When rightwing CNN host Glenn Beck went Full Metal Godwin on Al Gore, I figured this was just garden-variety rightwing agitprop. But this post at Slacktivist about the "Left Behind" apocalyptic book series, by way of ScienceBlogling Josh, convinces me that Beck is just a flat out nutjob. From an interview between Beck and 'apocalyptic' writer Joel Rosenberg:
It's clear throughout the interview that CNN host Glenn Beck is more than a casual observer of LaHaye's books. He's a true believer. Consider this odd rant about EZ-Pass -- it's not the work of a tourist or outsider, but of a PMD [premillennial dispensationalism] native-speaker:BECK: Joel, the things like EZ Pass. Imagine what Hitler could have done with EZ Pass?
ROSENBERG: The Book of Revelation, the apostle John, envisions a world as God, I think prophecy is an intercept from the mind of God. And the apostle John envisions a one-world economic system and everybody having a mark on their right hand or on their forehead that allows them to buy and sell goods and services.
Well, we now have the technology, both with credit cards and EZ Pass systems. You don`t really have to stop at a toll booth. You just -- your car is actually swiping through just like an ATM card swipes through. And there -- scientists are actually testing now these types of chips, because if you lose all of your -- you lose your wallet, you lose everything now.
BECK: Yes.
ROSENBERG: And why not just embed things?
BECK: I remember in the late 1990s, Madeleine Albright -- I believe it was Madeleine Albright -- went and saw an RFID chip that you could use for finance where you could go into a store, just grab what you want and walk out, and you`d be checked out automatically.
Follow the fever-stream, EZ-Pass, Hitler, mark of the beast, former U.N. Ambassador. Beck knows this stuff from the inside. He believes it. All of the weird conspiratorial logic we've seen at work in the books is at work here. The U.N. as federation of planets. The paranoid suspicion of "peacemakers." The vigilance against the Antichrist as a wolf-in-sheep's clothing. It's all right there. On CNN. From the CNN host.
This is paranoid and delusional. While Bob Altemeyer has done a lot of good work about authoritarianism, the short version is that Beck is cracked in the head.
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At my old place of employment I found myself listening to Beck's radio-show when it played on the local affiliate. This sort of thing doesn't surprise me at all. The guy is a straight-up lunatic who had some end of days nut on just about every other broadcast.
I always loved it when he tried to talk about science too. On one show he let his callers pontificate on evolution, and I was treated to the mind-numbing spectacle of scientifically illiterate morons rehashing creationist urban legends with reckless abandon.
I hate Glenn Beck
I'm boycotting CNN personally until they fire him and Nancy Grace. I don't even want to see commercials for the nutjob.
Rogers Cable in Ontario, Canada, replaced CNN Headline News in their basic cable line-up with BBC News. Despite how much commonsense this makes in general, I suspect that the extremism Beck and Grace had much to do with it.
Ever notice the similarities between Glenn Beck and George Bush?
> both have common, monosyllabic names with initials GB
> both are mentally challenged simpletons
> both have garnered more celebrity status than they deserve
> both are fundies who are limited in their ability to assess reality because of their belief systems
> one professes his faith in an upcoming apocalyse, and the other seems eager to expedite it
I turned off my TV two years ago, didn't order Cable a year before that, and won't listen to my local talk-radio stations here in Kern County because of space-cases like Glenn Beck.
I used to BE a right winger, I used to listen to GB and Rush, and go to a very conservative church.
What put me out of all these things--for all time??
Conspiracy Theories...and especially the "End-Times" garbage I was taught.
What kind of a future is it to hope for, that "all
these EXCITING PROPHECIES are gonna be fulfilled,
oh how wonderful God's work is!!"
Um, excuse me.
Last I heard, before I threw the whole mess out of
my mind--about two-thirds of the entire human race
was going to be KILLED.
Ohh, nobody at the church cared, "those people deserved it."
Everything my brother had fought for while he was in
the in the US Marines was going to be destroyed by
some mysterious cabal that no one could fight...
"It's part of God's Will, so don't fight it!"
"The United States will be destroyed if you
do not obey this churches' doctrine!!"
Yeah, thanks. Thanks, guys for ruining my mind.
Thanks for driving my fellow Yanks bughouse nuts.
It's enought to make the spirit of John F. Kennedy WEEP.
May I make a further suggestion here?
If you do decide to boycott a network, cancel a subscription, whatever, because of the folks like Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace (UGH! What a despicable woman.) just take a moment to write them and tell the provider why you did it.
Julian -
I hear what you are saying. I used to be a RIGHTY (no choice shoved down throat in youth), but then after listening to all the BS, it became clear it was a platform for ignorant fearmongers to practice mind-control and subtle extortion for a 10% tithe. It is so scary how these ppl are incapable, unwilling or both to think independently - and then lord guilt and 'God's ways' over those who try to. Frightening, really. Glad you 'got out' too.
FGS
thanks
thanks for all
thanks for all
thank you very much