Thursday, September 24, 2009

Thank God for Glenn Beck

As I type this, I am listening to for the second time, the sound from a video taken during a recent Tea Bagger protest in Washington DC back on September 12th of this year. A pleasant young man walked among the angry and righteously indignant citizens. With Mic in hand , decked out in a nice shirt and tie, he asked a variety of questions. An interesting and very enlightening look at what some of the hardcore base of the Right fears and how they view their version of the Truth.

Glenn Beck has found his audience. Or his audience has finally found him. It seems his message, such as it is, has been successfully decoded and assimilated into the minds of folks who previously had some serious cubic feet of dead air to fill up. Vacuum like they have attached themselves to the teat of Glenn's awesome wisdom. You should take a few moments and catch this video. It is about nine minutes long and I will vouch there is a laugh every 15 seconds or so.

Some High Points
~Sign - "Bury ObamaCare with Kennedy" - and in the background, shouts of "Repent!" "Boycott!" And that all time favorite on both sides of the fence - "Freedom!".

~Some dude dragging a high tech cross complete with foam shoulder pad and a wheel on the back to cut down the co-efficient of friction. Who says these Tea Baggers are throwbacks? They've re-discovered the Wheel ferchrisakes.

~Older woman - "I'd like to see a Christian in the White House."
Interviewer - "You don't think Obama is a Christian."
Older woman - "No, he's a Muslim."

~One fellow was very specific about his sign claiming that the name "Barack Obama" broken down to it's roots, actually means Satan. A disjointed but made sense to him explanation of the real meaning of our President's name.

~And another sharp fellow compares Obama to Hitler because he's such a slick talker.

~It becomes about all the Czars Obama is going to unleash on us. When it was pointed out that the first Czar was appointed by Ronald Reagan, the dumb struck look on the four people in view was absolutely hilarious.

~And then a few moments of sharing their love for that logical thinker, Glenn Beck - "Thank God for Glenn Beck"!

Now that I have had my fun with the video of a mass protest of the bizarre, I will try to sit quietly and keep from chuckling every so often as I attempt to consider the serious side of what this video really says. Give me a few moments, I am still re-living some of the better moments in the clip............................................

............Okay, I think I am ready to be serious, uh..........no, not yet.

Whew! Some serious chuckle over load there I'll tell ya.

I know I should be concerned. Concerned on so many levels over this recent series of smear tactics and disinformation showing up on the Right. But it's hard to get too excited. After so many years of being bombarded from both sides by "the sky is falling" rhetoric, I have become somewhat immune to the excesses of either side. I have also stopped listening to either side with any serious attention. Now I tend to sit on the sidelines and laugh at the both of them as they try to scare me into some kind of submissive position.

Which brings me to idiots like Glenn Beck. It is not the fact that I think he is in need of serious therapy or at least an increase in any meds he may be on at the moment. It is not the fact that he pretends to be a journalist. What pisses me off is that a major company and network would allow him to even have a podium or a mic to spread his lies and hate. I have little regard for the other news networks. Fox News however is in a class of it's own. Or maybe better put a no class of it's own. What a terrible example of journalistic integrity. Absolutely the worst one in the mainstream media.

But back to the protest. As I listened to it, my mind wandered. I found myself remembering the days when I mingled with thousands of smelly dope smoking Hippes in front of the Washington Monument back in the anti war days of the 1960s and 1970s. I will agree that there were many bizarre people and many unfounded claims being presented as facts. That kind of thing goes with any mass gathering of political intentions. The thing is, while I recall some over the top rhetoric and speechifying, it seems to me even baked out of their brains, the Hippies had way more of a clue than the people highlighted in the video.

I now pause to ask, "Was this video giving us an accurate protrayal of the general mindset and intelligence of the Tea Bagging crowd?"

Of course it wasn't. It was produced with an obvious Left bias to show the Baggers in as bad a light as possible. And it worked wonderfully. I have not laughed so hard in at least a few days. But on the other hand, I have not as of yet heard much resembling common sense from any Tea Bagger. Slogans based on the drop down lists found at every far Right website or show. Accusations without substance. Unproven predictions as facts. The whole movement is based on fear of what they "know" will happen now that Barack is in charge.

Many on the Left will contend this movement is based on Race. Many will contend this recent hilarity from the Right side is based on partisanship. But in reality it is just the puppet masters wiggling our strings and having us do the same dance with a new tune. Find the Truth for yourself and then make up your own mind. Allowing any one person, Party, or movement to own as much of your opinion as these folks seem to allow Glenn Beck to own of theirs is a sure fire way to not get the government you want. But it will surely get you the government you deserve.




Keep it 'Tween the Ditches ..............................

(1008 / 7545)

3 comments:

Randal Graves said...

I still think Glenn Beck is merely America's foremost performance artist. Once those bright lights come on, showtime!

Demeur said...

Well you need to remember that the protests of the 60s and 70s were based in facts not hearsay or talking points. Fact was us guys were waiting in line for a useless war called Vietnam and watching our friends come home in body bags. The other issues de jour were civil rights that had worked themselves to a boiling point.

Glen Beck is going to get the Key to the city near my neck of the woods. Even after citizens petitioned city council to prevent this. So keep your eyes peeled Saturday night because he's not well liked here. I'm sure some would like to hit him over the head with it or worse stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

Snave said...

Excellent post, Mac. We definitely get what we deserve when it comes to our government and our "leaders".

I've decided I deserve a break, likely a permenent one if I can manage it, from politics on my blog. Too much negativity, too much ARRRRRGH! Heh!

When you visit, you will see I have purged my site of nearly all its political stuff. Just got too tired of my blood boiling all the time. (Plus another thing I foolishly did there last week got me all stressed out.) I will more likely end up posting about politics/religion/etc. once in a great while, and spending the rest of my blogging time writing about other/personal things, making observations... kind of like you do here.

Beck is a huge part of what makes my blood boil lately, so I won't rant here, other than to say that while I wouldn't wish a Jimmy Hoffa-esque fate on him, I do wish he would just go away, and for good! 8-)