On Aug. 28 2010 Glenn Beck, TV personality, Radio host and all around nutcase, held a rally on the Mall in Washington D.C. The number of attendees range from a low of 100,000 to a high of 1.2 million (thank you Michelle Bachmann). I personally don’t care how many people show up to hear this loon speak, but if you look at the median number of 600,000 that’s less than .2% of the US population, that is less than the number of people that attended Yankee games that week. So I am not impressed, I would have thought there were more nut-jobs out there that had money to waste on this shame of a rally.
The big deal with the rally in my eyes was the message, and boy was it nut-bag crazy. If you remember the line from the 2008 campaign that was attributed to Obama about people clinging to Gods, Guns and Country, well these are the people. This was not just a political rally this was also a Religious rally. I have not heard how we should give ourselves to god so many times in one speech before. It has now become very clear to me that a portion of this Country are hoping for a Religious Theocracy and they are also so ignorant that they think the U.S. Constitution was written to give us that. How did this get this way, well just watch Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, the 700 club, listen to right-wing and Religious radio it is awash with this blatant ignorance.
So let’s get to the Headline, why do I ask the question” is Glenn Beck setting himself up to be a martyr” well let’s start with the fact that he was wearing a bullet proof vest as he gave his speech. Why? Did you hear any reports that someone was going to disrupt his speech, have you heard anyone report that someone was threatening him ? No, neither have I. This does play into 1) his personal paranoia and 2) it plays into the Victimhood that Republicans love to complain about. Glenn Beck has been building himself up over the last 4 to 5 years as a “leader” of a movement to “Take back America” from what he is always vague. He loves to spout off about Obama and the left attacking America from within, he cries Commie, Socialist, Marxist, or his new favorite Maoist. His followers have started to act like cultists in the attack people who disagree with him and they say he is a lone voice telling them the truth.
On any given night he will cry on his show that he is the only one that sees what is happening, he is the one telling you the truth and this is what cult leaders do. They get there victims to follow them by making them believe he is the only one that can save them.
So what will Glenn Beck do next? I don’t think he will go the Martyr road unless he really has to, right now he is getting his kicks and what he wants ( i.e. Money) from people but as he grows weirder and weirder the general public will push him away that is when we need to worry about what he will do. If he loses his show on Fox or the Radio, look out it will all come crashing down.
If you get a chance go and rent Bob Roberts it’s an Eye opener. I thought of that film while I was watching Beck speak at this rally in that bulletproof vest. If are not familiar with the movie Tim Robbins plays a young very conservative politician who is running for office and when it looks like he might lose he has someone shot him and then he pertains to be paralyzed to get votes. This is where Glenn Beck is headed.
