Mad Man: Is Glenn Beck Bad for America? – TIME

The inevitable question is, How much of this industry is sincere? Last year, shortly after the election, Beck spoke with TIME’s Kate Pickert, and he didn’t sound very scared back then. Of Obama’s early personnel decisions, he said, “I think so far he’s chosen wisely.” Of his feelings about the President: “I am not an Obama fan, but I am a fan of our country … He is my President, and we must have him succeed. If he fails, we all fail.” Of the Democratic Party: “I don’t know personally a single Democrat who is a dope-smoking hippie that wants to turn us into Soviet Russia.” Of the civic duty to trust: “We’ve got to pull together, because we are facing dark, dark times. I don’t trust a single weasel in Washington. I don’t care what party they’re from. But unless we trust each other, we’re not going to make it.”

“How can we trust each other, though, when the integrated economy of ranters and their delighted-to-be-outraged critics are such a model of profitability? A microphone, a camera and a polarizing host are all it takes to get the money moving.”

So the article is kind of interesting, but doesn’t answer the question. The answer is YES. Yes he is, and so is Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Keith Olbermann, and Rachel Maddow.

“We tell ourselves a tale in America, and you can read it in Latin on the back of a buck: E pluribus unum. Many people from many lands, made one in a patriotic forge. And there’s truth in that story — it conjures powerful pictures in the theater of our national mind. But it can also be misleading. Lots of Americans can’t stand one another, don’t trust each other and are willing — even eager — to believe the worst about one another. This story is as old as the gun used by Vice President Aaron Burr to kill his political rival Alexander Hamilton.”

Anyone who tells you, as Glenn has, the only reason everything isn’t perfect is because “…we’re being held back. And who is holding us back? Politicians. Special-interest groups. Political correctness. You name it — everybody but you” is making a buck off you. Anyone who inspires you to hate half the people in your country and start thinking of them as an enemy is bad bad bad for America.

I never talk about politics online because it is too easy for people to act like jerks in ways they never would face to face (including me), and I will probably let this be the end of my brief foray into moderate political ranting. But seriously people, can’t we stop encouraging these jerks?

via Mad Man: Is Glenn Beck Bad for America? – TIME.

6 responses for Mad Man: Is Glenn Beck Bad for America? – TIME

  1. anna says:

    Ditto to everything you said. I think Beck (and Hannity and Limbaugh) wouldn’t last on the air without his inflammatory remarks, but maintaining a business model does not morally excuse him for saying things that I think he knows are untrue or at least unfair.

  2. Jory says:

    Amen, and amennnn.

  3. Stealth Blue says:

    I have to agree that these various figures are not helping america unite. More or less each person is simply drawing more lines in the ground and declaring battle ground. My motto, extremism in any form is a bad thing. I will say, there is a bit of truth in what each of these figures are saying, sometimes though it is a pain in the rear to sort out what those truths are. I wish there were a person out there who everyone can rely on, but I don’t think that is going to happen.

  4. jason cannon says:

    People only accept “news” from people with the same bias. It is like the crossfire point John Stewart made, but now they go solo.