It's entirely possible that many of you out there have never heard of Glenn Beck. However, he’s likely to become a household name pretty soon, as he’s just been given his own hour-long opinion show by none other than CNN.
The fact that CNN has a new show host isn’t groundbreaking news per se. However, the notion of hiring someone like Glenn Beck shows just how low the 24-hour news networks have sunk in their effort to distance themselves from anything resembling actual journalism.
Glenn Beck is a syndicated radio conservative talk show host. The Glenn Beck Program is heard in over 200 markets nationwide, where the host continually spouts out half-truths and incendiary speech at anyone who becomes outspoken toward the current administration or congress. Like the listeners of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Bill O’Reilly, etc., his listeners are doomed to become more ignorant of current events over time, because everything said is filtered through a conservative earpiece. Hence, it consists mainly of oversimplified propaganda.
Beck got an early start in broadcasting, and had a regular gig when he was only 18 years old. Successful at a young age, Glenn became a notorious drug and booze hound. His career was much like an episode of VH-1’s Behind the Music, except without the artistic merit or talent. He was also diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Disorder, and has been on different medications to treat that sickness, usually without success.
With a career in shambles and a failing marriage, Glenn realized that he was hitting rock bottom. He did what most other people do when all of their other addictions have failed them – he became addicted to religion. He jumped head-first into the Church of Jesus Christ/Latter Day Saints (Mormonism), and found a second wife (don’t worry, he defended the sanctity of marriage by leaving his first wife and kids prior to tying the knot again). He then resumed his radio career by becoming a sanctimonious windbag talk show host.
Like our beloved President Bush, Beck’s career took off soon after finding God and becoming judgmental of others. His radio show became popular, and soon became syndicated. It can now be heard nationwide.
Listeners who tune in to his show can count on being treated to outrageous hate-filled statements on a regular basis. Here’s a sampling of some of Glenn’s greatest hits:
On Michael Berg (father of Nick Berg, an American Civilian who was executed by kidnappers in Iraq) -
I think he is grieving, but I think he's a scumbag as well. I don't like this guy at all." . . . I'm beginning to question, you know, "Can you let your son's body become the same temperature as your son's head before you turn this into a political campaign against the president -- could you do that?"On Michael Moore -
Hang on, let me just tell you what I'm thinking. I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out -- is this wrong? I stopped wearing my What Would Jesus -- band -- Do, and I've lost all sense of right and wrong now. I used to be able to say, "Yeah, I'd kill Michael Moore," and then I'd see the little band: What Would Jesus Do? And then I'd realize, "Oh, you wouldn't kill Michael Moore. Or at least you wouldn't choke him to death." And you know, well, I'm not sure.On Cindy Sheehan - Cindy Sheehan. That's a pretty big prostitute there, you know what I mean? I mean, more of a -- Stu, what did we call her when she was in the news? Not a prostitute.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER STEVE BURGUIERE: Yeah, we eventually got to "tragedy pimp."
Because we believe she's actually pimping the prostitute out.
BECK: Correct.
BURGUIERE: Which I think is actually the most accurate description.
BECK: Pretty hard to beat prostituting your son's death. Don't you think?On 9/11 Victims’ families and Hurricane Katrina Vicitims -
This is horrible to say, and I wonder if I'm alone in this -- you know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims' families? Took me about a year. . . . But the second thought I had when I saw these people and they had to shut down the Astrodome and lock it down, I thought: I didn't think I could hate victims faster than the 9-11 victims. . . . And that's all we're hearing about, are the people in New Orleans. Those are the only ones we're seeing on television are the scumbags -- and again, it's not all the people in New Orleans. Most of the people in New Orleans got out! It's just a small percentage of those who were left in New Orleans, or who decided to stay in New Orleans, and they're getting all the attention. It's exactly like the 9-11 victims' families. But Beck is not always condemning people. He’s also capable of lavishing ball-washing praise to people who he considers to represent the best of what America can offer the world. For example, on the October 6, 2005 broadcast of his show, he interviewed a man who claimed to be involved in the torturing of suspected terrorists. Here’s a snippet of that little gem:
BECK: And what would you -- like, what kind of tools would you use? What was your method and what worked the best?
"MITCH": Well, I had three or four that worked the best. I mean -- you've had your eyes dilated before?
BECK: Yeah.
"MITCH": Well, with simple masking tape or duct tape, you dilate the eyes, and they you use halogen lamps, and a person is placed in a rigid position where they cannot move. Their eyes are opened and the halogen lamps, you know, they're producing 40,000 watts. It's intense. And that breaks them down. High-pressure water -- I mean, you've heard the term "drinking from a fire hose." I wouldn't do that. That generally wouldn't extract what you want, and usually would drown somebody quickly. But you can use high-water pressure into one ear, and when that first ear drum is broken with, you know, 14 or 15 hundred pounds of water pressure going in, the don't -- they will talk before that second ear drum is broken.
<...>
BECK: Mitch, I've got to tell you I appreciate your service. I don't know your circumstances at all. I, you know, I have to assume that, because we wear the white hats that we're not doing this at the drop of a hat.
<...>
BECK: So in other words -- let me ask you this. So, you know, you always see, like, they'll come in with this, like, briefcase, and they'll open it up and there will be all these tools in there.
"MITCH": No.
BECK: That doesn't happen either?
"MITCH": No. No. I did know a contractor that did drilling on live teeth. You know, well teeth. And you've seen that before in different movies.
<...>
BECK: Did you ever accidentally kill somebody?
"MITCH": No. I made them wish they were dead. You know, when you have -- like I was saying the, the best -- my most successful use of any technique was high-pressure air. You just think of a small velocity hose with 1,200 PSI of air coming through it. I don't know if you've ever heard a hose with that much pressure go off, but once -- your ears immediately bleed. One ear blown completely out, and you don't have to do the other one.
BECK: Wow. Mitch?
"MITCH": It's like your head exploding inside is what we always thought --
BECK: Do you ever have a hard time sleeping at night?
"MITCH": No.
BECK: Good for you. Good for -- I mean, good for you.
So there you have it. Soon, you'll be able to tune in to CNN to hear this sort of “news” being reported on a regular basis. Apparently, striving to become “The Most Trusted Name In News” has been taken out of the network’s mission statement, and has been replaced by “Please Watch Us – We Now Have Less Integrity Than Fox!”
Glenn Beck is merely the latest in a seemingly endless line of people who claim to have been converted into devout Christians, then use that claim to achieve wealth and fame by advocating actions that fly completely against the central tenets of Christian faith (murder, torture, belittling grieving survivors of tragedy, and flat-out lying). I’m pretty sure that somewhere Jesus is wincing with disgust at the way his message has been warped in the name of greed and self-promotion.
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