Deep Blade Journal

This guy is poison

Jonathan Schwarz at A Tiny Revolution describes Beck’s propaganda technique, “Locate the most extreme statements by anyone on the other ’side,’ and hype it as much as you possibly can to your ’side’ as embodying the true spirit and goals of your ‘enemies.’

I’ve become quite a fan of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann in recent months. My appreciation is very strong for his fighting spirit in taking on bigoted right-wing media figures like O’Reilly and the utterly bombastic Glenn Beck, wingnut purveyors of war, and fascistic violence against whole groups and classes, perceived as their “enemies.”

So I was glad today to read about Olbermann’s recent remarks about Beck at Think Progress,

Olbermann, on Beck: A wolf in sheep’s clothing. The very dangerously bigoted guy who is selling himself as a pragmatic philosopher. I don’t think he sees his own bigotry. There’s something about him that suggests that, one night, he’ll say something that will cost him his career in television.

Oh, that’s good, perfect. “He doesn’t see his own bigotry.” That probably describes 90% of the Little Green Footballs crowd that hangs on Beck’s every word.

This provoked a response from Beck. He tried to turn the tables on Olbermann, saying that if he were to be shut down, it would be because of an “intolerant ideologue like Keith Olbermann” and that would “smack of the same McCarthyism [Edward R.] Murrow fought so valiantly against.” Beck added, “Hey, Keith, you’re not saving the world’s democracy; you’re killing it, my friend, by trying to limit the marketplace of ideas to only those that reflect your own.”

Okay, Glenn, here’s a peek at the contents of your store in that marketplace of ideas. Readers are free to judge whether or not these ideas have a damn thing to do with democracy, freedom, or any other positive values.

BECK (August 10, 2006): The world is on the brink of World War III… All you Muslims who have sat on your frickin’ hands the whole time and have not been marching in the streets and have not been saying, ‘Hey, you know what? There are good Muslims and bad Muslims. We need to be the first ones in the recruitment office lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head.’ I’m telling you, with God as my witness… human beings are not strong enough, unfortunately, to restrain themselves from putting up razor wire and putting you on one side of it. When things—when people become hungry, when people see that their way of life is on the edge of being over, they will put razor wire up and just based on the way you look or just based on your religion, they will round you up. Is that wrong? Oh my gosh, it is Nazi, World War II wrong, but society has proved it time and time again: It will happen.

It’s typical Beck technique. He blurts out a statement reflecting a “final solution” mentality from the deepest recesses of fascism while clumsily trying to distance himself from it, but not really.

Media Matters has 183 items (today) on examples of misinformation and bigotry broadcast by the insufferable Glenn Beck.

Update: And he’s a lascivious creep too, on the air no less. Check this from Crooks & Liars.