Friday, November 13, 2009

Glenn Beck’s Conspiracy-Mongering Destroys Meaningful Debate

Glenn Beck continues to spew specious nonsense in order to suppress reasonable discussion of substantive matters.  Two specific examples to follow.


The Rockefeller Rant

Beck recently conducted a communist hunt in Rockefeller Center.  (UPDATE:  Fox has forced YouTube to remove the video segment from Beck’s show. Luckily, the L.A. Times published an article with an embedded copy of the video clip, which as of 11/12/09, still functioned.)  In it, he “reveals” all the hidden iconography rampant in New York City, particularly at Rockefeller Center, subtextualized within artwork that has been on display for generations.

Never mind, of course, that he got quite a few of the facts completely wrong.  Beck paid particular attention to the Diego Rivera mural that no longer exists, called “Man at the Crossroads.”  Please watch the clip; it’s nine minutes long but worth watching.  Go ahead, I’ll wait.

First, notice that Beck seems to use the terms fascist and communist almost interchangeably.  On the ideological spectrum, they actually sit at opposing polar caps.  In any case, Beck argues that Rockefeller hid communist and fascist symbols in the mural.  He then takes special glee in repeatedly reminding his viewers that NBC is headquartered at Rockefeller Center (he calls it “the NBC building,” but of course, it has never been named thus).  So let’s set a few things straight.

First, “Man at the Crossroads” was not designed as a paean to communism. While Rivera was indeed a communist, Rockefeller commissioned the mural to portray the various socio-political forces at work in humanity during the 20th century. Naturally, that included Lenin, depictions of the world wars, revolutions, etc. Second, Rockefeller commissioned the work in 1932, when NBC was really just a radio network owned by RCA, long before NBC became the Republican-hating, progressive propaganda machine that Glenn Beck imagines it is. Rockefeller didn’t “commission this art for the lobby of NBC,” he commissioned a painting, gave Rivera a theme, and planned to place it in the lobby of HIS building. NBC was not even a footnote. Rockefeller himself was uncomfortable with the depiction of Lenin, which he noticed while the mural was half-finished, (i.e., before it was visible to the public or to reporters). When Rivera refused to remove Lenin from the mural, Rockefeller fired him and removed the half-finished mural. (Also, it is worth noting that Lenin is not depicted as “the savior,” as Beck states; he’s one small face in a sea of symbols, granted no particular comparative importance.)

Clearly, the actual story bears no resemblance to the one told by Beck in the clip.  But since the real story leaves no room for communist-fascist-NBC conspiracy theories, Beck elects to tell his own fabrication.  And he imparts this so-called knowledge as though revealing the secret knowledge of God.  Near the end of the clip he states:

Don’t let any of these people ever tell you anything other than the truth, and that is, early 20th century progressives and the progressives of today – it makes sense that we’re headed down this road. It makes sense that you feel a little uneasy, and everything seems to be a little hidden. It’s not if you look – all of the images that I’ve shown you here, thousands of people walk by every single day. . . . I’m trying to show you the things that seem to be hidden, but they’re not. They are out in plain sight. Those with eyes will not see, and those with ears will not hear. You’re awake. You need to see the things that are in plain sight. Progressives, fascists, communists: now what do they all have in common, today? Well that’s something you’re going to have to figure out.

Notice, lastly, that Beck stops short of actually completing most of his statements, thereby avoiding liability for slander or directly lying.  Instead, he implies the existence of these hidden communists in America, stops short, and leaves the viewer with, “Well that’s something you’re going to have to figure out.”  Thanks, Glenn, for leading me to the water and telling me I can drink on my own.

The Anti-Volunteerism Rant

Apparently, volunteerism, as promoted by the Entertainment Industry Foundation, is part of a communist plot by President Obama.  In case you don’t want to watch another six and a half minutes of Glenn Beck, I’ll summarize.  (Also, there’s an article here, containing a transcript of the clip.)  The EIF is a large non-profit charitable organization involving many of the big players in the Hollywood entertainment industry.  In October, it announced a program to promote public service, spanning 60 network and cable television programs.  The idea is to incorporate both PSA ads and plot lines within shows, to encourage people to get out and volunteer.

This clearly communist (or is it fascist?  Beck never can seem to tell the difference) plot to brainwash our children riles Glenn Beck.  He quotes from a memo distributed by EIF as though proof that Obama is behind everything (when in fact the memo merely refers to the President’s inauguration address).  The memo states that, “Obama has called for a new era of responsibility.”  (Oh, the evil!  Beware an era of responsibility!)  Paleoconservative pundits like Beck seem to be trying to forge a link, per usual, between Obama and the “liberal elite media.”  Oh, by the way, Fox is as entangled with the EIF as NBC.

Quick digression:  how great is “liberal elite media” as a thought-terminating cliché?  Such a simple way to describe a huge seething mass of information-spouting professionals.  Never mind that the Glenn Becks and Bill O’Reillys are themselves part of the media; they never attempt to help you discern which media outlets belong to this Obama-controlled puppet elite, and which are presumably independent . . . except for MSNBC and Fox.  Those lines are clearly drawn.  End digression.

So what exactly is wrong with a large portion of the entertainment industry answering the President’s call to public service?  Dinosaur conservatives want to make this into a giant conspiracy, whereby Obama employs his puppet media to indoctrinate people.  And turn them communist.  Or fascist.  And gay. 

The theory goes something like this: your favorite sitcom encourages you to volunteer; you go to www.Serve.gov to sign up; they direct you to volunteer for ACORN or Planned Parenthood.  The truth, of course, is a bit more nuanced.

Here, John Nolte claims that if you type “health care” into the search engine of Serve.gov, “all kinds of Planned Parenthood openings pop up.” So I tried it. I clicked through 8 pages of results from the “health care” search, without finding Planned Parenthood once. Even if they do show up eventually, I passed by quite a few church organizations. Here are two examples of anti-abortion organizations looking for volunteers, found via searching “health care” on Serve.gov. The point is, this site is a way to connect people to local volunteer organizations. If there are Planned Parenthood clinics in your neighborhood, and they need volunteers, they’ll show up as options for you . . . along with volunteer opportunities with anti-abortion Christian groups. Serve.gov is a clearinghouse, nothing more.  The point is to get you to go out and volunteer with a group that means something to YOU.

Here, Dana Loesch claims that if you type “ACORN” into the search field on Serve.gov, you get, shockingly, a listing for an opportunity to volunteer with ACORN. Wow, revolutionary. For fun, I searched for “Christianity.” The first listing in the search results was for a “volunteer prayer intercessor.” So I guess if I type my interest into the search box labeled “what interests you,” it actually delivers what I’m searching for. Again, this is revolutionary. Loesch then proceeds to state that, regarding the ACORN volunteer position, “They’re unclear regarding financial reimbursement; though past recruitment, like the Craigslist ads in St. Louis, advertised for . . . ‘$90 a day’.” The ad makes no mention of financial reimbursement because it’s a volunteer position. Loesch also attempted to imply that this Craigslist ad and it’s $90, bearing some undefined relationship to Serve.gov, amounted to taxpayer money going to people for the purpose of promoting the President’s health care legislation. She made no attempt to actually connect those dots, instead simply mentioned them in proximity to one another, hoping her cognitively lazy audience would make the jump. ACORN is not funded by the government, and their volunteers don’t even get paid, so there’s a big gap to jump.

Glenn Beck, however, did not bother to elucidate even this much of a crackpot theory in his rant.  He did, though, point out this brilliant nugget:  “Volunteering is working for free.  Remember that.  Glad you’re part of this movement.”

So, wait, volunteerism is communism because it amounts to working for free?  Remember when President George W. Bush instituted his own volunteerism initiative?  Not a peep from the communist-under-every-rock types like Beck.  George H.W. Bush even got in on the party! (Remember his whole “thousand points of light” thing? Yep, that was volunteerism.)  Benjamin Franklin helped create the first volunteer fire department in Philadelphia. But I guess that volunteerism is all right if it’s suggested by a sacrosanct founding father (and occurred 112 years before Marx and Engels published the Communist Manifesto).

In both these examples, Glenn Beck makes it clear that he has no interest in actually informing his viewers.  He prefers to suppress facts, invent stories, and paint conspiracies where none exist.  His type of rhetoric is a plague which enfeebles the minds of his viewers.

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