I have spent much of the morning wandering the internet looking for different perspectives on that ostentatious Glenn Beck rally yesterday, and have been a little disappointed with much of the coverage.
But then I ran across the Jon Avlon's piece over at the Daily Beast:
The Rev. Glenn Beck staged a religious revival on the National Mall in Washington yesterday.
His “Restoring Honor” rally sidestepped politics, instead offering a tribute to the troops and calls for a new Great Awakening, proclaiming “We’ve got to go to God Bootcamp,” to the applause of hundreds of thousand of followers.
But the most striking thing about Beck’s heartfelt evangelism was its hypocrisy.
“We’re dividing ourselves,” Beck lamented. “There is growing hatred in the country. We must be better than what we’ve allowed ourselves to become. We must get the poison of hatred out of us, no matter what smears or lies are thrown our way… we must look to God and look to love. We must defend those we disagree with.”
It made me wonder if Glenn Beck has ever watched the Glenn Beck show.
The man offers a daily drumbeat of division for a living, earning $32 million last year selling his paranoid snake oil. It’s almost impossible to keep up with Beck’s serial fearmongering, though a stroll through Media Matters will give an authoritative sampling. Just a few of his greatest hits include:
• “We are a country that is headed toward socialism, totalitarianism, beyond your wildest imagination.”
• “There is a coup going on. There is a stealing of America… done through the guise of an election.”
• “The president is a Marxist... who is setting up a class system.”
• “The government is a heroin pusher using smiley-faced fascism to grow the nanny state."
• “The health-care bill is reparations. It's the beginning of reparations."
• And of course, speaking of President Obama, “I believe this guy is a racist” with “a deep-seated hatred of white people.”
You can’t profit from fear and division all week and then denounce them one Saturday on the National Mall in Washington and hope nobody notices.
EXACTLY! That is probably the most important point to take from this unbelievable bullshit. Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and Fox News CREATED this fear and distrust for a profit, and are now attempting to profit by appearing to be the voice of reason.
It is like the insurance scammer who sets your house on fire in the middle of the night, and then arrives the next morning to sell you insurance as protection just in case it happens again.
Your last paragraph of this post was inspired! It summed up the strategy of this faux far-right movement. I have long thought that the far-right was in control of it. I now suspect it is not, even though it may pretend or even believe it is.
ReplyDeleteIt is the money-hungry, power-hungry structure manipulating event the far-right, People such as the Koch brothers, Murdoch and others we may not even know the names of yet who profit from war, chaos, and instability within the society and government.
Thank you for summarizing the strategy. You may not agree with me in my conclusions as to the far-right, but I think you have the method behind the madness down correctly.
Good observation. The idea that so many people could be drawn in by Beck's rally and "Divine Destiny" event -- and not remember his ridiculousness -- boggles my mind.
ReplyDeleteExactly, exactly what I was thinking when I listened to the Rev. Beck!! I called him the new Jimmy Swaggert in my post....UGH!
ReplyDeletehundreds of thousands in the audience?????
ReplyDeletesomeone is delusional.
I believe this sideshow was a blatant attempt to rebrand the Tea Party, the Religious Right, the insane zealots--whatever--into a movement that "just wants the very, very best for America and all the good li'l future Patriots out there, dagnabbit!" Got this feeling when GlennBeck® appealed to his listeners to not bring the normal inflammatory signs, t-shirts, etc.; and the Koch Bros. were revealed to be behind it all. After all, election time is just around the corner, and don't we all want to trust our future to highly insightful and tolerant people like Sharron Angle, Michelle Bachmann and Rand Paul? I'm sure Beckie and Chooch-head were paid a king's ransom by their corporate masters to try and refocus the public's perception of this so-called "grassroots party" and suck more followers in.
ReplyDeleteOne commenter on HuffPo yesterday mentioned that should this horror actually unfold, the faithful sheeple will rejoice at first, then (paraphrasing} will wonder what the f**k happened when they realize they've all been played like well-used violins by the corporate oligarchy. Constant war, repression on so many levels and dollar-a-day sweatshop jobs, anyone??
PS--Has anyone noticed that whenever The Thing makes a screech to a typical yee-haw crowd such as this, the Bumpit Librarian Look suddenly reappears?
How can granny grifter defend dr laura's racist rant and then stand on a stage and use Dr King's and Lincoln's legacy to grift the dumb ass white people in the audience. It says more about how stupid some Americans really are.
ReplyDeleteRadio Host Joe Madison Confronts Glenn Beck On Claim Obama Is Racist
ReplyDeletehttp://www.alan.com/2010/08/29/radio-host-joe-madison-confronts-glenn-beck-on-claim-obama-is-racist/
Beck admits he didn’t know what he was talking about when he called President Obama a racist. He also admits he doesn’t know what Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for, which is especially interesting in light of how Beck was in D.C., where Madison does his show, to co-opt the King message. Beck says he’ll “talk to Alveda” about what King stood for, even though Alveda King, King’s niece, is not quite the messenger for King Beck purports her to be. And Beck speaks out against social justice, which is exactly the opposite of the King legacy.
“Restoring Honor” Rally A Lesson In Demagoguery
ReplyDeletehttp://www.alan.com/2010/08/29/restoring-honor-rally-a-lesson-in-demagoguery/
The very title, “Restoring Honor”, not-so-subtly suggests someone or some thing took that honor away. Without being specific, both Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin talk about how undefined forces are at work tarnishing us. Beck says, for example, “Something that is beyond man is happening. America today begins to turn back to God. For too long, this country has wandered in darkness.” Greg Sargent at the Washington Post sums it up nicely.
They played on their followers’ murky fear that a sinister and Godless other is trying to transform our country into something no longer recognizable as America.
When Beck says, “We must turn back to the values that make us great,” the implication is that we’ve lost those values. Do any of his followers even question the premise that America is great? That we still do have those values? No, because they need a target to beat up upon, and that target has to be those entities that took that greatness, those values, away. (Hint: liberals).
And how about this line from Sarah Palin: “Say what you want to say about me, but I raised a combat vet. You can’t take that away from me.” Yeah, so did Cindy Sheehan. And Sheehan also lost her combat vet.
Palin also said, “We must not fundamentally transform America as some would want. We must restore America and restore her honor.” We all know who the “some” are in Palin’s estimation.
Sargent nails it:
Beck repeatedly claimed that his rally wasn’t meant to be “political.” As high-minded as that may sound, the real point of stressing the rally’s apolitical goals was political in nature. The idea was to relieve himself of the responsibility to pinpoint who, precisely, he wants his followers to blame for leading us away from God and for tarnishing our honor. Beck wants this all to be drawn by inference — classic political demagoguery.
The intent of Palin’s quotes were even more obvious. Palin, after all, noted explicitly that “some” want to “transform” the country into something that now requires us to “restore America.” She also implied that someone, somewhere, wants to “take away” from Palin the fact that she raised a combat veteran.
This is classic politics of resentment: “They” have nothing but disdain for your values, your accomplishments as parents, your national pride, and your way of life. They want to take all that away from you. No need to say who “they” is. We’ve already agreed upon that in advance. Indeed, if you read through many of the quotes from the rally’s attendees, they understood precisely who Beck and Palin were talking about.
They played on their followers' murky fear that a sinister and Godless other is trying to transform our country into something no longer recognizable as America.
ReplyDeletehttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/08/beck_and_palin.html
Beck and Palin strive for historical immortality
In their speeches on the Mall yesterday, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin followed a script familiar to students of American history's most storied demagogues: They played on their followers' murky fear that a sinister and Godless other is trying to transform our country into something no longer recognizable as America.
Consider the money quotes from its two top speakers. Beck called the rally for the sake of "restoring honor," and said:
"Something that is beyond man is happening. America today begins to turn back to God. For too long, this country has wandered in darkness."
Beck also insisted that we must turn "back to the values and principles that made us great."
Palin, meanwhile, said:
"Say what you want to say about me, but I raised a combat vet. You can't take that away from me."
And Palin also said:
"We must not fundamentally transform America as some would want. We must restore America and restore her honor."
Consider Beck's claim that his speech marks "America" turning "back" to God, and the exhortation that we turn "back" to what made us great. The unbearably obvious implication of these quotes, and of the title of the rally itself, is that someone or something has tarnished our honor and turned America away from God and American greatness -- presumably two sides of the same coin.
Beck repeatedly claimed that his rally wasn't meant to be "political." As high-minded as that may sound, the real point of stressing the rally's apolitical goals was political in nature. The idea was to relieve himself of the responsibility to pinpoint who, precisely, he wants his followers to blame for leading us away from God and for tarnishing our honor. Beck wants this all to be drawn by inference -- classic political demagoguery.
The intent of Palin's quotes were even more obvious. Palin, after all, noted explicitly that "some" want to "transform" the country into something that now requires us to "restore America." She also implied that someone, somewhere, wants to "take away" from Palin the fact that she raised a combat veteran.
This is classic politics of resentment: "They" have nothing but disdain for your values, your accomplishments as parents, your national pride, and your way of life. They want to take all that away from you. No need to say who "they" is. We've already agreed upon that in advance. Indeed, if you read through many of the quotes from the rally's attendees, they understood precisely who Beck and Palin were talking about.
All of this absurdly transparent demagoguery and resentment-mongering took place exactly 47 years after King delivered his "I have a dream" speech from the same spot in 1963. I wonder if yesterday's orations by Beck and Palin will be considered essential to the American history curriculum in the year 2057.
Only thing wrong with that article is it states hundreds of thousands of fans. There were approx 80k. They did EAT enough for 500k though..
ReplyDeleteYesterday was just another Fox News Reality Show – Produced by Fox News and manufactured for the Koch Brothers.
ReplyDeleteI see nothing honorable about trying to take back our civil rights! Do you?
And if anyone wants to know what a real dream and a real movement looks like, then you need to watch this.
Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin are the very people that are helping the ultra white right who own the corporations to take back our civil rights! That is their real agenda!
Civil Rights are Human Rights and at the end of the day, we are all in this race together! The human one! Not the politcal one of the right that only fights to make the rich richer and threats our democracy and the full demise of the middle class the will pave the way to full class warfare.
We must stick together and take care of one another regardless of the hate preached in the name of God by the right wing in this country!
Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin are greedy and shameless scamers who seek to line their own bank accounts - and now they come in the name of God and our American Military!
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DPbUtL_0vAJk&sa=X&ei=O455TKicF8XflgfSp8XtCw&ved=0CBcQuAIwAA&usg=AFQjCNFFJwKBPgyqbDq1m-1X0LKe_Ol0yg”
You two wouldn't know the truth if it hit you in the side of the head. Your unsubstantiated attacks are what's ridiculous. Wake up!!
ReplyDeleteBefore I write my thoughts I'd like to say I appreciate your blog and feel you are kind and compassionate for the most part. However, I cannot agree with you and everyone else who believes Glenn and Sarah incite hate to feed their agendas. Not when most of middle America is fundamentally against all President Obama and his admin has accomplished and would like to accomplish. I feel no one knows the true American history due to hatred projected on Glenn and his family. What kind of person attacks another human being and his family? I think both Glenn and the Palin families show incredible strength and togetherness in the face of hatred. Why can't people agree to disagree and stick to this countrys principles. Principles that do include God and acceptance of all as well as compassion and knowledge.
ReplyDeleteAn insightful article:
ReplyDeletehttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/08/beck_and_palin.html
Hmm, I see the Troll-brigade is out in force today. (Waves to them all. How's it hanging out there in LaLa land, kids?)
ReplyDeleteBTW, to that one person who says most of "middle america" is fundamentally against President Obama and all he's accomplished - uh, that would be wrong.
Although you'd never know it by what's shown on the TV box, most of what you refer to as "middle america" want him to be even MORE progressive than he is.
If they have any criticism of his admin, it's that they are not doing enough to move us in the right direction. Step outside of your bubble and read some other viewpoints and you might come to see that this is true.)
I am particularly saddened to see how easily people are manipulated by others who use religion and God to do so. Beck and Palin are just the two most recent and painfully obvious of that group. Others, like Rush, have been around forever because he keeps his manipulation somewhat under the radar. He's more skilled at it, for sure, but he's definitely doing it.
Just so sad to see fear being used to keep people in the dark.
(Good post Gryphen.)
" both Glenn and the Palin families show incredible strength and togetherness in the face of hatred."
ReplyDeleteJohn Glenn, the astronaut, and his family do show incredible strength.
The Becks and the Palins????not so much. The Palin parents are never home with their underage children. It's why they party, drink booze, vandalize, use drugs and get pregnant all while under age.
Glenn Beck is a dry drunk. Not really much in the way of family values.
9:26, I don't mean to sound unkind, but you are delusional.
ReplyDeleteHow can you see so much goodness in Beck and Palin, yet see so much badness in their critics? Easy: you see only what suits your internal picture. For one, you have convinced yourself that it is the FAMILIES that are under attack. Not so.
It is Glen Beck and Sarah Palin, two of the most disgusting, predatory, shameless, and self-motivated humans to pollute the airwaves.
Only when their family members grab the limelight, either by peddling the same self-enriching hypocrisy or by bullying the weak do we notice them.
As a Beck/Palin critic, I assure you that I am only reacting to WHAT I SEE FROM THEM. If they were to exhibit goodness, I would be open to what they say.
Maybe you should pose your questions to them and not us.
The Palin family shows incredible strength and togetherness in the face of how best to bully and intimidate their opponent, put faithful (but incompetent) friend in high places, and bilk people out of money.
ReplyDeleteJon Stewart had it right:
ReplyDeleteGlenn Beck - I Have a Scheme
It was pretty difficult to find out what was going on yesterday, but my husband and I watched the rally on CNN.
ReplyDeleteAs we watched Glenn, I couldn't help but imitate him in a silly, faux German gibberish and gesticulate wildly. It reminded us of Hitler in his early days.
My husband (of German descent-whose grandfather was forced to fight in WWII and was wounded) said that it looked as though Glenn had studied Hitler's gestures. Glenn certainly had all of the oratorical elements.
Chilling.
Glenn has studied all of the Elmer Gantry types and is doing exactly what the right wing did during Roosevelt's tenure--claim that we can't afford the deficit, must allow people to fail and allow businesses free reign. Oh yeah, and we must get rid of health care!
This is exactly what happens in desperate economic times.
Here in Arizona, the Koch brothers are running ads constantly, telling citizens to fight against Obama, Pelosi and Reid. All this propaganda spewing out of the mouths of white folks with the most gorgeous desert scenery behind them.
These people, Glenn, Palin and the Koch brothers, are twisting every good thing into a perversion. The sheeple are energized.
Anon 9:26 says "Not when most of middle America is fundamentally against all President Obama and his admin has accomplished and would like to accomplish."
ReplyDeleteFirst, where do you get your "most of middle America" numbers from? and second, here are a few things the Obama administration has accomplished. You mean to tell me you have a problem with any of these??
Defense: Combat troops out of Iraq ON SCHEDULE
Recovery Act (stimulus)- is everyone back to work? No. But if this wasn’t enacted do you have any clue how much worse things would be? The stimulus bill was weak – and you can thank the obstructionist Republicans for that.
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, protecting women and other workers against pay discrimination.
General Motors back from the brink of collapse that would have wiped out thousands of jobs and its supply chain
BP agrees to set aside 20 billion dollars to assist Gulf Coast residents. This to avoid them pulling an Exxon and tying things up in court so long like they did with the Valdez oil spill that by the time any damages are awarded people’s lives are beyond destroyed and in many cases people were dead.
Sweeping changes to the Federal Student Loan system cutting out the middlemen banks who were raking in tons of money and instead saving 68 BILLION dollars in the coming years.
Health Care (check out healthcare.gov)
Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization – provides health care to 11 million kids, 4 million who were previously uninsured
Closing the donut hole for seniors using Medicare prescription drug benefit. Seniors will get $250 in the fall, and next year drug companies will discount drugs in the gap by 50%
Eliminating denial of coverage because of pre existing conditions
Parents can continue to keep their kids on their health insurance until they are 26
Early retiree reinsurance for people who retire without employer sponsored insurance and aren’t yet eligible for Medicare.
I could go on, but instead please go to whitehouse.gov and select any topic under ISSUES to GET SOME DAMN FACTS!!!
Frank Rich NYT
ReplyDeleteThe Billionaires Bankrolling the Tea PartyBy FRANK RICH
(oops..sorry the link did not post)
These people treat Christianity with the same rational thought and hypocrisy that they treat their politics.
ReplyDeleteChristianity without compassion and good works is hollow and just another reason to look down your nose at others. Guaranteed these people don't volunteer. Maybe they teach Sunday school, but they'd probably never consider taking in a foster kid, volunteering to babysit -- for free -- the children of a single mother, or to lobby their politicians to create programs for cheap, affordable daycare. But I bet these are the same people I see standing on the corner of downtown Chicago with posters of fetuses.
These people aren't real Christians, they're a horde of Nellie Olesens, and Sarah is their leader...
I just rented the new Max Headroom DVD- not the best acting, but certainly prescient (except for the typewriter keyboards and giant TV cameras). For those of you too young to remember, it was about corporations and TV networks manipulating people to achieve the enrichment of corporations and TV networks. The scenes of people huddled on "the fringes" where TVs are among the few possessions reminded me of the constant barrage of television in every waiting room, bank lobby and diner. We just can't think for ourselves any more or be alone with our own thoughts.
ReplyDeleteElder Beck would be a more apt title. He is Mormon after all, not an evangenital by any means. He is just fleecing them like the stupid sheep they are.
ReplyDeleteAnon at 8:53 said"They played on their followers' murky fear that a sinister and Godless other is trying to transform our country into something no longer recognizable as America."
ReplyDeleteLittle do they know THEY are the sinister and Godless "other".
Beck is a total phony and a hypocrite, just like the rabidly anti-gay, holier than thou preachers who are later busted for having sex with boys/male prostitues or stealing the congregation's money while claiming to heal the sick and poor.
ReplyDeleteBeck's power is making him as crazy as the Jim Jones type, like the man who created a commune of his followers and later poisoned them all with deadly Kool-aid. And the one who went to jail after faking to read people's minds and ripping off the church.
Beck is no different and do his idiot followers realize that he is laughing all the way to the bank while they lavish him with millions for buying gold, watching his show, listening to his radio show and buying his books. Why should any disadvantaged person believe he has their interests in mind? WAKE UP PEOPLE, IT'S OBVIOUS TO THE REST OF US THAT BECK'S A PURE CON ARTIST!
You know, we always wonder how people can be so easily manipulated. All throughout history, we see this and ask how can this happen? How could people follow the Nazis, Jim Jones, the Rwandans who were preached to daily until they were convinced to easily slaughter their neighbors? It goes on and on. I know if Palin or Beck or Limbaugh decided to secure some land faraway like Jim Jones did and create a new "utopia", there would be busloads of followers willing to do their bidding. It's amazingly sickening. All the vile hate and divisiveness spewing from their mouths regularly and they have the audacity to talk about Jesus and Dr. King! If they really were Christians, then they should fear God because he knows what lies they tell and what's truly in their hearts. You can stand up everyday and fool people, that's easy. But as a true religious person, you gotta know you can't fool God! Palin and Beck's God is money and fame. Nothing more, nothing less.
ReplyDeleteBeck and Palin are indeed shameful. Palin is a proven liar, her husband is a bully and she is not a good mother (look at the records of her children). And, I'll wager her son never saw combat.
ReplyDeleteThey push religion and Palin and family don't even attend a church when here in Alaska. They are not christians in thought, word and deed.
They make me sick to my stomach!
We don't have to wait long for the "Idiot and his blackboard" rants ? I'm sure by Tuesday he will be back to SAME old hating, racist spewing ways. This man is an idiot and a racist.
ReplyDeleteGlen Beck is tossing word salad for profit.
ReplyDeleteHe wants "people of faith" to "reclaim the Civil Rights Movement."
Those two concepts don't go together logically and so the concept is meaningless except as a high pitched screech to make the dogs howl.
One is about belief in a devine being, and one is about applying the laws of man.
The Civil Rights Movement was about gaining the equal protection guaranteed by the Constitution. It had nothing directly to do with faith.
There were many people involved with it who were of the Christian faith. But their faith had nothing to do with the movement. Though it did have to do with their ability to find the inner strength to put themselves in mortal danger day after day for a decade.
I have not seen any explanation of what specifically Beck means by "reclaiming the Civil Rights Movement."
Frankly I doubt he knows either or he would be more specific. At least as to what specific Civil Rights are being denied, and who is being denied them.
The Civil Rights Movement was all about racial discrimination. For Beck - a white, Mormon, from the NW US, still a toddler when the Civil Rights Movement achieved its major goals, and only 4 years old when MLK was assassinated - to reclaim it, he has to explain what the H he is babbling about.
I am guessing the the small crowd and the lack of loud huzzas from the MSM are a reflection of Beck’s confusion.
Hopefully a few of his adoring fans will begin to realize that he just doesn’t make any sense. He sounds great a t first blush, but really there is not there there.