When the process of governing is incomprehensible, manipulation and propaganda thrives. The strange stories that Glenn Beck creates with his chalkboard gain traction with Americans, who are made anxious by the large changes that have overtaken the United States, including the election of a black president and the increasing racial diversity of the population, deindustrialisation and the decline of American power abroad, as well as cultural changes in sexual and family norms.
By telling simple fairy tales that trace these big and complex changes to the machinations of particular people, Beck makes the changes comprehensible in a way, and also makes the people who are presumably responsible the targets of his listeners' frustration and outrage. Partly because it is utterly irrational, and partly because it is an effort to bully and intimidate his political opponents, this is dangerous for democratic politics.
The above paragraphs were written by Francis Fox Piven, an elderly academic who has become the latest target of Glenn Beck's increasingly unhinged rhetoric. Despite being subjected to numerous death threats, as a result of the spotlight Beck is putting her in, Piven has managed to maintain her composure, while providing the most lucid explanation of Beck's appeal that I have yet heard. Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of 20th century history should quickly recognize Beck's "history lessons" for what they are. Glenn Beck starts with an already formulated version of history complete with stock villains. He then proceeds to distort the historical record until it fits his warped version of events.
Another person who makes sense of otherwise seemingly inexplicable political and cultural phenomenon is Chris Hedges, a columnist and foreign correspondent. Hedges most recent book is titled Death of the Liberal Class, and I am about halfway through it at the moment. A discussion about the book by the author is available on youtube, and is definitely worth a watch. Interestingly enough, Hedges works within the same time period in American history as does Beck, but without the chalkboard, tweed jacket, pipe, or insane theories.
Since I can embed the video within my blog post, I think I'm going to do just that:
No comments:
Post a Comment