Glenn Beck: "Nutjob" In Pittsburgh Not My Fault, I'm Just A "Flight Attendant"

Hey, blogs! Fox News' Glenn Beck has heard what you've been saying about him -- how his brand of crazyfaced paranoid fearmongering is just the sort of thing that could send the Richard Poplawskis of the world to off on a madhouse demonstration of armed derangement -- and he is NONE TOO HAPPY. How dare someone suggest that people take responsibility for the "news" they talk about, on their "news show!" Don't shoot the messenger! And by messenger, Beck means "fight attendant." And by "flight attendant," Beck means, apparently, "someone who is allowed to misinform the public, even at the risk of airborne disaster." Yes: it's possible, I'm afraid, that Glenn Beck doesn't know what he's talking about, but I'll let him speak for himself.

[WATCH.]

BECK: Blaming TV or radio hosts for the nutjob who killed three Pittsburgh police officers over the weekend is like blaming a flight attendant after a terrorist takes down a plane. In other words: Giving passengers a safety talk to prepare them for a worst-case scenario doesn't mean you are responsible should a terrorist make that worst-case scenario happen. One person is providing important information. The other is a nutjob who would've acted no matter what.

Naturally, the whole argument that some people are just nuts, no matter what you do, is something I'll come back to if ever Glenn Beck attempts to make the argument that a video game or an R-rated movie or some goth metal or a random episode of Samantha Who? inspired a killing spree. As Beck is a critic of THE CULTURE OMG THE CULTURE, it's an inevitable, looming hypocrisy. But let's dig into the flight attendant metaphor.

To me, the idea sort of hangs on the idea of "providing important information." See, the sort of "important information" that Beck provides is nonsensical, paranoid, delusions, like say: FASCISM IS ON THE MARCH, or ONE-WORLD CURRENCIES ARE COMING, or OBAMA IS COMING TO TAKE YOUR GUNS (this despite the fact that Obama has publicly supported the expansion of gun ownership to Washington, DC, where ownership was once illegal.

In short, this is providing "misinformation," something I'd daresay would be awfully hard to justify coming from a flight attendant. The point is, Beck doesn't feel responsible for the actions of this nutjob from Pittsburgh. And it's clear that he won't be giving an inch on that point. But he shouldn't be comparing himself to someone for whom taking responsibility is compulsory and disseminating misinformation is not allowed, like a flight attendant.

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Comments

[sasidechick]

12:32 PM on 04/28/2009

I am from Pittsburgh and let me tell you, WE think this had something to do with this. There has been a gag order on everybody since he was arrested but we heard from his friend the morning of the shooting, live on tv, that Obama was coming for his guns.

What about the two cops from Oklahoma shot to death a firing range because of Obama? He has blood on this hands no matter how much he wants to deny it.

[themuse]

11:44 AM on 04/11/2009

Faux News is a threat to our free speech rights. Laws restrictin­g behavior and limiting our freedoms always come as a backlash against abuse of our basic rights. GB and his ilk are abusing their "free speech" rights. Why is there no criminal investigat­ion into his calls for violence?

At this time "The mere advocacy of violence, however, is not regarded as incitement to imminent lawless action and does receive First Amendment protection­."

If there is a backlash against GB and others because their call to violence escalates, we stand to lose our rights to free speech.

The FCC should re-examine the Faux News broadcast license.

[elizlucinda]

01:40 PM on 04/10/2009

Gees Glenn..You can't yell fire in a crowded theatre if there isn't a fire because you will be blamed for the stampede!

[tcuoohjohn]

08:17 PM on 04/09/2009

Glenn Beck is a whackjob..­.

[jalowe1957]

06:29 PM on 04/09/2009

They do as they say, and do as they do.

It happened in Pittsburgh when an aspiring neo-Nazi who (apparentl­y) watched too many Glenn Beck newscasts murdered three police officers. It happened last July when a gunman acted out his hatred of liberals by opening fire in a Unitarian church and using its congregati­on for target practice.

Anyone possessing basic math skills can put two and two together and find there is clearly a direct correlatio­n between the inflammato­ry, increasing­ly shrill and paranoiac rhetoric by the likes of Beck, Limbaugh and their likes and the willingnes­s of others to act on what they say.

Trust me, there will come a time when those "boob-tube­-boobs" will be called to account.

[clemenj98]

11:35 AM on 04/09/2009

Why wasn't my comment posted?

All i said was that the police officers were heroes and that GB should pay tribute to them.

What's so bad about that???

[profitforless]

11:19 AM on 04/09/2009

the shooter was a white Supremacy nut – fan of yours Glen ?

http://www­.adl.org/l­earn/extre­mism_in_th­e_news/Whi­te_Suprema­cy/poplaws­ki+report.­htm?LEARN_­Cat=Extrem­ism&LEARN_­SubCat=Ext­remism_in_­the_News

[Michael Cooper]

07:52 PM on 04/08/2009

I'm for freedom of speech. But this guy and most of the other blaggarts on that channel are a public menace. Beck the UN-BOLD is nothing more than a glorified rabble rouser at the beck and call of right wing corporate interests. He's a mine-layer­, a disposable lackey of the Bush era, a modern version of the sorts of psychopath­s who turned Paris into a bloodbath during La Terreur.

[ReealOne]

04:47 PM on 04/08/2009

I have a feeling that pretty soon, Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and the rest of the fringed nutjobs are going to find out that K A R M A really is a B*TCH! What goes around ALWAYS comes right back to ya.... mostly when you never saw it coming!

[lisakaz2]

04:34 PM on 04/08/2009

Typical Bou$hee: not responsibl­e for repercussi­ons over anything they do or say. Ugh.

[ObamacratInCA]

03:13 PM on 04/08/2009

"We surround them."

Since "them" is we the people, I don't understand what Glen Beck means when he says I just love my country so much.

[blake510]

02:02 PM on 04/08/2009

The real analogy is this... if Glenn Beck were a flight attendant, he would say "you shouldn't let any airline tell you you have to fasten your seatbelt, the founding fathers didn't do it. oh and this is the emergency hatch, i'm not going to say you shouldn't open it during flight, because its a free country. but i wouldn't be surprised if there's not at least one crazy nut on this plane who's going to open that hatch. have a nice flight"

And then when someone actually opens the hatch door, Beck says "Its not my fault, I'm just a flight attendant"

[Groove bucket]

04:37 PM on 04/11/2009

Well said!

[tedmore123]

01:52 PM on 04/08/2009

As long as there isn't any apparent interest in breathing life back into the fairness doctrine, can we as Americans at least ask that any program televised over public airwaves (we let the cable and sattelite
companies use them for profit remember) have a disclaimer run every 20 minutes or so that says something to the effect that " the program you are watching is for entertainm­ent only and though some of what is broadcast might be factually true, much or most if not all of the rest is opinion". Simple, right? and it wouln't take away anyone's right to free speach. It just makes it clear that if there is 'news' in the title of the program that a whole hell of a lot of fact checking must be going on and that
if 'news' isn't in the title of the program, then anything goes.

[bitterindependent]

01:17 PM on 04/08/2009

continued.­...

——————————­——————————­—-
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http://www­.yellowboo­k.com/cont­actus…
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Lending Tree 800-555-87­33
Allison Vail - Manager of Corporate Communicat­ions – Lending Tree
704-943-83­39
allison.va­il@lending­tree.com
——————————­——————————­—-
Edward Jones 314-515-32­69
John Boul, Manager of Global Media Relations of Edward Jones
[phone]
E-mail: john.boul@­edwardjone­s.com
——————————­——————————­—-
Hyundai 800-633-51­51
——————————­——————————­—-
Direct Buy 800-988-60­49
——————————­——————————­—-
AARP 800-852-08­79
——————————­——————————­—-
Schwab Bank 866-855-91­02
415-636-54­54 Speak to Glen Mathison or Greg Gable
——————————­——————————­—-
Legalzoom 323-962-86­00 or 800-773-08­88
——————————­——————————­—-
Joesph A Bank Clothiers (JoB Clothiers) x2 1-800-999-­7472
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212-640-59­51 Speak to Mike O’Neal
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317-276-20­00
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Honda 800-999-10­09, 310-783-20­00
Ann Hartl, person in charge of advertisin­g
“she wants to hear from us”
E-mail: ann_hartl@­ahm.honda.­com
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Volvo
Marriot
U.S. Trust (part of Bank of America)
Verizon
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Lunesta
Garmin
Bayer
LL Bean
TD Ameritrade
Progressiv­e
Americaspo­wer.org (some Coal lobbyist group)
Lincoln
Farmer’s
Glass Doctor
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[blake510]

02:21 PM on 04/08/2009

Uhh... what?

[Fyrefly86]

04:14 PM on 04/09/2009

Probably his sponsors

[Cedman]

01:10 PM on 04/08/2009

He is a flight attendent strolling up the aisle telling the passengers the plane has been hijacked and everyone is gonna be killed one by one while passing out the liquor. He knows what he is saying is untrue but he delights in the fear he generates. The radical right is a dangerous cult wrapped in the flag while thumpin the bible and carrying guns. Everyday they are incited toward violence by FOX news, talk radio and a handful of GOP operatives­.