The
other day I had a conversation with a distraught psychiatric patient. She was
concerned that she would be unjustly "punished" by her therapist for
breaking a facility rule. This patient has repeatedly broken this rule over the
last few months and has zero trust with her therapist on this matter.
As
I discussed the situation with her, she weaved together a fairly believable
story in her defense wherein another patient with an equally nefarious track
record was actually responsible for the infraction. I don't know who the
instigator was, but I was willing to give this patient the benefit of the
doubt, if only for the sake of argument.
As
I pointed out to this girl, she had broken this rule so many times in the past
that even though she may not have intended to do so this time, it would be very
difficult for anyone--especially her therapist--to believe her. I shared with
her the story of another patient who had been in a similar situation a couple
months earlier. This other patient rather maturely responded to the
accusations, "I didn't do it. But I have done it several times before, so
I understand why no one believes me. That's why I'm not fighting it."
In
these situations, even mentally unstable teenage girls understand that when
trust is lost it can be difficult to earn back. Sometimes, due to repeated poor
decisions, one just has to bite the consequential bullet and suck it up. If
these teenage mental patients can grasp this concept, why is it so hard for a
grown man like Glenn Beck to wrap his head around it?
In
the wake of the recent shooting in South Carolina (a young male
white-supremacist shot and killed several black people in a church), many vocal
conservatives have expressed their view that this atrocity was an attack
against religion, rather than manifest racism. Fortunately, many people seem to
be quick to point out that this bigoted monster did what he did for purely
racist reasons, as he shouted these purely racist reasons just before he opened
fire.
This
seems pretty straightforward. But when someone sees everything that happens on
the world stage as an affront against their group, or a sign of the times, or
some grand-scale conspiracy (I'm looking at you, Mr. Beck) it can be hard to
see the nose on Plain's face (you're welcome, AD fans).
You
see, Glenn is preparing to "call the attorneys" because he feels that
a newspaper in Miami has "smeared" his good name. The article in
question has accused Beck, along with several other conservatives, of shying
away from the heart of the issue: racism. Quotes from a surprising number of
pontificating pundits seem to indicate a fear of talking head on about the real
issue. Claims of conspiracy, anarchy and attacks against religion, all avoiding
the racism at the core. The quote from Beck indicates a similar
misunderstanding of the motives behind the attack:
“I
don’t know why the shooter shot people. He might shoot people because he’s
racist. He might have shot people because he’s an anarchist. He might have shot
people because he hates Christians.”
Beck
defends himself by claiming that his statement was timestamped a mere 12 hours
after the attack, which he claims was too soon after the attack to have any
reliable information about the shooter--not even his name. As soon as
information was provided, Beck clarified his position and called the shooter a
racist.
Because
he was lumped together with other narrow minded conservatives (gasp!),
presumably over a clerical oversight or just sloppy journalism, Beck is
claiming intentional slander and is rounding up the attorneys. Seriously? This
is what tipped the scale for Glenn? This straw broke his camel's back? Really?
I
have heard many far worse indictments against Glenn Beck, some go so far as to
accuse him of faking his positions in order to dupe gullible and rich patrons.
It
occurs to me that the only reason Beck is making a fuss this time is because he
can actually prove this detractor to be wrong. He never threatens legal action
against Jon Stewart or MSNBC or the countless other newspaper writers who have
accused him of pulling thoughts directly out of his anus; this reporter writing
this article in this obscure newspaper has crossed the line against this
freedom-of-speech toting, hypocritical self-made victim.
As
with my patient, who found herself caught in an awkward situation of mistrust
and perhaps being forced to face the music for something she didn't do, Glenn
Beck is facing his own music for years of crying wolf. No one trusts Beck
outside of his close-knit group of equally persecuted conspiracy-minded donors--a "woe is me" circle-jerk.
At
times I am tempted to accuse Beck of "faking it," as others do. I
have made similar comments about some of Beck's contemporaries on Fox News
(which I don't consider a legitimate news source, and even they have
distanced themselves from the inane yapping of Beck). I hesitate to lump Beck
with other conservative charlatans for one very simple reason: everything I
have heard Beck say, being as fatuous as the mental-diarrhea of a retarded
dingo, all falls in line with Mormon thinking.
A
convert to Mormonism who literally wants to build a large libertarian compound
as a sanctuary from the tyranny and oppression of the Obama administration,
Beck placates to the worst-case-scenarios of Mormon theology. He sees
today--the worst day since yesterday--as a sign that Mormon Armageddon is
coming and that Mormon Jesus will soon be ushering in the Mormon millennium
along with a host of posthumously baptized Mormons (and you thought the Mormons
were just playing around by baptizing all those dead people; during the
thousand year long Mormon millennium, baptized dead people will come back to
Earth to help baptize more dead people—zombies baptizing zombies).
BONUS MATERIAL:
Glenn Beck argues against Gay Marriage:
Glenn Beck counters Glenn Beck on Gay Marriage:
Is Glenn Beck Completely Nuts?
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