Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Can’t Say I Told You So-


-because I didn’t. I thought Glenn Beck was going to be with us for much, much longer.I have aggressively opposed this man’s brand of news entertainment since the start of his tenure on CNN Headline News. I thought he was dangerous then. I’ve written (So has this blog’s founder Mycue23) at length about the lies, race baiting, conspiracy promoting and calculatingly paranoid philosophies that Glenn Beck tried to pass off as information under the cover of a “news” network. If you’ve seen his show and still need further convincing, you may require the services of a psychiatric professional or may need to take a good look in the mirror: You’ll have to be honest with yourself about why you chose to believe the hazardous nonsense this man created for the fearful, suppliant masses who just wanted somebody to tell them it’s entirely legitimate to be childishly scared and to act crazy because a black man is president.

This isn’t new. Google the name “Father Coughlin” and you can read about another allegedly devout religious man who capitalized on the fear and uncertainty of an economic downturn in America to go after “enemies.”

Fox “News” deserves no pats on the back for letting Beck go. I suspect they love this theatrically teary-eyed hateful little man.


It took angry Americans by the thousands harassing marketers with emails and phone calls so that 100 or more advertisers would leave Fox “News” Channel. It took several consecutive months of the the jobless rate easing. It took two years or more of enough people realizing that anti-Semitism is still racism, no matter how you dress it up with stories, myths, convenient villains and conspiracy theories.


…What it finally took ladies and gentlemen, was a decline in ratings.


Now that there is nothing more they can squeeze from this dangerous clown, they’ve decided enough is enough and taken Beck off the air. Fox claims in press releases that they will continue collaboration with Beck in other media. I suspect this will go as far as the rumored movie deal that Mel Gibson was going to strike with Bill O’Reilly, -until Mr. O’Reilly was accused of sexually harassing Andrea Mackris of course. The mere accusation alone was enough to make Gibson run away fast, and stop returning O’Reilly’s calls. -This from a movie star whose own increasing, festering bigotry made him inconvenient in turn?


Beck is likewise being ostracized for reasons that are not central to his abuse of the public square.


Ultimately, it still qualifies as good news. One less liar on the air. One less maniac making up conflicts and challenging science as if he had any other point or purpose other than manipulation. For my part, I look forward to the day when I am writing a blog posting about the closing down of Fox “News” Channel itself.

-SJ
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9 comments:

Oso said...

As you said man, one less liar on the airwaves.

I know the demagoguery appealed to some,but in Beck's case it comes in such an unappealing package.Not a dynamic speaker or good looking, yet he inspires a fanatical (if reality-challenged) following.

I guess along with UFO's and Bigfoot, one more mystery of life.

SJ said...

He did it with a smile, and all the fake self deprecation of a cable network stand up comedian.

Unknown said...

Good riddance to a sick scoundrel! Now if we could only rid ourselves of O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, and the rest of those liars!

SJ said...

@Jack
-Limbaugh and Coulter especially. They do far more harm and engage in more frequent outright fabrication.
_SJ

Leslie Parsley said...

Good riddance to the cretan. A little late in the day but better than never. O'Reilly has actually called the birthers to task for their lies about Obama and Michelle. I nearly fell out of my chair.

SJ said...

@tnlib
Yeah I heard about that, but haven't actually seen the O'Reilly clip, shocked the sh!t out of me too when I heard about it.
I think they've all got far more to do and admit at FNC before they gain the respect of average folk like us. It's just never going to pass for news to us. We're not rich, we're not pining for the return of the 1950s, so we have no incentive to buy into their "programming."
-SJ

Manifesto Joe said...

The Father Coughlin comparison is apt. America has seen people like this before. Coughlin, a Catholic priest, got pulled off the airwaves around 1940 when the Vatican decided he had stirred the feces a little too much. Such people are fashionable for a while, but they tend to overstay their "welcome."

Joe "Truth 101" Kelly said...

I always thought Beck was doing his best impression of an even more rabid kook Bishop Sheen.

The blackboard. The lectures. The punchline, whatever you call it at the end. Sheen railed agaisnt commie. Beck against Lefties. In the end, nothing original about Beck. Just an old formula that still works on deluded fools.

SJ said...

@Manifesto Joe,
the funny things is, many of his casual viewers don't see the resemblance today because the don't know the source, like a kid who hears a sample in a music song and doesn't know it's a Hendrix riff from over four decades ago. Occassionally the history channel, -it's Conversative leanings aside-, airs docs that pillory Coughlin's brand of patriotism. It's scary stuff when I see just how big his audiences were.



@Truth 101,
Doubly true. I'd forgotten about Sheen. Beck's revival of the blackboard was hilairious to me, he may as well have worn a mortar board and gown... or dunce's cap. Too bad too many of us didn't see it for the joke it was and still don't.
-SJ