Glen Beck Warns Viewers Not To Use Google 1276
An anonymous reader writes "Glenn Beck has told his viewers to do research, but to not use Google, because 'Google is pretty deeply in bed with the government.' He points to the fact that Google is having some problems overseas, as well as Jared Cohen. Cohen is Director of Google Ideas, has worked with the State Department, and has played a role in the 2009 unrest in Iran. He also mentions social networking in sinister undertones, asking if it's government propaganda."
I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, this guy is about one step away from saving his urine in jars and going all David Koresh on a compound somewhere. Anyone who still takes that clown seriously is either already a paranoid schizophrenic or too stupid to be reasoned with anyway. You would have more luck arguing with a religious fanatic.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Insightful)
You would have more luck arguing with a religious fanatic.
I thought Glen Beck and his viewers were already religious fanatics, on top of their rampant paranoia.
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Not all Christians are exclusionist lunatics, believe it or not. There are some very progressive Christian denominations (UCC, Disciples of Christ, etc.) that try not to exclude people, regardless of their beliefs.
Unfortunately, such denominations are shrinking in favor of more conservative Protestant movements. If you wonder why American Christians seem to be becoming more extreme, it's because they are. The moderates are leaving the Church entirely or gradually sliding into the more conservative sects. I'
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Interesting)
That's pretty funny, because the main thing man has to say about God is "God exists". Nothing else in science or nature or reality (though I repeat myself) even whispers that phrase.
Just think about it. If you are born a Muslim, 90% of the time you grow up to be a Muslim. If you are born a Christian, 90% of the time you grow up to be a Christian. If you are born a Mormon, 90% of the time you grow up to be a Mormon. Weird, isn't it, that the religion you're born into is almost always the religion you follow as an adult?
And yet - babies are born without the concept of object permanence. Somehow, though, nearly 100% of all babies change their minds eventually, and they all decide the same thing: even if I'm not looking at it, it still exists. Isn't it funny that when it comes to God, nobody can agree on anything? When the existence of God should, a priori, be as fundamentally true and fundamental to our understanding of the Universe as object permanence?
Weird, isn't it?
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It seems to, and so you hear people asking for the good old days.
It seems to me that the world is better than ever, and only getting better. It also seems like much of the chaos is caused by religious fanatics who don't want to accept this sort of change.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Insightful)
It still amazes me that other Christian groups will laugh at the silliness of Joseph Smith's Moroni story and then turn around with a straight face and talk about a first-century illiterate peasant revolutionary (killed by the Romans, no less) being the "son" of a omniscient, omnipresent being and flying up to heaven.
It's all stupid shit to an outsider.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Insightful)
What amazes me is that people feel they are somewhat superior to others because they believe in Bronze Age legends and take part in symbolic cannibalism rituals.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Interesting)
What also amazes me is that people feel they are somewhat superior to others because they don't.
Why does that amaze you? Seems perfectly rational to me
And that they think they'll actually get people to listen to them by treating them as such.
I agree with you there. Not that their minds are changeable anyway...deprogramming humans raised from birth to think a certain way is damn hard.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Insightful)
That's just a rehashing of the "don't be a dick" argument. The basic premise is pragmatic and sensible, but it's easily stretched to the point where pragmatism gives way to pandering. I can safely say that my morality is superior to anyones whose morality relies on divine edict and eternal punishments/rewards. It doesn't make me superior in general. The Pope might be a fine golfer, in which case he's certainly my superior on the driving range. I reckon though I can prove myself more ethical than he, and certainly more modest in that only a criminal, or someone afflicted with phenomenal egomaniacal delusion, would place themselves as the go-to guy of the most powerful being in all creation.
A mixture of honey and vinegar is what's needed. Your comments, being generalisations from the other end of the spectrum, seem a little on the sour side.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Interesting)
The problem is that Joseph Smith made a number of claims that are provably false. Only an idiot would believe in something they know to be false.
I understand that many claims made by "Christians" are also provably false, but these are claims made by preachers peddling doctrines, not claims made in scripture. For example, it is not clear whether depictions of miracles in scripture are meant to be taken literally or metaphorically. At the time, there was a tradition among Jews to make points using legends. The canonical version if the Bible offers differing accounts of Jesus' life (but does not make conflicting claims about what he said) almost as if to say that the details of his life are added to make points about spirituality rather than to document actual historical events. Another problem is the claim that scripture is inerrant. That claim is, ironically, not found in scripture, and it's obviously used by con-artists to peddle false doctrines based on narrow readings of particular scriptures ("Jesus hates fags" and stuff like that). I don't really have time to go into all differences between sound teaching as it's depicted in the Bible and what is taught in Church, but there are a lot of them.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is you shouldn't judge Christian values based on the actions and words of people who are only claiming to be Christians for worldly gain. It's good to stay open minded about things. And if you ever read the Bible, you would be shocked by all the differences between it and what is said about it in Church. And you'd be shocked by how bad Christians are at doing what it says, but then it's not surprising since they don't really know.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Insightful)
I grew up in small town (population ~500) midwest. My teachers would ride me over reading comic books in middle school/high school. I was wasting my time with figments of my imagination.
I saw these same people leaving the church each Sunday. It did not at all instill a sense of respect for them.
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Yes, to debunk Christianity one must make up stuff.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Informative)
There is at least one eminent scholar [wikipedia.org] that believes Jesus was an illiterate peasant. He used to be a catholic priest, did extensive research on the subject, and wrote nearly thirty books about it.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Insightful)
Meh, I don't think he's really any of those. Just a guy looking for shock value to sell viewership/listenership, and it works.
Either way I can't stand to listen to anything he says, or Amy Goodman for that matter. People who push their agenda through "news" irritate the crap out of me.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't watch a lot of Goodman, either, basically a segment here and there recommended by other sites and linked to the middle of one of her broadcasts. Generally because the link notes she has hard information, an interview, that nobody else dug up.
Still, it seems a little harsh to mention in the same sentence (which tends to imply equivalence), somebody who runs a tiny operation with web-only access and a shoestring budget, and has won several really major awards for journalism, stories that got her beaten up in Indonesia, arrested (charges all dropped), and so forth....with a TV guy who makes $30+ million per year promoting theories like the ones under discussion...and never has to risk a thing to get his "stories".
Or, to put it another way, if that's the best "equivalent" to Glenn Beck you can come up with, you just gave the "liberal media" vs "conservative media" comparison a gigantic boost for liberalism.
! monotheistic (Score:4, Interesting)
Christians are monotheists, but Mormons are polytheistic
Although Christians claim loudly they are monotheists, they are still unsatisfied with just worshiping God (as Jews do), and have added in a dead Jew who they worship instead, attributing to this man-god-hybrid all the powers of the original God. This is not really monotheism.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
No True Scotsman. (Score:4, Interesting)
This is a pretty common fallacy [wikipedia.org] Christians like to use when they're embarrassed by other Christians. Given all the variations of "monotheistic" Christianity, especially given most of them accept the Trinity and many accept Saints as well, why should it be impossible for there to be a polytheistic brand of Christianity, and why would it matter to you?
It certainly doesn't seem to matter to his fans!
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Informative)
He is saying that Mormons are polytheistic because they believe each Planet in the universe has it's own God and that there is nothing particularly special about the God that runs things here on Earth. In fact, if you are a really, really good Mormon you had a chance to ascend to godhood yourself after death, but only if you had enough wives to birth enough 'spiritual children' to populate it (why some fundamentalist Mormons insist on polygamy). I don't know how much of this is still considered cannon to the Mormon faith, but it is historically part of the faith.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Funny)
He is saying that Mormons are polytheistic because they believe each Planet in the universe has it's own God and that there is nothing particularly special about the God that runs things here on Earth.
Weird--I'd never heard that. I should open up Google and do some resear...oh--right. Damn.
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Such blatant idiocy. Maybe the concept of trinity just too much for a simple mind to understand.
Christians regard their religion as monotheistic, since Christianity teaches the existence of one God - Yahweh, the God of the Jews. It shares this belief with two other major world religions, Judaism and Islam.
However, Christian monotheism is a unique kind of monotheism. It holds that God is One, but that three distinct "persons" constitute the one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This unique thr
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe you should learn a bit more about the history of the Church before you go all-out on someone like that? The whole point of the the Trinity is that it's a compromise - in the Church's history, there was a powerful group of people who were convinced that God really did have three separate forms, and there was a group of people (who currently had official power) who were convinced that God having three separate forms was a polytheistic heresy.
In order to prevent a giant schism, they essentially made a compromise by fiat - God is three separate things (to appease the first group), but God is also one thing (to appease the second group). It makes absolutely no fucking sense whatsoever in any way, like many compromises do; and in fact, every logical way of explaining the concept of the Trinity has been deemed heretical, because by definition it will either fall on the side of God is one thing, or God is three things - and by definition, He must be both. It's like trying to straddle the line between 1 and 0 in discrete binary, there exists no correct middle ground. It's so bad that the Catholic Church officially considers the Trinity a "Mystery", which is code for "don't try to explain this or else you'll figure out the whole thing is kind of a scam".
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Mormons believe that the God of Earth is nothing particularly special as Gods go (and that other planets have different, independent Gods). It is also implied, though not stated outright, that the God of Earth was once a mortal man, and that if you live a good enough Mormon life you might have the opportunity to become God to a planet yourself after you die. That is the primary difference between most Christianity and Mormonism, not rituals, or if Jesus went on tour.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Informative)
Which market is better to exploit / market fear? A young, highly educated market or a older less-educated market?
As for the act, The Daily Show showed 2 clips, one from his CNN show and one from his FOX NEWS show, they were separated by about 18 months. On CNN he was saying the USA had the worst health care system in the world, but 18 months later he is on FOX NEWS saying its the best health care system in the world. So somehow the USA went from the worst to the best in 18 months with no legislation, reform, or any anything.
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Well its all an act / business to him.
Boom, right there. Glenn Beck plays a character on TV, named Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck's character is a huge douchebag. And I presume that if Glenn Beck the actor can play as ridiculous a character as Glenn Beck on TV, he must also be a fairly big douche himself.
But his character is fabulously successful. So maybe he's got some things figured out.
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But his character is fabulously successful. So maybe he's got some things figured out.
He has figured out a wonderful way to make money through pandering to a massive audience.
I also say that the character he plays is a douche, but not knowing the guy personally I can't say if he is actually a douche. But if he is really not a douche in real life then he knows it is all an act - which given the stuff he says (and yes I have listened to him) it seems like a douche thing to be doing anyway.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Insightful)
Steven Colbert plays a self-serving narcissistic douche on Comedy Central. His show is about making the news funny, not about portraying it accurately. He would be justified in not taking responsibility for anyone taking what he says seriously because his show is on a comedy channel.
Glenn Beck ?plays? a douche on Fox News. It claims to be a News channel. It is supposed to, and does not claim not to, have accurate and trustworthy information. As such, he is responsible for people taking what he says seriously (and they do). So, whether or not he tries to play a douche on TV, he is still a douche because he claims to be a pundit, not an actor.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Insightful)
Which market is better to exploit / market fear? A young, highly educated market or a older less-educated market?
I think /. regularly shows the young, "highly educated" market is plenty susceptible to fear & paranoia.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Funny)
That's just the libertarians, who aren't so far away from Beck's demographic.
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Hey! Just cause I like the Constitution doesn't mean I'm a follower of Beck. I'm more of a Ron Paul fan. The only real threat from the government is they may tax us to death. They're too incompetent to do much else.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm more of a Ron Paul fan. The only real threat from the government is they may tax us to death.
Yes, they "might." But here I am paying less taxes then at any other period during my lifetime, and the Ron Paul fans won't shut up about how I'm being taxed to death.
As a right-leaning person, there is no party for me. Republicans can't stop spending and starting pointless wars, Libertarians can't stop being misrepresenting themselves (either you're a "Constitutional originalist" or you support the Civil Rights Act, pick one) and fear-mongering, and Democrats don't have enough backbone to actually DO anything (Health Care is a perfect example. It's a gift to insurance companies that does little more than fleece the rest of us.)
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Insightful)
but exploiting fear in liberals is difficult compared to exploiting fear in conservatives
You have heard of Al Gore, yes? Or Michael Moore?
What about the recent campaign by MoveOn.org to "save public broadcasting" because of Republicans moving to cut off funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, despite the fact that public broadcasting as a whole gets only a small portion of its financing from the government?
People from across the political spectrum are open to FUD. The only real difference is which buttons you have to push.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Insightful)
That is not about fear, it is about anger and outrage at the actions of certain wealthy, rich people in America destroying the things we hold most dear as a country, and have since the days of our founding.
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Beck could say the same thing, substituting buzzwords like "limousine liberals" or "champagne socialists" in place of "wealthy, rich". The "destroying America" meme is universal. Beck says "the liberals are destroying America - be angry and outraged!", you say "the wealthy rich are destroying America - be angry and outraged!".
It's quite clear. Either both of you are using fear, or neither of you are. So which is it?
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Insightful)
Public Broadcasting? Really? Is that the best you can come up with?
You are comparing defunding of a public service to "the muslims are gonna kill us".
You know us liberals, if we don't have public broadcasting then our life isn't worth anything. We might just all commit suicide.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Insightful)
Statistics show that there are percentage wise more college educated republicans than democrats. Statistics also show that there are percentage-wise for more high school dropouts among democrats than among republicans. The only statistic which shows higher education among democrats is the slightly higher percentage of post graduate among democrats
I hate to point this out, but those same fearful old conservatives 40 years ago were probably young educated liberals, and 40 years from now, today's young educated liberals will be fearful old conservatives. That's just the way it works. When we are young and essentially have not much money money and little responsibility and are getting supported more or less by the government through the education system, we selfishly want the government to continue those social and educational benefit programs which benefit us, then when we get older, get a job, get responsibilities, get taxed, we tend to selfishly want to keep the money which we have been working so hard to get. Looking out for number one is the name of the game in both cases, but don't feel bad, because if it weren't for looking out for number one, then we wouldn't be here today.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Insightful)
exploiting fear in liberals is difficult compared to exploiting fear in conservatives
I WISH someone would try to exploit my fears. If there were more people out there afraid of over reaching police powers and corporate control of the justice system, this country would be a much better place.
The difference between conservative fears and liberal fears is that conservative fears are based in fantasy, liberal fears are based in reality. No, there are not, nor will there ever be Death Panels. On the other hand, yes the US government does actually spend over a billion dollars a year imprisoning its own citizens for doing nothing more than growing plants and consuming them.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Informative)
I can see older, that is the natural tendency of people exposed to the world.
But educated? Where did you get those stats?
The hood, the barrio, the welfare office, and the homeless shelter of course, all bastions of hardcore conservative thought. Err...
The funny part is through massive grade inflation and job requirement inflation, the average "uneducated" HS grad from 50 years ago was far better educated than the average modern college grad.
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Yes. All those rich republicans standing in line at the health department. Sure. I think I saw Donald Trump getting his food stamps in line just ahead of Steve Forbes.
And people say Beck is a nut job!
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Insightful)
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That is not at all insightful, as somebody else said, it is utterly ridiculous. Palin and Fox are scary without liberal news sources because they set forth a precedent where it is ok to lie to millions of people in order to put public support behind legislation that will kill jobs, kill our economy, and make a few rich people richer. Palin is scary because if she were actually in a position of substantial power, we would be utterly fucked. Also, I eat meat and don't know anyone who shops at whole foods or o
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Insightful)
CNN said one thing....
time passed
Fox New said the opposite.
No, Glen Beck said one thing.
18 months passed.
Glen Beck said the opposite.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Informative)
Since when did Mexico, Haiti, or Cuba become the apex of socialized health care? What point are you trying to make?
Also, I have not traveled the world, but I know of many Europeans who were pissed off at how their healthcare systems were vilified in the US when they HAVE lived in the US and seen the advantages that their healthcare systems have over ours. I have also gone onto the internet and looked at the statistics that say that the US (with its supposed amazing healthcare) has one of the highest infant mortality rates and one of the lowest life expectancy's of any industrialized nation. I guess the US believes in the Darwin approach to healthcare. If you are rich, then you have the best healthcare in the world. If you are not rich, then we don't want you to survive anyway.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Insightful)
The Daily Show is a COMEDY Show. Jon Stewart doesn't pretend otherwise. His job is to skewer the news.
Beck (and Fox) pretend otherwise.
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What you said cannot be emphasized enough. I have yet to see anything where Jon Stewart makes any claim that his is anything other than a comedy show.
What's really interesting (and I'll admit freely that I *really* dislike Beck) is that Glenn Beck's fans can't tell the difference between what Glenn Beck does and what Jon Stewart does, other than Stewart being liberal and Beck being conservative -- you'd think that would be an enlightening point right there, when your "news" guy seems so similar to someone
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Jared Cohen works for Google and is inciting revolutions, therefore Google must be in bed with the government.
His argument makes no sense.
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Google his name (Score:5, Interesting)
Let's see: Glenn Beck [google.com].
Hmmm, yes he has reasons to be afraid of Google. However that's just because he refuses to deny it. Why? Why doesn't he come forth and deny it?
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Insightful)
No, he's selling books and getting ratings and a lot of money. Folks who think Beck is crazy are just as bamboozled as any of his fans. It's really hilarious.
Anyone who still takes that clown seriously is either already a paranoid schizophrenic or too stupid to be reasoned with anyway.
Yes, but by saying that, *you* have taken him seriously! The attacks on him just make his supporters circle the wagons, and maybe even gain him followers from the stupid "Well, if he's pissing people off he must be doing something right!" crowd.
I'm thinking of writing a crazy book, and shopping it to one of these neo-con publishers, all to get me some early retirement on the backs of the ideological loons. I'm not sure yet if I should invent a new angle, or tie together multiple existing memes in a new way.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Interesting)
No, he's selling books and getting ratings and a lot of money. Folks who think Beck is crazy are just as bamboozled as any of his fans. It's really hilarious.
I don't know if he's clinically diagnosed or if he's just putting on an act to make money. And it really doesn't matter. Regardless of the cause of his actions, the guy is spewing flaming ignorance all over the place.
Yes, but by saying that, *you* have taken him seriously!
As opposed to what, ignoring the loony? Just letting him spew his ignorance without any kind of rebuttal?
The fact of the matter is that he's on national TV, publishing books, and presenting some truly deranged stuff as "truth".
If he was just some kind of comedian and everybody laughed and went on with their lives, that'd be one thing. But people believe him. Folks base their world view on what he says. They cast their votes based on his insane rantings.
You can't just ignore him, because he affects American politics whether you like it or not.
The attacks on him just make his supporters circle the wagons, and maybe even gain him followers from the stupid "Well, if he's pissing people off he must be doing something right!" crowd.
So, what... Plug your ears, hum real loud, and hope the crazy isn't there when you open your eyes?
I'm thinking of writing a crazy book, and shopping it to one of these neo-con publishers, all to get me some early retirement on the backs of the ideological loons. I'm not sure yet if I should invent a new angle, or tie together multiple existing memes in a new way.
There are a lot of crazy ideas out there. And most of them are just languishing in obscurity. I have absolutely no doubt that you could throw together some really insane horseshit and make money off of it. There are plenty of paranoid/gullible/curious folks out there who'd gobble it up.
But that isn't going to put you on par with Glen Beck.
There are tons of raving loonies out there that get absolutely no attention.
What differentiates Glen Beck from some homeless idiot claiming that the world is flat is that he has an audience. He has thousands (millions?) of viewers. They actually listen to him. If he claims that Google is in league with the devil, they'll believe it. They'll go use Bing instead.
And while it might not matter to me what search engine a bunch of paranoid neocons use... It does matter to me how they vote in elections, because I live in the same country that they do. And when he gets them all riled up to vote against some random bill that would actually be quite beneficial, I suffer for it.
Don't get me wrong... I'm not arrogant enough to think that my way is the only right way to do things. I have no problem being wrong or being out-voted or whatever. But I'd prefer to be out-voted based on reality. Not the ravings of some lunatic - regardless of whether it's a genuine clinical problem or simply an act to make money.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:5, Insightful)
No, he's selling books and getting ratings and a lot of money.
This is the way a lot of psychopaths make a living.
Folks who think Beck is crazy are just as bamboozled as any of his fans. It's really hilarious.
I've read this exact sentence many times on this site. Whether or not Beck is schizophrenic is his own dirty secret. He manifestly lacks a sense of compassion for anyone else; whether that's "crazy" or not is irrelevant.
Re:I think Beck has started to believe his own con (Score:4, Insightful)
Anyone who sacrifices their honor and dignity, and encourages others to not just abandon rational thinking but to engage in acts of violence [mediamatters.org], all in order to pad their bank account, is crazy.
In other words, Beck has to be one sort of crazy (some sort of personality disorder) in order to pretend to be the sort of crazy (sort of paranoid schizophrenia) that he does.
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Open minded and willing to listen is not the same thing as taking someone seriously.
But... (Score:5, Funny)
We worship the blowhard (Score:3)
I think it's safe to say that /. has a left-leaning bias. Why give him the time of day? I wonder how many followers that loud-mouthed ignoramus would have if the "liberal" media didn't get all flustered every time he says something like this.
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I wonder how many followers that loud-mouthed ignoramus would have if the "liberal" media didn't get all flustered every time he says something like this.
I don't think liberal media has anything to do with since I doubt his viewers don't actually watch anything but Fox News.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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The majority of atheists are left-leaning because the right doesn't really play nice with atheism.
Re:We worship the blowhard (Score:5, Insightful)
The majority of atheists are left-leaning because the right doesn't really play nice with atheism.
The majority of atheists are progressive/liberal because that is where the evidence takes you.
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My individual case certainly may not be representative of most of /., but I would classify myself as one of those Libertarian Atheists (maybe more of an extremely skeptical agnostic). And I've always found that my Libertarianism and my Atheism to complement each other nicely.
I don't believe in a fundamental universal morality, so my perspective on government is that it should be nothing more than an organization of convenience that is a necessary to organize large societies (not to enforce a code of mora
Re:We worship the blowhard (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:We worship the blowhard (Score:5, Insightful)
In other words, Glenn Beck is a professional troll?
Yes.
Re:We worship the blowhard (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason /. has a left leaning bias is because most honest and intelligent people are left leaning.
I can see you're not a true Scotsman.
Re:We worship the blowhard (Score:5, Funny)
I'm glad that no centrists or left-leaning individuals ever make sweeping generalities about people that have views which differ from their own.
Re:We worship the blowhard (Score:4, Insightful)
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you might find something in his past (Score:5, Informative)
Re:you might find something in his past (Score:5, Funny)
"he doesn't want to you read about what he might have done back in 1990"
I googled this... it was a sex change operation. He used to be a man.
Re:you might find something in his past (Score:5, Insightful)
"he doesn't want to you read about what he might have done back in 1990"
I googled this... it was a sex change operation. He used to be a man.
No No No .. you aren't doing this right. You can't come out and make a statement of absolute fact that can be checked. You need to allude to it and let your audience ASSUME that it was a fact. This is simple Beckism 101. What you should have said is:
I googled Beck looking to see if he had a sex change. Did he lose his balls in the past? I don't know. But you have to admit he acts pretty strange all the time, and I haven't seen him deny not losing his balls. But don't believe anything I say .. you have to make up your own mind over this.
And while you are pondering that let me tell you about [Fear mongering sponsor de jour] whose products I have been buying for years. If you don't have this [end of the world survival product] then you don't [love your family] ...
Well, obviously . . . (Score:5, Insightful)
If someone does a Google search, they may, just possibly, find out the truth about something.
And that possibility is what people like Glenn Beck find the most frightening.
Cry us a river, Glenn. (Score:4, Funny)
Not Just Google, Suspect All Other TV Networks! (Score:5, Insightful)
I would look into all the people the State Department are working with; MSNBC, CBS, gosh, MTV.
Just say it, every news outlet but Fox, right? It's the only thing stopping you from busting out the "trust no one" hyperbole, right?
Maybe we should start watching those networks a little bit and seeing what their news coverage is like.
Why don't we watch all of them and judge them fairly against each other? Or do you just want scrutiny only on the networks you're not on?
Who are these groups? Who are they? Are they right, are they left, are they clean, are they dirty, are they front groups? I don't know.
Wait, wait, wait, so what are you accusing them of? Absolutely nothing? And if you don't know then why are you telling us to investigate them? Maybe because you know nobody will do it and instead they'll just continue listening to you? "Is Glenn Beck, good, bad, is he left, is he right, is he clean, is he dirty? I don't know. Maybe you should keep your eye on him?"
May I recommend, if you're doing your own homework, don't do a Google search. Seems to me that Google is pretty deeply in bed with the government. Maybe this is explaining why Google is being kicked out of all the other countries?
My god, would you please just make a statement instead of repeated leading questions?! How is Google any more "in bed" with the government than Microsoft or Yahoo?
Are they just a shill now for the United States government? Who is Jared Cohen? Is he private citizen or government operative? And isn't this the second Google guy we've found? This is the second Google executive now being exposed as an instigator of a revolution.
Your little pointer stick and board didn't do much to lead to conclusive evidence that Cohen has "instigated a revolution."
I couldn't get the MM site to load but the Youtube version worked for me [youtube.com] and holy crap what a load of horseshit. I saw Glenn Beck on TV in a waiting room once and thought it was a joke. The amount of faulty, leading, incomplete logic here is just staggering, even in this video. Instead of wasting my time itemizing everything wrong about what he's saying and pointing out the obvious, I should have just taken Salon's advice and done something more constructive [salon.com].
"kicked out of all the other countries?" (Score:3)
Maybe this is explaining why Google is being kicked out of all the other countries?
Man, you just gotta love how backwards Glenn Beck's thinking is, CONSISTENTLY.
What countries would those be? China is the only one I remember, but perhaps I've forgotten some.
In my mind, getting kicked out of China is pretty much a badge of honor, not something to be suspicious of them for. I'd be more suspicious of the companies NOT getting kicked out of repressive foreign countries - but apparently Beck thinks you should only trust the companies who are trusted by autocrats. So, I guess, Fox News.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Not Just Google, Suspect All Other TV Networks! (Score:5, Interesting)
"Asking questions" is how he can slander and libel without being sued.
I strongly recommend watching the South Park episode Dances with Smurfs for a pretty accurate (and lulzy) overview.
Re:Not Just Google, Suspect All Other TV Networks! (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not like his schtick is new. See: Joseph McCarthy.
Broken clock right. News at 12:00... 12:00... (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, it is kindof true. Google is very big brother in the way they gather data about their users.
For that matter, just about any large internet company is going to be in bed with whatever governments whose jurisdiction they operate within. It's called "compliance with law enforcement". It's very patriotic for corporations to work with governments. Of course, if you have nothing to hide, it's fine, right?
The other reason Beck might hate the internet, of course, is that the internet is just an outgrowth of yet another giant government project. We all remember ARPA and DARPA, right?
Re: (Score:3)
It's more than that. The Internet is anarchist, there's no central power. You can't influence the Internet, only parts of it, often small. Pockets of resistance will always exist.
For somebody whose entire agenda rests on influencing people, that must be scary.
Words go in, results come out. (Score:5, Funny)
.
Is Beck the only one? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, there is the BBC for one (Score:4, Insightful)
Well it depends on how you look at it. And what you consider a conspiracy theorist/nutter. The BBC has a clear agenda of promoting a multicultural society while being run by the oxford elite and including very little of the multicultural society and villifying anyone who dares question this.
Does that count? Probably not to someone who agrees with this point of view. Moron is such a subjective label after all. It always seems to apply to people you disagree with.
Media tends to be owned by someone and that someone doesn't always have to be a single person. But overtime any company or group tends to hire like-minded individuals turning it more and more into a singular voice because you don't hire someone who disagrees with you.
An example? In holland the Labour party PvDA (Partij van de Arbeid) is being called the (Partij van de Allochtonen/Immigrants) because of its soft stance. BUT this is a left leaning WORKER party, didn't they use to be dead against immigrants being used to take jobs away from local people and drive minimum wages down? Wasn't it in fact right wing parties that wanted immigrant labour from Turkey in europes to do jobs the companies didn't want to pay local workers for?
Ah yes! So how can a party AGAINST immigration become labelled as PRO-immigration?
Because over the years the leadership changed. From worker background/union to highly educated bleeding hearts. Some people think union and bleeding hearts are both left wing but that just goes to show the sillyness of trying to represent the whole political spectrum on a single axis. You wouldn't call Stalin a bleeding heart would you?
But at the same time, how comes the dutch VVD (Right wing by dutch standards, commies by US standards) is now leading a government with a so-called strong anti-immigration agenda and even spawned Geert Wilders whose whole agenda is anti-immigration? Did they forget who championed the whole immigration move from Turkey in the first place?
Yes, we got our nutters, but it depends on who you ask as to who is pointed out as the nutter. Geert Wilders and Job Cohen (leader of the PvDA) are BOTH considered insane by their opposition.
Really, we had the queens speech a while ago, a person with her own far reaching audience and a guaranteed tv spot and half the nation hailed her speech and half condemned it.
Glen Beck is a conspiracy theorists in your eyes, not in the eyes of his followers. Conspiracy is in the eye of the beholder. So it makes no sense to ask this question if you want an honest answer.
I'm pretty sure (Score:4, Funny)
anyone who actually believes anything Beck says can't do a google search anyway, since the drool keeps shorting out the keyboard.
it's not ideology, it's ideological whoring (Score:5, Informative)
1. Glenn Beck works for Fox News
2. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal owns a 7 percent stake in News Corp
3. Saudia Arabia is deeply unnerved by the revolutions sweeping aside the old crusty strongmen in the Middle East
So Prince bin Talal gets on the phone with Glenn Beck's bosses. Next day, Glenn Beck starts spouting off against internet tools that Middle Eastern revolutionaries use.
Yes, the same Glenn Beck who wears a Revolutionary War era Tricorner Hat and wraps himself in the American flag.
The tragedy is the people who reject, for example, Barack Obama as a "communist" and "secret muslim" and "antiamerican who wants to destroy the USA" and doubt he was born here. Incredibly low IQ lies and smears. Low IQ lies and smears spread by people who wrap themselves in the American flag, but who are of course working for corporate and foreign interests, corporate interests squarely pointed against what is good for Americans and American interests. And millions of Americans beleive this nonsense! Why? Because the "information" is presented to them, not by appealing to their sense of reason, but by appealing to their emotions: fear, hysteria, panic. Classic propaganda psychology.
The tragedy is people who view Fox News as "American" and don't know they are basically being propagandized and programmed against, for example, their own self-intererests, like higher quality, more affordable health care. Because the insurance industry might make less money. Better that Grandma die 10 years earlier than we succumb to evil SOCIALISM. Seriously?!
Sheep, whose Real American (tm) opinions are bought and paid for by Saudi Oil money, fat cat corporate dollars, and yes, the Chinese Communist Party.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/26/world/asia/26murdoch.html [nytimes.com]
So to summarize: Obama is a Communist and a Muslim Terrorist and anti-American... propaganda deeply believed by millions of Americans whose brains are basically programmed via a regular dose of fear and hysteria by smearmongers like Glenn Beck, whose ideological whoring... drum roll please... is paid for by actual Saudi Wahhabists and Chinese Communist controlled corporations!
If it wasn't so tragic, it would be hilarious.
Re:it's not ideology, it's ideological whoring (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, I was expecting your post to be modded up, but no. Alas, I spent my mod points yesterday.
Anyway, here is a funny thing. My country (Bulgaria) was building for many years a second nuclear power plant. The first one was almost completely closed because EU would not accept us with it (the reactors were dangerous bla bla..). So, since few years a massive debate about the second one rages across the media. Over time the two major opinions settled as such:
The so-called progressive, right wing, pro-western people are against it, because, they say it will need the Russians for the fuel and processing the waste. So we will INCRESE our energy dependence from Russia.
The left-leaning, pro-Russian crowd is for it. As you can guess their motives are exactly like the one above, only in their book this is a good thing.
There was of course the infinitely small minority of realists and nerds who were always for it, because of reality (let’s not go deeper into this – why nuclear power is back in the world and why did it take 50 years to realize the obvious)
And then Wikileaks came around. And one of the cables was dealing exactly with this power station. Now, pay attention:
According to the American diplomats in Bulgaria building the station DECREASES our energy dependence from Russia and Russian oil and gas tycoons intentionally crafted the anti- power station propaganda. The cable explains the logic behind this statement at length; I won’t reproduce it here.
I almost fell from the chair reading this cable. Why, oh why I don’t have the possibility to high jack all the media in BG and just shout, “Go read the cable, you idiots!”
The people still argue like crazy about the issue and none has read the wikileaks. What a bunch of idiots we humans are, no?
Insulting as news (Score:4, Insightful)
How on earth can this tripe be paraded on a news channel, giving it a faux sense of authority over the facts.
I have no problem with political opinion pieces on tv but don't try masquerade it as news as that simply insults my intelligence.
So tired of Glenn Beck... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Who? (Score:5, Insightful)
Either he's right, and Google is also actively trying to discredit him, or he's an idiot.
From the sages of Monty Python . . .
"Well I feel very keenly that the idiot is a part of the old village system, and as such has a vital role to play in a modern rural society, because you see ... There is this very real need in society for someone whom almost anyone can look down on and ridicule. And this is the role that ... this is the role that I and members of my family have fulfilled in this village for the past four hundred years... "
Re: (Score:3)
Why is the Republican party imploding into insanity?
I can not believe you people allow idiots like Beck and Palin even open their mouths. They make all republicans look insane just by association.
Somewhere along the line, the Republican party stopped being the Republican party.
It used to be all about small government and fiscal responsibility.
Now it's all about fundamentalism.
Re: (Score:3)
Pot, meet kettle. Have you not listened to Democrats? The extreme left is just as crazy as the extreme right, and each side underestimates just how far to the extreme the other one goes, while painting themselves as moderates.
Citation needed. And I mean a major media newsperson or politico, someone with the power and intent to sway the masses, spouting their views day in day out like Beck or Palin. Not some off-the-cuff quote from a Hollywood celebrity, blogger, or International ANSWER.
.
Re:Facts? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not facts that are the problem. It's the illogical leaps from facts into craziness that are the problem, and stating opinion as fact. If you do that, you need a good reputation.
I pretty much *guarantee* that Google has to do whatever the federal enforcement says. It's called the law. To make the leap from that to "use another search engine" is an irrelevant and illogical conclusion unless you can provide facts that other search engines aren't similar affected by any government whose jurisdiction they operate in. And in terms of things this guy has said, it's nothing.
The only thing you can take away from someone else's opinion is reliant on their reputation. This guy believes and has said a lot of crap, quite publicly, and not denounced it until months after it's caused him a lot of trouble - including having to backtrack on quite clearly calling someone (the US president) a racist.
He has a self-confessed history of severe, long-term alcohol and drug abuse, suicide attempts, he's used miscarriage as a joke to play off the mother, he's had several high profile firings, several arrests, several cities, organisations, churches and advertisers have rushed to disassociate themselves with him and he has more conspiracy theories of his own than an X-Files fan club.
And, personally, he claims to have been saved from professional obscurity (and several other things) by God, and belongs to the church of latter-day-saints, which kinda rules him out of my personal "might have an brain in there somewhere" list.
Nobody really cares if the facts are wrong or right. It's his interpretation of them that leads him into ridicule. I *know* that if I drop my laptop, it will hit the floor. I don't explain it away as a government conspiracy that all laptops are subject to gravity in order that the US can drill holes in the Earth's crust and steal my laptop. The *fact* I stated is true, the opinion / explanation is almost certainly 100% bullshit and as "unproveable" as any other.
Seriously, from not knowing anything of the guy, within about 20 minutes of independent research, I've put him on my personal "Ignore anything he says" blacklist.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:blocking facts and research (Score:5, Insightful)
So, having a fiscally conservative, socially liberal, and generally libertarian viewpoint on government otherwise (i.e. I don't fit into a neat little political "color"), I felt the need to comment:
1. I agree.
2. I agree, although taxes punish everybody (Except those who don't pay any of course).
3. I'd say that a good number of problems we have in society today came from religion(s) in the first place. That said, I agree that government should not be attempting to legislate morality or good behavior. Their job is to enact and execute laws within the scope of their charter necessary to the function of society, and then provide for justice when such laws are broken.
4. Whose god? any specific one? Zeus? Allah? Odin? Jehova? Vishnu? Paladine? I am of the opinion that "endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights" basically translates in modern speech to "These rights are present from birth, by virtue of being a human being, and not given or privlidged by the government, thus not capible of being controlled by them". Given the religious freedom bent of early colonists, as well as the founding father's belief in a strong seperation of church and state, I have a had time believing that they'd be referencing any specific god when they mention "creator", which is of course probably why they used that exact phrase.
5. Once again, whose god, whose morality, and doesn't this contradict what you just said in point #3?
6. It's funny you quote that specific line, since it was originally "life, liberty, and the pursuit of property". Really it was, look it up. It was changed to "happiness" to be more general.
7. That is true, but as much as it sucks to admit it, the vast majority of them have a pretty good reason for hating us. We're dicks, really we are.. Sure there a few loonies that have been whipped into a fervor by charismatic madmen and by the media, but the real truth is that the US has used it's position of power in the world to basically be giant assholes when we want to be? Example. Did you know that after the Iran-contra affair, the US was convicted of war crimes against Nicaragua, but we used our position as a permanent member of the UN security council to veto every attempt to punish us after that conviction? That's just one example. Really a lot of the people in the world who are pissed off at us have a legitimate gripe. I'm not an apologist, I'm simply saying don't turn a blind eye to the complaints of the rest of the world just because they're not on your team.
If only it were that easy (Score:3)
Most people don't know how to think for themselves properly. They don't know how to weigh data, determine a good observation from a bad, don't know what confirmation bias is and could tell a good study from a bad study if their life depended on it.
So they go to people they choose to trust, and use their ';gut' feeling w; which are almost always wrong for everybody.
However, a large part of his base thinks the Bible is a literal document that is inerrant.
Even thought hat is provable incorrect they wont' chang
Re: (Score:3)
This is what Glenn does constantly. One of the things you will hear him say on his show repeatedly is, "Don't believe it just because I said it. Go look it up for yourselves." He actively encourages people to do their own research, which is something I very rarely see other radio/television hosts do.