Glenn Beck and the rise of Fox News' militia media

**Pam** · April-09-09, 12:41 PM

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200904070009?f=h_top

**oladub** · April-09-09, 01:46 PM

In response to the rhetorical question at the end, "Do you think there are other Jim Adkissons out there listening to hate speech?" I would answer yes, on both the left and the right and amongst a few religious people and ecological extemists too. So what's the anwer to the ecological arsonists, ecological, pro-life, and World Tower bombers, and the slew of right wing, immigrant misfit, and domestic distrubance guys with guns? Is it censorship? I think that might be what the columnist and some posters on this board are hinting.

**Pam** · April-09-09, 02:00 PM

Where was censorship mentioned? I missed that part. I think he just wants Fox and others to stop pandering to the lunatic fringe and take some responsibility for the crap they put out.

Of course, the right-wingers at Free Republic are way ahead of Erickson as they fantasize about Obama's assassination: "And let's face it: all the speculation about Obama being the actual Antichrist will either be confirmed or denied if someone gets off a lucky shot at the SOB."

On the other hand, whoever wrote this will be visited by the Secret Service one day soon.

**rb336** · April-09-09, 02:03 PM

When an entire spectrum of media is monopolized by one side spewing more hate and exhortations to violence, it is clearly time to demonopolize the airwaves, which we, btw, own. There is no freedom to tell people to go kill or commit acts of violence against anyone, or commit arson, etc. the difference is, one group preaches hate and does, although not flagrantly, call its people to violence by calling anyone who disagrees with them "socialist" or "terrorist" or any of a number of things. the difference is, that one group [[Beck and Savage being the worst of them) has a huge amount of access to the airwaves, where the idiots on the eco fringe have virtually none.

**ghettopalmetto** · April-09-09, 02:10 PM

Note to Glenn Beck and the other idiots:

It's not called "Marxism", "fascism", or even "socialism". It's called LOSING, as in, the guy you voted for LOST the election. Just because you don't agree with Obama, you'd think it was the End of Days.

Valid criticism and suggesting alternate ideas is one thing. Crying like a candy-ass spoiled brat on national television is quite another.

**oladub** · April-09-09, 04:36 PM

Pam, I didn't say that censorship was mentioned in your article beyond my guess that it might be hinted at. Being hinted at and mentioned are different. There must be three similar threads posted here now with posters trying to generalize about the shooters. This has been a difficult task because almost all of these recent shooting deaths have been at the hands of people with no apparent right wing radio exposure. So with sixteen deaths by four shooters, all the reaction here has been to one shooter who killed three with the other shootings being used to illogically support the thesis that it is the fault of right wing radio rather than whatever caused him to drop out of school and then get kicked out of the Marines.

Since some of these same posters have repeatedly mentioned that Obama has no gun control agenda what does that leave? Everyone here has been careful not to mention hate speech legislation and the 'fairness doctrine' but where is all the ranting about evil right wing talk show hosts supposed to lead except to censorship. Rb seems to be doing that in his last post but that was after I suggested that I think that is what was being hinted at. Maybe he wants government agents to attend churches and mosques too to insure that nothing is taught there that could be construed to promote violence while our drones are bombing Pakistani villagers.

**Bobl** · April-09-09, 04:38 PM

Have any of these frantic right wing extremists on Fox turned their fury on the people who ruined the financial system? Have they criticized Wendy and Phil Gramm, for making sure that the fox [[unregulated financial institutions) was in charge of the henhouse [[401ks, mortgages)?
Seems they are too busy with sour grapes and name calling to even give the appearance of a news organization.

**MoparDan** · April-09-09, 05:33 PM

http://mediamatters.org/discuss/200904070009
Scroll down a bit & you'll find phone numbers/email addresses of advertisers. If you are a client or purchase from any of them, write or call to let them know your disgust. Pass the word along; there's strength in numbers. The best way to get their attention is hit them in the wallet.
I've tried watching Glenn Beck...how anyone could take this B-actor seriously is beyond me. Then again, I live in a red state with people who do.

Jon Stewart put it best: "You're in the minority. It's supposed to taste like a shit taco! "
http://digg.com/d1oF3o

ccbatson · May-21-09, 09:29 AM

Who? Mark Levin? His book is the best seller for 8 weeks running now. California turning down socialist taxation, and polls are encouraging for a conservative revival and a return to liberty in upcoming elections. Hopefully we can survive until then.

Lorax · May-21-09, 09:38 AM

What is happening here is the fascist take over of the airwaves, as has been the custom since Reagan's shredding of the Fairness Doctrine on his way out the door. This combined with Clinton's hands off approach to the media gave rise to Faux Noise, Fear Channel Communi[[st)cations, etc.

Glenda Speck is nothing more than a rodeo clown, who, on The View yesterday, admitted he was no journalist [[like that was really news) and did not research his facts or stories.

He's lucky to have found a friend in the Austrailian fascist Rupert Murdoch, from whom he takes his talking points, just like the Manatee and others.

Now with the Murdoch Street Journal poisioning the financial media, we have a loud, fascist right wing dominated media, all of which is conservative, save perhaps MSNBC, which the right is so hysterical over, but at the same time claims has no viewership. Go figure.

The problem with all of this is there are actually people who are socially retarded enough to watch, and worse, believe this values voter's vomit spewed by some really dumb individuals. Just watch Fox & Friends for a daily dose of drivel.

ccbatson · May-21-09, 09:40 AM

Define Fascism please? Does it include freedom of speech/expression? If not...you contradict yourself fatally.

Lorax · May-21-09, 09:55 AM

Take a look in the mirror.

How does that work for you?

If you really need a definition, you are completely lost.

Your Fox Friends like to re-define words, and you have been told Obama is everything from a fascist, communist, socialist, pinko, etc, etc.

And of course your pea sized brain believes it.

Fascism is the co-mingling of government and corporate interests, which is what we had full-tilt under the Tushies.

Hitler and Mussolini were fascists, not social democrats as Poopert Murdoch would have you believe. They started out lying about what their political agenda was, and morphed into what we all know they were- evil fascists.

Tush/Cheney campaigned as compassionate conservatives, which I guess if you believe compassionate involves allowing 9/11 to happen, murdering over a million Iraquis, etc, and being conservative involves raping and plundering the national treasury, then I guess you have your answer.

Tush/Cheney lied, millions died.

**rb336** · May-21-09, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by ccbatson

Define Fascism please? Does it include freedom of speech/expression? If not...you contradict yourself fatally.

silly bats. WE have defined it correctly numerous times. he attempts to re-define it to git his dogma-driven vitriol

ccbatson · May-21-09, 10:04 AM

Hitler and Mussolini were fascists indeed.....nationalist, militarist, expansionist, collectivist/socialist [[including corporate socialism where they control businesses), using crisis [[real or imagined) to grab power for the supposed sake of "the people" while making said "people" the oppressed prisoners of their regimes.....sound familiar to you Obamaphiles? It should.

Lorax · May-21-09, 10:22 AM

You're describing the Bush Crime Family to a tee. Thank you for clarifying that.

ccbatson · May-21-09, 10:32 AM

Not expansionist, not militaristic [[apart from defensive military use), CERTAINLY NOT collectivist, and terrorism is certainly not imagined.

Look closer at Obama for an epiphany.

Lorax · May-21-09, 10:39 AM

The war of choice for oil in Iraq not militaristic? Are you kidding?

Not expansionist, what do you call our occupation of Afghanistan, Iraq, bases all over the place. Whether or not you believe it, what's important is how the world views it.

You're not convincing anyone that appearances aren't real.

If it looks like a cat, walks like a cat, it's probably a cat.

**Bobl** · May-21-09, 02:36 PM

Seems Mr. Beck has been caught in a lie by Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg. He had the poor judgment to fabricate the details a meeting with them on a public transit vehicle in his radio program shortly before he was scheduled to appear on their TV show.
Part of his excuse was "I am a commentator, not a journalist". Apparently, his belief is that commentators are not required to be truthful to make a point.

**Detroitej72** · May-21-09, 05:43 PM

Originally Posted by Bobl

Seems Mr. Beck has been caught in a lie by Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg. He had the poor judgment to fabricate the details a meeting with them on a public transit vehicle in his radio program shortly before he was scheduled to appear on their TV show.
Part of his excuse was "I am a commentator, not a journalist". Apparently, his belief is that commentators are not required to be truthful to make a point.

The fact that he would lie about such a trivial thing leads one to the conclusion that the man is a habitual liar. Now that his honesty has been proven to be suspect, he can never be trusted on matters of greater significance.

The neo-con zombies will still rally behind him, however, as they tend to be blinded by facts, and only believe what right wing lunatics like Beck, Savage, Rush, Levin and the rest of the clowns tell them.

BTW, anyone else enjoy Little Mikey Savage attacking Hannity, Beck and that neo-con god himself, Rushie a few weeks back? I love it when those elitists start to eat one another, it lets the moderates concentrate on more pressing matters, like fixing the Republican Recession we're in.

**mjs** · May-21-09, 06:52 PM

[Our Founding Fathers] knew . . . that it is hazardous to discourage thought, hope and imagination; that fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate menaces stable government; that the path of safety lies in the opportunity to discuss freely supposed grievances and proposed remedies; and that the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones.

Supreme Court Justice Brandeis in Whitney v California discussing the reversal of a conviction for a woman that formed a communist group because the government believed all communist groups encourage violent opposition.

**rb336** · May-21-09, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by Lorax

If it looks like a cat, walks like a cat, it's probably a cat.

or maybe a civet

Lorax · May-21-09, 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by ccbatson

Not expansionist, not militaristic [[apart from defensive military use), CERTAINLY NOT collectivist, and terrorism is certainly not imagined.

Look closer at Obama for an epiphany.

Actually terrorism on the magnitude of 9/11 wasn't imaginable under Democratic rule, but with Rethugnican'ts allowing such unimaginable terror to occur on their watch is ultimately what will render them to the dust bin of history.

**oladub** · May-21-09, 08:11 PM

Lorax, if the weather wasn't up to your standards, you would blame it on Republicans. There was an attempt to blow up a World Towers building while Clinton was in office. The planning and training for the 9/11 attack happened mostly during the Clinton administration. I am not blaming Clinton more than Bush but to continually blame every gliche in the Universe on Republicans is ridiculous.

Both attacks on the World Towers were made by people who were angry at US interventionist policies. There were also some interesting reports concerning the company that McVeigh kept. Yet, we continue to anger people in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan with our imperialistic hubris. I expect more 9/11 type attacks but think it silly to blame them all on either Republicans or Democrats when, in fact, they enrage people with the same imperialist actions.

Back on topic-

I have twice watched parts of the Ed Show on MSNBC. Ed is the 'progressive' version of Hannity. Like Hannity, Ed will turn a question into a sermon and then cut off his guest's response. Fair enough, guests know that might happen when they are invited on the Hannity and Ed shows.

Lorax · May-21-09, 08:20 PM

The old screed of "spreading the blame" doesn't work here.

The long term foreign policy of republicans from Reagan to Bush 41 & Bush 43 is consistent in it's drive to expansion, imperalism, and 'spreading democracy' which as we know can't be done at the point of a rifle.

This is intrinsically a republican, right wing, and indeed fascist attempt to fearmonger the American public, and designed to enrage portions of the planet who historically see us as an enemy, largely due to such foreign policy.

Axis of Evil

Evil Empire

Need I say more?

Blame is squarely in the republican corner. Period.

**oladub** · May-21-09, 08:44 PM

Ok Lorax, I'll explain to Pakistani villagers that the bombs that killed their children were good bombs delivered with the best of intentions to carry out benevolent Obama foreign policy. Then, the villagers will understand that their misfortunes aren't a by-product of Bush's evil foreign policy. Then I'll send a letter to a Serbian newspaper and explain that Clinton bombed Serbia for 78 days for Serbia's own good.