Glenn Beck Spins the Holocaust Museum Shooting

Yesterday afternoon Glenn Beck and two of his guests argued that Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party were "leftwing"; that "political correctness" led the committed white supremacist, James Von Brunn, to shoot a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC; and that ultimately President Barack Obama is the one responsible for the violence because his "bailouts" and "Socialistic" policies are engendering widespread anger. Beck denounced those who claim he is "churning the pot" because, he says, "the pot is already boiling."

Seeing this spectacle with subtitles at the gym led me to wonder if there are any laws on the books against using the public airwaves to incite violence. Because that is clearly what Beck is doing. I only caught about ten minutes of the show (about all I can stand) and it was a white reactionary tour de force -- incendiary, stupid, and racist.

In Beck's world President Obama brings "identity politics" and "political correctness" to the White House, and it's the "Left" that is "racist" because unlike conservatives, who judge people only on their individual merits and character (the three white men sitting at Beck's table nodding in agreement), all liberals see is people of different races and classes and genders, which "divides" America. And Obama's "socialistic" policies are leading people of dubious sanity to become unglued, and therefore the outbreak of right-wing violence is Obama's fault. Talk about spin! Only through a conscious and disingenuous effort could anyone link the shooting at the Holocaust Museum to President Obama.

Beck and his guests at the opening of his show all agreed that the Nazis were not rightwing but a bunch of leftwingers (like Obama and Nancy Pelosi). That is pretty weird when you think about how that tidbit of agitprop must disappoint a lot of white supremacists. All those white guys who hail Hitler and the Nazis because they were so good at kicking the crap out of Socialists, labor unionists, Communists and Soviets, women who didn't know their place, and even "degenerate" Dadaists and surrealists, and don't forget the Jews. What self-respecting Neo-Nazi or Ku Klux Klansman (or good ol' boy at the Council of Conservative Citizens) wants to hear that Hitler was like Michael Moore and Al Franken? But it doesn't matter because Beck is not appealing to his viewers' brains but to their guts. And all those "isms" sound the same to 'em anyhow.

And since this James Von Brunn guy targeted a museum where the murder of millions of Jews is memorialized Beck took the opportunity to run a short audio clip of an interview he had with Benjamin Netanyahu three years ago. He then segued into a riff on how our currently tough economic times will lead some people to scapegoat Jews and that means that Israel should bomb Iran right away. Somewhere behind Beck's talking points there is real thinking going on. No one should dismiss Beck as a hack or "entertainer." He is a propagandist.

It's also clear that Beck and his fans just can't get over the fact that a black man is now their president.

The television and radio producers behind Beck's shows are bright, highly educated Republican strategists at FOX News who are expert at calculating each talking point for the host to pull on the jingoistic heartstrings of his viewers. And it works. Beck's writers are creative people because they've found numerous ingenious ways to denounce Obama because he's black but in ways that don't sound racist.

Beck's good at what he does. I'm sure his viewers get fired up during every show. He's also dangerous. He talks up a grand conspiracy of liberals and "Socialists" who are destroying everything that makes America great and constantly uses alarmist rhetoric as if the whole country is falling apart around us. He does so by emoting on command and with practiced histrionics. If I were Beck I wouldn't have guests who bring up the Third Reich to elucidate their views about what America is currently going through.

Comments

[emmer]

Can anyone give me the link to this Glenn Beck video clip?

[FdeBear]

You know we need to be more committed to ridding ourselves of toxic waste in this country. Limit your exposure.

[Soundofthunder]

Yes, Hitler was a socialist because his party had the word in its name. Just to understand how deceiving names can be, never forget GOP includes the words GRAND and PARTY when it's clear that the only thing left of the Republicans is OLD.

SOT

[Garioch]

Is Beck a court jester for the right wing? Yes. Does he actually believe the rubbish he spouts? Perhaps. Am I tired of people making excuses for his audience? Yes.
People now have an unbelievable amount of information available in their homes, they don't have to spend multiple nights closeted in a library reading through books to figure out the nature of National Socialism as practiced by the fascist parties they can find multiple explanations in a matter of moments. If they can't be bothered to do this simplest of tasks then I'm afraid Beck and his pack of clown acolytes are what they deserve.

[mari2JJ]

Sadly, Glenn Beck is a Mormon and he espouses these racist views that do not reflect the belief system of the Church. The fact that he has made much of his Church membership makes it necessary to identify him as not being a true picture of Mormon beliefs. Sad to say, he is a hate monger and he uses one group against another in his attempt to make controversial comments and assessment of the world around him. My own experience with Mormons shows them to be kind and loving people who are interested in the entire world and they want everyone to do well.

[Tex1969]

Beck reflects horribly on the Mormon church.

[Susan Williamson]

Fox News and Rush Limbaugh are dangerous!!

[realpolitic]

Beck metioned the dreadful Holocaust Museum shooting just to spin it against President Obama and Hannity hardly mentioned the attack at all. It shows these right-wing spinmasters are basically anti-Semitic in nature. They can not use outright anti-Semitism in their appeals, just as they can no longer use outright racism in their appeals to their disaffected right-wing, largely white audiences because they know this rhetoric is today beyond any societal permissable standards. They trumpet Israel but only as a sword, only as an excuse to rally their reactionary crowds for attacks against Muslim states or for the preservation of a place where the end times will come about, which is popular in evangelical literature.

Beck shamelessly spins hate against Obama using a thesis developed by Jonah Goldberg who wrote a book saying Hitler was a left-wing fascist because the word "socialist" was in his party name. This shoddy reasoning is what passes for intellectualism on the right. As mentioned by the author, Hitler killed and imprisoned socialists and outlawed labor unions. He saw communism as a Jewish conspiracy and hated it as well. But Beck can say without merit that Obama is socializing the economy and Hitler was a socialist, and therefore, Obama is Hitler. Of course, if some poor lonely sociopath acts on this indoctrination, Beck quickly washes his hands.

Beck specializes in incitement to violence with plausible deniability. Without the Murdoch media empire such hatred will be orphaned. It has a home there.

[doober]

I am glad to see that Obama has replaced the word “Terror’ with the word “extremism”.

We can now call it what it is...Religious extremism and Political extremism..

The religious Extremists have taken the words of the Bible and the Koran and twisted them so they are not recognisable as books of Love and Compassion but are books of hypocracy, fear and Hate..

This applies to the Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions

Political Extremism is based on Corruption and greed..Also there is the same theme of hypocracy fear and hate as practised by religions. The Politicians have done the same thing with the Constitution as religion has done with.. the Bible... the Koran... the Torah..

I am glad we can finally call it what it is “Extremism”..

[karinova]

Wasn't that the whole reason Bush&Co loved that word ("terrah") so much? Specifically to make it a little harder to notice that really, the "terrists" aren't very different from a good chunk of the xian right?

[rumblingspire]

2 + 2 = 5. I never thought I would see the day.

this is not what "free speech" is about. Some one who starts teaching that 2+2=5 is dangerous.

[rumblingspire]

I will look the other way if someone would make it go away

[anniegirl9]

These guys will re-define anything to suit thier needs. They openly mocked feminists until they put Palin (a woman who wanted to take away women's rights) and then claimed she was a feminsit.
Limbaugh now says that fit people are the ones hurting the health care industry, and white supremist are now leftists.

I wouldn't say that this shooter was a main stream Repub, but the idea that a white supremist is left leaning is all but laughable. I would personaly kiss Limbaugh's a@* if he could show me the voting records of admitted white surpremist going even more than 1% for liberals. Any white supremist. It ain't gonna happen!!!

And I'm sick and tired of being accused of being intollerant because I will not accept intollarance. It is not hypacritical to hate hatred. Yes, there are acts of violence on both extreams, but for progressives, it is not really natural. It's like female mass murderers. Yes, they occure, but in much lesser numbers because it goes against nature.

[ZachWayne]

Good article. Remember when Beck prodded President Obama to shoot him in the head and set the American people on fire, implying that Americans were watching the destruction of the republic and in harm's way? Is there a Glenn Beck "Watch" to keep record of his spin and hate speech? Jon Stewart jokes about him plenty, but with an increasing risk of violent extremism, Beck's validation couched in his mawkish antics are pretty serious. It's not just about ratings anymore; there must be responsibility.

[rshrink]

Well, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, no partial birth abortions were performed in 2008. There were 10 thousand abortions done in that year and half of those were performed on women from Kansas. The greatest number were done on women between the ages of 20-29. The likely most common reason for those would be economic issues, needing to get education or careers underway, in order to support themselves.

When we take the time and trouble to understand why abortions are performed, it suggests ways to reduce the number of abortions sought. Of course, conservatives want to take care of issues by imposing laws and punishing people. That, in this case, would only drive this action underground. We already have an overloaded legal system and the greatest number of inmates per capita of any developed country.

[stimpy]

Leaving aside the fact there is no such procedure as "partial birth abortion", guess the total percentage of abortions which are late term.

.08%

As in less than one tenth of one percent.

[rshrink]

In the statistics, the term "partial birth abortion," is in parentheses. The stat is still valid but Kansas Department of Health and Environment has adopted the term explaining in footnotes that it is not the correct term. That procedure has not been performed in Kansas since 1999. Interesting that those who seek to foment hate and outrage will never quote that statistic. It doesn't help their case. What is the real purpose of such fomenting? Has anyone really considered what is at the bottom of this campaign? Something tells me, it is one thing for the O'Reilly's and something else for the people that they succeed in recruiting for their cause.

[goodforme]

if most of the people are sick and tired of what capitalism has brought us,

why not face up the reality and embrace socialism?

the majority of the people in the US have said to the pollsters that they WANT the socialist solution for health care and education and housing.

what? the people have no freedom to choose whatever form of government they want to have?

[goodforme]

what about the public opinion that found the majority of the people want what sounds and looks like socialism and communism,

as long as the polls don't label those policies and ideas as "socialist" or "communist"???????

why deny the truth that a public universal health care IS a socialist idea?

what's wrong with that?

[suzy2time]

why do people waste their time watching that crap?

[AmyCat]

"Know your enemy". Thank goodness there are some sane people paying attention and keeping the rest of us informed when the dittoheads and right-wingnuts go over the top. When they conflate Obama's policies with those of the Nazis, or put up web-pages with pictures of guns pointing at the heads of photos of black politicians, we should know so we can speak up and say "This is WRONG!". Racists, like roaches, don't like it when people shine a light on them and their dirty deeds.

[rshrink]

I like the analogy of "racists like roaches." Good stuff.

[lylo]

By watching this crap, you are contributing to its production.
Know your enemy, but don't support him.

[doober]

Could it be that Obama is bringing the Banks, healthcare. Pharmaceutical and phoney Religions out from under their rocks so the people can see how corrupt and greedy they are. He is looking for pressure from the people to get things moving in the direction he wants them to go..

It is time to give him the help he needs..