusion is something to ponder.
For all our nation’s unfinished business on race, racism is not Obama’s biggest challenge during our unfinished Great Recession. He — and our political system — are being seriously tested by a rage that is no less real for being shouted by a demagogue from Fox and a backbencher from South Carolina.
What's your opinion? Is that rage which is sometimes fuelled by Glenn Beck and others, the real problem?
Please feel free to leave a comment.
As I have said before, Beck is an excellent opportunist who is looking out for himself and his financial well-being. Nothing more to him than financial gain. Nothing.
ReplyDeleteHe really doesn't believe in any substance in his rants; it is all for ratings and the money. He's a grand circus ring master entertaining the small tent with his 'magical' set of illusions and animal manure droppings.
As I said here:
ReplyDeletehttp://weerdbeard.livejournal.com/548490.html
People like Beck, Limbaugh, and O'Reilly are best used as straw-men for your side.
Just like Olbermann, Matthews, as well as crazies like yourself and Muddy are easy strawmen for our side.
I can't speak to Beck's show, since I've never watched it. Generally speaking, I've never been all that interested in conservative talk radio. I will occasionally listen to Cam Edwards, but that's mostly because I know Cam, and know that he's really out to promote the issue rather than promote himself, which I think is the problem with a lot of these opportunists on the right.
ReplyDeleteNow Limbaugh has been on long enough that I've listened to a few of his shows, and I've never found it to be particularly intolerable, or his ideas particularly radical. But he has been known to stick his foot in his mouth from time to time, and that whole drug thing kind of exposed him for being a bit of a hypocrite.
This is the real Glenn Beck.
ReplyDeleteMediamatters? Really?
ReplyDeleteFrom their "about us" page
Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
Yeah, you're certainly going to get an objective viewpoint from them....
Once upon a time, Glenn Beck was a wet drunk. Now he's a dry drunk. That's the fun part about being an alcoholic: You can excuse what you did while you were drinking, no matter how embarrassing it is, because you were drunk.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone else ever noticed how many of the FOX commentators are 12 Steppers?
Isn't it a fascinating concept that what we do and what we say may influence others? I would say that unspoken in that acknowledgment is the fact that we bear a certain responsibility for the results. This is especially true if we enjoy the public spotlight. That's is where Glenn Beck comes in.
ReplyDeleteSo what kind of responsibility is "a certain responsibility"? Is it your position that the government should have the power to impose a legal responsibility on annoying blowhards like Beck for what some nut does, supposedly inspired by his noise? Are you saying, in other words, "to hell with freedom of speech"? If so, I have a two words for you: "Shoveitupyour," and "ass."
If, on the other hand, you're merely saying that the right thing to do is to shout him down, then by all means commence to shoutin'.
That, after all, is what free speech is all about.
I think Beck is in it for the money, but that doesn't change the fact that he does serious damage. In fact it heightens his guilt, in my book.
ReplyDeleteWhether such a thing can be legislated, I don't think so and I'm certainly not proposing second and third party responsibility be punished by law. What I am saying is we should recognize it as damaging and stop pretending that the people swept up in these crazy movements are free agents who can simply make up their own minds. They are heavily influenced by the Becks of the world. Recognizing and admitting this are what I'm preaching. Is that similar to "shoutin'" beowulf?
Is that similar to "shoutin'" beowulf?
ReplyDeleteYeah--that's pretty much what I had in mind.
I'm a little dubious (more than a little, actually) about your apparent claim that Beck and his ilk have some kind of control over anyone, allowing them to subvert their free will. Even stupid people make their own decisions, and thus own 100% of the responsibility for those decisions.
@Mike W - So you're saying the clip where Glenn Beck was talking about how much he hates Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 victims was fake?
ReplyDeletebeowulf, Call it control or power or influence, whatever you like, but I say Beck and the others have it over millions. Don't you remember the Adkisson case? Remember his minifesto? Do you need the link?
ReplyDeleteMikeB proves how easily manipulated some people are.
ReplyDeleteThe Brady Campaign puts out a press release and MikeB doesn't question the statistics it shows.
Let statistics come from another source...say the FBI or State Police and those statistics are skewed.
Hemenway "observes" illegal acts at gun shows and MikeB accepts his opinion of the legality of the act without question.
Let a home owner defend herself or her family with a firearm and MikeB wonders if it was a revenge killing without ever explaining how she lured the criminal into the trap.
Makes you wonder about the mental state of those people so easily controlled or influenced, eh?
Mikeb, I'm familiar with Adkisson (although the term "minifesto" is new to me--refers to a "small manifesto," I suppose?). Adkisson is a twisted idiot--a twisted idiot who acted of his own will.
ReplyDeletePeople have been killing others over sociopolitical differences since the beginning of politics. Talk radio, etc. came along after oceans of blood have been spilled by angry people who begin and end discussion with the use of brutal force.
By the way, Mikeb, speaking of divisive rhetoric, would you claim that this . . .
ReplyDeleteMy own idea, very unscientific and totally without proof, is that among the Republicans you've got the mindless close-minded masses who cannot think outside their pre-conceived notions of how things should be. These are the millions who listen to Beck and Limbaugh and O'reilly for their inspiration. Among the Democrats, on the other hand, you've got the open-minded, the seekers, the idealists, folks who are generally better educated and better able to distinguish right from wrong.
. . . doesn't qualify? Are you claiming that it's any less "us vs. those idiots," any less hyper-partisan, any more conducive to finding some kind of resolution to the culture wars, than what Beck and the others say?
I wonder what kind of political speech and writings appealed to the murderer of the anti-abortion activist in Michigan recently. Who knows--maybe he likes your writing, or mud_rake's, or ppolitics'.
Care to see a comment made about the story of that murder?
Good. It's about time those people started gittin' a taste of their own medicine. This makes the world a much better place.
One of "the open-minded, the seekers, the idealists, folks who are generally better educated and better able to distinguish right from wrong," I suppose, eh?
If you think Glen Beck is harmful, and shouldn't be watched/listened to--fine. But if you think you're going to talk people out of doing so, shouldn't you try to convince them to stop believing that the "The Left" (whatever that is) isn't composed of people who view them with hatred and contempt--don't you think it would behoove you to stop treating them . . . with hatred and contempt?
You're obviously not a stupid person, Mikeb, and it shouldn't take me to point these things out to you.
beowulf, Do you really think I or mud_rake or phuckpolitics say stuff like this?
ReplyDelete"Good. It's about time those people started gittin' a taste of their own medicine. This makes the world a much better place."
Please say it ain't so.
I almost forgot, you really need to read Adkisson's Manifesto.
ReplyDeleteThen tell me if you think he's the only one out there.
beowulf, Do you really think I or mud_rake or phuckpolitics say stuff like this?
ReplyDeleteThat's not what I said. My point is that I would wager that both that commenter and the murderer share some of the views that the three of you have expressed, including your obvious contempt for those nasty ol' Republicans.
As for Adkisson's "manifesto" (or "minifesto," as I've seen it referred to), I've seen it. Yeah--the guy is a sick, evil POS. Yeah--he shares some views with Beck and Co., and was perhaps influenced by them. He is still 100% responsible for his own actions.
The minute you pass off 0.001% of that responsibility to some media blowhard, you absolve Adkisson of that 0.001%. Call me a hardass, but I'm not willing to go so easy on him.
OK--I have to admit: this is pretty funny (unless you're sensitive about frogs).
ReplyDeleteI never said he was a bright guy.
One more thing: you did an excellent job of addressing what I didn't say (that you and your cohorts have said anything similar to the expression of approval of the murder of the pro-life activist), but you've stayed conspicuously silent about what I did say: that you're nowhere near beyond reproach in terms of acidic, vitriolic, venomous rhetoric--and yet you have the audacity to scold others for contributing to the corrosiveness of the culture wars.
ReplyDeleteHypocrisy doesn't bother you, I take it?