Andrew posted this on facebook and I thought it was awesome enough to post here, as well. It starts a little slow but picks up steam after about two minutes.
The best part, though, is Beck's reaction on his radio show.
He goes off on a rant about communists and socialists and "dare I say, progressives" without a single hint of irony in his voice. So, in response to a parody of him as a fear-mongerer he serves up a big dish of blatant fear-mongering. The man is creative wonder and a genius, whether wittingly or unwittingly so I cannot tell.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
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What's really clever is that he says that he "believes" that the creator of the video is funded by the government. The rest of the segment essentially treats this as true and comes to the conclusion that the government itself is trying to tar the good name of Glenn Beck.
Wow, Beck is pulling a page straight from McCarthy's playbook! All he has to say is that he "believes" that federal funding is behind this and promises that "we'll find out if it's been federally funded" and in the minds of Beck-ites, the research is done: it's all the government's doing.
Will Beck and his team actually do the research? There's no need! There are two possible conclusions to their research:
(1) There is no federal funding for the video. In this case the damage is already done by simply "believing" that there's a connection. A retraction will not be made since what he said wasn't technically wrong (since he only believed there was federal funding, he didn't actually claim it).
(2) There is federal funding for the video. What, is Beck going to do a followup segment and say, "Hey, we did the research and we were right"? Again, there's no need because he's already created the association in the listener's mind.
Further, even if there is some funding behind the creator of the video, does that necessarily imply that the government endorses and sponsors the messages of the videos? I work as a research assistant and am funded by a government agency. Does that mean that if I pick my nose while I'm on the clock, that the government has paid me to do so? Technically, yes, but any rational thinker will see the fallacy behind such an assumption.
It's a beautiful tactic, isn't it? And we see it in other places, as well. "I simply don't know if Pres. Obama was born in the United States" or "Pres. Obama could be a Muslim, but we'll just take his word that he's not."
In this era of 24-hour cable news and the internet, all you have to do is plant the seed and watch it grow, or strike the match and let someone else use it to start a wildfire. Once the concept is out there, there is sure to be enough people willing to believe it that your work is done. Facts and logic be damned.
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