Even Glenn Beck is Right Twice a Day

[ironknee]

Frank Rich has a good column on Glenn Beck in the NY Times. I don't
think it is ironic enough to be posted at the main site, but it does
bring up some interesting points to the discussion about right-wing
anger that has been going on in this forum.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/opinion/20rich.html?ref=opinion

[Cyn]

that warning at the end ...Beck is one who'll be responsible for
fanning the flames of that kinda domestic terrorist attack too!

have there been any reliable polls or other social measurements of the
real impact of hate mongering from the media? its hard to
judge...going just by MSM & cable crap..it looks really bad. but is it
just pandering to a niche of crazies & it is not representative of the
general public? or what?

i'd be real interested in seeing some stats/numbers on that. my gut
instinct is to dismiss this as some impotent fringe element
but........ its worrisome. :(

[Starluna]

Earlier this summer, I got a hold of a book called "Are Italians
White? How Race is Made in America." I was an inter-library loan so I
only made it through the first two chapters before I had to return
it. One of the chapters described the vehement attacks on Italian
immigrants from the media, such as it was at the time, and local
leaders in the major Northeast cities where Italians were settling. I
remember wondering at the time how much influence any of the
individuals cited had in shaping public opinion about Italians. I was
thinking that we have our modern day racist, bigoted, egocentric
crazies (Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity, etc) but I just do not believe
that their singular influence on the general public's opinion was all
that strong. This book was a product of serious research, and as
someone who studies social science research methods, I was concerned
about the basis for such claims. You always have to be concerned
about historicism when trying to explain the past. And since I
haven't yet had a chance to finish the book, my concerns remained
unresolved.

And then I started to hear more about this Glenn Beck character. And
then he was more and more important. And then in August people
started citing him as a legitimate source of information on health
care reform. I have to admit that I am less skeptical about the chain
of logic used in this book than before. I am actually seeing the same
thing happen with Beck. It truly is scary. Scarier, I would argue,
then even McCarthy or Father Coughlin. At least those two individuals
were in positions of authority whose sins were partly related to
having clearly abandoned the responsibility to society that is
inherent in their positions. But Beck has just as strong a following
without being in any position to take responsibility for the outcomes
of his crazy talk. Truly scary.

[Eva Douglas]

Many sponsors are pulling away from Glenn Beck. I think that that is the way to go to get him off the airwaves, unless he has sponsorship from Karl Rove and his backing.  There are lists of sponsors who are with Glenn Beck and those who have left him.  He took one course at Yale and didn't finish it.  He is speaking off the top of his hat.  It amazes me how many uneducated people are in position to brainwash people.  Rush didn't finish college.  I believe Cheney didn't.  Karl Rove didn't.  None of these people have the brains and the drive to finish college; yet they are out their with the ignorance influencing people.  My suggestion is find the sponsors.

[Daniel Habtemariam]

@Eva. Last time I checked, Beck lost a whopping 57 sponsors/
advertisers in the mass exodus this summer (link 1). I think you're
exactly right: these men haven't finished college, they're more
capitalists than they are idealogical demagogues (as is the case with
their boss, Rupert Murdoch), and the way to fight them is to fight
their sponsors. Indeed, it got so bad for Mr. "Obama is a racist"
Beck that he was forced to do half-assed apology during the beginning
of his first show back from vacation in late August (link 2).

link 1:
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/142390/glenn_beck_show_dropped_by_11_more_advertisers/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=alternet_blogs_peek

link 2: http://digg.com/politics/Glenn_Beck_I_Was_A_Dirtbag_Liar_But_I_m_Not_Now

Daniel Habtemariam

[Tidetracker]

On Sep 21, 11:06 am, Daniel Habtemariam <dhabt...@gmail.com> wrote:
> @Eva.  Last time I checked, Beck lost a whopping 57 sponsors/
> advertisers in the mass exodus this summer (link 1).  I think you're
> exactly right: these men haven't finished college, they're more
> capitalists than they are idealogical demagogues (as is the case with
> their boss, Rupert Murdoch), and the way to fight them is to fight
> their sponsors.  Indeed, it got so bad for Mr. "Obama is a racist"
> Beck that he was forced to do half-assed apology during the beginning
> of his first show back from vacation in late August (link 2).

Unfortunately, I don't think the sponsor withdrawals will make any
difference; other sponsors with less scruples will simply pour in. You
can't deny his ratings numbers... he's drawing a huge crowd, both on
TV, as well as on radio. Remember, a 'huge crowd', in media
demographic parlance, does NOT necessarily mean a huge crowd in
political terms... he's just solidifying his appeal to the right wing
base, which, as we all know, is limited.

[Daniel Habtemariam]

@Tidetracker. You're correct on all counts. While the sponsor
withdrawals don't make much of a difference on an absolute scale, I
think they're among the best things we have any control over
(relatively speaking). Sure, Beck is just speaking to his base, but
the right-wing base has a history of high voter turnout as compared to
the left. And that's why he scares me. He and those like him are
able to mobilize the right more easily on election day than we're able
to mobilize the left.

[Tidetracker]

Well, at least we can be comforted by the fact that the Republican
'base' is getting narrower and narrower, as the fringe players like
Beck get louder and louder. In fact, I believe we are already seeing
some signs that the Republican leadership is beginning to get a little
worried about the extremist drift in their own party.... it wouldn't
take much, something like a 'Tomothy McVeigh' clearly connected with
Republican organizations, to create electoral disaster for the GOP.

Also, there's much to be encourage about, in the most recent NBC/WSJ
poll.... it's worth taking a look at.