Eric Boehlert calls out Beck and others
Yep, I’m still talking about the Pittsburgh shooting. There have been many progressives who have pointed out the link between the Right’s fanning the flames of conspiracy theorists (e.g. “Obama is going to take your guns.”) Most Americans recognize stupidity when they see it. Unfortunately, these are trying times. Some Americans are more susceptible to fear mongering and hate. Some of us are worried about losing our jobs and don’t know whom to blame. Some of us have lost their jobs and can’t find new ones. We want to blame someone. Some Americans look at the new president and say that he is different and, therefore, he must think differently. This is where it all starts. Then they go and pick up a book by Ann Coulter or Michael Savage (as Mr. Poplawski did). These authors clearly state liberals are to blame.
I’m all for political discourse. I think everyone has the right to stand up and talk about what he or she believes. Yet, if you are listening to what is on the airwaves, you hear them spouting things that have no basis in reality. I’m not talking about shows on the Sci-Fi Channel. I’m talking about supposed “news” shows on programs like Fox News.
Eric Boehlert from Media Matters has an excellent article which was posted yesterday. It outlines a lot of the craziness that the right wing has been spouting on Fox News. (I’ve reprinted some of the article below.)
Jones also noted with excitement that Fox News’ Glenn Beck had recently begun warning about the looming New World Order on his show, just like Jones had for years. “It is great!” cheered the conspiracist. (Like Jones, Beck recently warned viewers that “the Second Amendment is under fire.”) Concluding the interview, Fox News’ Napolitano announced “it’s absolutely been a pleasure” listening to Jones’ insights.
We don’t know if Poplawski tuned in to watch Jones’ star turn for Fox News last month. But is there any doubt that Fox News is playing an increasingly erratic and dangerous game by embracing the type of paranoid insurrection rhetoric that people like Poplawski are now acting on? By stoking dark fears about the ominous ruins that await an Obama America, by ratcheting up irresponsible back-to-the-wall scenarios, Fox News has waded into a territory that no other news organization has ever dared to exploit.
What Fox News is now programming on a daily (unhinged) basis is unprecedented in the history of American television, especially in the form of Beck’s program. Night after night, week after week, Beck rails against the president while denouncing him or his actions, alternately, as Marxist, socialist, or fascist. He felt entirely comfortable pondering whether the federal government, under the auspices of FEMA, was building concentration camps to round up Americans in order to institute totalitarian rule. (It wasn’t until this week that Beck was finally able to “debunk” the FEMA conspiracy theory.) And that’s when Beck wasn’t gaming out bloody scenarios for the coming civil war against Obama-led tyranny. In just a few shorts months, Beck raced to the head of Fox News’ militia media movement.
Just prior to the Pittsburgh massacre, Beck’s often bizarre on-air performances, in which his rants against the Obama administration’s dark forces were mixed in with his tearful proclamations of love of country, had turned him into a highly rated laughingstock. “That is a shaky cat,” Dennis Miller recently giggled while describing Beck. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough broke into hysterics after a montage of Beck’s most weepy moments. And TV satirists have had a field day at the Fox News host’s expense. (Stephen Colbert: “Crank up the crazy and rip off the knob!”)
But I’m not sure people should be laughing. (more… )
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