Glenn Beck, Foot and Mouth

[Stavros]

Apparently Glenn Beck has put his foot in his mouth again, barking on about Utoya Island in Norway where over 60 children were slaughtered by a blonde Aryan who in photos wears the uniform of some opera-buffa state of his imagination, festooned with medals he probably awarded himself for his unreocgnised genius. As if that wasn't bad enough, Beck has said

"There was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like, you know, the Hitler youth. I mean, who does a camp for kids that's all about politics? Disturbing."

The same report says (I can't verify its accuracy):

Despite Beck expressing surprise that political movements would hold camps for children, followers of his 9/12 Project – which aims to "recapture the spirit of the day after America was attacked" – have this summer been doing just that.
Organisers of the "vacation liberty schools" in several states told the Daily Telegraph how they taught children as young as eight a Tea Party-endorsed curriculum spanning religion, economics and political principles.


I am prepared to debate Beck on any subject of his choosing, but there are times when its best that even public commentators kept their mouth shut. This was one of them.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8660986/Norway-shooting-Glenn-Beck-compares-dead-teenagers-to-Hitler-youth.html

[onmyknees]

Apparently Glenn Beck has put his foot in his mouth again, barking on about Utoya Island in Norway where over 60 children were slaughtered by a blonde Aryan who in photos wears the uniform of some opera-buffa state of his imagination, festooned with medals he probably awarded himself for his unreocgnised genius. As if that wasn't bad enough, Beck has said

"There was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like, you know, the Hitler youth. I mean, who does a camp for kids that's all about politics? Disturbing."

The same report says (I can't verify its accuracy):

Despite Beck expressing surprise that political movements would hold camps for children, followers of his 9/12 Project – which aims to "recapture the spirit of the day after America was attacked" – have this summer been doing just that.
Organisers of the "vacation liberty schools" in several states told the Daily Telegraph how they taught children as young as eight a Tea Party-endorsed curriculum spanning religion, economics and political principles.


I am prepared to debate Beck on any subject of his choosing, but there are times when its best that even public commentators kept their mouth shut. This was one of them.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/norway/8660986/Norway-shooting-Glenn-Beck-compares-dead-teenagers-to-Hitler-youth.html


The op-ed, posted on Al Jazeera’s website (http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/07/201172412744740495.html) on Sunday, is the work of Ahmed Moor. The outlet calls him “a Palestinian-American freelance journalist based in Cairo“ who ”was born in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.” What it doesn’t say, but what is clear in the piece, is that he’s not a fan of Glenn Beck.
He opens his article by decrying “right-wing propaganda“ and ”reactionary bigotry:”

The Norwegian terrorist who murdered more than ninety innocent civilians – many of whom were teenagers – did not act alone. Or rather, he acted within a cultural and political context that legitimises his fearful and hate-infested worldview. It is now clear that Anders Behring Breivik was exposed to large amounts of right-wing propaganda. This tragedy underlines the urgency with which normal people around the world must combat fundamentalist nationalists and chauvinists wherever they may be. But it also demonstrates the extent to which reactionary bigotry has infected mainstream thought.
"What kind of “right-wing propaganda?“ How about ”right-wing zealots” like Glenn Beck who, according to Moor, is comparable to American-born Al Qaeda operative Anwar Al-Awlaki:
Anders Behring Breivik, Mohammed Atta and Baruch Goldstein are all cut from the same rotten cloth. Anwar Al-Awlaki and Glenn Beck – the peddlers of the faith – all share the same core afflictions."


I see you one Glenn Beck, and raise you one Al Jazeera . Haters hate, blow hards blow....it matters not if they have olive skin or blonde hair. I won't put too much credence in what Beck says, if you do the same for Al Jazerra. Let's dismiss them both and start over !!

[Stavros]

Let's dismiss them both and start over !!

I do agree with you on this; its depressing to think that when these events take place people have little time for the victims and immediately speculate on causes allied to their own prejudice.

I think what a lot of people ignore is that these 'summer camps' exist across the political spectrum, and that Beck himself seems to be involved in one of them or whatever the truth of it is.
http://www.ivorynotebook.com/

Put teenagers together on an island -anywhere in the world- and I think that the kind of engagement that is on their mind isn't so much a discussion on conflict resolution or the values of democracy or Does Aid Work? Its something else.

[arnie666]

Iam not a fan of Glenn beck,despite being very much a conservative. He has made other stupid remarks ,like nuclear disaster in japan being gods message that we are fuking up and is a punishment. Or something like that.

I understand the point he was making though about these 'youth movements' ,Obama himself talked about a seperate national security force from the armed forces,we ahve all seen the video of liberal parents engaging in a very odd obama arse licking session with children singing about obama ,or those black kids in uniform ranting about obama changing their lives. it does seem to be something socialists and national socialists are a fan of.

However he certainly should engage brain before speaking,it certainly wasn't the right time if there ever is to make those comments .End of the day many peope have died by the hands of a very evil man,and none of them deserved it.

[Ben]

Boycott Beck! Brands Child Victims Hitler Youth (http://www.juancole.com/2011/07/beck-compares-norwegian-child-victims-to-hitler-youth.html)

Posted on 07/26/2011 by Juan Cole

Glenn Beck, who was purveyed to the American public in their millions by Time Warner’s CNN for some time, before he was picked up and built up by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Cable News, is obviously unstable and has done a good job of encouraging others to be unstable.
But on his radio show on Monday, he went so far that if he ever has another gig (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/07/glenn-beck-compares-norwegian-victims-to-hitler-youth/1) where he is allowed to address more than 50 people (and those would have to be fellow inmates in the asylum) it will be one of the great media travesties of all time.
As bereaved parents are burying and mourning their children (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/nation-weeps-as-parents-bring-home-their-children/story-e6frg6so-1226101579276), Beck said of Anders Breivik’s killing rampage at Utoya Island,
‘ “As the thing started to unfold and there was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like the Hitler Youth. Who does a camp for kids that’s all about politics? Disturbing…” ‘
The audio link can be found here. (http://www.glennbeck.com/content/show/2011-07-25/)
Beck himself sponsored a children’s political summer camp, to indoctrinate the poor things in Beckism, (http://www.politicususa.com/en/glenn-beck-norway-hitler-youth) so his statement is doubly macabre.
The irony is that Beck, in painting ordinary political liberals as fascists, is projecting his own dark desires on liberal democracies (http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/projection-much-glenn-beck-warns-fas). Mussolini’s banning of labor unions and punitive policies toward the poor are exactly what Beck calls for.
It is hard to know what provoked the heartless comment. One could speculate Beck cannot sympathize with Breivik’s victims because Breivik’s political philosophy and obsessions resemble Beck’s so much. But perhaps it isn’t support for Breivik that led Beck to his monstrous statement, but rather hatred for the Labor Party and its policies. But when you hate a mainstream political party so much that you display this level of indifference to human suffering, then it raises questions about the judgment of radio station owners who choose to push this excrement at us.
In contrast to Beck’s poisonous hatred, which for-profit radio is making money off of, some 100,000 Norwegians in Oslo, and more around the country, responded to Friday’s massacre (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/25/us-norway-march-idUSTRE76O4EV20110725?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+% 2F+US+%2F+International%29) by calling for nonviolence.
We should honor the dead children, and honor the masses of Norwegians who stood up for non-violence, by boycotting any radio company that carries his sick rants to six million people every day, as well as the products of the companies that pay to keep him on the air. Beck has a right to say what he wants to say. But he does not have a right to be picked up in syndication by private businesses, who can choose other programs if they like. Private businesses have obligations to their customers, and one of those obligations is not to purvey to them political pornography of this sort.
The Prime Minister of Norway responded (http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/110726/beck-slammed-dead-teen-hitler-comparision), calling Beck’s comments a new low.
Numbers to call, politely, to say you are tuning out until Beck is gone, are given here. (http://www.premiereradio.com/pages/corporate.html)