I listened to Glenn Beck on FOX News Sunday (follow this link to the video if you have not seen it and wish to be entertained), but I'm pretty much immune to his nubilous, muddled version of religious thought that intimates a degree of specialness so much that God speaks through him; Beck thinks he is right and those who don’t agree are headed for certain (political) damnation, but if ever there were a false prophet, it is Beck. I grew up on old-time radio ministries, and Glenn is a pretty good example of that genre, but believe me, if some of those "send me a little money and be saved" preachers I used to listen to had the same outlets Beck has, they would probably be more popular and richer than he.
He preaches hatred and fear-mongering five days a week on the radio and on FOX TV, one of the most outstanding examples of which was when he claimed that President Obama is a racist and has not just your typical racist who harbors hatred for white people; rather, he says Obama has a deep-seated hatred of white people, and it is mainly whites who Beck claims as his audience. At his rally and in the TV interview, Beck hypocritically reversed himself about the racist claim so that he could push his latest attack on the President as one who believes in liberation theology, a Christian movement that Beck has redefined as (oh, no) socialism. Equating socialism with Obama, the Democratic leadership, and liberals is one of his more effective fear-mongering strategies since, as Beck likes to point out, socialism is totally unamerican.
In addition, Beck perverts the truth, giving his followers his own version of history, especially that which relates to the founding fathers, as well as an egocentric self styled theology (case in point, the aforementioned liberation theology) that Beck has distorted to fit his story line. And, in keeping with Republican tactics, he simply doesn't deal in facts. Certainly not the most egregious lie he told during the interview, but a blatant one, nevertheless, was a statement he made toward the beginning of the interview--that there were between 300,000 and 650,000 people at his Lincoln Memorial rally. Aerial photography by AirPhotosLive.com indicated about 78,000 attendees were there give or take 9,000 people.
Finally, Beck provides no answers to any of the serious and pressing problems that leaders must deal with continually, and he doesn't have to. He is relating to his audience on an emotional rather than a rational level so that all he has to accomplish is provide a rhetorical balm to their tortured insecurities about today's complex world. His answer is to "reclaim" the past--have us deal with issues like the founders did at the birth of our nation. I’m not a historian, but I have read and studied enough history to realize the remarkable diligence, intelligence, talents, and pure good luck our forbearers possessed to establish this nation. The philosophical, political, and economic issues and obstacles were enormous and complex. It was not the simple-minded religious picture book version Beck tries to pass off on listeners to make them feel all warm and fuzzy about wanting that same fairy tale version, also.
Face it, unlike President Bush who said, "Fool me once, [I] can't be fooled again," too many Americans seem to possess an amazingly short memory and are easily fooled. How many hucksters have gotten rich off the foolishness of misguided people who can be so easily be led around by the nose? How many times do hucksters' actions not match their words before people have been immunized to their lies? Glenn Beck started as a shock jock and is very talented in the genre. Like Rush Limbaugh and countless others, when radio changed and he was no longer needed as a local DJ, he changed his schtick. We should expect that a few like Limbaugh and Beck would make it big. Take the time to listen to the interview, and you cannot fail to realize how many times Beck contradicted himself in a 15 minute interview. He says that he used to know nothing. He still knows nothing, but Beck admits that he is an entertainer and is performing for the money, and he's good at it. However, some Americans are so addicted to feeling good that they will "take up with anyone" who promises us a good time. Economic times are bad, and, as President Obama says, people are hurting. I do not discount that, but I just wish we Americans had evolved political thinking to match our American ideals instead of turning tribal and attacking anyone perceived as "other" when times are tough. But, that's he kind of thinking and feeling Glenn Beck promotes. He's laughing all the way to the bank while people like those who assembled on the mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial tragically thnk he cares about them.