Monday, March 16, 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Future of the GOP: Glenn Beck



I have just met Glen Beck today. A girl goes for some education, comes back and what's the first thing she sees on her computer after witnessing Obama finally putting some fear in AIG smug face? Glenn Beck.

I never watched Fox News, I never will. I tried once, on YouTube so it doesn't count. But what the American public now calls tv "news" or "journalism" have no more credible link with reality. So I avoid it. But today I wanted to know why the creation of a governmental banking overseer was taking so long or why the Summers/Geithner duo could not remember that they're not in Wall Street anymore partying on but protectors of Main Street assets. But what I found was this: Glenn Beck.

At first, I thought it was just another infomercial for some 12 steps-like program to get rich fast. But no, it was a new breed of stupid and dangerous from the same guys that gave us O'Reilly, Limbaugh and Tucker Carlson: the desperate Republican dittoheads. But this one was just a little bit more creepy than your usual brand of crazy.

The language used by the this particular nutjob is actually not funny at all: he's deliberately putting a religious fervor into his demented political ideals while denying actually doing it. The denial is the usual Repug tactic. But the feverish emotional hysterics coupled with hypnotic speech pattern and images are all too close to cult-like group models to my liking.

"Belief v/s intellect", "Uniqueness of the movement", "Shared belief in a saying" are all some of the "most common features of religious movements" or cults according to the Cult Help and Information web site and I would add the "Us v/s the World" mentality, "shared common rituals giving shared powers" and those regular rituals becoming a necessity to rid members of their collective anxieties and fears. And guess what? Glenn got them all covered in his show, with Chuck "Texas President" Norris as the Looney Star cherry on this mess of a sundae.

Glenn "emotionally disturbed" Beck, prone to give 2 sorts of speech - a lenient one and a raving mad "fire and brimstone" other one - just wants to save America from the Big Bad Government in a Patriotic way that doesn't sound like Anarchy or Right Wing Led Class Warfare . Here's an example taken from BuzzFlash Blog:

Beck lists nine principles guiding his new movement on his Web site. The principles contain the usual right-wing "government ain't the boss of me," pro-Christianity propaganda. My favorite, though, marks a turnaround for the hardcore right. After years of conservatives screaming that those who don't support the president are un-American and want our troops to die terrible deaths, Beck comes out with principle number eight:

"It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion."

Beck said this on his show when introducing the eighth principle: "My opinion or others' opinions may be anti-American. Anti-American rhetoric would be anything that's destructive to the Constitution and our country as the founders understood it unless you want to change that."

He then called his audience to action saying, "If you agree with seven of these nine, please, stand up and fight for them."

What gets me is the fact that all his "outrage" is a reflection of what I felt towards the Republicans when they were selling out this country to the highest bidder while trying all they could to bankrupt it morally as well as financially, sucking it dry of any hope. The controlling GOP mentality who made sure to call every dissent voice unpatriotic, telling others who they should marry, love, hire, fire, let live or harass, was patiently tolerated for all those years. But threatening to secede 4 months after the legal election of a Democrat. And to give way to what solution? More big men with big guns!!!

If you want to know how it feels to be in the Revolution with Glen and Chuck at your side, just knock yourself out and watch the video. Bet you'll feel an urgent need either to pray to any god out there or to take a very long shower before you get to the end of it all....

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