Watch him watch Michelle Goldberg:
Michelle Goldberg is a lefty columnist I've done Bloggingheads diavlogs with.
Glenn Beck... I don't know what to make of him. I can't listen to him long enough to follow his theories. Seriously, those banks of creepily lit brown blackboards covered in orange chalkings... it's nightmarish. It flips my too-crazy-to-watch switch, which keeps me from ingesting the substance. But I don't turn around and call him crazy. I'd monitor him for you, but I don't have the attention. I'm suddenly like a schoolboy the teacher thinks needs Ritalin, and I just say no.
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Beck needs Ritalin too.
I'm not a big fan simply due to his drama queen delivery. This is not to say that he's necessarily wrong or that I disagree with him more than I agree with him on the issues presented, I just don't like the way he presents them. Hamfisted segues notwithstanding, I'll give him credit for being a force majeure, as well as emphatically calling for peaceful protest (when I've heard him) and for people to look things up for themselves.
This all being said, what he's currently doing on TV is nothing like the Beck that was in small syndication way back before Fox picked him up. That was a somewhat entertaining radio show (when I was in radio myself) and a definite alternative to the wannabe Limbaughs and Hannity's of the world.
David, I don't know if you're joking but, yes, Beck needs Ritalin; he's been diagnosed with adult onset ADD.
Beck's an acquired taste and a lot of what he says is BS, like with most pundits. But he's got a style all his own and he's doing something on TV that no one else is doing and attracting quite an audience doing it.
Beck seems to document his arguments more carefully than most and that does take some time--having to listen to Van Jones or Piven.
Watching him is not unlike sitting through Civil Procedure during a discussion of pendant jurisdiction.
And, why do I have to type "bitur"? Some secret code relating to the President?
Beck cleaned himself up some, from a personal point. He doesn't use drugs or abuse alcohol. Also, he tells those who listen and watch him to NOT trust him, to look it up for themselves. For many these days, that's too much to ask. It's so much more cool to trash him and discount what he puts forth. A sad state of affairs as it discourages back and forth with those you disagree with. This type of thing doesn't bode well for our future. Maybe all of us need to look in the mirror.
Pete, I'm not joking. It takes one to know one, and Beck certainly is one, and so am I and by the way who do you like in the Super Bowl?
Green Bay! You?
Oops. That last post was directed to David.
Agree with ScottM.
I think Beck does himself a lot of harm with his delivery (frankly, I think he's a jerk a lot of the time), but Mark's point about Van Jones and Frances Piven are well-taken.
The average American doesn't know about things like some of George Soros' shadier machinations or Cloward-Piven, so he does provide a service.
Beck's content is important and provocative. He connects dots the MSM ignores and asks people to verify. 'Journalism' needs more of that. Unfortunately, the messenger too often gets in the way of the message.
Beck is borderline psychotic. Which in part explains his popularity. His ability to get under Bill O'Reilly's skin also doesn't hurt.
Still, I'd step lightly around men who wear their children's sneakers.
The affectation (or is it the ADHD) obscures his core message.
But on the point of whether the radical left instinctively sides with Islam extremists in their anti-America/anti-Israel objectives, I'm afraid he is spot on.
And his reminders of the intellectual sources of the modern American left is pretty accurate and interesting.
And that many on the left say things on tape that they don't want the wider audience of America to see or contemplate - well, that has nothing do with with Beck. He's using their own words, and they're the one's that makes it "against them" because they fear being exposed.
The existence of a strong socialist strain in certain parts of Islamic countries - what's there to dispute on that?
But he does sound like he's being fed too much by current proteges or imitators of John Birch.
(The Crypto Jew)
I’m with ScottM, who is simply dead wrong on all things Zombie-ish, but is correct here, Beck was funnier BEFORE Fox. He used to be carried on my local station, for a few months, and I liked the opening, “Hello you sick twisted Freaks.” It was more fun than conspiracy…now he’s on at the same time, but it’s all pretty serious, I mean yes Pat and Stu and he “yuck it up” but it’s just not the same.
Before the “serial and demonstrable liar” crew get here, let me say, he’s not lying, I don’t think…There’s no doubt Code Pink and ANSWER and the Left all support Radical Islamo-Fascism, just as the Communists and Nazi’s conspired to bring down Weimar. All four, Leftists, Islamo-Fascists, Nazi’s, Communists all despised and opposed the Liberal Status Quo. Beck’s mistake is to think, that in Egypt, anyone gives a Flip about Medea Benjamin or George Soros. Sure they’re pulling for the Ikhwan Muslimeen, but I don’t think the Ikhwan cares….. and I don’t think the fact that the Weather Underground had “The Days of Rage” and that the Muslim protestors are staging “day(s) of rage” means anything…it’s “convergent evolution,” angry radicals will tend to use similar language.
But as the usual Leftists claiming he’s crazy, lying, or conspiratorial…that’s just trying to obfuscate an Essential Truth, that neither the Progressives, like Vann Jones or Robert Cooke, or the care for the Western Liberal Ideal, and in fact actively oppose it. And, if they could, would collaborate to tear it down and replace it with something far, far worse. Beck just overstates the linkages and effects, not that they share common interests and support each other, rhetorically.
Those blackboards are "nightmarish" but you can sit through a bloggingheads session with Bob Wright or Michele Goldberg?
Jeez you're weird.
I don't think I've ever seen a minute of Glen Beck's show, but when I consider those who froth at the mouth with hatred for the man, I assume he must be doing something right.
Beck builds his argument in a deliberate and non-hysterical manner. I don't watch him but I can understand why the left goes nuts about him. He doesn't respect their pieties.
Beck is slow in his style teaching the Beck Audience a remedial course in Leftist tactics. But it is very powerful because once the lesson is taught. then the people have the analysis tools to think for themselves. Capra's famous series of shorts called "Why We Fight" has been credited by the Germans with helping the USA beat them in WWII. Beck is following in that tradition, and he is making the leftists very angry at him. Who was it that first said that the Devil's most powerful trick was to convince people that he doesn't exist? Merely exposing evil left's existence makes you into their prime target for destruction.
I’m with ScottM, who is simply dead wrong on all things Zombie-ish, but is correct here
I'm as right about zombies as you are wrong about EMP's (lol). I'm usually busy during the day so I don't catch Beck's radio show anymore. When I do happen to hear a glimpse, it's as Joe said...nothing like it used to be. What's more, back in 1999, I was fascinated, and a little paranoid, I'll admit by all the local AM talkers and their overly complicated prep for Y2K. I hear Beck doing a lot of that now.
"Beck needs Ritalin; he's been diagnosed with adult onset ADD."
Oh! I didn't know that. He makes me feel like I need Ritalin to sit in on that classroom.
Glenn Beck is pretty weird, but he is not "hateful" or "advocating violence," or all those other things.
I think the Left accuse him of that, because if they believed what he does (which they do, but wrong side out, so that it's like a negative print), they would advocate violence (which they do in their negative print world), but Beck does not.
That is they are projecting their own behavior onto Beck.
(The Crypto Jew)
Someone said Beck is an acquired taste…to me he is Laphroaig Single Islay Malt Scotch…I have NEVER really developed a taste for it, I can tolerate it in very small doses, so too Beck. If you like Laphroaig, well by all means drink up, it’s not cheap and it’s probably good Scotch, I just can’t take it. Same with Beck, I prefer Glen Fiddich and Rush Limbaugh, they both just go down easier with me….
I tried watching a whole show the other day. All those blackboards! And he kept saying "Do your homework" and warning us that the lesson was going to be long and it would take several hour-length lectures to demonstrate whatever point he was going to make.
Those blackboards are "nightmarish" but you can sit through a bloggingheads session with Bob Wright or Michele Goldberg?
Jeez you're weird.
Ditto.
I can't sit through more than a few minutes of Beck. Those bloggingheads things are just as tough a hack.
And it's painful to watch you working your concerned, patient schoolmarm act on those morons. You're a bit sadistic.
But that's to be expected. You're a lawyer.
Professor - did those blackboards cause a flashback? Really we're all intensely wondering what you find so nightmarish about blackboards.
Both of these for me:
Scott: I'm not a big fan simply due to his drama queen delivery
and
Mark: Beck seems to document his arguments more carefully than most
but the reason I like him is that, like Palin, he's pissing off the right people.
It just takes too long. I cannot wait for him to get to his points. Maybe I need the Ritalin.
The communist party was a big player in the Iranian revolution of 1979, but after they got rid of the Shah they were liquidated by the Islamic faction. I'm not sure what's so surprising about Beck's theories. He's one of the only people in the MSM who really sees what's going on. He goes too far at times, but that's fine.
Iranian novelist Farnoosh Moshiri (who now teaches at Syracuse University in Creative Writing) writes in her novels about her leftist parents in Tehran, and how they were liquidated after the revolution. She herself spent a year in a bathhouse waiting to be executed, because she was the teenager daughter of a Marxist professor. She escaped by running across the mined border into Afghanistan.
I like her book of short stories called The Crazy Dervish, but also like The Bath House. I think she may have a new book out by now, but I can't keep up. But if you read around in the Islamic world, you find out that Marx does play a big role among their professoriat.
What Beck is saying has lots of supporting evidence.
prof - show more patience. Beck is trying to edumacate you.
You could just try listening to his radio show. I've never seen him on TV.
All television makes me feel like I need Ritalin. It is all so artless and slow and garish and horrible.
Isn't Michelle Goldberg disgusting to so easily call other people lunatics? What a cretin!
Beck, the Tea Party Professor, like his followers, are scared and frightened people desperately trying to make sense of a complicated and messy world. Even if that "sense" means moving China over New Zealand, Australia, and southern Africa on a chalkboard. But then again that's what passes as real analysis from the right...it's hard to tell what's satire and what's not.
garage - why the nym change towards something apparently Islamic?
Glenn Beck reminds me of Jim Cramer of Mad Money.
I fully believe that the Caliphate is their goal! Thanks to Glenn Beck University I become more educated every day.
He has the trappings of someone who is lost in the whorls of his own mind. I accept his basic point that there are many in the middle east who hate America and Israel more than they hate each other. I don't think this is indicative of a widespread conspiracy. It's more like an ad hoc alliance. The members of that alliance have their own interests and the alliance is tenuous. There is no historical inevitability to the resurrection of the caliphate.. Still there is a historical precedent for this in Iran. I wonder why Michelle Goldberg does not examine those western intellectuals who compared the Ayatollah Khomeni to Solzhenitsyn with the same rigor that she critiques Beck....That's the problem. Someone like Goldberg can do a much better imitation of sober reason than Glenn Beck, but that doesn't make her right.
What is the fascination with this guy anyway? Isn't Beck just the rightwing version of Olberman or Matthews or Maddow or [insert lefty ideolougue]
Fox and MSNBC both have numerous talking heads who spew out the party line for their faithful. Yawn.
(The Crypto Jew)
I believe Althouse is having us on, with her discussion of the black boards and then the fact that Beck claims it will take several sessions to educate you on a particular subject…REALLY a College Professor has problems with black boards and multiple sessions to inculcate some knowledge??? This was a joke, right? Or is it merely, “D@mn I do this all day at work, i don’t want to do it at home!”
BTW, Garaji the folks beyond satire are the Left.
I was having a great conversation in a bar with an interesting woman my age (doens't happen much here in flyover), until I said I thought Beck was too emotional...holy shit did she ever cut me off! Thereafter I was dead to her.
But it was just a style point. I'm glad he is bringing forth the threat of Islamo-fascism that Robert Spencer and others were writing and talking about 8-9 years ago. It was still too radioactive for popular consumption, and at least Beck seems to be changing that.
Osama bin laden who is the recognized leader of Al Quaeda is on record saying his goal is the re-establishment of the Caliphate. I don't need Beck to echo what the horse's mouth already told me.
BTW, Garaji the folks beyond satire are the Left.
It's hard to grasp satire when you're perpetually wrapped in the shroud of victimhood.
"I can't listen to him long enough to follow his theories."
I feel precisely the same way about Michelle Goldberg of Cloddingheads.
I can't get past the ginormous nose and fake water-drinking.
She's so obviously fake in every other way too. A true Riefenstahl.
Just. Cannot. Watch.
Isn't Beck just the rightwing version of Olberman or Matthews or Maddow or [insert lefty ideolougue]
No.
Freeman - they just can't abide Glenn Beck is a commmited Christian.
On his radio show, he has two other guys on with him. The three are often quite funny.
Like him in small doses---really enjoy the reaction on the left
Freeman - they just can't abide Glenn Beck is a commmited Christian.
What? Who? What are you talking about?
I assume you're making a joke about what you think that I think. If you think that's what I think, I think what you think is unthinking.
Ann Althouse said...
And he kept saying "Do your homework"
My dad always said, "Look it up". Same thing.
Best advice he ever gave me.
About the only good thing he ever said to me, as well.
garaji mahal said...
Beck, the Tea Party Professor, like his followers, are scared and frightened people desperately trying to make sense of a complicated and messy world.
Trying to make sense of the world is why intelligent people never stop learning.
Freeman Hunt,
You could just try listening to his radio show. I've never seen him on TV.
We've both said this before - his radio show is hilarious, and a perfect lead-in (or follow-up) to Rush. Beck lays the religion on a little heavy, but he's firmly connected to the real world as far as I can tell. (He claimed he became a Mormon because that was the church his daughters felt most comfortable in and was most welcoming.)
Considering all the public figures he's taken down - especially members of the administration - I find it hard to understand how anyone outside of the Left considers him crazy. He knows what he's talking about and is well worth the listen.
If more news organizations were doing what Glenn Beck does (or even investigating the kinds of things I look at) they wouldn't be suffering a loss of credibility or dwindling audience. There's real news to be had out there, but they're obsessed with nonsense, and it's their own damned faults for not recognizing what we want vs. what they're giving us.
What's truly amazing is they'd rather go out of business than adjust their editorial positions to reality:
Suicide By Sop.
Actually, I no longer think anyone thinks people like Beck, or I, are crazy - it's just a great cover for what they do - like claiming NewAge is "harmless" covers up the killing.
Freeman - they just can't abide Glenn Beck is a commmited Christian.
Well, a lot of christians don't consider mormons to be fellow christians.
Beck is a bit overly dramatic, but he's the only one on the air who points out the obvious agenda of the marxists and socialists in the world. Everyone knows they exist, but we like to pretend that they don't.
garage - why the nym change towards something apparently Islamic?
Like I was saying...
Obama and his minions are Marxists. Beck calls them what they are. Ergo Beck is "crazy."
"Professor - did those blackboards cause a flashback? Really we're all intensely wondering what you find so nightmarish about blackboards."
It's not nightmarish to have one brightly lit blackboard at the front of a classroom. It's nightmarish to have ranks of dramatically lit blackboards that seem to stretch back infinitely. There's always one more coming at you. This lesson is never over.
Like I was saying...
Because it was an obvious trap and I'm surprised anyone fell for it without overt irony.
Ann,
I tried watching a whole show the other day. All those blackboards! And he kept saying "Do your homework" and warning us that the lesson was going to be long and it would take several hour-length lectures to demonstrate whatever point he was going to make.
I guess I don't understand professors at all, because I thought the ability to look at topics closely, process it, and do homework, was what it was all about. (That is, until I read Glenn Reynolds seriously saying y'all just throw shit out there, without a care for how it affects anyone else. That's when I started losing respect for the field.) I thought professors liked difficult, complex ideas:
It's kind of disheartening to realize what disconnected intellectual lightweights they really are.
It's not nightmarish to have one brightly lit blackboard at the front of a classroom. It's nightmarish to have ranks of dramatically lit blackboards that seem to stretch back infinitely. There's always one more coming at you. This lesson is never over.
I'm 41 with four small kids. I had a dream the other night that my wife informed me that she was not only pregnant, but would be leaving the kids with me after the fifth one was born.
Chalkboards I can easily handle.
I endorse Crack's 10:47.
Well, a lot of christians don't consider mormons to be fellow christians.
Do any of the Christian sects for that matter? I mean there is a reason there are Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, etc etc all of which have a different take on Christs teachings. I guess I don't have the same fervor to care. Unless of course the Baptists or Lutherens start self detonating outside St. Peter's on Sunday morning.
Hoosier Daddy,
What is the fascination with this guy anyway? Isn't Beck just the rightwing version of Olberman or Matthews or Maddow or [insert lefty ideolougue]
No, he's just painted that way. He's kind of like a normal guy, not even "bright" or anything, who started reading a pamphlet someone handed him and, rather than just accept what it said, hit the internet and discovered they were not just bullshitting him but were evil. You know, like me and NewAge.
Even though my blog has been taken down twice by NewAgers, each time I restarted it with the same Glenn Beck-like post - and I hadn't even heard of him then.
Real guys are just different than the mediated kind.
Over my years I was acquainted with a fine group of Mennonites (they framed my house) and a Mormon family and were among some of the finest people I have had the pleasure to meet.
Because it was an obvious trap
BJ Raji, the man on my avatar, plays for Green Bay.
Like others, I find Beck too slow but he has to "teach" average Joe six-pack. People forget (1) only 30% of Americans are college Grads and (2) many of the College Grads are fairly ignorant about public affairs.
Beck's better on the Radio. And I like Beck (& Rush) better when they keep it light and talk about Culture and politics - too often they get serious and drone on about Foreign Policy or Economics. Not their strong suits.
I agree that there's something in Glenn Beck's presentation that is jarring. I'm not sure what it is. All those chalkboards don't help.
Don't get cable, so I don't watch him. He's probably on hulu, but I don't watch that either -- unless I've missed an episode of Glee.
How can anyone write It's an obvious trap without linking to this?
Do any of the Christian sects for that matter?
Yes. I'd say it's the exception rather than the rule for Christian denominations to consider other Christian denominations to be non-Christians.
Ann,
This lesson is never over.
Van Jones is out of office - so there is an ending - but, it's not just an academic exercise, you've got to actually reach the goal and accomplish something.
Another difference with being a professor, maybe?
Well, a lot of Christians don't consider Mormons to be fellow Christians.
Well, a lot of Protestants think the same about the Roman Catholics, with all their polytheism and idolatry.
Which is why I don't get into religious discussions with my girlfriends - all of them over the last 15 years have been RC, except for the one who is LDS.
I don't watch him very much but as others have said, he (and Sarah Palin) drive the right people crazy, which is good. I don't have to be involved.
"I thought professors liked difficult, complex ideas..."
I'm choosy about what I consume. I'm not going to invest major time in understanding what someone is saying unless something about it wins me over. Generally, I prefer reading, because I control the time. I find it very difficult to listen to a lecture, especially if it's in a pedantic tone and goes slowly.
You're comment like saying "I thought you loved high calorie food" when I shun a big bowl of greasy stew.
"I thought professors liked difficult, complex ideas..."
I'm choosy about what I consume. I'm not going to invest major time in understanding what someone is saying unless something about it wins me over. Generally, I prefer reading, because I control the time. I find it very difficult to listen to a lecture, especially if it's in a pedantic tone and goes slowly.
Your comment is like saying "I thought you loved high calorie food" when I shun a big bowl of greasy stew.
Yes. I'd say it's the exception rather than the rule for Christian denominations to consider other Christian denominations to be non-Christians.
I think that a lot of the "Mormons aren't Christians" comes from the Roman Catholic church. I am Mormon, but if I were, I wouldn't worry over much about it, because my Protestant ancestors weren't considered Christians by the RC Church for quite some time after the Reformation.
I think though that the disagreement that the Roman Catholic church has with Mormons goes a bit deeper. The two have some things in common. Both are hierarchical, with those on top deciding what everyone is to believe, and those below being obligated to believe it. The Roman Catholic church justifies itself through its claim to be the spiritual descendant of Peter (and also Paul?). The LDS church claims that this spiritual legitimacy was lost due to the corruption of the RC church during the dark and middle ages, and that they inherited this mantle. So, both claim to be essentially speaking for God - which is something that most Protestant clergy would never be so immodest to do.
Ann,
I'm not going to invest major time in understanding what someone is saying unless something about it wins me over,...I find it very difficult to listen to a lecture, especially if it's in a pedantic tone and goes slowly.
Then find him on the radio. It's a whole different experience with his sidekicks, sound effects, and such. He did one episode (on Nancy Pelosi saying how much she looks to "The Word") that had him simulating vomiting into a bucket, that - as gross as it sounds - had me crying, doubled over in laughter, like the ending of Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life with the huge fat guy eating his wafer-thin truffle.
Beck on the radio is just a whole other ball of wax.
I, too, really cannot stand watching Beck, but I don't like Hannity much either any more on TV. Both are a bit better, I think, on radio. Maybe in Beck's case, it is because you don't see the blackboards and other props that he uses on TV.
That said, I do think that he is driving the left crazy because he keeps shining a light on the festering underbelly of the left, and of many of their leaders and positions over time. A lot of very radical, and even violent, leftists have been given a white wash to make them presentable to the rest of us. And this has been helped along quite a bit by the MSM, which instead should have been exposing this.
A lot of the Democrats in Washington, D.C. are very normal, by American standards. But this Administration has been amazing at its ability to find so many of the most radical of the leftist radical fringe for posts in the Administration and/or access to the President. And this is newsworthy, which is why they go to such extents to silence Beck.
I will reiterate my point from the other day - that the reason that his delivery so bothers so many of us, is that it is a class issue. His target audience is not the upper-middle class with multiple college degrees, like many here, but rather, a much more blue-collar audience. And what works for them, doesn't work for us.
Back to what I always say about Beck, he's half a wack job, but the other half is pretty interesting and mostly right on.
Still, I can't watch his show. I've seen him give a couple of "speeches" ... "talks" whatever, which were cohesive, and concise and wonderful. Wonder why he isn't like that more?
Radio. I think his radio show used to very entertaining and spot on; now, I find it unlistenable.
I find O'Reilly much more watchable (depending on who is guests are), but suspect Beck has more to say, and more important things to say.
I think that a lot of the "Mormons aren't Christians" comes from the Roman Catholic church.
No more so than from Protestants. (In fact, the most stridently anti-Mormonism people I know are all Protestants.)
That said, I wouldn't even say that Mormons are Christians in the traditional sense. That doesn't mean that I don't they should call themselves Christians or that I think something is wrong with Mormons. Mormon theology is so fundamentally different than "Mere Christianity" theology that I think it's better categorized as something slightly farther away than simply another denomination.
I find O'Reilly much more watchable (depending on who is guests are), but suspect Beck has more to say, and more important things to say.
I'm not a big fan of watching presidents, any presidents, on TV. I'd rather read the transcript. However, I will be watching the Superbowl interview O'Reilly somehow managed to snag with POTUS.
Just to be clear, that's not a dig on Mormons. Just thoughts on precise language. Some will argue that "Christian" simply means "follower of Christ," and would thus include any belief said to be based on Jesus Christ. But I would disagree with that. I'd say that "Christian," as it is normally used, is more specific.
Anyway, that has little to do with Beck.
Bruce Hayden,
I, too, really cannot stand watching Beck, but I don't like Hannity much either any more on TV. Both are a bit better, I think, on radio.
I listen to my iPod in the car usually, but, for a change of pace on a long drive, I caught part of Hannity's show yesterday and liked it a lot. He, too, can drive me away, when the religion gets too thick, but when the subject is Egypt, Islam, and Barack Hussien Obama, he hit just the right tone to raise a smile.
Nobody, but nobody, touches Rush though.
His target audience is not the upper-middle class with multiple college degrees, like many here, but rather, a much more blue-collar audience. And what works for them, doesn't work for us.
In other words, his target audience is composed of people who aren't very well-educated and who are likely to fall for a line of bullshit pseudoscholarship that more educated people (of any political persuasion) will see through. That doesn't speak well for Beck or his followers.
(The Crypto Jew)
Bill O’Reilly, OMG…I love what one person wrote of him, “What a multi-millionaire with a Masters from an Ivy League College has to be angry about is beyond me.” The best part is/was when Mary Katherine Hamm came on to talk about the Internet….Mr. O’Reilly seemed like the cranky Grandfather confronting the evils of the Intarwebz…it was inspired comedy…I hope, rather than O’Reilly believing what he said.
I think the left is using Beck as an avatar of the "nutty VRWC". He does indeed say "look it up" all the time (just like my dad, too). He's not talking about a conspiracy as much as a subculture, IMHO. I researched the Euro terrorists of post-WWII, and even their own memoirs admitted that they all talked to each other, read each other's terror manuals, helped each other buy weapons, and ultimately allied themselves with those they considered evil because their ends justified their means. They were, and still are, part of a loosely organized subculture dedicated to anarchical revolution.
Of course, this is complete anathema to the left side of the world that idolizes Che.
Beck's content is important and provocative. He connects dots the MSM ignores and asks people to verify. 'Journalism' needs more of that. Unfortunately, the messenger too often gets in the way of the message.
I'm all for connecting the dot. But Beck goes way WAY overboard on the concept. Beck's dots only connect if you by his whacked out scenarios. It's similar to the lack of education our kids get related to the concept of risk assessment.
I have a niece who is very anti-vacc. She may not get her newborn vaccinated because she's read on some blogs that vaccinations are dangerous because they are made from animal proteins. Also, there is a conspiracy by "Big Pharma" to slowly sterilize the human race through the use of vaccinations. . I know it sounds crazy (OK, it IS crazy, but I'm not into labels) but IT'S TRUE!!!!! You don't believe me? Here is Bill Gates Admitting It!!!
So, the obvious conclusion?
"Clearly, this statement implies that vaccines are a method of population reduction. So is "health care," which all NaturalNews readers already know to be more of a "sick care" system that actually harms more people than it helps".
Yep! Bill Gates is out to destroy the human race!!!! Or, at least "PROFIT from them!!!!" as one headline screams.
See how easy this is!
Sometimes, friends, Dots are... well... just Dots.
Freeman Hunt,
I wouldn't even say that Mormons are Christians in the traditional sense. That doesn't mean that I don't they should call themselves Christians or that I think something is wrong with Mormons. Mormon theology is so fundamentally different than "Mere Christianity" theology that I think it's better categorized as something slightly farther away than simply another denomination.
Mormons are the only Christians I've ever encountered who have their own section inserted into the middle of the Bible - making it "The Book of Mormon". I would call them a Christian sect, but so radical in how they view religious belief (the whole prophet thing) I'm not surprised they bother the rest. Being a modern religion, they even incorporate *some* NewAge stuff, but they're so dedicated to "the good" I rarely think of them in the same way.
I agree, they can be amazingly nice, but get on their bad side and their viciousness can be alarming. (Being chased across America has made them very protective, paranoid, and apocalyptic. That's why they have such a strong survivalist ethic - notice all those commercials, during Beck, for dried foods?) I find them fascinating, but not as much as they think:
Joseph Smith was a scam artist, what else is there to know?
So is anyone taking bets on how many copies of The Catcher in the Rye Beck owns?
somefeller,
In other words, his target audience is composed of people who aren't very well-educated and who are likely to fall for a line of bullshit pseudoscholarship that more educated people (of any political persuasion) will see through. That doesn't speak well for Beck or his followers.
That's not it at all. As a matter of fact, it's amazing he's correct more often than those with college educations, who are more likely to fall for a line of bullshit if you make it sound high-minded enough.
The vast majority of NewAgers, for instance, are college-educated women.
Sonicfrog,
I'm all for connecting the dot. But Beck goes way WAY overboard on the concept. Beck's dots only connect if you by his whacked out scenarios.
That's brought down numerous administration bad guys.
Saying Glenn Beck is the same as anti-vaccers is wrong.
Bruce, I'm with Freeman on this point. In my experience, the denunciation of Mormons as non-Christians is more likely to come from Protestants than from Catholics.
Glenn Beck is Jack Parr regurgitating the words of Art Bell. Pure & simple. I promise once you get that you'll never imagine Beck any other way.
I have a great tolerance for watching Beck. I sit on the couch with my laptop and multi-task away...just reading Althouse and her commenters can gobble up a chunk of time.
Beck has done a good job of highlighting many in the Obama Administration who have behind the scenes power...esp. in the area of regulations.
By the way, he doesn't usually have such a forest of blackboards
In my experience, the denunciation of Mormons as non-Christians is more likely to come from Protestants than from Catholics.
Same here. I have a buddy who was raised Mormon, did the couple of years riding bikes seeking converts, the whole nine yards. He is a Jack Mormon now, but that's beside the point for this issue. One time we were talking politics (he's a strong Republican) and I asked him what he thought of Mitt Romney's chances of getting the GOP nomination. He said that Christians who aren't Evangelical Protestants (like your humble narrator) have no idea how much cultural hostility there is against Mormons from many Evangelical Protestants, and it's something he saw up close and personal when he was knocking on doors for the church. And that hostility made it very unlikely that Mitt Romney could be the GOP nominee, unless it's a really fractured field. An anecdote, for what it's worth.
Popville;
Glenn Beck is Jack Parr regurgitating the words of Art Bell. Pure & simple. I promise once you get that you'll never imagine Beck any other way.
Jesus, I hardly consider myself a fan, but that's just such bullshit it's mind-blowing.
Back to what I always say about Beck, he's half a wack job, but the other half is pretty interesting and mostly right on.
That sounds right to me. Sometimes I find it interesting when other people mention what connections he's drawing, his conspiracy theories, etc...but I can't deal with his delivery. I mean, I started that clip and saw all the chalkboards and bailed.
Popville -- wow! That captures Beck in a nutshell.
(The Crypto Jew)
Glenn Beck is Jack Parr regurgitating the words of Art Bell. Pure & simple. I promise once you get that you'll never imagine Beck any other way.
So Code Pink is NOT organizing with The Muslim Brotherhood, about the “Flotilla?” That Islamo-Fascists and ANSWER don’t share a common enemy in the US and the West? Sure, as I said previously, the links may not be as important as Beck claims, but that doesn’t mean they DON’T EXIST. So if you’d care to point out the illusory aspects of Beck, you know “enlighten us” we’d all be thankful.
(The Crypto Jew)
One thing the left hates him and Goldberg (Jonah) for is their discussions of the underside of Progressive/Liberal history…it turns out that the “Good People” are bigots, who like Fascism, and aren‘t too keen of the Common Man and seemingly rather like authoritarian/totalitarian models of governance. It hurts their self-image.
The multiple pre-noted blackboards are a function of his limited broadcast time.
If he gets people to research God Bless him, it's been ten years since 9/11 and noone even knows what the Hadith are, for a start, which is pathetic and important and this ignorance is an Islamic tool for the extremists.
The blackboard thing reminds me of Wright wanting us to have 10 loaded guns so long as none had more than ten bullets, Beck should just use a digital graphic or tie into a website more concretely.
I realize that my not liking Wright or managing so far to tolerate Beck's personality says as much about me or more than it says about them.
Who we like or associate with speaks volumes of ourselves. There is a good quote towards that notion from Mohammed. A girl I went to high school with had a brother die in a motorcycle crash. The family, Muslim, employed that quote, I remember the tone of the obituary implicitly condemning their brother, no sympathy, very cold. This was in '95?
Very interesting at the time, and more compelling and frightening since.
The publisher of Chick Tracts doesn't consider Catholics or Mormons to be true Christians.
I don't think that Chick Tracts speaks for all evangelicals, of course, but it provides a window on a line of thinking that is outside of mainstream Protestant theology.
Chick Tract website pages about Catholicism and Mormonism.
Mormons are Arian Christians, a heresy taught by Arius which has been around since the 4th century. However, that is not my point. I don't watch or listen to Beck but I do read his books. They seem to be well written and well researched. I am annoyed by them being laid out like high school social studies textbooks—I am a retired social studies teacher who never liked the way textbooks have become—too many distracting sidebars and illustrations. Anyway, Beck's books seem to contain solid and interesting information. Did you know that Hoover tried to pass a tax on writing checks, which naturally led to bank runs?
Oh, and Michelle Goldberg comes across as such a condescending prig and bimbo...I feel uncomfortable even saying it but she seems like the kind of girl who simply writes off folks who are more informed with a facial expression and "ick! they're so yucky I can't believe you would mention them!"
Valley Girl bimbo or legally brunet or, like (lip curl) I dunno even (with a sing-song) yuck!
At the same time she appears uncertain or vulnerable, as if she's afraid she might lose her spot at the cool kids cafeteria table.
I think, but I'm not sure, those blackboards seemingly stretching back to infinity are topics already covered.
Sorry, last bit. Class pictures from Cairo University over the years. The media has been successful in reversing the world's desire to westernize.
http://frontpagemag.com/2010/02/05/how-the-veil-conquered-cairo-university/
We are exporting our elitist self loathing.
The Goths, Visigoths and Vandals who invaded the Roman Empire were Arian Christians. Modern day vandals are called vandals because the historical Vandals usually destroyed the local Catholic Church as a first order of business during their invasion. Both sides considered each other heretics. Arian Christians believe that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are three different beings. Other Christians do not believe this.
Bruce, I'm with Freeman on this point. In my experience, the denunciation of Mormons as non-Christians is more likely to come from Protestants than from Catholics.
According to my wife's father's one-time Baptist minister Catholics and Mormons are both cultists. It's a two-fer.
(Actually a three-fer for general bigotry, as in the same discussion he trashed gays as well. Needless to say, we did not select him to officiate our mormon-, catholic-, gay-friendly wedding.)
Beck, the Tea Party Professor, like his followers, are scared and frightened people desperately trying to make sense of a complicated and messy world.
Garage;
Patronizing does not become you.
Mormons are not Christians, because they do not believe in the most fundamental of all Christian doctrines - that we are saved through faith by the grace of God. For a Christian, the death and resurrection of Christ is the most crucial event in history without which his life (and ours) have no meaning - for a Mormon it is just one facet of Christ's story and ministry. In Mormonism, Christ is just an example of how life should be lived, and how well you follow it determines which of the three spiritual realms you end up in.
The real question is - is a professing Mormon "saved" in the traditional Christian sense? I'd have to say no, because to be saved is to claim the grace of God. Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Christians all do this - Mormons do not.
Blogger ate the post in which I linked to the Chick Tracts pages about Mormons and Catholics.
I'm not suggesting that Chick Tracts speaks for most Evangelical Protestants, but it's a good place to see what some Evangelical Protestants believe.
I don't watch Beck but I would say he's getting a lot of flak for his fear of the Caliphate bit, maybe rightly so
but I'm surprised atour collective poor memory. I remember well in 1979 when the Shah fell, all of the statements about how Iran was unlike so many other countries in the region because it had a strong middle class. And then there was the Ayatollah.
And since then all of the punditry about how much the youth of Iran love American culture, how they're on the Internet etc.
And then there's the crackdown on the Green Revolution.
Seems like radical Islam has done quite well in countries as diverse as Afghanistan and Lebanon. So yes, I'm concerned, maybe not Beck level concerned but concerned.
(The Crypto Jew)
Beck and the Caliphate…for me, it’s not that the Caliphate is POSSIBLE, but rather that a bunch of crazies will try to create it. The Nazi’s never, really stood a chance of succeeding in the schemes, HOWEVER, it took about 30 million dead to make that fact absolutely clear. Will Wahabists or Salafists or 12’er Shi’I really ever establish the Dar al-Islam in the world, no, but how many million people will have to die, before they acknowledge the fact?
And then of course, the condescension…”Oh Beck is sooooo Working Clahss and his followers, too.” Yes, he may not be Ivy League, but then he doesn’t believe in Global Warming either, the great Myth of the well-educated.
The Nazi’s never, really stood a chance of succeeding in the schemes, HOWEVER, it took about 30 million dead to make that fact absolutely clear.
I'm not so sure this is clear at all. If it weren't for some very easily "could have gone the other way" events, some rather minor, it could have ended up very, very differently.
I think what I take from that Bill Gates video is that he's a moron who got very lucky. Maybe also that his lack of any kind of ethical restraint wasn't limited to the computer field.
(The Crypto Jew)
I'm not so sure this is clear at all. If it weren't for some very easily "could have gone the other way" events, some rather minor, it could have ended up very, very differently.
I’ve participated in arguments on that…Germany lost in 1940. After that Germany never really stood a chance of winning. Check out combinedfleet.com for a nice assessment of US v. Axis war-making potential. Germany, ~10% of the world’s ability to make war took on about 70% of the world’s ability to make war…The failure to win the Battle of Britain, and the failure to take Malta all doom the Axis. And the point many really hard-corps nerds make is that the BoB was NEVER winnable by Germany, a disputable fact, and that the Italian Navy never had the fuel to support an invasion of Malta, so that Germany, never really stood any chance whatsoever. But to demonstrate that fact, conclusively, required a very large war and millions of dead people. The best Germany could do, is NOT LOSE the war…and after 9 December 2941 that wasn’t possible, either.
Beck has to fight for a ever smaller audience and so he has increased the crazy talk to reach the shrinking extremes of old folks. Further his ad base is shrinking. And he is not even smart enough to use "SMART boards" and so he looses the younger generation;I am afraid the end time is coming for Beck.
There's going to be another German-precipitated war in 2941? Thank God I'll be long gone by then.
Germany could have simply stopped with the conquest of the continent and consolidated it's holdings for a generation or two. They were the ones, after all, that were ahead in both rocket research and atomic theory (as far as I can remember).
I've got a great collection of first-level what-if's of military history. The most interesting, to me personally, is the vortex of strategic planning that whirled around the dropping of the two atomic bombs. Whenever someone tries to give me their take on why we were evil for doing so, I ask them if they know anything about Ketsu Go. Usually draws a blank stare, so I end the conversation or change subjects.
(The Crypto Jew)
Beck has to fight for a ever smaller audience and so he has increased the crazy talk to reach the shrinking extremes of old folks. Further his ad base is shrinking. And he is not even smart enough to use "SMART boards" and so he looses the younger generation;I am afraid the end time is coming for Beck.
If the end is coming for Beck what can be said of MSNBC, then? Dood you realize Beck mops the floor with MSNBC or CNN, COMBINED, right? Stick with the world-class environmental engineering and leave the political snark to the professionals.
Even though I'm a certified Right Wing Wacko, I've never watched or listened to Glen Beck.
I didn't hear anything crazy in this clip, nothing at all. I can see disagreeing with his conclusion, but I detect nothing remotely crazy.
roesch-voltaire, can you help me by pointing out the 'increased crazy-talk' in this clip?
(The Crypto Jew)
Germany could have simply stopped with the conquest of the continent and consolidated it's holdings for a generation or two. They were the ones, after all, that were ahead in both rocket research and atomic theory (as far as I can remember).
I meant to post 1941, sorry…
Not really, that would have required a different NSDAP and Hitler…and a different Churchill. To win the BoB they need a different Goering, too…and they need to sweep the beaches at Dunkerque rather than letting the BEF escape….In short, the things that made the Second World War inevitable, Hitler and his cabal, also make it unwinnable for Germany…
As to the Atomic bombings, I stand in awe of the “well-educated” who are so ignorant of real history…”We only used it on Yellow People”-No, you moron, we developed it to use on WHITE people, the developers objected to its use on Yellow People. Or “the violence of the weapon” or the like…200,00-300,00 Indonesians/Burmese/Chinese were starving to death under the Japanese Occupation, anything that lengthened the war meant millions more dead Yellow/Brown People…but no one seems to realize that. “The Japanese were ready to surrender”-Yeah on THEIR terms, keeping Korea, and China and the Emperor…and as they were busy flying themselves into Allied Ships they certainly gave no PUBLIC hint of their desire to terminate the war….
The people making these lame arguments certainly don’t listen to beck, and certainly aren’t Blue-Collar, but I sure wouldn’t call them the intellectual elite, either…..
Part of the Allied strategic plan was a naval blockade of Japan combined with strategic bombing of all rail and transportation links. Japan is a mountainous country that relies heavily on it's small arable regions and its fishing industry.
Not only would starvation have killed many, many more people than either of the bombs (even including later deaths due to radiation poisoning), but the countryside would have been rife with disease and pocket warlords, each of which would have had to be dealt with separately.
This doesn't even take into account the number of Allied lives lost to continued kamakazi attacks on any naval blockade. Sure...they would have steadily decreased, but that's still Allied lives lost when another alternative was available.
(The Crypto Jew)
Part of the Allied strategic plan was a naval blockade of Japan combined with strategic bombing of all rail and transportation links. Japan is a mountainous country that relies heavily on it's small arable regions and its fishing industry.
Have you read Frank’s Downfall? Very good book, it makes the point that Japan was NOT suffering malnourishment, but CLINICAL STARVATION by war’s end…there simply were not enough calories grown and imported to provide average minimum daily intake to maintain body weight…and that ignores the inability of the Japanese to distribute what little food there was, due to the loss of rail, coal, and coastal shipping.
roesch-voltaire said...
Beck has to fight for a ever smaller audience and so he has increased the crazy talk to reach the shrinking extremes of old folks. Further his ad base is shrinking. And he is not even smart enough to use "SMART boards" and so he looses the younger generation;I am afraid the end time is coming for Beck
I know roachy, I know. But no matter how loud you whistle that graveyard of liberal ideas is still pretty scary dude.
(The Crypto Jew)
Beck's Fox News program saw its worst ratings of 2010 Friday, averaging just 1.776 million total viewers. Of course, that's more than his competitors -- MSNBC's "Hardball" (528,000), CNN's "Situation Room" (481,000) and HLN's "Showbiz Tonight" (197,000) – combined (Emph. Added), but it represents a continuation of a trend that began last month.
HuffPo
So R-V tell me about his shrinking audience, when Keith Olberman is GONE, who’s still standing?
Glenn Beck... I don't know what to make of him.
He's just another....Lizard, Miss A. which is to say Shapeshifter from the Constellation Draco. Common among mormons, and..Illuminati of all types (including leader US politicians, GOP and Dems)
I sometimes wonder if the Glenn Beck on FNC and the Glenn Beck who does that political-themed talk show are two different people. The one I hear on the radio is what might happen if the morning drive-in crew got religion and a crew-cut and started yelling about socialism. There's a lot of humor, clowning around, and... broadness. He can get histrionic and a little paranoid, but then his sidekicks drag him back to earth and start in on the funny voices.
Is the TV version that much more wild and spooky? Because Radio Beck is a regular-guy type with a sideline in conspiracy theory. He's not nearly as rageful as Mark Levin or pompous as Rush Limbaugh or dim and Colbert-ish as Hannity.
The first time I saw Beck, it was because he had on Amity Shlaes and two other heavy hitters—and he drove me nuts, because like all these talking heads, he talks way too much.
I've seen him a few times since then and, I dunno, I don't see the crazy. Someone who constantly admonishes people to double-check his facts and challenge his thought process...just doesn't seem crazy to me.
Ann Althouse said...
I tried watching a whole show the other day. All those blackboards! And he kept saying "Do your homework" and warning us that the lesson was going to be long and it would take several hour-length lectures to demonstrate whatever point he was going to make.
So in essence you are saying you don't have the attention span to pay attention. I'm not a Glenn Beck fan. He's an overproduced histrionic jackhole, but I wouldn't dismiss what he is saying at the outset simply because you don't like his delivery. I've been saying what Beck has been delivering on TV on this blog for a long time.
What's crazy about this theory well those fundamental Muslims and Russia are really working closely together-- just look at the air port in Moscow, or consider how an anti-religious organization will be embraced by it opposite? Or maybe read the Tweets from Egypt to discover the youth movement left the Brotherhood flat footed in its response. Glenn Beck now routinely flirts with ratings in the 1.6-1.8 million range, which is almost exactly half the rating Beck was getting one year ago. And in another year it will be less as more folks catch on to his B.S.
J,
He's just another....Lizard, Miss A. which is to say Shapeshifter from the Constellation Draco. Common among mormons, and..Illuminati of all types (including leader US politicians, GOP and Dems)
I've got a blog post on that around here somewhere,...
Glenn Beck now routinely flirts with ratings in the 1.6-1.8 million range, which is almost exactly half the rating Beck was getting one year ago.
In other words - A year ago Glenn Beck was insanely popular, but now he's just slightly more popular than all his competitors combined.
I really just do not understand his appeal. He's as unwatchable as any liberal unwatchable on MSNBC. He may have some interesting things to say, maybe even some thought-provoking ones, but I just can't get over the feeling that he's going to try to sell me life insurance in a second. It doesn't help that he does that gold-hocking thing--seriously, who does that on a national show?
Blue@9,
I really just do not understand his appeal. He's as unwatchable as any liberal unwatchable on MSNBC. He may have some interesting things to say, maybe even some thought-provoking ones, but I just can't get over the feeling that he's going to try to sell me life insurance in a second. It doesn't help that he does that gold-hocking thing--seriously, who does that on a national show?
Someone with "some interesting things to say, maybe even some thought-provoking ones"?
The family across the street from me is Mormon. Quite possibly the nicest people I have ever met. They are even unfailingly nice to me despite knowing very well that I listen to NPR and shop organic and (socially) a liberal.
And they have never ONCE tried to convert me. Their older boy is 19 and is going to argentina on a mission. He hangs out at our place all the time, borrows my music, and we jam on our guitars often. Once, someone in a parking lot defaced my "coexist" and "free burma now" stickers - his mom MADE me new stickers that said the same thing, and were much prettier.
Anyway, so we really have the good neighbour thing going. We love them and they love us. We even talk about religion all the time, without getting into the "which path is better" argument. They all love Glenn Beck.
Anyway - the reason I am saying all this, is when I think about what being Christian means, this family of Mormons abides by that more completely than anyone I have ever seen or known. They are truly "good Christians". So it makes me sad that there are some Christians who don't consider Mormons real Christians.
p.s. I was born Hindu but I don't practise actively.
Well it's really easy to find time to make cool bumper stickers when you have three wives working on them. Just sayn'
...scared and frightened people desperately trying to make sense of a complicated and messy world.
Quite the opposite. I can only speak for myself. I have attended a couple of Tea Parties but don't watch Beck or anyone else on TV.
I gave up "making sense" a long time ago. The idea that world is rational and you can make sense out of it is irrational.
As far as being scared, I'm more than willing and happy, even strongly desire, yearn and demand, to face the world without the nanny state being there to hold my hand every little step of the way. I don't need no gubment telling my kids they can't buy squirt guns and kicking them out of school for shooting spitballs. I don't need no gubment health care. I can take care of mysefl and my family.
Far from being scared, I am willing to accept an increased risk of death, injury and illness rather than give the gubment control over every little detail of my life.
The best explanation of coexist I've seen. Islam want to kill gays, Jews, Christians and pacifists....
Get a "My Little Pony" bumper sticker. It'll make as much sense.
Why must any praise of Glenn Beck be modified with some declaration of not liking him or sort of half-way agreeing with the scum who call him insane?
Wassup wid dat?
Bill O’Reilly, OMG…I love what one person wrote of him, “What a multi-millionaire with a Masters from an Ivy League College has to be angry about is beyond me.”-Joe (The Crypto Jew)
Odd that. His Brittanic Majesty George III said much the same of John Adams.
twitter limits you to a few characters. That is the world most Americans live in today. If you start to get down into the weeds, folks can't seem to follow along. From little on, we had TV with those short commercial messages. We are conditioned to be entertained or our mind goes blank. However, critical issues need to have an extended focus and often require us to dig deep and expend time. It is no surprise that the political hacks caught on to this early. Every campaign starts by getting the 3-4 things they are going to say over and over to almost any question. Stay on message. When elected, they again count on this American trait as they put out 2000 page plus bills using language that requires you not only to read that mess, but it contains thousands of references back to other regulations or other bills to make any sense. They use as much legalize as possible. With this, they can pass things through that later come back to bite us in the ass. If we react to that, they simply pass another bill filled with more crap to appease us.
But now we are starting to see blogs and yes folks like Glen Beck and his staff that are pulling things apart a little bit and shinging the light on these tactics. That is why politicians hate them and try to do everything possible to destroy them. They are aided in this by organizations who benefit from the cozy relationship or those that have an agenda they do not want exposed.
Unless more Americans stop the twitter brain set and take some time to listen, research, and confirm what is being put out, our country is in big trouble. This is not left or right, but must be done on both sides. During the healthcare non debate, one side tried to shut out the other side to pass a bill behind closed doors and were angry every time anything about it was exposed. Since it was behind closed doors and being rushed through, there were mistakes made becuase what had been there, was changed the night before. Often they offending item was not removed, but nuanced and moved to another area with different language. Promises to have everything out in the open were not kept. The republicans also do this when in power so it is a problem for all Americans. If we want to keep twitter mentality, then we need our politicians to pass twitter size bills which will never happen. But don't knock a guy who is taking on the politicians and exposing things without at least verifying if he is right or not. Unlike a professor in some university droning on about a topic we may never use, this is much more important because it will impact us, our kids, and grandkids.
I've watched a bit of Glenn Beck and I've concluded that the thing about his delivery that makes some people crazy is that he's preaching. He sounds exactly like a preacher delivering a sermon.
And that's not what you expect to hear in this context.
I started watching Glenn back when he was on CNN Headline News. He said things I believed already. He had an awesome interview with Netanyahu and was always pointing out various things that the Bush administration was doing wrong. I only listen to him on radio when I'm traveling and I always consider it a bonus. I did get to listen to him a couple days after obamacare was signed and his message that day was - don't get violent. That was a good message that week. I'd watch him on TV, but we gave cable -- austerity measures in our new reality.
A lot of seemingly intelligent people keep underestimating Beck to their chagrin.
As far as his fan base is concerned; they discussed demographics once on the show; it was "diverse" but high in income and education. You are welcome to underestimate them too while you are at it. The Democrats did.
And let me add that I expect the establishment GOP will underestimate both Beck and his audience as well.
Somefeller,
You talk about his target audience as being not well educated and likely to fall for what he says with a straight face after all the academics who actually listened to Obama and believed what he said even when it was well known what his actions had been and how full of krep his speeches were. Some things are so ludicrous that you would have to be an academic to believe them. The "little people" can oftentimes see through the BS much faster than the academics and "intelligentsia" can. In the bit that Ann had in her posting what exactly did Beck say that was false?
Bruce Hayden said...
I was in the Peace Corps in Malaysia. That government has very strict rules about proselytizing by Christians. Go to jail or be deported sorts of rules. The Malaysian Government allowed Mormon Missionaries. They didn't consider Mormons Christians. I figure they qualify as unbiased observers on the subject. As for Protestants, well, the time period is called "The Reformation" because the Church reformed. Notice that the Supreme Court is all Catholics and Jews? If the Protestants have a disagreement amongst themselves, they just split and form new churches. Jews and Catholics stay in the room and talk it out to an understanding (Jews in their room, Catholics in theirs. Although, orthodox Catholics have a lot in common with orthodox Jews. And Christianity which doesn't recognize and honor it's Judaic roots becomes some form of paganism.)
It's late and I don't have time to read all the comments and catch up.
I am not following Beck regularly these days -- I can handle him in small doses. I catch him on the radio (and yes, sometimes those guys are hilarious, sometimes they are idiotic). He's a lunatic. But not in the way Michelle-of-the-Flipping-the-Hair-Thing thinks.
He has some sort of DSM-IV diagnosis (or maybe not, with the new edition coming out ;-) ) which affects how he talks, thinks, presents whatever.
Sometimes it's hard to take, depending on where he is on a particular day ...
That being said: This one guy, Glenn Beck, is The One responsible for exposing Van Jones (and therefore Barack Obama) in all the ugliness of leftiness of this administration.
And Jones the Communist is gone.
I think Beck had a lot to do with the Anita Dunn departure. She got real ugly during Obama's attack on Fox (remember that display of childishness?). Beck played her speech where she stated a favorite philosopher is Mao. (Typically left, she claimed when confronted that she was being "ironic.") She left her WH position about 6 weeks after the dust up started. (Her firm represented SEIU etc. In bed with all the usual supspects.)
Now Beck is focused on Piven. Good for him.
He drives the left crazy as much as Palin but for different reasons.
I think the hysterical point of what has happened here was there was a concerted effort to *get* Beck when the Van Jones things first bubbled up. There was the "boycott" of Fox organized by Jones over some something Beck said.
Then it was what kind of dirt they could find on him. You know rhe usual Alinsky play -- target, focus, destroy yadayada.
Only with Beck, he is so upfront about how screwed up he has been and sometimes is, that there wasn't any there there that Beck hadn't already covered numerous times on the radio publically.
You can't trash a guy who's homest about all his garbage.
So -- sometimes he annoys me, and Imutter to my husband "he's a lunatic!" when he get all manic-y --- but the truth is he is right about a lot of stuff and he has nailed some big stories the rest of the MSM simply *ignores.*
How much did you read about Van Jones in the NYT? Time? Newsweek? Slate?
Mmmm?
@ Peter Hoh I'm not suggesting that Chick Tracts speaks for most Evangelical Protestants, but it's a good place to see what some Evangelical Protestants believe.
Oh good grief Peter. I'm on my way to bed and I see this.
"...some Evangelical Protestants believe ...
Yeah and some Romans thought the Christians were cannibals too.
Chick is widely discredited in the wider Evangelical Christian community.
He is an Independent Baptist who is part of the the King James Only movement. Neither one is "bad." But not particularly mainstream. He withdrew from the Christian Booksellers in the 1980s as they considered throwing him out.
He has been exposed - by Evangelical Christians - for promoting some fantastic false stories of ritual abuse and extremism.
Sheesh.
So yes, one could say Chick Tracts don't speak for most Evangelical Protestants.
What a multi-millionaire with a Masters from an Ivy League College has to be angry about is beyond me
That's the kind of remark that only makes sense to people who are entirely selfish -- who can't imagine being concerned about something more than their own personal welfare.
People who care about the world get angry about lots of stuff that doesn't affect them personally.
Couldn;t Michelle have simply googled caliphate BEFORE going on Fox?
Stupid bint!
I am afraid the end time is coming for Beck.
Average viewers for the 5pm time slot this past week:
Fox (Glenn Beck): 2,150,000
CNN (Situation Room): 767,000
MSNBC (Chris Matthews): 708,000
CNBC (Fast Money): 246,000
HLN (Showbiz Tonight): 197,000
Among viewers age 25-54:
Fox: 538,000
CNN: 239,000
MSNBC: 150,000
CNBC: 48,000
HLN: 88,000
rv:
"And he is not even smart enough to use "SMART boards" and so he looses the younger generation;I am afraid the end time is coming for Beck."
Smart boards. Right....
One thing to understand about Mr. Beck is that as a recovering alcoholic he went through a 12-step program... whatever the nature of these multi-step programs, they start with introspection and self-assessment and he did not like the man who he had become. To change himself he needed to understand himself and make himself right with his beliefs.
He sees America as addicted to a toxic form of governance that pushes them into a dehumanizing position via their government, which gives that government more power to control your actions.
His show is, from that, a multi-step recovery program for the Nation. Last year was learning history and the basics of US civil society... and every author he had on had a massive jump in book sales like you wouldn't believe. Text books, some long out of print, flew out of Amazon, ABEbooks, and Ebay overnight. Say what you will about the man, but his audience is willing to pick up scholarly, well researched works and read them...
In general I find him covering similar ground to what I was going over a few years ago: the organizational structures for terrorism and organized crime have large amounts of interplay. Once you understand the basic workings of those networks of groups and people, you can see how they operate on a larger scale. While not every connection is important, the ability to actually see connections (via meetings, trials, jointly released pamphlets) indicates a working knowledge of disparate organizations amongst themselves. That is very hard stuff to get through outside of a jury trial or real class-room setting.
Glenn Beck has one hour of live tv minus commercial time to do that and with a boatload of material to get through. He can only give you some of the outlines of what is going on and points people to books and sources documenting the larger body of work. Thus he isn't presenting a course but a course outline and trying to pack in as much material as he can given the medium. He talks nowhere near as fast as my sister does, and if I can hear a bunch of material from her and sort through it, then the slower pace of Mr. Beck is very easy to handle. And you never know what connection he will make to something you already know and put a different view on it...
All for our recovery program for America. He can only give you an outline. You have to Do It Yourself.
It is always fascinating to me to read what some outside my faith think I believe.
To Ken ins SC, Arianists? Really?
http://www.libertypages.com/clark/10695.html
And to Blair, without Christ's atonement, our entire existence is meaningless. The whole of creation would be moot and our future horrible beyond comprehension.
Jesus just a good example for Mormons? News to me.
wv: curtfab....Who the heck is Curt?
For more on how this hate clown works, check out How Many lie can Glenn Beck squeeze into 5 minutes, on YouTubeand then do your "home work" to find out how many firefighters were laid off-- say in Lorain, and how many were hired back. And then you have a real sense of who Beck's little man is-- his duped viewers.
I take Glenn Beck with a grain of salt. I don’t disagree with him; he espouses ideas which I have long held. I follow a number of alternative news sources. Glenn doesn’t feed his viewers pablum and I value that. As an intellectual, I find his presentation slow and rather emotional. I excuse that, because he is talking to an average audience. They don’t have my years of study.
The world is rapidly destabilizing. I am hunkered down to avoid harm. I gauge various threats and calculate their impact. Glenn Beck is useful although I rarely learn anything new. He is good about corroborating his ideas and he has interesting guests. Some of his topic are less interesting. A Caliphate is likely to lock the Mid east into decades of decline and degradation. I expect a mass die off in the region.
The good times are over. The bills for profligacy are due; millions will die in the chaos. The question is, “How dangerous are these events? Will they impact me when they are on the other side of the globe?” Egypt would be easy to ignore except for the fact that the Suez Canal might be closed and the world oil price would exceed $150 a barrel.
We have a surfeit of conspirators, now. The aspirations of leftists and terrorists at home and abroad, George Soros and his ilk, are clear, but we have no idea how successful they will be.
A hyper inflationary depression, which seems coming in a few years, has a higher priority than what happens in Egypt. Our financial system is so fragile that far away events can provoke collapse of the dollar. I am looking for trigger events, but no one knows what event will cause the world to go to hell. We will, more likely than not, creep up on catastrophe, rather than it being a sudden break down. But, who knows?
I just watched the clip and found it easy to watch. Years ago I would sometimes try to listen to him on the radio but found his playing around too distracting. He is much more focused on TV.
As for the blackboards ... I think it's kind of cool ... gives me flashbacks to my school days! lol
Remember, Retro is cool nowadays. And using boards is a common practice to help focus thoughts ... tho most people use whiteboards with markers nowadays ... I bet he doesn't clean up the chalk dust!
Glenn Beck appeals to many because he isn't some Ivy League elitist ... He's just an avg guy with a TV show and the talks to the audience that way.
And he's a nice guy. Let's face it ... A lot of commentators come across as just jerks (both left and right).
@Joe (The crypto Jew) ... Altho I understand your reasoning that Germany could not have won the war, I vehemently disagree with you. By your reasoning we should have never fought the Revolutionary War because we could have never matched the resources of Britain.
But I do note your mention of Malta. IMO, Hitler's refusal to attack and take Malta was the turning point. But we can what-if all day!
Ann, Glenn is generally on the right track. It's a big picture thing, and it can't be explained overnight. You have to have followed him for a while to understand his references.
Regular listeners know where he is on a given day. Non-regular listeners who pop in might think he's got this one, unifying conspiracy theory ... but regular listeners know it's several movements with often common interests that sometimes cooperate, use each other, and even fight amongst themselves. This is not your nightly newscaster, or Sean Hannity, or Bill O'Rielly. He's literally studying what's going on in the world along with his audience, and it's an unfolding process. There's really nothing to compare it to. Popping in on it from time to time won't due.
One of the things that makes him look "crazy" to people is his style is to think out loud. Stuff on the leading edge of what he's thinking can sound goofy at first, and will often be discarded as he finds new evidence or contextual information to discard or refine it.
One can't just tune into Glenn Beck for an hour once a month and expect to be on the same page with him.
I occasionally listen to Beck, lacking tv seat time and cable television. One that strikes me is that he says 'Don't quote me. People will shut down when you quote me. On the website there are the links, you look it up, and quote the source material.' Right he is. He seems to be pretty spot on and does shed light on issues the Left doesn't want spotlighted.
A couple of things about the responses to my comments about Beck and Mormonism.
First, we can argue all day whether or not the Roman Catholic Church was reformed by their new competition with Protestants. The theory though is that by then, it was too late. Think of it as God revoking their charter because of the corruption, waiting around until he found a worthy successor, and then awarding the franchise to the Mormons. Or, maybe look at it like the woman going through a divorce with an alcoholic, him reforming, and her saying to him, no thank you, I will wait for someone who never has drunk.
That is at the higher, theological, levels of the religions. But on a lay level, Mormonism comes out of a Protestant tradition, and indeed, the LDS Church uses many of the mainline Protestant hymns. So, I don't think there should be any surprise that there is more questioning at the lay level of the Mormon faith by Protestants than Roman Catholics. For one thing, they are more of a threat to Protestants for converts.
In the end though, these intra-faith squabbles are not going to matter that much. My parents did not, and really still don't, socialize much with Roman Catholics, and didn't know any Jews socially. By the time that my kid was growing up, these distinctions had become pretty much moot. Few really cared any more. We may care enough, right now, to prevent a Mormon, or maybe even a Jew, from becoming President. Yet. But I would suggest that that is fast disappearing. And, that means that no one is going to care whether Beck is Mormon, or that Fox has a lot of Roman Catholics working for it.
Finally, I don't see Beck's religious fervor being all that Mormon. It comes across to me much more so as pro-Christian. Or, maybe even pro-Judeo-Christian. For the most part, the controversial portions of his religion are not really evident.
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