They are actually playing this on FOX News:
And it’s apparently getting good ratings.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
They’re trying to start a civil war. I don’t think they’re likely to succeed, but they may eventually produce a series of localized insurrections. Either way, they plainly haven’t given much thought to the likely outcome, which is their swift and certain defeat, followed by the illegalization of conservative political parties. Or if they have thought about it, they’re still indulging in the NRA-backed fantasy that a bunch of idiots with small arms present any kind of threat whatsoever to an opponent with resources like this.
You’re assuming the military would be on the side of “the government” instead of backing the “insurrection.” Perhaps, the “revolution” will be televised and most people will cheer as the “un-American” members of Congress are brought before firing squads, one by one, in an orgy of reality tv viewing. The hushed tones of the news actor will ask, “Will this one beg for his life? Will the cowardly dog wet his pants? Let’s see, America.”
Maybe, the multinational corporations are feeling threatened. The very thing that Beck is warning against — fascism — is their ultimate wet dream. Isn’t this a well established pattern by now? The right-wing accuses others of what they are actually doing. They’re inciting people to be afraid of fascism while working to make it happen. Instead of the gray, somber totalitarianism of the USSR, they’ll install a bright, colorful American Idol version wherein the wage slaves are deluded into believing they are “free.” Aren’t we all a bit deluded already?
Frankly, I don’t see it. The military has always been reliable when it comes to dealing with insurrections, including periods of history when the opposition was even more whacko than it is now.
The only exception would be the Civil War, when the military was still largely at the state level, and the bulk of each state’s military left with it upon secession. Nor was this lesson lost on the victors, who effectively neutered the state armies — the National Guard — and instituted a standing army whose members are shuffled all across the country so as to avoid any concentration of soldiers from a particular section of the country.
How obvious, and pathetic.
Listen to the cadence of Beck’s delivery. And the content. He’s doing a fourth rate impersonation of Howard Beale from “Network,” a movie he’s admitted to studying in detail.
And we know how that plot ended.
You’re right, I can hear the similarities. But, Beale was ranting against the corporations. Beck is serving his masters, not fighting them. Turned upside down, this plot would end differently.
An aside: Imagine Rupert Murdock doing the Ned Beatty speech with his pirate accent. (har, matey) This idea is cracking me up this morning.
as a matter of fact, in the NYT puss-piece beck specifically mentions beale:
I see it, but i’m not sure if others do.
Isn’t that sedition?
Yes, it is. Unambiguously.
Unambiguous? Sedition? When was the last time someone was convicted of sedition? The 1st Amendment gives one a great deal of leeway and would like to see a more complete analysis of why this is sedition and not protected speech.
Anyway, accusing Beck of sedition would give him exactly what he wants. He’s be a hero to these numbnuts.
People are rarely convicted of sedition because it’s not actually illegal in any meaningful sense during peacetime. During major wars, there are often more stringent laws with respect to sedition.
I am by no means arguing that Beck should be prosecuted for sedition. That he and, for that matter, Michele Bachman are engaged in seditious behavior is, however, pretty clear on its face. The importance of that recognition has less to do with any legal consequences than it does with underscoring the hypocrisy of the American right, which likes to wrap itself in the mantle of Americanism while actually working to destroy the principles on which it was founded.
I’d laugh at this, but Beck is seriously going over the edge, both in terms of his sanity and acceptable discourse.
remeber how much the right wing freaked out over move on’s “general betray-us” ad? this is FAR worse.
I think it really pushed the edge of what should be legal. It’s far beyond irresponsible. And it isn’t even faintly connected to ‘news’.
The meme comparing Obama to Hitler was introduced quite a while ago.
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2008/02/obama-equals-hitler.html
Yes, what Fox is doing is sedition. But I imagine they figure that if anyone in the government would offically accuse them of sedition, it would just prove their point, that the “fascists” are trying to silence them.
No question Fox and their friends are in full-scale Nazi mode. However,
“Limbaugh’s Popularity Rating in the Cellar
CBS News
“(March 17) — Over the past few weeks, the White House has been casting right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh as the head of the Republican Party, and based on a new CBS News poll, it appears they may be onto something. According to the poll, Limbaugh’s favorable rating stands at just 19 percent, a full 43 points lower than President Obama’s.
“Limbaugh’s unfavorable rating, meanwhile, stands at 40 percent, while 41 percent say they don’t know or don’t have an opinion. Not surprisingly, the conservative commentator, who has said he hopes that the president’s economic policies fail, is far more popular with Republicans – 47 percent view him favorably – than with Democrats, just seven percent of whom view him favorably.
“The poll also found that Republicans are relatively pessimistic about the future of their party. Just 40 percent believe the party is going in the right direction, while nearly as many – 36 percent – say it is going in the wrong direction. Among all Americans, just 27 percent say the party is going in the right direction and 48 percent say it is going in the wrong direction.
“In March 1994 – right before the Republican takeover of Congress – views were quite different. A Gallup/CNN/USA Today taken at the time found that 58 percent believed the Republican leadership was taking the party in the right direction while just 24 percent thought it was headed in the wrong direction.”
By the way, what’s with that crap in London? Every agent provocateur in the western hemisphere must have been called out for that one.
I don’t know what I was watching (maybe Bill Moyers) and the guest was talking about how he thought Murdoch was simply interested in money and would put on t.v. whatever would provide him money. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if FOX went in the totally other direction and would become the most liberal of cable networks. It blows my mind to think this could be right. I mean, I would tune in to see this change. Imagine putting some real fire-breathing liberals on t.v. and imagine the battle royale (and ratings) that would occur if Fox went liberal (and I’m tallking real liberal–not the fake liberal that currently passes on the cable shows).
well, here’s something i wonder about, which would support what you said: while americans are watching commercials in between foxaganda, we in yurp on sky are treated to little 5 minute fillers about…get this…
alternative energy (adorable old geezer out in ohio boonies welding his own windmill etc), alternative green medicine (acupuncture, diet etc).
etc, etc. then return the inspiring crew (happy talk from hell).
as for beck, he’s the latest in a long line of egomaniac psychos that america trots out to stare at (fortunately one part of) itself in the mirror.
gwb being the one before limbaugh, before reilly, before beck.
allowing the unhinged out of their cages to spout inflammatory inanities in public is aberrant psych 101 for an observant public. they simply act out the worst in us, and we pay them a fortune to do so, thus encouraging them to spill every smidgen of paranoia in their fevered skulls, for us to shudder at (or thrill to, it takes all sorts…).
very cathartic, one hopes they serve as pressure vent, rather like people say sports defuse impulse to war.
watching their ratings is a useful form of political poll, to gauge the amount of collective wingnuttery bubbling under the social surface.
wanna know what makes beck tick?
nothing!
Glenn Beck poetry | Salon
dada rules!
That poem describes Beck’s style perfectly.
shorter Beck:
It’s time for revolution in America. We just have to figure out the reasons why. Now here’s a riff off the top of my head for “why” America needs a revolution. . . cue militaristic marching music, actual nazi marches, big brother announcer tone and staging (I must admit Beck played this pretty well–and while the imagery was trite it was entertaining).
dada indeed.
Isn’t Sky owned by Rupert Murdoch?
yup, the great globaliser himself…