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Glenn Beck's (and America's) Vendetta against the Less Fortunate
Now and again, I play a bit of a game. I turn on the Glenn Beck Program, and see how long I can watch before getting infuriated or disgusted. Then, just the other day, my jaw dropped even lower than usual. He talked about how Progressives would be called "tyrants" in Samuel Adams' time, or even "slave owners". He said Progressives have been working to make the American people more dependent on the government. He followed this by playing a video clip of the citizens of Detroit waiting in huge lines, trying to get some money to assist with housing and utility payments. I would talk about the obvious racism in talking about slave owners and then showing a city of mostly African-American people, but that's not even what is most offensive. He pretty much pissed on the city of Detroit, and the state of Michigan.
First a little background. Anybody with access to news knows that the city of Detroit has been absolutely pummeled by the recession. A city that depended heavily on manufacturing jobs, especially the automobile industry. Obviously, everybody knows that these jobs are very scarce. So scarce in fact, that in July of this year, unemployment in the city reached an insane 28.9%. Naturally, these people need some help. When you can't find a job, you can't pay bills, you lose your house, and you can't feed your family. The government can try to help, but often times unemployment benefits simply aren't enough. Logically, using some of the stimulus money to give these people a hand makes sense.
Not to the beacon of wisdom, Glenn Beck! The video clip he played on his show was of thousands of people in Detroit waiting in line to try and get some of the stimulus money to help pay bills and find temporary housing for the homeless. The clip included obviously cherry-picked quotes from a few people in the line, saying that they thought the money was directly from President Obama. The point of this was to show that people are looking for "free money" and becoming increasingly dependent on the government. He's projecting that these people have chosen to live off of the government, not because they have to survive. That you shouldn't have to give up YOUR hard-earned money to help out some dropout meth addict on welfare, or some other offensive stereotype. We all know that's a TOTALLY acceptable notion to have, according to the greedy assholes this society breeds.
Here is where my problem lies. This is the difference between Europe and the United States. This is why America is ass-backwards. Ever since we have been born, we've had this idea perpetuated to us that those who are in poverty have done something wrong in order to be in that state. That even the most BASIC HUMAN NECESSITIES like food, clothing, housing, and yes, HEALTH CARE, have to be EARNED. That not all people DESERVE these things. You've succeeded by our capitalist society's standards, why should you use some of your wealth to help when these people, due to their own "failings", are on the street?
Let me tell you something. These people, the ones who are "inferior" to you, aren't actually so different. The myth that hard work equals results is one of utter bullshit. The man who has worked hard all his life, but is working well into his elderly years because he can't afford his medications. The men and women who work two or three jobs to put food on the table, but still fall short when it comes time to pay the bills. They haven't done anything wrong, but you are told that they have by people at the top that are too greedy to pay their fair share. Feeding the hungry, providing clothing for the homeless, giving health care to all those who need is just plain Socialist. To hell with the others, Americans want to keep their guns, their money, their God, their FREEDOM. They don't even realize that they're being played. They vehemently oppose legislation that will help them out immensely, but they can't see it or don't want to see it. It's almost like a twisted case of Stockholm syndrome.
Glenn Beck has always played to the paranoid Middle America who thinks the government is out to get them. He's made millions off of it. Trying to get people to volunteer means we're living in Mao's China according to Beck. He has a list of people in the government who he says are radical, and must be ousted and removed. That type of stuff was done sixty years ago by Joseph McCarthy. In later years it was ridiculed, but we're allowing it to happen in 2009. While he scrawls out hidden Marxist messages on his handy chalkboard, people in Michigan are fighting to survive. He figures that anything to possibly heighten people's financial standing and political voice is a secret plot to "transform America".
The America he loves so much. The America where the top 1% of the people control an absurd amount of the wealth. The America where banks and lending institutions got billions just by asking, but the auto companies had to jump through hoops just to get a fraction of that. The America which is not-so-secretly run by corporations, financially backing politicians who are their personal puppets. The America where we don't hesitate to drop bombs on Muslims for some cheap oil, but we stall for fucking months on whether or not to let people even decide if they want a government-run health insurance option. The America where anybody who's not a rich, Caucasian male has little or no voice. Of course, I guess we can come to expect that from somebody who single-handedly dragged through the mud and demonized to the point of being excluded from federal funding, an organization whose main goal was to advocate for low and moderate income families, the dreaded and fearsome ACORN.
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