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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)

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Weirdest Video Ever?

Posted on: June 27, 2009 9:16 AM, by Ed Brayton

This is just one of the weirdest bits of video ever produced by Fox News (and imagine the competition for that title). It's Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly explaining ACORN using Barbie dolls.

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Comments

Weird, but memorable. Even though nobody will remember what the heck the Beck was talkin about.

Posted by: 386sx | June 27, 2009 9:37 AM

They pass this innuendo and weirdness off as news?

Posted by: MikeMa | June 27, 2009 9:44 AM

Any news on which of their collections the Barbie dolls came from?

Posted by: democommie | June 27, 2009 9:45 AM

I would be interested in understanding whether our generations' social conservatives are more deluded and more incapable of improving their understanding of reality than previous generations who suffered from the same mental defects.

I currently speculate that the propaganda in the churches and most conservative media outlets has advanced to the point where our generation's social conservatives are more deluded and more incapable of adapting then previous generations, especially when coupled to their access to the Internet where they can feed and distribute their psychosis to the like-minded, which I speculate must have a significant amplifying effect.

It would be interesting to understand whether this has been studied. I am cognizant of the peer-reviewed findings noting the weaknesses of having a conservative mind-set in terms of conservatives' relative weakness at grasping reality because they are conservative; my question is whether it's measurably worse in this generation relative to past generations and if so, any identifiable and differentiating factors between generations.

Posted by: Michael Heath | June 27, 2009 9:50 AM

I can hardly wait for the sub-prime loan explanation using Malibu Barbie's Dream House.

Posted by: Ex-drone | June 27, 2009 10:29 AM

When I think of the money Beck and O'Reilly take in...

Posted by: Owen | June 27, 2009 10:45 AM

Who does Beck think he is? Dark Helmet?

Posted by: Matt Pickard | June 27, 2009 10:48 AM

And I thought Hannity's Liberty tree (with the Freedom apples being loaded in the Socialism crate) was the stupidest thing I'd ever seen.

Posted by: Finch | June 27, 2009 11:00 AM

RE: Michael Heath

In other words, have we finally reach the super-saturation point in terms of this insanity?

Posted by: jake | June 27, 2009 11:03 AM

Around the 36 second mark: "Don't ask a lot of questions." That seems to summarize their entire world view pretty succinctly.

xander

Posted by: xander | June 27, 2009 11:25 AM

Michael Heath:
This is the first time I have heard of peer reviewed research indicating an inability to grasp reality in the conservative mindset. I don't doubt what you say, I used to be a conservative. I know that there is a difficulty in grasping reality in that set. I would like to find the research. A citation would be awesome, a link would be more awesome. Thanks.

Posted by: Stewart | June 27, 2009 11:57 AM

Beck reminds me of Dane Cook: I have no idea why either have any sort of public appeal.

It just boggles the mind.

Posted by: CHV | June 27, 2009 12:26 PM

They're not even trying to make sense anymore, are they?

Posted by: Moderately Unbalanced Squid | June 27, 2009 12:50 PM

Beck is making much harder for Stephen Colbert to stay ahead of the Republican insanity curve. I can just imagine the Colbert writing team rejecting this dollhouse idea as being too crazy.

Mind you, Colbert's 10/31 Project skit (based on Beck's 9/12 idiocy) is one of the funniest things he's ever done, so Beck does have his uses once in a while.

Posted by: tacitus | June 27, 2009 1:01 PM

Michael Heath: it seems to me that today's social conservatives/RWAs have grown increasingly desperate as the nation's cultural milieu grows increasingly incompatible with their visions and desires. In the 1980s and even the '90s, they enjoyed more traction in an environment that was more friendly to their outlook. Today, however, they are losing their footing, as most of the country (with the exception of a few locations) is growing more progressive, and at a much faster rate than ever before. This desperation among the ranks of the cultural right leads to more insularity in conservative enclaves, and an even more radical outlook. Conservatives, it seems, are--in the U.S., anyway--literally losing their minds in this modern world.

Posted by: Sadie Morrison | June 27, 2009 1:23 PM

I didn't get the YMCA crack. Is he calling ACORN gay, ala the Village People song? Or am I just not supposed to get it?

Posted by: Shawn | June 27, 2009 1:28 PM

That was the most stunningly idiotic thing I think I've ever seen. Getting past the stupidity of the doll house, etc., did you catch the part where they shut down the "ACORN House" before they even begin the investigation?

Posted by: dogmeatIB | June 27, 2009 1:33 PM

This surely is only the surface. Bill and Glen each probably have a huge collection of Barbie Dolls and play with them ad nauseam off camera. They probably have even kinkier fixations, that is kinkier for grown men.

Posted by: Keanus | June 27, 2009 1:41 PM

I will keep this. For my grandchildren. It's an important piece of history. I believe that decades from now, it will be a great help in explaining why things are the way they are.

"These men were political commentary superstars. Kingmakers, if you will. You do not need to know the history of the past few decades. You only need to know where we are now and to see this video. You can fill in the rest."

Posted by: Troublesome Frog | June 27, 2009 2:24 PM

"Shut own & opening up under another name......"
Hmm, is that like Haliburton and Brown & Root and Kellogg, Brown & Root...?

Posted by: Hypatia's Daughter | June 27, 2009 2:45 PM

You know, every single time I think Fox News has gotten the furtherest it possibly can from proper, professional news reporting, it goes and proves me wrong.

Posted by: Smidgy | June 27, 2009 3:32 PM

Re the request for some citations on conservatives' losing battle with reality:

Without going over the 2 link limit (to avoid moderation), here are some citations regarding conservatives tenuous grip on reality:

This meta-analysis showed the following attributes associated with conservatives.

* Fear and aggression
* Dogmatism and intolerance of ambiguity
* Uncertainty avoidance
* Need for cognitive closure
* Terror management

Here's a Psychology Today article on this study and here is the actual citation if you have access to this journal: Jost, J.J, Glaser, J., Kruglanski, A.A., & Sulloway, F.J. (2003). Political conservatism as motivated social cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 129(3), 339-375.

If you google this study's title, "MISPERCEPTIONS, THE MEDIA
AND THE IRAQ WAR", you'll get a study that shows how a segment of the population came to believe the lies told by the Republicans to sell the 2003 invasion of Iraq, believing such lies even after those lies were discredited. Those people tended to be conservatives who watched Fox News (and ABC News if IIRC), the opposite of non-gullible people who were biased more towards getting their news from PBS/NPR or read newspapers.

A study discovered that conservatives were not capable or as capable as others to catch on that Stephen Colbert employed satire when 'trashing' liberal values and 'embracing' conservatism. They found him equally funny, just not cognizant of the giant whoosh soaring over their heads. Google the following for this article: ""The Irony of Satire: Political Ideology and the Motivation to See" to find this article's abstract in The International Journal of Press/Politics, Vol. 14, No. 2, 212-231 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1940161208330904

Posted by: Michael Heath | June 27, 2009 3:53 PM

Apart from the creativity levels how is this different from Keith Olberman re-enacting the Michael Jackson trial with popsicle stick puppets?

Posted by: Bill in NC | June 27, 2009 4:09 PM

I'm not sure you can judge it "apart from creativity levels". If you use Barbie Dolls or popsicle sticks to say something witty and entertaining, more power to you. If you use them to say something boorish and idiotic, then the medium makes it worse.

Caveat: I never saw Olbermann's popsicle stick re-enactment, so I can't claim it was actually more creative.

Posted by: Taz | June 27, 2009 4:25 PM

Link to what Michael was talking about:

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/129/3/339.pdf

Posted by: Alex Deam | June 27, 2009 4:59 PM

Bill @ 23
Olbermann was discussing a past event. The Fox idiots were advocating action against ACORN and it's members based on their twisted and unproven ideas of right and wrong.

Not journalism and very poor entertainment.

Posted by: MikeMa | June 28, 2009 8:31 AM

The point isn't what they're saying it's that they're saying it with dolls and puppets on what are supposedly news shows. If one can be ridiculed for it then so can other, or is there a double standard for MSNBC and Fox?

Posted by: Bill in NC | June 28, 2009 2:28 PM

"The point isn't what they're saying it's that they're saying it with dolls and puppets on what are supposedly news shows. If one can be ridiculed for it then so can other, or is there a double standard for MSNBC and Fox?"

No double standard. Olbermann uses satire in the service of reporting the news. O'Liarly & Glen Buttfucked wouldn't know how to use satire, or report the news.

Posted by: democommie | June 28, 2009 6:33 PM

This is a very strategic move for them. They are simply communicating with their audience on a more appropriate level. It's like when you tell kids that babies are brought by storks because they're too young to understand a real explanation.

Posted by: catgirl | June 29, 2009 11:10 AM

For me, this actually made Glenn Beck marginally more likable. The underlying content appears to just be, "The people we really care about prosecuting are leaving and starting a new organization," and I'm not sure why he felt he needed two-minutes-plus of bizarre visual aids to explain that simple point... But at least it was mildly entertaining!

Posted by: James Sweet | June 29, 2009 11:17 AM

RE Michael Heath

Thank You.

Posted by: Stewart | June 30, 2009 11:15 PM