Know Your Right-Wing Ideologues: Glenn Beck
By Niral Shah, Dartmouth College
Wednesday February 14, 2007
[Editor’s Note: Back in 2007, we wrote about how terrible Glenn Beck was. At the time, we said, “You may not have heard of Glenn Beck yet, but you will.” Unfortunately, we didn’t realize how right we were. After he called thousands (although not millions, as some claimed) to protest health care reform in Washington, D.C., and other cities around the nation, he has pushed his way to the front of public debate. But it’s important to remember why he’s an “ignorant windbag.”]
You may not have heard of Glenn Beck yet, but you will. As the ultra-conservative political commentator quickly rises in prominence, he is dragging American political discourse to new lows. In the polarized political theater that has become television news, the honesty of this self-described “recovering alcoholic rodeo clown with limited education,” might be, at first glance, refreshing. He does not consider himself a journalist, but an opinion guy who is “as conservative as you can get,” and even at his most indignant, never froths at the mouth like an O’Reilly or Hannity. But, occasional disclosure of bias notwithstanding, Beck is still reprehensible. At best, he attempts to pass off far-right talking points as mere common sense. At his worst, when Beck climbs into his primetime pulpit to bear false witness and fear-monger, the levity and humility vanish as he pitches the apocalypse-du-jour and vilifies liberals.
Glenn Beck, born in 1964, began his media career shortly after high school. As a Top 40 radio DJ in Connecticut, he established himself as a local morning host. As Beck tells it, after more than a decade of this, he entered into a non-degree program at Yale University thanks to a recommendation letter from Sen. Joe Lieberman. Due to a combination of personal divorce, tragic family circumstances, alcoholism, and cocaine abuse, Beck quickly failed out.
After sobering up and becoming a Mormon, Beck resumed his career in 2000 as a talk-radio host in Miami. The Glenn Beck Program quickly rose in local rankings, going into national syndication shortly afterwards. The three-hour show, billed as “half the politics and twice the comedy,” attracts about 3 million listeners nationwide.
Beck’s incoherent politics—sometimes libertarian, as in the case of opposing a minimum-wage increase; bigoted and populist on the issue of undocumented workers; and socially conservative on choice issues—are a reflection of his own shallow understanding of politics as well as his ratings-motivated ideological flexibility. Infused with sketch comedy that has all the wit and nuance of Larry the Cable Guy, Beck’s shtick may be acceptable for talk-radio, but not for the journalistic mainstream. Yet in an April 2006 press release, CNN advertised the “unique,” “engaging,” and “no-nonsense” approach that Beck would be bringing as “the perfect next step in the evolution of the Headline Prime line-up.”
Beck, despite being characterized by CNN as “cordial,” was already notorious for his pathological lack of empathy for disaster victims and their families. In one radio segment, Beck bemoaned what he saw as the constant complaining of 9/11 victims’ families, wishing they would “shut up.” Segueing into his reflections on New Orleans, Beck commented, “I didn’t think I could hate [Katrina] victims faster than the 9-11 victims,” before proceeding to call those who remained in the New Orleans “scumbags.” Prone to articulating his exasperation with gory hyperbole (his oratorical repertoire includes “blood is going to shoot out of my eyes” and “makes you want to put a gun in your mouth”), Beck once indulged himself in an on-air fantasy of “choking the life out” of filmmaker Michael Moore.
Yet, in May of 2006, the hour-long, Glenn Beck on Headline News began to air nightly on CNN’s Headline News channel. Beck might say that he is no journalist, but CNN seemed not to care. He began appearing as a commentator on other CNN shows, and in November of 2006, hosted a special program called Exposed: The Extremist Agenda. The inflammatory, uninformative special on anti-Americanism in the Middle East, which included Beck expressing “surprise” that a letter critical of Al-Qaeda came from a Muslim, followed close on the heels of another controversy involving Beck’s take on Islam. In an interview with Keith Ellison, America’s first Muslim congressman, Beck provided the disclaimer of “I know Muslims” and “I like Muslims” before saying this: "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies. And I know you’re not. I’m not accusing you of being an enemy, but that’s the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.”
Yet after Ellison took the oath of office using a Koran, Beck appeared on CNN’s Paula Zahn Now, calling criticism of Ellison “ridiculous,” “nonsense,” and a “non-issue.”
Such apparent inconsistency shouldn’t be surprising from a man who can decry the dangers of divisive rhetoric one moment, and draw parallels between Democrats and Hitler the next. Beck’s lowest moments include calling anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan a “pretty big prostitute,” labeling former President Jimmy Carter a “waste of skin,” portraying all undocumented Mexican immigrants as “terrorists” “who can’t make a living in their own dirt bag country,” responding to George Clooney’s Academy Awards speech by mimicking blackface, and defending McCarthyism. In January of 2007 he became a contributor to ABC’s Good Morning America, hired over the protests of three Muslim-American groups.
Glenn Beck hosts one of the most highly-coveted timeslots on a respected news channel that most Americans watch expecting to be given sound and reliable information, but he apparently feels no responsibility to provide that. A typical show often begins with what Beck calls candy, a segment “absolutely of no value” discussing, for example, Madonna or the Oscars. Shortly thereafter, Beck moves on to reminding Americans what they need to be afraid of, with enough warmongering to keep them just terrified enough to tune in the next day and vote conservative in the meantime. He ends with “The Point,” a typically absurd and outright moronic overstatement of a conservative policy gripe, and a feeble attempt to recap how he arrived at such an indefensible conclusion. His bête noir of late seems to be Iranian President Ahmadinejad (who Beck refers to as President Tom so that he can pronounce it), but he is equally at ease conjuring the cataclysmic events that could emanate from Islam, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela, multiculturalism, immigration, pornography, or the Democratic party.
As much as Glenn Beck postures as a non-partisan, regular, good-ole red-blooded American, the only significant point of contention between him and his ideological brethren on the right seems to be whether the inevitable apocalyptic conflict we are facing would be World War III, IV, or V (Beck prefers III while John Gibson has said IV and Hannity has said V.) In a recent interview with Radar Magazine, Beck was asked ”Don’t you ever feel like you’re full of shit?” Beck replied with the affirmative “every single day.”
Beck indulges in violent, bigoted, and deliberately provocative statements to try to reaffirm his political-outsider, average-Joe persona, passing off offensive provocation as bold and rare displays of honesty in media. But what Beck’s defenders admire in his occasional willingness to admit he’s wrong is no defense; it is sheer disregard for facts and pride in anti-intellectualism. Ultimately, being a disingenuous, right-wing partisan, fear-mongering, cheap-shot taking, ignorant windbag isn’t the kind of sin that can be absolved through confession, especially if one repeats the act night after night on CNN. When Beck was first approached for TV, he reportedly balked at the idea. Maybe he should’ve trusted his gut.
Illustration: August J. Pollak
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Comments
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This guy sees a terrorist around every street corner, and probably 2 or 3 under his own bed! He defines the word “hysteria”. Love to watch Keith Olbermann rag on Beck’s tv ratings.
— kathy - Feb 16, 02:54 PM - #Just what we needed – another uneducated bigot rambling on as though he’s deserving of an audience that doesn’t solely consist of violent felons, KKK members, skinheads, neoNazi dimwits and those who idolize Ann C-nt Coulter. We’re blessed, ain’t we?
— chanceny - Feb 16, 05:58 PM - #Oh great! Why doesn’t he just tell us liberals, (me being the straight-going liberal democrat) and Japanese and Japanese-Americans to go fuck ourselves?! He’s probably just another conservative psycho who will resort to “moral” backlash against black women like myself, and against Japanese young women aged 16 and 17 years of age, trying to be some “underage lolita’s” parent! All he’ll do is “ground” these young women because of their age. And THAT is AGEIST! See, not only do I see him as racist, but I also see him and thugs like him as sexist against women and ageist. Such thinking is unacceptable and un-Christlike.
— Jamesha Walker - Feb 16, 07:09 PM - #Glenn Beck as a talk – radio host, who tries to scare you into believing his way is the right way.
— George Wall - Feb 16, 10:34 PM - #Fits right in with Pat Pukannon Bill Betitall Bennet, and that son of Torquemada Donahue who get to appear on the networks and spew along with their FakeNews cohorts.
— Monroe Cotter - Feb 17, 06:25 PM - #The real scumbags are the producers who allow such talk to continue on the air.
— Grace Stentz - Feb 18, 01:36 AM - #I agree with Grace. Beck doesn’t even deserve his own “Know Your Right-Wing Speakers” piece. Any so-called television show host who refers to himself as a “rodeo clown with limited education” should not merit discussion by anyone.
— Andy K - Feb 21, 09:36 AM - #One may dislike Glen Beck and his opinions but can not say he does not deserve “Know Your Right-Wing Speakers” piece. His radio show, The Glenn Beck Program, is syndicated by 232 radio stations. With out the protest from the progressive intellectual he could have got a dialy show at the CNN. He could even make on the cover page of major magazine ( yes, Ann Coulter does not deserve to be on cover page of Time Magazine). Good column in exposing such individuals.
— Tushar - Feb 21, 03:31 PM - #I love this guy. He is articulate (oops!) and slams you liberals where it hurts.CNN Headline News) needed help with their ratings and he is just the guy.
— Chas - Feb 23, 09:51 PM - #Just because he is syndicated by that many stations does not mean he has anything to say that we need to hear. Coming from a Mormon family I can see where he gets his bullshit. He has a place in our society but that doesn’t mean I have to listen to him. Thanks for the article.
— Patricia - Feb 24, 04:40 PM - #One way to try to get him off the air is to boycott his show and the advertising sponsors who support him. Also write to his advertising sponsors and to CNN and complain.
— Marie - Feb 25, 04:23 PM - #You’re a breath of fresh air here in Abbotsford BC Canada. We love you. Keep telling the truth Hope you can stay on for a long time. Do you know where Aaron Brown went to? Thanks for everything. Mary Lewis
— mary lewis - Feb 27, 01:03 AM - #It’s a shame that honest conversations has no place in America. You can’t understand Glenn Beck by quoting phrases or, small little segments, it’s necessary to view the big picture…..because if you don’t, you lose perspective.
More Americans should be like Glenn…..admit when they are wrong and live what you preach. Too many people in this world are worried about being true to everyone else…..and NOT true to themselves.
— Tommy - Mar 19, 09:21 PM - #I’ll bet half the liberal morons on here have never listened to Beck for 30 minutes. He tells it like it is and liberals live in a fantasy world of how they want the world to be but nothing that resembles reality.
— mark - Mar 27, 11:20 PM - #Glen not much room here for response so i will just say i agree with u 100%. Like u i wish the people would wake up…..
— Ron Zarobinski - Mar 29, 02:24 PM - #hope u receive this…Ron
I couldn’t help but notice “cheap-shot taking” as one of the adjectives used to describe Beck. Interestingly, it was used among others such as “disingenuous,” “right-wing partisan,” “fear-mongering,” and “ignorant windbag”; and there was a reference to his faith, saying his “sins” aren’t “the kind that can be absolved through confession.”
Yet, “hypocrite” was left out…
— caleb - Apr 5, 11:18 AM - #Hey, Jamesha Walker, you know all about “Christ-like,” right?
— Marcus Aurelius Maximus - Apr 9, 05:00 PM - #Many creatures make a living sucking s**t off the bottom of the ocean, but few are as ugly to see and hear as glen beck.
— steve - Apr 21, 09:52 PM - #Ha ha ha! Glen Beck doesn’t bring a right wing agenda, he embarrasses it. its so bad that it works for the left. An ex-coke addicted mormon, come on…he’s an detriment to humanity.
— themonsheshe - Jun 9, 01:33 AM - #In writing this, Niral Shah relied completely on the opinions of left-wing media watchdog groups and obviously didn’t bother doing any research himself/herself.
— Ritalinboy - Jun 30, 08:21 AM - #How interesting that the article speaks of the lack of intellectualism in Beck’s political discourse and the liberal responses to this essay are something I wouldn’t hardly pass as mid-school level discourse. Glenn Beck is a decent human being and I dare those who despise him to actually go out and listen to what he has to say for about a month or so instead of relying on little snippets from pseudo intellectuals such as Niral Shah. If you want true debate heard on all sides then listen intently to Beck and see if you come to the same conclusions as Mr. Shah.
— ConservativeMexican - Jul 8, 10:10 AM - #I’ve had a recent opportunity to meet Glenn and spend a considerable amount of time with him. I was very impressed with Glenn Beck. He was very kind to everyone and without a doubt loves his country and those who serve our country. I gained a new level of respect for Glenn after having spent most of the day with him. He really is a great person and fun to talk to and be around. I was very very impressed. As I watch the Glenn Beck show I enjoy it more and more. Keep up the good work Glenn! We love your show!
— Darren - Jul 9, 04:22 AM - #“Beck’s shtick may be acceptable for talk-radio, but not for the journalistic mainstream.” – Niral Shah
Thankfully, Shah only has opinion, and not power. Way to support the First Amendment, Dude(tte). I wouldn’t be at all surprised that Shah is all heartbroken about Ward Churchill getting fired today for plagiarism and falsifying sources, but wants to dictate that Beck shouldn’t have a job for his words. Classic ‘progressive’ thought.
— Eb - Jul 25, 12:03 AM - #Of course… enough not to ever slam people’s beliefs. ‘Sides, I don’t feel like cramming my beliefs down someone else’s throat. Jesus Himself wold never have done that.
— Jamesha Walker - Jul 26, 04:07 AM - #Funny how many of the conservative comments here seem to go right for the jugular when it comes to liberals critical of this wretch. Beck is a joke. You can have him.
— Tim Barton - Jul 31, 03:34 AM - #Go Glen Go.
— Joe Galt - Oct 1, 12:02 AM - #The libs can go Fzcxasf themselves.
you libtards are rediculus. If you see what goes on in the middle east, you would see terrorists everywhere also, but you are too dumb to see it if it slapped you right in the face
— elic - Oct 2, 10:03 AM - #My lord, would you please listen to yourselves. If you people would wake up out of your Utopian dream, you would realize that Glenn Beck does good for this country. For example, take an economics class. You can be as socially liberal as you would like (I am), but Socialized HillaryCare will destroy the fabric of the free-market upon which this country was founded. This is not right-wing propaganda passed as common sense, it IS common sense. Step back and examine where you want this country to be: a paralyzed semi-socialist Western Europe or a country where people are actually responsible for their own lives.
— Eric - Oct 17, 09:44 AM - #You are a bunch of morons. Beck tells it like it is and you idiots better wake up.
— Al Martin - Oct 18, 09:35 PM - #Is it time to go pressure CNN. Are they trying to be Fox light?
— Jimmyd - Nov 22, 07:16 PM - #It’s always fun to listen to the so-called liberals and progressives whine when truth finds its way in prime-time media.
Glen Beck says what many Americans feel but don’t have the vehicle to get their message heard. That he donates a large portion of his substantial income towards charities speaks volumes about his character. et his character assasins abound. :-)
— Ray - Feb 24, 07:50 PM - #It’s always fun to listen to the so-called liberals and progressives whine when truth finds its way in prime-time media.
Glen Beck says what many Americans feel but don’t have the vehicle to get their message heard. That he donates a large portion of his substantial income towards charities speaks volumes about his character. et his character assasins abound. :-)
— Ray - Feb 24, 07:51 PM - #Beck, Hannity, O’reilly, Bob Grant, Prager, all at the top of the national radio markets, Limbaugh, for almost 20 years. why can’t you liberals even get close? Don’t tell me about the uneducated listener. That is nonsense in this milieu of post-modernism carried by the secularistic universities.
— Joel - Mar 19, 11:09 AM - #I never said those things there must be another Ron Zarobinski as hard as that is to believe…
— Ron Zarobinski - Mar 27, 02:33 PM - #Ron
I never said those things there must be another Ron Zarobinski as hard as that is to believe…
— Ron Zarobinski - Mar 27, 02:34 PM - #Ron
I can’t figure out if Glen Beck is a lunatic or a cunning rumor monger. He giggles and laughs while he makes up outrageous stories about anyone left of Ann Coulture. Why has American discourse sunk so low?
— trublulu - Apr 11, 12:57 AM - #Shame on CNN for allowing the Glen Beck show to exist. This man is an ignorant, recovering substance abuser and hypocrite who has a narrow view of the world. He is not an authority on any subject and his opinions should be kept to himself, not broadcast on CNN.
— Al in Chicago - May 11, 12:34 PM - #CNN had Glenn Beck on this morning asking him his opinion on Obama’s trip to the Mideast and about the mortgage crisis here in the U.S. as if he had some qualifications to comment on these issues during a news broadcast. I emailed CNN and complained. We should all do so and get this self proclaimed right wing talk show host out of the news arena. By the way, he compared bailing out Fannie and Freddie to putting a bandage on cancer. I find comparing anything as benign as business issues, however great, to cancer offensive and showing a complete lack of knowledge of how devastating cancer is.
— john glenny - Jul 23, 11:34 AM - #This is a website of progress?
— Leroy - Sep 22, 10:25 AM - #Niral Shah doesn’t want to hear from people like Glenn Beck who disagree with his views. Jefferson and Adams would be so proud of Niral!
— Jim Cook - Oct 20, 07:41 PM - #My assumption is that most of the people who have posted have never really sat down and listened to Glen. If so they wouldn’t have such a rash opinion and would see for themselves that he is a master at exploiting the problems in this country that are causing such a downward spiral. Namely the loss of our national motto. In God We Trust. oops I said it, sue me libs, or complain or whatever you do.
— T.Lillehoff - Dec 4, 05:55 PM - #Everybody has an opinion about Glen Beck,just remember he’s a #1 best book seller and #1 on cnn prime time.So you can bitch all you want, he’s still the most listened to and watched.
— Carlos O - Dec 24, 10:21 AM - #“Dare Greatly” It is not the critic who counts;not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled,or where the doer of deeds could have done better.The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the ARENA;whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;WHO STRIVES VALIANTLY;who errs and comes short again and again;who knows the GREAT ENTHUSIASMS, THE GREAT DEVOTIONS,AND SPENDS HIMSELF in a WORTHY CAUSE;who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while DARING GREATLYso that his place never be WITH THOSE COLD AND TIMID SOULS WHO KNOW NEITHER VICTORY OR DEFEAT!Theodore Roosevelt.
— Helena Rodriguez - Jan 30, 08:48 PM - #“Dare Greatly” It is not the critic who counts;not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled,or where the doer of deeds could have done better.The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the ARENA;whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;WHO STRIVES VALIANTLY;who errs and comes short again and again;who knows the GREAT ENTHUSIASMS, THE GREAT DEVOTIONS,AND SPENDS HIMSELF in a WORTHY CAUSE;who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while DARING GREATLYso that his place never be WITH THOSE COLD AND TIMID SOULS WHO KNOW NEITHER VICTORY OR DEFEAT!Theodore Roosevelt.
— Helena Rodriguez - Jan 30, 08:49 PM - #Not much of a Glenn Beck fan, but Keith Olbermann on the Liberal side isn’t any better. They are all radicals and one sure be very carefully not to buy into everything they say. Remember, they are all businessmen, meaning they get paid for what they do.
— Justin - Jan 30, 08:52 PM - #You’re right Justin, they make millions to get all stressed out and we the people are unemployed and stressed out.
— Carlos O - Mar 25, 11:55 AM - #The funniest thing about Beck is that he’s now taken to posturing as an intellectual, which is absolutely hilarious, given the fact that he proves daily that he’s an ignoramus.
The whole ‘the Constitution is conservative’ bender he, Sean Hannity and the rest of the Hate Crew went on in the months after Obama’s election illustrated perhaps better than anything else that these guys have absolutely no clue what they’re on about.
Mention the word ‘deism’ to Glenn Beck and he’ll have no idea what you just said, never mind not realizing it’s what the founding fathers based his country on.
— David - Jun 13, 05:13 PM - #I think you need to update your article, Beck is on Fox News now and not CNN.
If you are going to be lefty’s who act like you know what you are talking about, then you should probably get the network correct.
Yes, I am a proud conservative and I disagree with almost everything on this website. However, I do have to admit that I find it very clever and well organized, perhaps even well written in it’s ability to make me giggle.
— Marc - Jul 12, 02:14 PM - #We certainly don’t need someone on TV that says what they actually feel,i.e. Glenn Beck. Apparently we should only have people on TV that say nice things. We definitely don’t need someone admitting they are wrong. As far as that goes I like Glenn Beck, and if he believes someone is racist and gets punished for saying what he believes, well we should teach everyone to lie so they can tell you what you want to hear and they won’t hurt peoples feelings, oh wait that is what most politicians are all about. Does anybody remember Kanye West? “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
— Robert Bingham - Aug 24, 06:57 PM - #All of a sudden the liberals want sound news, that’s a twist. Glenn Beck is just exposing the Trojan Horse that has entered America.
— Michael Scott - Sep 30, 11:58 AM - #HE GETS ONDER YOUR SKIN WITH THE TRUTH THATS WHAT COUNTS
— ds this - Oct 12, 07:14 AM - #HE GETS ONDER YOUR SKIN WITH THE TRUTH THATS WHAT COUNTS
— ds this - Oct 12, 07:14 AM - #HE GETS ONDER YOUR SKIN WITH THE TRUTH THATS WHAT COUNTS
— ds this - Oct 12, 07:14 AM - #HE GETS ONDER YOUR SKIN WITH THE TRUTH THATS WHAT COUNTS
— ds this - Oct 12, 07:14 AM - #HE GETS ONDER YOUR SKIN WITH THE TRUTH THATS WHAT COUNTS
— ds this - Oct 12, 07:15 AM - #HE GETS ONDER YOUR SKIN WITH THE TRUTH THATS WHAT COUNTS
— ds this - Oct 12, 07:15 AM - #When a liberal winded news show (msnbc) talks down conservative congressmen and conservative ideas, I can handle it because I know it’s bullshit, but I can tell you guys are having a hard time handling Beck.
— tim - Oct 19, 12:52 PM - #What a bunch of education nazi’s. The best City Counselor in Lakewood has a high school education. The education nazi’s said he was too stupid to understand the issues. Wrong as usual. Glenn Beck may not project your views about the world but to call him a “recovering alcoholic rodeo clown with limited education,” just shows how ignorant you really are. So you are officially an EDUCATION NAZI.
— Larry Carlson - Oct 24, 12:58 PM - #What does Glenn Beck and TNA rasslin have in common?The audience…....come on people you can’t be THAT ignorant!
— Thom Longhorn - Jan 22, 06:37 PM - #