Glenn Beck is an Idiot
Updated, 3/31/2009: And he knows it! Do his sponsors? Oh, that's right, he's on Fox News; of course, they do! They count on their viewers being idiots, as well.
This just has to be mocked. Glenn Beck has decided to list some principles that define his concept of the American psyche, one that "surrounds" my concept somehow.
... [Y]ou’ve fallen for the Wizard of Oz lie. While the voices you hear in the distance may sound intimidating, as if they surround us from all sides—the reality is very different. Once you pull the curtain away you realize that there are only a few people pressing the buttons, and their voices are weak. The truth is that they don’t surround us at all.
We surround them.
Republicans clearly have lost their way in the advertising aspect of politics, but I am more interested in the paradigm, itself. The problem is that Beck makes no sense whatsoever, so there is only mocking derision for this silliness.
Let's examine the nonsense that this talking head has spewed.
1. America is good.
I got an A+ on an essay dealing with good and evil in college. I guess Glenn didn't. Dick Cheney is evil, therefore, America, which is the sum of its people, cannot be 'good' outright, for it contains some evil. Stupid argument to have to make.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
I am an atheist and god is an ad hoc hypothesis and irrelevent to my life.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
What does trying actually mean here? You mean that you are fundamentally unable to be honest, but you'll try? Honesty requires no effort; lying does.
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
So, Glenn, you support gay marriage? You believe that gays and lesbians are justified in telling their government that they have a sacred bond that government cannot take away from them? Fucking hypocrite.
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
Including the previous president? I'll agree with this one as stated.
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
This is the dumbest thing any self-proclaiming patriot has ever said. The full quote of the Declaration of Independence reads, "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Do you see the problem here, Beck? I highlighted it for you.
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
You do, in fact, have a right to be a greedy bastard. If you are comfortable with admitting it, I'm comfortable with repeating it.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
Glenn, do you honestly think that the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States requires your endorsement? And it's number 8! Pathetic.
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
"We, the people..." This guy is a complete idiot.
Summary
Glenn Beck is one of the most pretentiously unqualified pricks on television. He has exactly zero insight into anything. He has clearly displayed in this nonsensical campaign (which is actively being mocked on the front page of DailyKos.com) a complete disconnect from anything that is reality as we know it. Does he have a few fans? Undoubtedly.
But equally sure, Glenn Beck is an idiot.