Remember that focus-group we heard about the other day? The one that basically says today's conservative movement is a cult, and Glenn Beck is the cult leader?
I'll go further and say this "bodyguard" is another plastic frog. A fake. A fugazi. There is no such thing as a "partially-concealed" firearm; the gun was another ostentatious show in a very public setting. Beck is actively courting his cult status.
We need a name for his cult. I'm going with "Beckies" right now. Any nominations?
Adding: "Beckentologists"?
Two aspects of the discussion on Beck among conservative Republicans were particularly noteworthy. One was a common fear among the women for his personal safety, a belief that his willingness to stand up to powerful liberal interests was putting his life, as well as the lives of those working with him, in danger. Of course, his willingness to face this danger head on only adds to his legend.As it turns out, Beck was spotted with an armed bodyguard that very same day:
Guests at the other day's preview of Broadway musical "Memphis" noticed Beck was closely accompanied -- even to the men's room -- by a bodyguard with a gun partially concealed under his jacket. Beck, who famously accused President Obama of being "a racist," tweeted after the show: "Just got back from 'Memphis' on Broadway. Amazing cast & music. 2 songs abt Hope & Change. rlly? Only 2?"Beck's performance art has spilled out of the studio and into the New York gossip pages. Which is not to say that Beck doesn't receive death threats; I'm sure he does -- but from under-medicated lunatics, not "Obama goons." As I've demonstrated before, the "goons" are products of a lunatic imagination.
I'll go further and say this "bodyguard" is another plastic frog. A fake. A fugazi. There is no such thing as a "partially-concealed" firearm; the gun was another ostentatious show in a very public setting. Beck is actively courting his cult status.
We need a name for his cult. I'm going with "Beckies" right now. Any nominations?
Adding: "Beckentologists"?
Mr. Octopus, Sir:
ReplyDelete"Bekies" would be better; but--I gotta ask--"Clueless assholes" was already taken?
democommie - since you're new to the Zone and I'm so hopelessly nosy,I had to go check out your profile and I couldn't believe it!
ReplyDeleteI have found another person who appreciates Gregorian chants!
Your blog will be on my "regulars" list. (Love the snake story) :)
How about the Flaming Ooze-Beck SOciety?
ReplyDeleteOr Society, even
ReplyDeletedemocommie, "cluless assholes" is too non-specific. But I like the way you think.
ReplyDeleteZIRGAR, "Flaming Ooze-Beck Society" is a great visual but a bit long for the MSM to pick up.
ReplyDeleteMatt Osborne:
ReplyDeleteI see your point. I was thinking that not all clueless assholes are Glen Bek fans, but all Glen Bek fans ARE clueless assholes. Now I see the vagueness of it all.
rocknc:
Thanks for stopping by. I think your visit will have pushed me over the century mark for total hits on the blog!
Now I wonder how long it will take before one of the usual trolls will show up insisting "Liberals are all about hate and name calling" while insisting that hate-filled, name calling and America hating Beck is a victim and always tells the truth.
ReplyDeleteI didn't come up with it, but I think the Olbermann name is apt:
ReplyDeleteBeckerhead. His followers? Beckerheads.
It makes me smile. A lot.
The Beckkary which rhymes with “peccary” and would necessitate the use of either this or this for a logo.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the rhyming allusion to "peccary" would be silly enough, and Beck's own image would suffice (with a PhotoShopped tusk or two).
ReplyDeleteHow come you don't get the typical right wing troll? Obviously, Shaw and Truth horde them all...
ReplyDeleteI think Glenn Beck is like Joan of Arc...he is sacrificing himself for the country he loves...
Not real sure which country that is, or if that country ever existed but he is doing a bang up job for something...
I personally like "Beckies" because it is a take off of zombies...
The only clips I've seen of the fellow have been on MSNBC lib-commentary sites, but in my simple-dino opinion, it often seems like he's engaging in "free association." Just work yourself into a state of winger inspiration akin to the whoop-it-upping antics of an enthusiastic preacher, take any two or three or ten ideas (or what passes for ideas in some circles), assert a connection between them, bake for a few minutes, and voila, you've got yourself a conspiracy theory. This sort of process has long had an appeal amongst those with little education (and I don't mean formal schooling; a college degree is no sure marker that one is educated) because it "makes sense of things" merely by juxtaposing and connecting the confused thoughts and anxieties already rattling around in the old noggin. No doubt we are all "the ignorant" at some level, and are thus susceptible to the results of this kind of free association process. We have a strong need to render things intelligible at all costs and "by any means necessary." But it's clear that some are more susceptible to cruder formulations and associations than others.
ReplyDeletedino, I wish I could share your faith in Beck as Dadaist, but I'm busy writing...well, a whole book about the New World Order nuttiness he spews, and the truth is a little more frightening than that.
ReplyDeleteMatt,
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting -- what kind of agency for GB, at base, do you posit? Do you see him as very or entirely self-aware with regard to his performances, or whatever we want to call them? (If that's too close to the book's contents, no need to respond at such an early date.)
By the way, I wasn't asserting that GB is into "Dadaism" -- those guys with their throw-away poems and such were theoretically rather sophisticated, or at least the best of them were: they were opposing traditional ways of making and responding to art.
ReplyDeleteDadaism:
ReplyDeleteYou have two cows.
Glenn Beck:
My friends, the liberal media wants you to believe that you have two cows...
FOX News:
Thanks to the Democrats, nobody can have THREE cows.
Republicans:
You have two cows. Your neighbor has three cows, and you can't have fewer cows than your neighbor, so you get the government to lower your taxes so that you can afford the additional cow. However, your neighbor now has lower taxes too, so he gets a fourth cow. You keep getting the government to lower taxes until you and your neighbor both have a huge herd of cows. Meanwhile, the government goes bankrupt, hyperinflation occurs, and all of your cows are worthless.
How about "The League of Extraordinarily Gullible Gentlemen"
ReplyDeleteOr maybe just "A Large Number of the World's Stupidest Jackasses?"
Dino, I was reaching when I picked out "Dada."
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, Beck is very much aware of his sources and methods and courts the cult actively. Of course, he doesn't think of it that way.
"The argument from intimidation is a confession of intellectual impotence."
ReplyDeleteMatt, you were wondering sometime last week where the AR cultist was. Look immediately above. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteEverything you say seems to be marked with quotes.
ReplyDeleteArgumentum ad vericundiam, I think it's called; an argument from authority and it's always someone else's authority false proof by quoting baseless assertions cribbed from a work of fiction and you go at it ad nausiam; standing as you do on borrowed authority from a dead woman's dried lust and withered ego and none of yours.
Humanity has suffered long enough an endless sequence of all-explaining hypotheses that never stand any tests of time or experience; followed slavishly by generations of delighted neophytes yet to learn a lesson and full of rented glory.
Such accusations as you make do suggest impotence, but not mine and I don't need quotes around the sentence either.
@Capt.Fogg
ReplyDeleteWho can create a longer sentence, you or me? Perhaps you win.
Sapienta antiqua (old or ancient wisdom): "Less is more."
Capt. Fogg:
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I seem to have missed something in the comments thread. Would you elaborate on what prompted your last comment?
Alisa, who has adopted the real name of Ayn Rand as her own, likes to impress us by quoting from Rand rather than actually trying to engage anyone in a real conversation or providing any illustration from objective reality that Rand describes phenomena in the real world.
ReplyDeleteMy comment was prompted by irritation, of course and that because endless quotation from Ayn Rand isn't a justification for Ayn Rand's attempt at "philosophy."
It's an attempt to draw attention to her own blog efforts of course.
"Who strive - you don't know how the others strive
ReplyDeleteTo paint a little thing like that you smeared
Carelessly passing with your robes afloat,-
Yet do much less, so much less, Someone says,
(I know his name, no matter) - so much less!
Well, less is more, Lucrezia."
-Robert Browning-
Not so ancient.
Capt. Fogg:
ReplyDeleteThank you, now I get it. There is troll who comes to "Dispatches From The Culture Wars" (ScienceBlogs) who parrots reichwing nonsense that he picks up from Faux News and the likes of Rushbo. I am exceedingly ugly to him and have been criticized by others for being that way. I find, however, that reason is not something he responds to, whereas gratuitous invective works fairly well in getting him off the threads.
I am thinking of offering my services as a facilitator of or instructor in the technique to any progressives who still thing that well mannered responses will work when engaging such idiots.
@ Capt. Fogg
ReplyDelete"likes to impress us"
Impress? Hardly. I and every soul on this board appreciates that anything short of absolute obsequious obedience to your philosophy (which is...what?) will draw your ire.
No. Impressing those who walk these hallowed halls is not my aim. Providing a tweak in frequency of reflected sound waves intervals, perhaps.
@ demo and Capt. Fogg
ReplyDelete"My comment was prompted by irritation..."
"I am exceedingly ugly to him..."
For those who claim such high intellectual capacity, the strength of your ability to engage dissonance is clearly deficient. My comments here - in quotations or not - are observations, nothing more.
I bid you well for now.
Alisa: "I and every soul on this board appreciates that anything short of absolute obsequious obedience to your philosophy (which is...what?) will draw your ire. "
ReplyDeleteMistake number one: As one of the souls of this board, you do not speak for me, and it strikes me as exceedingly adolescent and arrogant of you to make such a statement.
Mistake number two: Long on quotes but short on original thought, you take too long singing in the shower and listening to your own voice.
Having admonished you under a previous comment thread, must I turn you over my knee and spank you again ... or should I cancel your credit card, confiscate the keys to the car, and confine you to your room?
Actually nobody here has claimed superior intellectual capacity, but of course you, by laughing at the idea, do -- and that's what's so funny about you. I'm afraid that concluding that vague agreement between two or more other people is somehow something negative while you with your head up the rear end of a dead promoter who tried to make herself a hero by writing low-brow fiction is not funny.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm sure you're really much smarter and of course much richer and more successful and all because you read these books,(and little else) you see. . .
I've often wondered whether the Mythos cooked up by the self-styled Rand appeals more to the really rich than to the moneywankers, the wannabes - sort of like a Hustler magazine for nerds dreaming about things they'll never, ever have.
Um, seems a word got left out of the above, but never mind - she'll touch herself and feel superior anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe real mystery, IMO is that people still try to drag this vampire out of it's coffin and make it walk. It's an artifact from a long dead era in a long dead style from a day when Dzugashvili became Stalin, Oulianov became Lenin and Rozenboym became Rand. Grand Utopian schemes to reform an apparently broken system from Marxism to Technocracy to Rand's attempt to defend some version of laissez-faire capitalism by carving it in white marble.
Even Alan Greenspan seems to have given up on the faith-based system, but then again he's the only disciple she didn't sleep with - or so I hear.
But there's always some kid, reading some book, who thinks she's stumbled upon neglected wisdom she can use to put herself on that white marble horse. . .
"the strength of your ability to engage dissonance is clearly deficient. My comments here - in quotations or not - are observations, nothing more."
ReplyDeleteOh here I go again -- sorry, but this is a riot. Yes, cognitive dissonance makes my head buzz -- that's why I prefer honesty. It's easier for uneducated trailer trash like me.
Observations yes -- someone else's observations pressed into your service. Whether apt or idiotic it's still nothing but a pastiche of someone else's thoughts taken from the little red book.
I prefer to do my own thinking for the most part -- sitting here in my rusty trailer wondering where lunch money will come from and mooching off handouts from the Glorious Creator Class. . . .
Too bad I didn't spend my youth soaking up the Gospel of Galt. Just think of where I could be now.
Capt. Fogg:
ReplyDeleteI see what you mean, she is a bit "precious".
There has always been one thing that confused me about the Rand Cult. It's a selfish philosophy, and I've only found one other group like it: Satanists. So why does the Rand Kool-Aid resonate with the "prosperity gospel" of the charismatic movement? It's a cognitive dissonance that's almost impossible to believe.
ReplyDeleteAs a reaction to the equally unworkable paper construct of collectivism it shares the same inevitable tendency to turn into tyranny when applied. The witch herself was said to be a tyrant with her disciples, dictating every thought and word and insisting on exact interpretations of her gospel.
ReplyDeleteHardly the road to any kind of freedom.
Of course selfishness appeals to the whining classes who hate the pressure of civilization and its responsibilities and fantasize about a world where every dime they earn and every moment of their time is theirs with no strings attached and that as nothing contributes to their fortunes, they owe nothing to anyone with no conscience involved.
Her "genius" seems to be in creating a fictional world where something unworkable and unstable can exist with no negative consequences -- just like Communism. I prefer science fiction - it's usually more plausible.
Newsweek has an ode to Rand,
ReplyDeleteAtlas Hugged: Ayn Rand has drifted in and out of favor, but she may be more relevant today than ever before.
It was written by, I kid you not, Mark Sanford -- yes, the same Mark Sanford of S.C. who was caught a few months ago humping the Argentinian tail... um, I mean, hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Can't help but think that Atlas is probably the only thing Sanford is hugging these days.