The Anarchy of Absurdity
in American Political Discourse
in American Political Discourse
Jason Linkins
As Sponsors Flee, The Glenn Beck Show Gets More And More Awesomely Bonkers
Huffington Post
[First Posted: 08-28-09 12:20 PM. Updated: 08-28-09 03:11 PM]
Jason Linkins exposes the profound absurdity of Glen Beck’s thinking. [It is startlingly irrational. See these clips that Jason provides:
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Glen Beck passionately wants his viewers to believe his paranoid conspiracy theories. His ideas split people into two warring groups. One of them so far does not exist. And he wants his viewers to take action without delay. He advocates something like a pre-emptive strike against Obama.
In Beck’s mind, doing so will prevent a fascist tyranny from rising-up. He claims that Obama will turn our domestic peace corps into his personal paramilitary, which will enforce his communist rule. One thing they will do is take away gun-owner’s weapons. Then we will be defenseless and enslaved. But Beck emphasizes that this process has already begun. So we must act now to prevent them from using their guns to take our own guns. How could we possibly prevent them from disarming us? I suppose the only way is to use our guns too, and to do so preemptively before they gain the upper hand. So it may come as no surprise that there have been some protesters brandishing assault riffles outside Obama’s town hall meetings.
Let’s not forget, that this is all based on absurd logic. One need only review Beck’s acronym demonstration to see that rational logic does not influence the way he draws his inferences. He forcefully and manipulatively puts ideas in people’s heads, using crude propagandist methods.
Maybe the emotional irrationality of health-care protesters is nothing new. But what about the sheer absurdity that inspires their raucous behavior?
I invite us to wonder if Beck’s instigations will lead to anarchist sentiments. Imagine first if their protests were fueled by rational thinking. Perhaps they actually obtain compelling evidence that it is true Obama is installing a fascist rule. Then their rebellion would be to restore order. But are not their protests instead fueled by absurd thinking? So would their revolution restore things to a rational order, or would the order they install be based on some incoherent, anti-government beliefs? If so, perhaps those protesters driven by absurd ideas also are fighting for a system that at its basis has no ruling logic. I have to wonder. Is anarchy rising in America? Is Glen Beck, knowingly or not, an anarchist instigator?
Glen Beck passionately wants his viewers to believe his paranoid conspiracy theories. His ideas split people into two warring groups. One of them so far does not exist. And he wants his viewers to take action without delay. He advocates something like a pre-emptive strike against Obama.
In Beck’s mind, doing so will prevent a fascist tyranny from rising-up. He claims that Obama will turn our domestic peace corps into his personal paramilitary, which will enforce his communist rule. One thing they will do is take away gun-owner’s weapons. Then we will be defenseless and enslaved. But Beck emphasizes that this process has already begun. So we must act now to prevent them from using their guns to take our own guns. How could we possibly prevent them from disarming us? I suppose the only way is to use our guns too, and to do so preemptively before they gain the upper hand. So it may come as no surprise that there have been some protesters brandishing assault riffles outside Obama’s town hall meetings.
Let’s not forget, that this is all based on absurd logic. One need only review Beck’s acronym demonstration to see that rational logic does not influence the way he draws his inferences. He forcefully and manipulatively puts ideas in people’s heads, using crude propagandist methods.
Maybe the emotional irrationality of health-care protesters is nothing new. But what about the sheer absurdity that inspires their raucous behavior?
I invite us to wonder if Beck’s instigations will lead to anarchist sentiments. Imagine first if their protests were fueled by rational thinking. Perhaps they actually obtain compelling evidence that it is true Obama is installing a fascist rule. Then their rebellion would be to restore order. But are not their protests instead fueled by absurd thinking? So would their revolution restore things to a rational order, or would the order they install be based on some incoherent, anti-government beliefs? If so, perhaps those protesters driven by absurd ideas also are fighting for a system that at its basis has no ruling logic. I have to wonder. Is anarchy rising in America? Is Glen Beck, knowingly or not, an anarchist instigator?
