Well, I just had an absolutely magical evening with my lovely girlfriend at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis. Her professor's choir, the Tenebrae English Chamber Choir, performed and they were spectacular. The sounds reverberated so wonderfully off of the walls and to be in the presence of such beautiful artwork and Christian iconography... I had goosebumps for most of the evening. I just wish that the pews had been a little more comfortable. Half of the time I was thinking about how much my back hurt... But regardless of the minor pains, the concert was wonderful.
I, on the other hand, have felt miserable the last few days. Stomach flu, I think/hope. I feel better now, but who knows if that will last or if I will get back to school on Monday.
However, I have had a chance to think about one of the most frustrating people that I am aware of: Glenn Beck. Now, I am a little ashamed of the passionate rage this man can inspire in me. And perhaps it isn't even him. I think it may be more that he is incredibly popular and people seem to buy his message. Maybe they don't, but it is clear that he is very high profile and his words are reaching a lot of people. I want to keep my comments brief and concise because otherwise this will be 12 pages long. As a little appetizer to my main comments I wanted to say that I am saddened by people on the left that publish posts or comments about Beck the dabble in the same kind of name-calling that Beck loves. Calling Beck a "right-wing nut job" or a "crazy conspiracy theories" may be fair, but in the effort to inspire civil discourse, ultimately self-defeating. Clean it up, ladies and gentlemen. Attack the issues. You will win every time. There is little to no truth on his side. Point out his hypocrisy and lack of evidence, don't resort to cheap insults. It may feel good, but it just continues the bickering. OK...
1. I had a great conversation with my high school AP Literature teacher about the "Beckites" and racism toward the President. She put it in an interesting light that I may have thought of, but the way she said it made me think differently. In a white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist culture, where rich, white men are privileged, "other" categories are not supposed to be in charge. Also, we have many images of African Americans in our popular culture that depict black men as bafoons, lazy, screw-ups, and foolish individuals. The way she put it sort of brought these two ideas together. The fear and anger towards the government may in part be driven by the fact that the President has made some ambitious decisions on policy with long-term impacts, and white America may be afraid that a black man will screw it up? To be clear, I'm not suggesting that all criticism of President Obama is racist, but the type of reactionary, appeal-to-my-great-great-grandchildren rhetoric, and apocalyptic conspiracy theories really does suggest that some of the criticism is people being worried about Obama "screwing the pooch."
2. On conspiracy theories, I think that this is where Beck has shown that he can really draw in the crowd. And I think that the proliferation of these ideas is a product of the dysfunctional democracy, not because Barack Hussein Obama is a fascist, communist, or a Muslim. Let's face it: if people believed that their voice in government was as strong as corporate money, then people would not need conspiracy theories. If people thought that they could organize and lobby for legislation that made their lives better, their communities better, people wouldn't need to think that OnStar was going to be used against them. If people believed that government was really of the people, by the people, and for the people, people would be more focused on researching solutions, calling their senators, and drafting legislation. We as a country have become cynical. We want to find reasons that explain why the government won't work for us and we resort to wild stories about FEMA detention camps and mandatory abortions. I think a lot of these fears go back to my racism bit. The fear are also just generally related to the rhetoric of "change." But I do think this craziness of Beck is a sort of escapism for people to sit back and rationalize why they should not care about government and explain why government does not work. Well, as long as Beck and the rest of Fox News staff have Americans lulled into this state, Murdoch and the gang will keep consolidating their media outlets, buying up interests, and continue to ensure their profitability with corporatist legislation.
So I guess the moral of the story is Glenn Beck makes me think a lot! HA! Anyway, seriously. We could all stand a little more time reading information like the actual text of a bill or speech, and a little less time listening to "pundits" or editorials. Go make your own decisions. It's the terrible burden of freedom and it's wonderful.
