I can't articulate better than this poster, but please comment on his thoughts:
"mikhail
Dear Reddit,
I rarely if ever comment. Most of the time this is because I don't find adding a meme reference or a clever joke furthers the quality of the general
discussion and thus I rarely have much to offer the discussion that I believe is pertinent. Regarding this topic however, I do.
For anyone interested in a critical analysis of figures like Glenn Beck and the shocking historical similarities between them and other Demagogues
from the 20th century, you should pick up a copy of Theodor Adorno's collection of essays entitled "The Stars Down To Earth." The gist being that
Glenn Beck is nothing new. In fact he is the same banal fascist that American society has placed over its public airwaves since the 1930's.The
general structural features of these types of programs are roughly the same.
There is always a vague enemy which people can project their prejudices onto. There is always a vague movement ready to fix the problems. There is a
continual pivotal truth that is endlessly regurgitated about the supremacy of the good American worker. There is always a strong streak of
anti-intellectualism. There is always a continual valorization of the belief in conspiracy theories, which endlessly abound new and modified to adapt
to changing times. And unfortunately, there are always teeming masses of people ready to sit calmly and swallow up this vapid garbage.
For some of us who have grown up in the US, and thus are likely to have known plenty of people with views like Glenn Beck, it may be easy to feel
comfortable with his discourse. Meaning that many of us may think of it as ridiculous, sad and pitiful, but ultimately just wrong and nothing more. I
believe this is a false way of thinking about Glenn Beck. I can't summarize Adorno's work on the topic here, but we should not mince words in
describing what Beck really is: The most extreme pole of mainstream society's paranoiac machine and by any serious measure, a fascist.
I'll return to lurking now. Ciao."
This comment was made regarding Stephen Colbert's take on Glen Beck, which I urge each of you to watch - behind the comedy, there's a genius:
www.colbertnation.com...
Before you resort to "oh, so you're using a comedy show as a source," let me just say the credibility of these shows is greater than Faux news.
[edit on 1-4-2009 by Blagojevich]
