I'll begin this by suggesting that Glenn Beck, at least on camera, did not appear to desecrate MLK's legacy. On the other hand, Beck's traveling circus did not match the historic place or King's revered message, nor did he accomplish what he claimed he would do at his much hyped "restoring honor" rally.
He did not reclaim the civil rights movement like he said he would, nor did he restore honor - whatever his definition of honor is. It really never mattered anyways. He did deliver a rather boring if not unmiraculous sermon-on-the-mount speech that most of us might hear on any given Sunday. Though he said the country needs to turn to God, he also said the event has raised $5.5 million so far for Special Operations Warrior Foundation. The skin-crawling Sarah Palin too echoed the military and war when she said she was appearing as the mother of a soldier, not a politician.
But the propaganda behind their calculated message is that Beck and Palin think Americans have lost their honor by voting for democrats in general and Barack Obama specifically. They didn't say it that way but it was evident. They are asking voters, under the cloak of apolitical theatre, that in order to restore honor, Americans will have to turn to God to ward off the evil values and misguided principles they believe have perversed the nation. In truth, Beck and Palin are trying to con American voters into voting against their own Judeo-Christian values of compassion and American exceptionalism founded on social and economic justice. This is one reason why Beck spent the last year of his show unchristening social justice, distorting the founding fathers intent, and disparaging Obama and anyone tied to his administration.
In other words, Becks' religiously bent rally was purely political and one in which Martin Luther King, if he were alive, would find himself a target of.
On second thought, Beck did desecrate MLK's legacy.
3 comments:
I saw a beautiful post about this the other day...Glenn Beck = Jim Jones
I used to think Beck was just another right wing nut with a TV show, not as insidious as Limbaugh, but crazier. Now I worry that with the messiah complex he could get people really stirred up - the atmosphere is practically ripe for a person just like him. If he starts sporting a tiny mustache all bets are off.
What's funny and scary at the same time is how Beck's assuming "restore honor" rally abjectively god-damns Americans on a national stage and resorts to his own brand of "liberation" theology to free us from our obviously dishonorable choices at the ballot box. A campaign methodology Beck has condemned as insidiously evil and unamerican and one in which he accused Obama of meditatively using.
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