In Defense of Glenn Beck
by Thomas Lindaman (9/5/09)
Getting the key to one’s hometown is a big deal. Recently, it was announced that conservative radio and TV host Glenn Beck would be receiving the key to his hometown of Mt. Vernon, Washington, because he was a hometown boy who made it. Then, as if some Leftist Pavlov rang a bell, the Leftists came out in droves to attack Beck as a racist and a hateful man. (I know. It shocked me to find out that Washington State is a bastion of Leftists, too. And for those Leftists reading this, that was sarcasm.)
Beck has gotten a lot of press lately for his comments about President Barack Obama and his alleged suspension (which just happened to coincide with a scheduled vacation) over said comments. In the media maelstrom that has come about due to Beck’s assertions, there are some key facts that are overlooked or missed, accidentally or intentionally, by all parties involved.
Granted, I’m a fan of Beck and his ideology. This alone will get the Left thinking that I’m a plant or that I’m some dupe. I assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. I am simply laying out the facts as Glenn would and letting you decide.
First, let’s go at the heart of the controversy: Beck’s statement that he believed Obama has a problem with white people and is a racist. Given that he made these statements on television, there is very little context that can be put into the limited time available. However, Beck did offer an extended explanation of his comments on his radio show after he made the comments, complete with direct quotations from Obama in context and logical arguments to support his thesis. After hearing his explanation and thinking through his logic, I have to say he has a valid point. If Obama isn’t guilty of hating whites, he’s done little to nothing to show that he’s okay with whites.
This leads to the Leftist canard that Obama can’t be racist because he was elected by whites, raised by whites, and has a number of whites on his Cabinet. Isn’t this the equivalent of saying, “I can’t be racist because I have a number of [insert name of minority] friends”? Just because you surround yourself with those people you hate doesn’t mean the hatred goes away. If anything, as we’ve seen with the Ku Klux Klan, the hatred goes underground, gaining strength and intensity until such time as it’s acted upon.
The bigger question that we should be asking people who take offense at Beck’s statement is “So what?” Beck has a right to make statements about the President, and to be fair, calling Obama a racist is rather tame given the frequency that similar claims are made by the Left. The First Amendment gives sufficient protection to Beck and people who agree with him, just as it gave sufficient protection to those who called George W. Bush a Nazi and a murderer. Considering these claims were made most often by the people who wail the loudest about Beck’s statement, I’d say there’s more than a little duplicity going on here.
Finally, let’s put the whole “suspension” crap to rest. Glenn Beck was not suspended by Fox News for his comments, no matter what Leftist bloggers say. The fact is Beck’s “controversial” statement was made weeks before his alleged suspension. If Fox News found Beck’s statement so bad, why didn’t they suspend him right away, as is common for other media outlets to do? Don Imus got taken off the air within a couple of days of making his infamous comment about those female college basketball players.
No, the real engine behind the controversy was the Leftist pro-Obama website ColorOfChange. After Beck made his statement, ColorOfChange went into action and threatened boycotts of different companies that advertised on Beck’s TV show and on Fox News in general. To their credit, they managed to get in front of the story and crow about the number of advertisers who weren’t going to advertise on Beck’s TV show because he dared to give an opinion.
Ah, but that’s where the wheels fall of the bus. Seems a number of the advertisers ColorOfChange cited as leaving Beck’s show…never really advertised on his show to begin with. And others decided to pull their advertising from all political talk shows. A handful, including WalMart, decided to pull their advertising from Beck’s show, but those are fewer in number than ColorOfChange would have you believe.
But Beck is getting the last laugh. Seems his TV ratings have boomed since the incident, leaving those advertisers who decided to leave looking more than a little foolish.
One more thing. Does anyone else find it ironic that the main group attacking Beck and his advertisers over his alleged racist comments is named ColorOfChange?
Normally, our instincts are to go with the underdog, but in this case Glenn Beck is an underdog everyman who is being falsely maligned by those who would like nothing more than to see him silenced. Let me put it this way, kids: you don’t have the numbers to pull it off. If you silence Beck, there are several others willing to pick up where he left off, and we’re lining up around the block to do it.
Or, as Glenn has put it, we surround them.
Thomas Lindaman
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