Friday, November 17, 2006
Who the Hell is Glenn Beck?
While channel surfing, I have come upon Glenn Beck on CNN Headline News a few times. I hadn’t heard of the guy before and after listening to him for a few minutes he seemed like your average rightwing nutcase. Judging from the interview he did with Rep.-elect Keith Ellison on the November 14 edition to his show Glenn Beck on Headline News, he’s placed himself in the upper echelon of rightwing nutcases. Mr. Ellison is the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. This of course raised a red flag for Mr. Beck, compelling him to say to Mr. Ellison:
No offense, and I know Muslims. I like Muslims. I’ve been to mosques. I really don’t believe that Islam is a religion of evil. I – you know, I think it’s being hijacked, quite frankly.
With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, "Let’s cut and run." And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies."
And I know you’re not. I’m not accusing you of being an enemy, but that’s the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.
When someone begins a statement with I know (blanks) and I like (blanks) and usually they say I have (blank) friends, you know that the next statement coming out of that person’s mouth is going to be hateful and ignorant. Mr. Beck didn’t let me down. He played to every stereotype of the arrogant, ignorant, racist blowhard who just wants you to know he isn’t attacking you, even though he is. This isn’t Beck’s first day at the rodeo. He’s made a career of saying things like this. On May 18, 2005 on his radio show he said he was thinking about killing Michael Moore. Of course later he said this was just part of a humorous monologue. On September 9, 2005 on his program he called the Hurricane Katrina survivors who stayed in New Orleans scumbags and he also stated how he hated some of the 9/11 families. On January 19, 2006 he called anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan "a pretty big prostitute". There are too many other incidents for me to mention even though Media Matters lists many of them.
I think I’ll use Mr. Beck’s line of questioning on him. Since you’re a recovering alcoholic and addict, prove to us that you aren’t high and drunk when you make your asinine statements. Since you’re a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prove to me you aren’t a bigamist. Since you say some of the most hateful and mean spirited things on the airwaves, proof to me you aren’t a scumbag. I think we definitely have an answer for the scumbag part.
No offense, and I know Muslims. I like Muslims. I’ve been to mosques. I really don’t believe that Islam is a religion of evil. I – you know, I think it’s being hijacked, quite frankly.
With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, "Let’s cut and run." And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies."
And I know you’re not. I’m not accusing you of being an enemy, but that’s the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.
When someone begins a statement with I know (blanks) and I like (blanks) and usually they say I have (blank) friends, you know that the next statement coming out of that person’s mouth is going to be hateful and ignorant. Mr. Beck didn’t let me down. He played to every stereotype of the arrogant, ignorant, racist blowhard who just wants you to know he isn’t attacking you, even though he is. This isn’t Beck’s first day at the rodeo. He’s made a career of saying things like this. On May 18, 2005 on his radio show he said he was thinking about killing Michael Moore. Of course later he said this was just part of a humorous monologue. On September 9, 2005 on his program he called the Hurricane Katrina survivors who stayed in New Orleans scumbags and he also stated how he hated some of the 9/11 families. On January 19, 2006 he called anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan "a pretty big prostitute". There are too many other incidents for me to mention even though Media Matters lists many of them.
I think I’ll use Mr. Beck’s line of questioning on him. Since you’re a recovering alcoholic and addict, prove to us that you aren’t high and drunk when you make your asinine statements. Since you’re a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prove to me you aren’t a bigamist. Since you say some of the most hateful and mean spirited things on the airwaves, proof to me you aren’t a scumbag. I think we definitely have an answer for the scumbag part.
