"I'm so sick and tired of being in the system. I'm not going to play the game anymore." Glenn Beck, signing off from his Fox News program on Friday, July 1, 2011.
Oh, please. Would that we could all actually believe he is actually going to sit down and shut up.
No, no he is taking his crazy train to his own Web TV channel, eponymously named, GBTV, which sounds a little too much like a sexually transmitted disease for my liking, but perhaps that is the point. Glenn Beck, or at least his manufactured, not ready for prime time persona is as virulent as a case of the clap. Worse still, it will be a daily two hour extravaganza of hyperconservative half baked nonsense...almost makes me want to go back to dial up Internet service.
Here's my real problem with Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and others like them who claim to represent "the average frustrated God fearing American." They don't know American history, they don't fact check their own comments, and they don't understand that even the most average American would really like their elected officials to be better than average.
I am not a economics whiz, yet I think the person running the Treasury should be and I think the Secretary of State ought to have a little background and hands on experience in foreign relations and diplomacy. What the hell, let's go crazy and make sure that the people planning and leading troops into battle, actually have experience doing that while we're at it.
I do not want a folksy every person who knows half of the Declaration of Independence and is muddy on the details regarding the founding fathers (Michele Bachmann) to represent me and my country to the rest of the world. As it is, America lags behind every other developed country in educating our children and the current crop of politicos making news simply adds to the chain of evidence.
Glenn Beck revels in creating drama, even manufacturing it on occasion. He delights in pointing out the foolishness of liberals and Democrats but forgets that he is playing with a double edged sword. Once you tread down the path of name calling and vitriol it is impossible to come back to the land of sane, reasonable debate. Moderates have stopped even trying to reason with Beck for that very reason.
There have been conservative talk show pundits before and they managed to keep the highway of conversation flowing in both directions, intelligently and with respect for all parties involved. William F. Buckley was witty and irascible. He wasn't necessarily likable, but he knew his facts and he didn't pick a fight with someone if he didn't know what the hell he was talking about-whether you agreed with him or not you were likely to get a well thought out argument.
And that is exactly my point-this is supposed to be a democracy and part of the democratic process is, or should be, well reasoned, rational debate. Year after year our country becomes more diverse in every possible way and with that diversity comes an increasing number of divergent views-again, that's the way it should be. Part of the health of our growing democracy should be based on the kind of free and open debate we are able to have as Americans.
Free of vitriol, open to the exchange of ideas that are different from our own, and debated in a manner that does service to the men and women who founded an imperfect democracy.
"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." James Bovard
Happy Independence from Inflammatory Argumentative Nonsense Day!
There have been conservative talk show pundits before and they managed to keep the highway of conversation flowing in both directions, intelligently and with respect for all parties involved. William F. Buckley was witty and irascible. He wasn't necessarily likable, but he knew his facts and he didn't pick a fight with someone if he didn't know what the hell he was talking about-whether you agreed with him or not you were likely to get a well thought out argument.
And that is exactly my point-this is supposed to be a democracy and part of the democratic process is, or should be, well reasoned, rational debate. Year after year our country becomes more diverse in every possible way and with that diversity comes an increasing number of divergent views-again, that's the way it should be. Part of the health of our growing democracy should be based on the kind of free and open debate we are able to have as Americans.
Free of vitriol, open to the exchange of ideas that are different from our own, and debated in a manner that does service to the men and women who founded an imperfect democracy.
"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." James Bovard
Happy Independence from Inflammatory Argumentative Nonsense Day!
Remember when Palin didn't know what the Bush Doctrine was? That wasn't even history, it was current events.
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