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Glenn Beck announced over the weekend that he may be going blind following a diagnosis of macular dystrophy.

In 2006, Beck joked about blind people, making a crack about Braille on his HLN show (h/t Political Carnival):

"I work at Radio City in midtown Manhattan, and up by the doors, you know, like where the -- you know -- the office kitchen is, in Braille, on the wall, it says 'kitchen.' You'd have to -- a blind person would have to be feeling all of the walls to find "kitchen." Just to piss them off, I'm going to put in Braille on the coffee pot -- I'm going to put, 'Pot is hot.' Ow!"

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Comments

[4qbud]

What? There is no "making fun" or joking at the expense of the Blind going on in that Video clip.
He is clearly knocking the stupid people for labeling the kitchen in braille as though a blind person was somehow inherently aware there was a sign, where it might be and that they could reach it to actually read it. The remark about placing a braille sign on a coffee pot is like the sign which states that it's edges are sharp and do not touch written in big bold letters and in tiny type on the bottom it also says, "Oh, and the Bridge ahead is out" WHat I want to know is are there really people on here so stupid that this had to be explained at all and then I remember YES. This is the focus of the video clip and it's caption in the first place. Sheesh. some people are just too far gone and will NEVER get it!

[saami]

What goes round comes round.

[Miss Ann Thrope]

Wow HP, would you like want some sauerkraut with that schadenfreude? Is this supposed to imply that somehow he deserved this? And to all those who claim this is Karma, I think Beck has made much worse and more direct statements in his career which have yet to come back on him... "Articles" like this (if you can even call them that) are so petty and disappointing. This whole "Let's all laugh at the right-winger" game only serves to drive wedges between people. There is nothing positive about this.

[Knowitall]

You're the one assuming that there's an intent to say he deserves this. I think the point is that right wingers laugh at everybody else as though they're not human just like everybody else. Haven't you ever seen Rush make fun of handicapped people? The fact that Rush has a heart problem and is deaf, and that Beck may be going blind only proves one thing, that they are human.
Which only makes it strange that they would denigrate other people for being human. They are going to get sick and die just like everybody else, and they are going to have heart problems, hearing problems, lung problems, bad backs, bunions, bumps, bruises and various genetic anomalities just like everybody else, so why make fun of someone elses maladies or handicaps?
To me it's not funny, or karma or anything else. Glenn was going to "get" something eventually. It has nothing to do with karma. He's human. That's all.

[Miss Ann Thrope]

Here are the 2 opening sentences: "Glenn Beck announced over the weekend that he may be going blind following a diagnosis of macular dystrophy," directly followed by: "In 2006, Beck joked about blind people, making a crack about Braille on his HLN show".

You may be right in stating that I am reading into this too much and that they are not actually implying that he deserves to lose his sight, but if you were to read the myriads of comments below you will find that I am not alone in this assumption and I don't think that is simply a case of happenstance. I fail to understand why the author would bring up the joke Beck made 4 years ago right after stating Beck might be going blind. What does this joke have to do with his condition? What do you think the juxtaposition of these 2 statements was all about? I'm not bating you.I would actually like to hear your opinion.

As for my comments re: Karma. I don't think this is funny either and while I value your opinion, I was not speak to you. I said "to all those who claim..." referring to the many comments which I had read prior to posting my own. Es: "Their gods justice!" by SimianNation, "Karma, baby..." by lifeinnyc, "If Glenn Beck believes in karma, I seriously doubt he's finding it all that amusing. " by dancingstu, "Karma isn't blind." by Reel Busy.

[Knowitall]

...anomalies.....

[Really Really4u]

Ditto...

[cynt77]

I thought Beck might have blasted management for the absurdity of "kitchen" in braille. No, he goes after the "victim" suggesting more infliction of pain. Doesn't he have a 'disabled' child? Doesn't he yet get it? You reap what you sow? He didn't get it when he ridiculed a former radio rival's wife after she suffered a miscarriage. Beck's first child...cerebral palsy. Ridicule the blind....he now says he's going blind. He has said God talks to him. Obviously, he isn't listening!

[Tom Sutpen]

It's just a dumb joke; he wasn't making fun of blind people.

[justlw]

Well, to be totally precise, it's a dumb joke built around using a person's disability to play a practical joke on them which would cause them burns, while making fun of there being legally mandated accommodations for that disability, as given by someone who is now fishing for sympathy because at some point in the future it's possible that he will have that disability.

[Tom Sutpen]

Are you this overly-analytical in the presence of all Comedy, good and bad, or just when Broadcasters you happen to dislike make feeble attempts at it?

[Whatnow]

Glenn is a dumb joke.

[ms mel]

so forever ago he made a joke about stupid placement of braille translations - like at my atm drive thru that you are not allowed to walk up to that still has braille. give us all a break

try this one guys - no matter what the story - take your most favorite politico and put them as the star. See how it sounds then and look at how you react. You may be sursprised and change some of your opinions. I know I do all the time.

[mitchnmurray]

Actually, the ATM braille thing is not govt. regulation run amok but a common example of economies of scale. It is cheaper for a machine manufacturer (Diebold for example) to produce all keypads with braille than it is to produce some for drivethru's that do not have braille. Please refrain from using this example when slagging the Americans with Disabilities Act.

[sailor422]

ZING!

[AWMC]

ADA rules for ATM's do not distinguish between indoor, outdoor and drive up ATM's. Therefore all ATM's must abide by the same rules. Also drive up ATM's need to be weather proof therefore the outer shell is completely different from the shells of a ATM that is indoors. so the Braille that is printed on the outer shell wouldn't be need.

[IvyShoots]

Lenscrafters should sue him for the way he mocked them publicly. I'm not even kidding.

[ichbineinhofer]

What the he$$ is macular dystrophy?

[Ohioan4truth]

The opposite of muscular degeneration?

[SimianNation]

Their gods justice!

[Tom Sutpen]

I'm not competent to describe the process in medical terms, but the effect is a gradual deterioration of one's ability to see. My father has it, and it's not a minor dysfunction.

[stvstreett]

and it does't cause blindness that quick. it takes many years and it happens slowly. he's making it up.

[HudsonGal]

This is from a medical dictionary what macular dystrophy =

any of a variety of eye disorders that damage the central part of the retina. Several of the disorders are related to gene mutations that affect older adults, including Sorsby's fundus dystrophy, caused by an excessive growth of blood vessels through the basal membrane, which thickens and bleeds.

Karmic isn't it.

[myj66]

I learned in Medical Terminology class:

macula-area in the back of the eye that contains the fovea centralis. supposed to have the rods & cones for focusing, bright light, colors..

dys-abnormal, bad
trophy-development
atrophy=no development
hyper=excessive development

:-)

[Really Really4u]

as I read these posts, I wonder if the comments about karma are understood?

[Tom Sutpen]

Any talk of Karma is, I think, meaningless.

To this hour, I've never watched Glenn Beck's program (I'm not avoiding it; I just haven't seen it), but from what I've heard second-hand I'm sure that, at most, I'd agree with 10% of what he believes. Even if it were 1%, however, I've never been wired so that I can find any cause for glee at someone else's misfortune just because I disagree with them profoundly; particularly when it's an affliction as uncontrollable as this.

[Really Really4u]

wow...my "karma" comment was a play on words..not intended to Mr Beck at all.
Let me put it this way, as I read all the hating comments and insinuations about Mr Beck getting what he deserved, I wonder if THOSE posters believe they too my be on the receiving end sometime with THEIR negative or hating comments.
Does THAT clarify?

[JeanRR]

The cosmos has a wicked sense of humor.

[4qbud]

We'll see, in time. Let us know the very next time something bad happens to you or in your life.
I wanna see it you are right about that or not!

[Charles Richard Brown]

wait for the miracle cure...

[ElenaToro]

He made a joke when he was talking about going blind too, he admitted that he knows he's too lazy to learn braille. He's a good man and I wish him well.

[oldpol2]

You obviously aren't from Bellingham

[miasmom]

Yes. Glenn is just every man isn't he? He admits to all sorts of human failings. That's so you'll empathize with him. He draws you in with just how folksy and down-to-earth he is. Just like Sarah.

It's all a charade.

I'm sorry.

[Tom Sutpen]

What's the charade, that he has human failings, or admits to them?

[RenoSage]

I wouldn't wish going blind on anybody. I think it is a worst affliction than being deaf.
And a year of fading sight is a pretty stiff diagnosis.

[kmeccat]

A good man does not make cruel jokes just for ratings.
Like calling the wife of a fellow DJ, while on the air, after she had just suffered a miscarriage, and making a joke about the miscarriage--real classy.
He's not a nice guy, sorry.

[blakef]

Are you claiming Beck did this? That's one he'll of an alligation to make without showing a source.

[Tom Sutpen]

Are you sure you're not confusing this with Howard Stern joking (infamously) about his own wife's miscarriage when he was doing Mornings at WWDC-FM back in the early 80s?

[AWMC]

and no one here as EVER made a hurtful comment in their life right????? Beck said this in 1983 and if you listen to Glenn you would know that he isn't really proud of some of the things he done in the past. By the way why don't you people that bash him all day go and find out how much good he has done for people. to afraid to find out that he isn't as bad as people have been telling you????

[quiscut]

Elenatoro, I appreciate your sense of sarcasm. Your dry delivery almost fooled me.
Good man,as if.

[rte148]

This is a person who mocked people who lost loved ones in 9/11. That is all I'm going to say.

[miasmom]

It's all that needs to be said.

[kmeccat]

Someone should write a book, detailing all the cruel jokes, and lies he's told thru the years...every one of them.
Name all the people he's hurt or tried to destroy for ratings and bigger paychecks.

[Sajwert]

I'm of the generation that was told to 'play with oneself' would eventually cause one to go blind.

Poor Glenn. Bet he was never told that and now look at what is going to happen.

I'm so glad I listened to my mama. LOL

[binq56]

Going blind? I though the was already blind and deaf.

[nelly55]

deaf and dumb

blind is the obvious next choice