God and Chalk | by Me

Originally Published in the Tiger Town Observer, September 2010

Glenn Beck. What else is there to say to someone when you utter his name? For some people you will get the reaction of a crazy man, a conspiracy theorist, and/or a right wing radical. For others you get a man of truth, a man of principles, a man ready to stand up for his country and say that's enough! When I watch or read Glenn Beck, I like to see a little of both. Here is a man who has recovered from an alcohol and drug addiction to become one of the most idolized talk radio/TV hosts in the nation. A man whose politics I find myself agreeing more and more with. From his views on the liberated markets and limited government to legalizing gay marriage and the freedom to practice your religion whether you are thirty states away from Ground Zero or two blocks down.


Beck's road to TV superstar has not been one to smile at. In his early years in radio he had few friends, made enemies easily and even called the wife of another local AM radio station rival DJ days after she had a miscarriage and said: "We hear you had a miscarriage." When the DJ's wife responded, "yes", Beck went on to joke about how the DJ couldn't do anything right, even having a baby. In those same days Beck also did several impersonations, one of which was an over-the-top black man impersonation. According to a colleague who worked with him, Beck was always fighting for the highest ratings and would say anything to get them. One can still see this same mentality when we flash forward post drugs, alcohol, and born again Mormon.


Just recently Beck was discussing the idea of Jesus Christ choosing death instead of being a victim. Beck explained that had Christ chosen to be a victim instead, he would have come back and made the Jews pay for what they had done. He goes on to explain that Jesus Christ is who he is, exactly because he didn't punish the Jews. When Beck had Keith Ellison, a Muslim congressman, on his show, he said: I want to say, "'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' And I know you are not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel." I try to operate on the dialogue ideal of attacking the idea, not the person, but for Glenn Beck, taking on 11 year old Malia Obama isn't out of the question. When Malia asked her father, Barack Obama, whether he plugged the oil hole yet, Glenn Beck mock impersonated her voice and then said: "that's the level of their education…" Instead of going after Obama, Beck went on a four minute impersonation of Malia's voice asking her father about different liberal policies.


These are the little details most people don't mention when they speak of their distaste for Glenn Beck. The cool new thing to do now is to call someone a fascist or compare them to Hitler. Once you've done that, you need to make sure you lump them in with the liberals and progressives because they're just as fascist as driving a VW Thing. But why does Glenn Beck believe that the new progressives are easily compared to Hitler and the Third Reich? Well, he takes a step back into history to look at one of President Woodrow Wilson's propaganda advisors, Edward Bernays. Bernays specialized in public relations/propaganda and is considered to be the father of public relations. He believed that in democracy it is necessary to transform and control the ideas of the people. His book, "Crystallizing Public Opinion" was Joseph Goebbels', Hitler's propaganda minister, main instrument in his push to turn the German people against the Jews. Bernays just happened to be Jewish himself.


In those couple sentences I gave you more detail than Beck did in his program about Bernays. Because he claims Woodrow Wilson to be one of the first progressives in America and that one of his advisors' book was used by the Third Reich to help kill more than six million Jews, that all current progressives using any public relations tactics reminiscent of the Wilson years are just as bad as the Nazis. Too bad I don't have a chalk board for you to look at. The Nazis also placed a strong emphasis on the strength of the family unit and on driving VWs and gosh does this Jew want to drive one of those new Volkswagen CCs!


What am I really trying to get at here? I mean this isn't the first time someone has called one or more of our politicians Hitler or a Nazi. Hardcore left liberals believed Bush to be Hitler reincarnate, and now the same thing is being done, especially revolving around the Tea Party phenomena in relation to Barack Obama. Oh my democrat readers I just saw your eyes roll at the mention of the Tea Party. My eyes would roll in response of yours rolling! The Tea Party was born out of the negative response to the massive government, or should I say tax payer, bail outs to corporations and banks. "Limited government" they shouted, as I did. It was a nationwide push that only the likes of Ron Paul could unleash upon our corrupt two-party system.


Then something unfortunate happened. Due to the emphasis on fiscal responsibility which happens to be a Republican ideal (I beg to differ), major GOP and conservative politicians participated in Tea Party rallies. Glenn Beck and his female counter-part, Sarah Palin, saw their chance to grab hold of a movement and give it the impetus it needed to become a national ideological force. Enter the throngs of ignorant and ill-informed or as I like to refer to them, Palin's Posse. By their God given, divine speaking powers combined, they stripped the Tea Party from the hands of Ron Paul libertarians and created a new breed of tea baggers; one whose driving force wasn't reason but faith. Returning to God is what Glenn Beck believes will bring this country back to the ways of the founders and it really is what his whole show has become.


Glenn Beck has gone through many transformations in life and his most recent three are in chronological order as follows: from moderate conservative to pure constitutionalist and finally to what we have now, God touting sensationalist. Beck doesn't believe that politics will save this country. What will save this country is the common man going back to God for his principles, and this applies to any religion, and then applying those principles to help him vote. Dear Glenn, not all religions follow the same principles and they definitely don't have the same justice practices for the ones that are the same.


Let me bring this almost full circle to our progressive Nazi-like liberals. Just like the Nazis, the progressives are going try and take full control of our churches. And when that happens, according to Beck, "we have all these stupid people who will listen to whatever their pastor says." He also says that when you take church and combine it with big state and get people to do what the state says, it always leads to big death. In his show when he discusses the true reason for the separation of church and state, he explains it was to protect the church from state control, and I agree with him on that. But this idea works both ways. When your constituents turn back to God for their morals and principles they are going to vote for the politician that claims Faith comes first and country, second. In America what do you think the largest and loudest faith is?


When we vote that way, we can't help but have Christian based morals and principles in our government. Is that a problem? Well I kind of like the commandment of "thou shalt not kill," but for those who don't believe in Christianity and some of the principles derived from the religion, their politicians are elected because others do. What we then have is a faith perverted system of government. The more I think about it the more I really want a chalkboard! So what am I getting at here? Glenn Beck tells us that the government doesn't need to be telling us what to do and then turns to the other camera and says, "I'll tell you what you need to do."


Beck is one of the greatest showmen around. He knows that a vast majority of Americans are Christian and he argues the state controls the people through religion. But it is also exactly what he is doing with his radio and TV shows. He is driving a majority of Americans down a road using the motor of faith and himself as the driver. He is the Bernays of our day, the Goebbels of the conservative right. You see what I just did there, readers? Imagine my hand, with white chalk, drawing a line from Goebbels to Beck! Gasp! Beck is doing what he does best and has always been motivated to do: achieve the highest ratings and say anything to do it. He is the greatest megalomaniac of the 21st century; a man driven by the need to be loved and followed. His tools: God and chalk. Some things never change.