Inside of Glenn Beck‘s head a new idea has taken root: Fanatical Muslims are collaborating with American Liberals of all sorts.
“Believe what you want but the left is working hand-in-hand with the Muslim Brotherhood and Muslim extremists… Hand-in-hand… We will show you the evidence tonight and tomorrow on the Fox News Channel tonight at 5pm.”
Subtext: “Just tune in folks, to keep my ratings up. And, of course, buy my next book. It doesn’t have a title yet, but it’s sure to be a hot seller, and it will add to my already considerable fortune.”
Beck certainly knows how to stir up a crowd with his radio and television programs, or as I like to call them psychological warfare campaigns. He’s mastered the fine art of propaganda: the more outrageous the lie, the more inclined the people are to believe it.
However, this latest claim is so baseless it hardly warrants a response.
The only way Beck would support rebellions in Tunisia and Egypt is if the Christian minorities in those countries were leading the charge. Beck’s idea of direct action is a Tea Party whose only cohesiveness lies in opposition to taxes and spending, as if cuts in either will suddenly right America’s ship. Of course, one must wonder why this group was quite silent during the Bush years. And since the Tunisian and Egyptian activists are mainly Muslim, pro-democratic students, who happen to be upsetting the engines of commerce, the Glenn Beck stamp of approval is withheld.
Yet, none of this is particularly surprising. Indeed, it’s natural that Beck would find something sinister in people trying to dismantle a corrupt government, since he quite loves the idea of the state, as long as its policies square with his vision of the world. He would much prefer the U.S. government maintain the policy of giving $1.5 billion in taxpayer money to Mubarack’s regime to suppress the Egyptian people. As long as it happens half way around the world, it’s of no concern to Beck; that is, until he can spin it into a Muslim-left wing conspiracy that I might be able to appreciate as entertaining conspiracy theory if it weren’t so unconvincing.
The more surprising move of today’s Fox News psych warfare hour with Glenn Beck was that Beck held aloft a copy of “The Coming Insurrection,” a pamphlet written by French direct action proponents called the Invisible Committee. Beck has referenced the book at least once before around the time of its U.S. publication. And apparently he is well-acquainted with the ideas contained within, because he twists the book’s meaning to establish an umbilical cord of conspiracy between the Invisible Committee and Muslim extremists. He’s presently so obsessed with this book that one might mistake it for a secret devotion to its philosophical position.
The Beck segment in question has the Minister of Propaganda holding a copy of “The Coming Insurrection” and stating:
“I think it’s all part of ‘The Coming Insurrection.’ It’s easier to put pressure on us and the West if we can raise the price of oil, and have the fuel and food shortages that they now have in the Middle East…”
Perhaps Beck has selective memory when it comes to the book, but as much as he likes to assume the mantle of a plain speaker, he’s no idiot. He’s a savage manipulator of images and words. The unholy child of Marshall McLuhan and the best example of what William S. Burroughs had imagined with his fear peddlers in the Reality Studios of “The Nova Express.”
Anyone who has read “The Coming Insurrection” would be able to tell you that the message of the book is not one of solidarity with Muslim extremists. Far from it. The book’s authors oppose any control mechanisms, from corrupt representative democracies to religious states. They don’t make a distinction between any state.
Beck is attempting to take a book meant for those exhausted with corporate-dominated democracies and a hyper-consumerist society and twist it into a pro-Muslim caliphate document. And knowing the herd mentality of the Tea Party, they’ll probably start burning it at their rallies with great relish.
No comments:
Post a Comment