Glenn Beck, as DemWit readers know, has become the schlockmeister of the Radical Right. As one headline suggests, he’s lunatic fringe meets comedy. Horror writer Stephen King has called Beck “Satan’s mentally challenged younger brother.”
I have placed in my Reading Room an article which is seven pages long in Microsoft Word. Reading time for the article: 15 - 20 minutes. I tell you this so you can schedule an opportunity to read an expose of Beck Fever by a writer of immense talent:
“Mad Man: Is Gleen Beck Bad for America?” by David von Drehle, Time, 17 September 2009.
Here’s a sample of von Drehle’s way with words:
“Our hot summer of political combat is turning toward an autumn of showdowns over some of the biggest public-policy initiatives in decades. The creamy notions of postpartisan cooperation — poured abundantly over Obama's presidential campaign a year ago — have curdled into suspicion and feelings of helplessness. Trust is a toxic asset, sitting valueless on the national books. Good faith is trading at pennies on the dollar. The old American mind-set that Richard Hofstadter famously called "the paranoid style" — the sense that Masons or the railroads or the Pope or the guys in black helicopters are in league to destroy the country — is aflame again, fanned from both right and left. Between the liberal fantasies about Brownshirts at town halls and the conservative concoctions of brainwashed children goose-stepping to school, you'd think the Palm in Washington had been replaced with a Munich beer hall.”
So, why is it important to take the few minutes to read this TIME article?
1) Beck’s techniques are fully exposed.
2) The Beck Effect on the masses is fully examined.
3) Von Drehle is one of the best writers I’ve run across online!
“No one,” von Drehle tells us, “has a better feeling for this mood, and no one exploits it as well, as Beck.”
Beck, like on-air populist predecessors, has put up grassroots roadblocks aimed at both stopping the American dream of progress which put Obama in the White House and, not insignificantly, lining his own pockets with profits.
Take the few minutes to read this one: it’s excellent! When you're finished, please hit "backspace" and leave your comments about the article on this post. Thanks! ENTER THE READING ROOM
I have placed in my Reading Room an article which is seven pages long in Microsoft Word. Reading time for the article: 15 - 20 minutes. I tell you this so you can schedule an opportunity to read an expose of Beck Fever by a writer of immense talent:
“Mad Man: Is Gleen Beck Bad for America?” by David von Drehle, Time, 17 September 2009.
Here’s a sample of von Drehle’s way with words:
“Our hot summer of political combat is turning toward an autumn of showdowns over some of the biggest public-policy initiatives in decades. The creamy notions of postpartisan cooperation — poured abundantly over Obama's presidential campaign a year ago — have curdled into suspicion and feelings of helplessness. Trust is a toxic asset, sitting valueless on the national books. Good faith is trading at pennies on the dollar. The old American mind-set that Richard Hofstadter famously called "the paranoid style" — the sense that Masons or the railroads or the Pope or the guys in black helicopters are in league to destroy the country — is aflame again, fanned from both right and left. Between the liberal fantasies about Brownshirts at town halls and the conservative concoctions of brainwashed children goose-stepping to school, you'd think the Palm in Washington had been replaced with a Munich beer hall.”
So, why is it important to take the few minutes to read this TIME article?
1) Beck’s techniques are fully exposed.
2) The Beck Effect on the masses is fully examined.
3) Von Drehle is one of the best writers I’ve run across online!
“No one,” von Drehle tells us, “has a better feeling for this mood, and no one exploits it as well, as Beck.”
Beck, like on-air populist predecessors, has put up grassroots roadblocks aimed at both stopping the American dream of progress which put Obama in the White House and, not insignificantly, lining his own pockets with profits.
Take the few minutes to read this one: it’s excellent! When you're finished, please hit "backspace" and leave your comments about the article on this post. Thanks! ENTER THE READING ROOM
5 comments:
Frodo is surprised at himself for not being aware of the numbers. To consider that so much attention is given to something with so little viewership is startling. It makes sense, of course, but who would've ever equated the audience of Glenn Beck with the numbers afforded David Brenner more than 20years ago? This is good work. Do you think we can convince the author to now address the quixotic behavior of Governor Stanford?
What's the heck with Beck? Sounds like other dry drunks. They love to her their own voices. He didn't make it on CNN with his blubbering. Perhaps the money part is why Lou Dobbs seems to have joined their ranks too. Maybe Faux has room for one more on their site.
Tiny is inclined to agree with Stephen King's assessment of Beck as "Satan's mentally challenged younger brother." The Radical Right needs someone to take Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson's places.
Von Drehle hit the nail on the head in describing Beck and his effect on the Radical Right. Most of them are unaware they are rebelling against their own best interests by listening to the falsehoods being spewed by Beck and his fellow wrecking crews.
It's the same old pattern being repeated. The Dems have to come in and clean up all the mess the Rethugs make. Will people ever learn?
Tiny is exactly right, I have ALWAYS said dems have to clean up the mess from previous repug administrations whether in government form or presidential form!! When the dems finally take control it takes the whole 8 years to fix the mess, then seems they screw up somewhere, usually being pussys about something, so they lose it and we start the vicious circle all over again!
“He is a gifted storyteller with a knack for stitching seemingly unrelated data points into possible conspiracies”
I always knew he was full of shit. What pisses me off is his amount of irresponsibility in his seeking of “possible conspiracies”. To him this is all a game. That TIME reporter went very easy on him. You know the saying, “If you say a lie enough times, you start believing it yourself”? This is his story. I feel that Limbaugh is the same way, he’s just in it for the money, attention and gamesmanship. They care nothing about the possible fallout. This makes them sub-human.
Stephen King has called Beck “Satan’s mentally challenged younger brother.”
An inspired aphorism, though I tend to think of him as a demon who got fired by Satan for not being bright enough to remember which end of the pitchfork to prod people with, and is now trying to get back in favor with the Big Guy. He's probably getting there, too.
I do intend to read the article later (I'm at work now).
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