The Glenn Beck Method of Historical Analysis

[Avatar4321]

Avatar4321 has obviously not read the OP carefully and merely is issuing talking points. Unsurprising.

The OP is absurd. But you don't have to take my word for it. Look at Glenn's recommended book list. The recommended list is at the bottom underneath Glenn's own books.

Among the list are marxist publications.

Or you could watch the shows daily where he encourages people to look at all sides and understand where they are coming from. He's even recommended that we read the Presidents books.

Not exactly someone encouraging people not to read opposing viewpoints or anyone claiming that reading a certain book makes you a marxist.

Not surprisingly, you don't really care about the facts.

 

[JakeStarkey]

I am concerned about Glenn's lack of balance on this issue, Avatar4321. David O. McKay, Hugh B. Brown, Nathan Eldon Tanner (among a few) would say, "Get that boy away from Cleon." Ezra Taft Benson, in the early days, would be cheering Glenn on. After he was sanctioned by his Quorum and sent to Great Britain for three years to preside over a mission (in that day and age, a tremendous slap down of an apostle), ETB got straight.

Glenn is wack.

 

[midcan5]

I'm often amazed that satire, hyperbole, and just simple exaggeration are so misunderstood by the right wing defenders of the conservative media today. And then as if they are completely lost in wingnuttery world, they tell you Beck recommends reading books labeled socialist, communist, and Marxist. That is the point folks? How do I get this through to you?

What Beck does on his blackboard and comments is make a connection that only exists in his world. He brings up words, phrases, books, ideologies and he applies them to others when there is no connection. Obama is not a socialist, communist, Marxist - how do I get this through your wingnut shield. If I / You watch Beck and company, Obama and everyone he knows is all of these things and more and so is his family etc etc etc. If you follow Beck's nonsense, and believe it, then any mountebank could lead you.

Beck's recommended reading is pure nonsense, it is revisionist trash of the worst kind as it pretends to be history. That he lists books considered radical and tells you to check into them is only a Madison avenue way of pretending he is a serious student of ideology. Well done propaganda pretends balance, but the choir only hears the sermon. Let me repeat again: those radical books have nothing to do with Obama and his administration. They are merely props for his deceptive propaganda.

I have never read Saul Alinsky, I see I am going to have to as then I can check into the conservative use of him as the universal cause of all things bad and ugly. I repeat one last time, Beck connects Obama and staff to these books, people, and ideas only to denigrate them, the connections are not valid, and because the terms are negative it creates an atmosphere of distrust and dislike rather than hope. I will check whether Alinsky uses similar tactics.

A follow up thought. After thinking a bit more, I thought maybe Beck is just so stupid he really thinks there is a connection between these things. In that case, there's not a heck of a lot that can be said as screwballs have been around a long time, but modern media makes them more powerful screwballs.


Two interesting points of view below.


"Beck understands, brother. Communists in the White House are bent on “fundamentally transforming” the country; progressives speak of putting “the common good” before the individual, which “is exactly the kind of talk that led to the death camps in Germany,” as he said on his show in May. Or, as he said in July of last year, “Everything that is getting pushed through Congress, including this health care bill,” is “driven by President Obama’s thinking on . . . reparations” and his desire to “settle old racial scores.” It sounds harsh, maybe, but this is the rhetoric of crisis and desperation, and so much of the population is too blind drunk to recognize the reality — which is that the country is lying on an olive green shag carpet on the brink of ending it all. “Some have to destroy their family and their job and their house and their income,” Beck told me. “Some don’t get it, and they die.”" http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/magazine/03beck-t.html


"In narrating our national declension, presumably since the March on Washington in August of 1963, Beck attacked the civil rights movement without appearing to do so. When Chris Wallace asked him on Sunday what message he was trying to send to Washington, he was deliberately ambiguous, “I don’t know what they were trying to tell the leaders.” Speaking for himself, he proposed: “Be your highest self. Stand in the fire because that is the only thing that is going to save us.” That still didn’t answer Wallace’s question, and one wonders if it is because a direct answer would have been too offensive for national television." | Political Analysis

 

[JakeStarkey]

Beck does not understand the terms, concepts, and ideologies that he discusses, and he cannot place them one to another in context. One thing I do agree with is that all of the works should be read, from Marx to Skousen.

 

[Si modo]

The simple and recommended way to view life and politics in America.

Note: While Glenn Beck is named in the title, this method applies to many political, historical writers, and opinion makers. In today's partisan culture some can do no good and others no wrong. Balanced critical thought has vanished from the American landscape.

If you have ever read a book by a socialist, communist, or Marxist you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever criticized business for exploiting labor you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever thought democracy should serve all the people, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever thought helping people is part of the government's function, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever thought 'Welfare' could have a positive impact in America, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever had your picture taken with a person who believes society operates for all people, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever attended a meeting where the phrase 'social justice' was used, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever read a book that contained the phrase 'social justice,' you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever used the word or came in contact with a 'progressive,' you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever admired 'Unions' for their support of the worker, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever thought taxes help America's infrastructure, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever thought protecting God's green earth was a good thing, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever thought a fair wage was just, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever thought million dollar paychecks for failure is a bit absurd, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you ever thought your religion is a personal and not a government function, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever thought religious freedom and expression for all religions was a good thing, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever thought education should be based on factual information and not Faith, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever considered environmental destruction and pollution a bad thing, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If a friend or relative has ever thought or been touched in any way with any of the above, you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist.

If you have ever and we mean ever thought any of the above you are a socialist, communist, or Marxist, and want to destroy American. You need to change your ways.



Brought to you by 'The Keep it simple in America group,' we are supported by corporations who like things simple. We know this has helped clarify all the complexity for you, and we look forward to your continued support. Buy Gold.



[PS If anyone is truly interested in a history of the last century, check out William Manchester's 'The Glory and the Dream,' and Richard Hofstadter's 'The Age of Reform.']

Bravo! I think you win the highest number of strawmen in one post for the months of September and October combined.

 

[editec]

Why read Glen Beck's interpretation of social science scholarship when you can read the real scholars of it?

 

[konradv]

If you post the goals and principles of the Communist Party, Socialist Party and Democrat Party and can't identify which one said, then they all may have the same goals and principles

Then do so. I think your statement is full of shit. Wouldn't that mean that people who want to return to the "original intent" of The Founders, are racists?

 

[JakeStarkey]

Of course anyone who believes in 'original construction' believes in racism, sexism, and virtual representation for 95% of America.

 

[midcan5]

Bravo! I think you win the highest number of strawmen in one post for the months of September and October combined.

Beck has an absurd position 'A'
Midcan outlines absurd position 'A'
Therefore there is no strawman.

Beck does not understand the terms, concepts, and ideologies that he discusses, and he cannot place them one to another in context. One thing I do agree with is that all of the works should be read, from Marx to Skousen.

I agree with you. The point is others believe these labels are bad, so it doesn't really matter whether any of them understand them. Doubtful any do. What matters is the idiocy of the use of the labels, and that they are used on our democratically elected president. But I think too that complex thought is not something Beck or Fox media engage in or for that matter most partisans engage in. The problem becomes you end up with people like the following. In the Obama era, right-wing militias flourish - David Axelrod - Salon.com

 

[Si modo]

Bravo! I think you win the highest number of strawmen in one post for the months of September and October combined.

Beck has an absurd position 'A'
Midcan outlines absurd position 'A'....

As I am unaware of Beck ever holding the position that if one reads about Marxism, one is a Marxist; and as I am unaware of ANY pundit holding that position, your outline of position A is created in your head.

Strawman.

Therefore there is no strawman.

....

Aaaaaaand, that's a fail.



Idiot. Or, are you on crack?

 

[JakeStarkey]

What is particularly ironic is that Beck inhabits a religious landscape the sacred history of which is leadership-oriented, anti-democratic, and communalistic. To balance, the LDS church has been committed to social justice since day one. Beck brain blips all of that.

 

[Dick Tuck]

Glenn Beck is obsessed with Hitler and Woodrow Wilson

Glenn Beck, the conservative television and radio host, is an amateur historian. Very amateur.

One day, he rhetorically asked his Fox News viewers: "Why did we buy Alaska in the 1950s?" A good question -- because "we" purchased Alaska in 1867. Another day, he gave his version of European history: "We have the Age of Enlightenment, 1620 to 1871, uh, 1781. This was a time when people said, 'Wait a minute, wait a minute, we can think out of the box.' This is coming out of the Dark Ages." That was thinking outside of the box, because the Dark Ages ended in about 1000 AD, six centuries earlier than Beck claimed.

Beck has created an online "Beck University" to spread his unique views of the past and has hosted "Founders' Fridays" on his television show, devoted to rewriting the nation's early history as that of a fundamentalist state.

When the subject turns, as it usually does, to President Obama, Beck again sees lessons from history. In particular, he has seized upon two individuals who he believes provide excellent historical parallels to the 44th commander in chief: Woodrow Wilson and Adolf Hitler.

You don't understand how Obama is tied to a genocidal monster and to an American president who died 86 years ago? Allow Professor Beck to explain.

On Aug. 11, 2009, in the middle of a summer of rage-filled town hall meetings over health care, Beck said he would describe some Obama administration plans that "should horrify America . . . particularly if you're elderly, handicapped or have a very, very young child." And with that the lesson began.

American "progressives" such as Wilson, Beck explained, were responsible for inspiring "the Nazi eugenic idea [which] evolved naturally into the eventual Holocaust and the deaths of 6 million Jews." He went on: "The builder of the master race was only part of the problem in Germany, made possible after they began to devalue life. They tried to figure out how much is a life worth, and put a price on how much each individual was worth -- and some were worth more than others."

...

At the heart of Beck's technique of amplifying fringe theories is his obsession with Nazism. For much of the past 70 years, there has been an unwritten rule in U.S. political debate: Avoid Hitler accusations. Once you liken your opponent to the Nazis, any form of rational discussion becomes impossible. But Beck, it seems, has a Nazi fetish. In his first 18 months on Fox News, from early 2009 through the middle of this year, he and his guests invoked Hitler 147 times. Nazis, an additional 202 times. Fascism or fascists, 193 times. The Holocaust got 76 mentions, and Joseph Goebbels got 24 mentions.

...
​

 

[midcan5]

Aaaaaaand, that's a fail.

Idiot. Or, are you on crack?

LOL you obviously don't watch Beck. Does being on crack change Beck? LOL

 

[midcan5]

Here's a bit of total craziness I missed in Glenn Beck's insane Reasoning.

"Last Friday, while the cable news world watched Rick Sanchez’s career end in a spectacular crash via an undisciplined and unhinged radio interview, Glenn Beck was blaming the evils of slavery on government regulation, then asked if, via increased insurance rates, “are we creating slaves?” Only in the tortured and hyperbolic world of opinion media can one be expected to hear this sort of analysis."


Glenn Beck Slavery | Glenn Beck on ObamaCare | Audio | Mediaite

"It didn’t come over in a ship to begin with, as an evil slave trade. The government began to regulate things because the people needed answers and needed solutions. It started in a court room then it went to the legislatures. That’s how slavery began. And it took a long time to enslave an entire race of people, and convince another race of people that they were somehow or another, less than them. But it can be done." GB

.

 

[JBeukema]

Has anyone here who defends or supports Beck ever watched him? The OP is just slightly hyperbolic.


Defining propaganda

1. Name Calling: associating an idea with a bad label
2. Card Stacking: literally "to stack the cards" for or against an idea by selective use of facts or logic
3. Bandwagon: to give the impression that the idea is supported by everyone
4. Testimonial: associating a person of some respected authority (doctor) or visibility (celebrity) with the idea
5. Plain Folks: associating an idea's merit with its being "of the people"
6. Transfer: carrying the prestige or disapproval of something over to something else such as displaying the American flag as an emotional transfer device to represent one's patriotism
7. Glittering Generality: associating something with a virtue word; opposite of name-calling (freedom, democracy); often used to make us accept a concept without thoroughly examining its application.

excerpts from the book Information War American Propaganda, Free Speech and Opinion Control since 9-11 by Nancy Snow

Why don't you read his book Midcan.




Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine: Glenn Beck(author): 9781439168578 978-1-4391-6857-8 1439168571 1-4391-6857-1: Books: DealOz.com


[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Glenn-Becks-Common-Sense-Control/dp/0743599357"]

[/ame]

Paine was a socialist

The most affluent and the most miserable of the human race are to be found in the countries that are called civilized....Poverty, therefore, is a thing created by that which is called civilized life....he thing, therefore, now to be done is to remedy the evils and preserve the benefits that have arisen to society by passing from the natural to that which is called the civilized state.

In taking the matter upon this ground, the first principle of civilization ought to have been, and ought still to be, that the condition of every person born into the world, after a state of civilization commences, ought not to be worse than if he had been born before that period....
It is a position not to be controverted that the earth, in its natural, cultivated state was, and ever would have continued to be, the common property of the human race....Every proprietor, therefore, of cultivated lands, owes to the community a ground-rent (for I know of no better term to express the idea) for the land which he holds [sounds like property taxes, eh?]... Man did not make the earth, and, though he had a natural right to occupy it, he had no right to locate as his property in perpetuity any part of it [que 5 Man electric Band's 'Signs'] ...


Having thus in a few words, opened the merits of the case, I shall now proceed to the plan I have to propose, which is,​

To create a national fund, out of which there shall be paid to every person, when arrived at the age of twenty-one years, the sum of fifteen pounds sterling, as a compensation in part, for the loss of his or her natural inheritance, by the introduction of the system of landed property:​

And also, the sum of ten pounds per annum, during life, to every person now living, of the age of fifty years, and to all others as they shall arrive at that age. [wait... that's... that's social security!]



It is not charity but a right, not bounty but justice, that I am pleading for [entitlement mentality]...But it is justice, and not charity, that is the principle of the plan [he just won't shutup about this 'social -er, agrarian justice]





​

​

Social Security Online History Pages

 

[JBeukema]

With a deadpan, Beck insists that he is not political: "I could give a flying crap about the political process

Glenn Beck Inc - Forbes.com

 

[Si modo]

Aaaaaaand, that's a fail.

Idiot. Or, are you on crack?

LOL you obviously don't watch Beck. Does being on crack change Beck? LOL

I have no idea. I do know that you are either on crack or too stupid to know that when YOU are the only one saying something you're arguing against, you are arguing a strawman.

It's not a tough concept to grasp, but for you, apparently it is. Or maybe you do grasp it and are just too disengenuous.

Go figure.

 

[rightwinger]

Never let the facts get in the way of your right wing agenda

 

[Si modo]

Never let the facts get in the way of your right wing agenda

What facts? The strawmwen of the OP?

Because if Beck has said that one is a socialist if they read a book on socialism, for example, I'd like to see that.

Otherwise, the OP is making shit up and arguing against it.

And, that is intellectually lazy.

 

[bodecea]

Gee, Beck must seriously worry lefties. Otherwise, why would they scream so loudly about him? Interestingly, the OP makes lots of claims about what Beck thinks and backs up not one allegation. Call me skeptical, if you will, but I've seen a lot of bullshit about this guy with very little substance behind it.

That's right....starting a thread about someone and disagreeing with them really means you are afraid of them......