In a speech peppered with the jargon of Alcoholics Anonymous, Glenn Beck brought thousands of right-wingers attending the annual Conservative Political Action Conference to their feet by promising them that economic hardship was good for them, and that the progressive movement was "a cancer" that is "designed to eat the Constitution." Government spending, he said, is creating an "economic holocaust."
While dazzling the crowd with dizzying dynamic swings and a confessional narrative about his life as a recovering alcoholic, Beck handily played his role as community organizer to one of the greediest men in the world: his uberboss, Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation, the parent company of Fox NewsChannel, where Beck nightly plies his trade.
The problem with America right now is progressives' attempt to "deprive you of your right to struggle," Beck said. But failure is a character-building exercise, he said, using as an example his own battle with alcohol. Until you know the shame of having done wrong, he essentially said, you'll never do right.
"If drinking wasn't causing me a problem in my life, I'd be drunk right now," Beck told the roaring crowd, which packed one of the largest hotel ballrooms in Washington, D.C.
His ire wasn't reserved solely for Democrats; he took repeated swings at the Republicans as well, comparing their propensity for government spending to his own addiction.
"I'm a recovering alcoholic and I screwed up my life six ways to Sunday; I believe in redemption," Beck said. "But the first step to getting redemption is, you gotta admit you've got a problem. I've not heard people in the Republican Party yet admit that they've got a problem...I don't know what they even stand for anymore. 'Hello, my name is the Republican Party, and I've got a problem. I'm addicted to spending and big government...I'm addicted to spending and I just don't want to spend today.' Good -- keep comin' back."
"Keep coming back" is one of the signature slogans of AA -- a recovery program laced with slogans. But "keep coming back" at times acquires a tone of derision when said to a member who has just shared a thought or two that seems "off the AA beam," to quote the program literature.
Tiger Woods was used as a corollary to Beck's own addiction narrative. "People said to me, Tiger Woods, is he really gonna change? Well, I don't know" Beck said, "it may not be his bottom."
Beck wasn't, here, talking about Woods' keister. He was employing yet another 12-step term, "hitting bottom."
However uncertain he was about the final thud of Woods' fall, he was pretty clear that America's was nigh. "This is a pretty good bottom," he said. "This is as bad as I want it to get."
Throughout the speech, Beck made numerous references to vomiting.
As a recovering alcoholic myself, I found Beck's exploitation of the 12-step code nearly enough to have me spewing.
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Most alcoholics remit by moderating - something AA never brings up, or outright denies because "they were never REAL alcoholics.
Research demonstrates those in 12-step meeting vs. no treatment relapse more frequently, and more severely than those with no treatment whatsoever, and most people quit addictions on their own.
Those are facts.
AA has not been revised in over a century, unlike the "cure" for EVERY other disease - because science tracks results, and alters treatment accordingly - they do not hold fast to "traditions" that "work" for a whopping 2-3% tops.
Every federal district court, including most recently the 9thD, says it is unequivically religious, and you can sue your probation oficer personally for not providing an alternative to court-ordered AA.
So, drop the big book, and read some peer-reviewed research not sponsored by government-run drug agencies designed to ignore certain areas and formulate evidence to fit their narrow paradigm.
AA = medical quackery. Just like Beck =political quackery.
(And I want to be cautious, because too often I find myself annoyed when conservatives ignore core concepts of Obama's speeches in order to instead criticize his delivery. Should I not hold my own "side" to the same standard?)
Whatever you think of dramatic self-revelations about AA or talk of vomiting, there is an absolutely real conservative ideology underpinning Beck's rant: struggle is good; you have to work to succeed; some people will always fail and that's just the way life is.... too bad.
This is "free market philosophy" in the raw. And whether you agree or disagree with it, it is a real ideology. It is completely valid "way to view the world", and there are plenty of extremely intelligent and thoughtful people who hold to the philosophy.
As a result, I think it is wrong-headed, and potentially dangerous, to dismiss people who feel this way as "just greedy" or "just cold-hearted" or "just appealing to the masses" or whatever.
Because even if Beck isn't very smart, he's mouthing ideas that still need to be addressed on their own terms.
After my mother's death, I was a boat without a rudder.At 45, I had to learn what I should have in my 20's. I made a fast fall to the bottom in 2002(UE for 18 mos, Columbine, BF killed, broke leg) It took me years to pull myself up.I had to learn how to budget my money & that I can live with a TV from 1993.I was feeling pretty good though because I was getting a hold of my life and then in January 2009, my employer had all of us take a reduction in hours to try and save the company.That was a $500 hit. In May, I was laid off (closed its doors in July).My apt that I could afford suddenly was too expensive & I was back into giving all my money to a roof. Jobs? HA! Why am I writing this? the country is having to go through the same thing that many like me had to. This country was living the High life for the last 25 years.the system needs to reset.
What does he care about the middle class.
Maybe now, you can come up with great ideas on how to spend his money!
Maybe you can conjure up more generalizations like, Beck doesn't care about homeless people cuz he's greedy and rich, and all rich people hate the homeless. Only poor idiots like myself care about the homeless and the middle-class.
You make me sick.
What seems to make you sick is that someone brought up how much money Beck makes and by doing so you feel that someone mentioning his extraordinary financial wealth inevitably leads to that person feeling they have the right to decide how Beck should spend his money, etc?
That's the real point you're trying to make, isn’t it? You think the Federal Government, Democrats and Obama are trying to decide how and what Americans should do with their money? And this is what fuels your rage and Beck's rage. Correct?
But you know what fuels my rage about Beck:
1) Why is Beck working for FOX News, broadcasting from my city, New York, when on several occasions he's mentioned he'd rather live in places like Montana... the "real" America? Really, Mr. Beck? Then, go live in Montana and use your money to broadcast your paranoia from "real" America on your own network that your money funds. Why go to News Corp and take a job working in "the MSM" located in morally corrupt New York City when you're clearly made of purer ilk. You should be among the "real people" broadcasting on free open airways instead of on the TV or Radio that is monitored by the FCC; a big government program!
Substitue
( Pete Townsend)
You think we look pretty good together
You think my shoes are made of leather
But I'm a substitute for another guy
I look pretty tall but my heels are high
The simple things you see are all complicated
I look pretty young, but I'm just back-dated, yeah
Substitute your lies for fact
I can see right through your plastic mac
I look all white, but my dad was black
My fine looking suit is really made out of sack
I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth
The north side of my town faced east, and the east was facing south
And now you dare to look me in the eye
Those crocodile tears are what you cry
It's a genuine problem, you won't try
To work it out at all you just pass it by, pass it by
Substitute me for him
Substitute my coke for gin
Substitute you for my mum
At least I'll get my washing done
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ8Ra1JdtI0
Even worse, I can't believe that people show approval for this meme by providing a standing ovation in response!
Somebody once sought to teach us that Heaven on Earth was a possible human creation, and Heaven on Earth depends on kindness and cooperation, not on allowing ourselves to become each other's Karmic instruments of struggle.
An excess of struggle only creates more dysfunction, which in turn creates the criminal and unwise parenting sector of our current Hell on Earth . . . unfortunately, it also creates those willing to soldier for the causes and war games of the rich, so you can easily see that they have a vested interest in keeping this meme alive and thriving . . . and Beck is their perfect mouthpiece, or one of them, at least.
Do they also expect the virgins when they expire, or perhaps a giant golf course in Heaven?
That is the most important piece of it. It is the same 3-5 million people that slavishly follow one cable network and listen to hours of AM talk radio.....
They are NOT the majority, even though they continually act like they are.