Glen Beck: 'African-American Is a Bogus, PC, Made-Up Term... Not a Race'

[Bucky]

Source: Huffington Post

The topic of race identification on the upcoming census was brought up on Glenn Beck's radio program this morning, and controversial statements ensued.

The whole issue apparently merited discussion because three of the available boxes to check in order to identify your race are "Black," "African-American" and "Negro."

Beck was quick to clarify:

African-American is a bogus, PC, made-up term. I mean, that's not a race. Your ancestry is from Africa and now you live in America. Ok, so you were brought over -- either your family was brought over through the slave trade or you were born herenhere or whatever but that is not a race.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/07/glenn-beck-african-americ_n_415357.html

---

How did he-- Huh? Does he mean... I mean, what does... ummmm... AAARRRGGGHH!! :banghead: I give up!

Follow the link and listen to the clip (It's not a tough one to listen to this time. He's only being stupid, not mean). Included in the clip, and you just can't make up this depth of stupid, apparently he is confused about whether Kofi Annan should be called "African American" :rofl:

That's right, you bone head, that great American diplomat Kofi Annan.

[yellowcanine]

1. You do not have the standing to make that call, Becky. People should be called what they want to be

called. Not YOUR call, fuckwad.

[Kerrytravelers]

2. I keep wanting to comment, but words just escape me. They really do.

I'm embarrassed for my country that we have someone this stupid who has a television show and a radio show. It is just embarrassing.

[slackmaster]

3. Who did he say called it a race?

:shrug:

[pipoman]

40. Right above the boxes on the census form it does say 'race'..n/t

[DeeOwl]

4. Pure theatrics...

Whoever takes this guy seriously (he himself sure doesn't) has serious issues coping with what we all like to call "the reality". This is theater, pure and simple. This guy is such an animated caricature that he can't possibly be taken seriously by anyone over the age of six.

[zeemike]

6. But there are people out there that do take him seriously

And most of them are well over 6.
Welcome to DU

[catnhatnh]

5. So is he Boycotting...

Franco-American spaghetti?

[izquierdista]

7. Beck is an incontinent pigeon

A birdbrain who craps on anything he gets near.

[DissedByBush]

8. I always thought "African American" brought up interesting questions

Like Theresa Heinz-Kerry, born and raised in East Africa.

She has closer ties to Africa than 99.9% of blacks in this country, but she's not supposed to call herself "African American" because of her skin color.

Me, I'm just American.

That is what you should be calling yourself if you are a citizen of this country.

[Bill McBlueState]

21. the thing I don't understand

is why you and Beck are so concerned about this. I don't see how it matters.

[me b zola]

36. "That is what you should be calling yourself if you are a citizen of this country."

Ah no. True that many white people who do not have strong links to their ethnic heritage say this, but that is only because they feel estranged from any ethnic identity. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, I was adopted at birth and have no ancestral links to anything. FFS.

[Bucky]

46. There's nothing wrong with anyone, white of black, embracing just "American" as ethnicity

And certainly race is mostly a social, rather than a genetic construct. That doesn't mean I'm "estranged" from my identity; I find that kind of insulting. Really I've found my ethnicity. But then there's nothing wrong with anyone's choice, whether they say they're African-American, Irish-American, Mutt-American, or whatever. It's all good. I'd only ask you not to judge, but rather accept, the choice of any person. It's their right.

[me b zola]

53. I did not mean to imply that there is anything wrong with the generic American identity.

What the poster was saying is that it is wrong for those who have close ties to their ethnic heritage, Irish, Italian, or African-American etc that they should lose that identity and only call themselves American. My point was for those of us who do not have strong ties to an ethnic heritage we should not begrudge those that do.

[14thColony]

38. Reminds me of a guy I knew at university

He caused a mild controversy by checking "African-American" on the admission form, which caused the administrators concern due to his clearly white caucasian-ness. He explained that he was born in South Africa, and was a South African citizen until his family emigrated and he eventually obtained American citizenship. As he put it, "I'm an African who is now an American. If that's not African-American, then what is?"

[EFerrari]

9. Skip Gates' joke is that every time Jesse Jackson gets in trouble

he has a pres conference and "we change our name". lol

He's got a great rif on this, how the next term will be "neo nubian". :)

[w4rma]

10. African-American is an ethnicity, not a race. (nt)

[Tuvok Obama]

11. I realize it's popular around here to view Glenn Beck as an idiot, but in his defense...

...he's batshit crazy.

[Hippo_Tron]

13. In Glen Beck's defense

He is completely full of shit.

[jmm]

12. Race, like many other things that deeply impact our society, is a social construct.

We have never had two censuses in this nation that were the same. Society and the way we all refer to ourselves constantly evolves. Too bad he hasn't evolved. His quickness to belittle how others self identify and call African American "a bogus, PC, made-up term" reeks of paternalism and shows his lack of respect for African Americans or whatever his preferred term is :banghead:.

[orion007]

14. Kofi Annan was born in Ghana, he's not an American Diplomat

[jmm]

29. I know he's from Ghana. I never said or implied he was American. (n/t)

[orion007]

31. Not you jmm, Bucky wrote that, nt

[jmm]

32. I thought that post might've been in response to something else.

Welcome to DU!

[orion007]

33. merci beaucoup

[timtom]

41. I interpreted it as pure sarcasm.

Without the emoticon.

[Bucky]

47. Actually I was making fun of Beck saying that.

Really, if you need someone to point out sarcasm, you don't need to read my posts.

[newtothegame]

15. I do think it's a little strange...

that someone who has never been to or even seen Africa is an African-American because of the color of their skin, but yet Charlize Theron, who was born in Africa and moved here, is NOT an African-American.

:shrug:

[iamjoy]

18. I Asked A Friend Once

I once asked an African-American friend why they used the term African-American. I let her know I wasn't trying to be nasty, I was just curious. My mother's grandparents came from Russia and we don't call ourselves "Russian-Americans" or "European-Americans."

She answered my question with a question, "Did your ancestors come here willingly?"

I saw her point and that made me feel compelled to respond, "Well, we're Jewish, so it was pretty much get out of Europe or be killed." But I acknowledged that it was a willing move, no matter how compelling the reason.

And that brought up another point. I don't keep kosher, I don't go to synagogue (unless it's a bar/bat mitzvah or the like) I'm not religious at all, and I don't believe the stuff about "Chosen People" and "Covenant" etc. I'm not even convinced there is a God. Yet I identify myself as Jewish.

I'm not a psychologist or sociologist or anything, but I wonder if there is in all of us a need to feel a sense of belonging at the same time as we feel a sense of separation from the population at large. I think that feeling intensifies if that sub-group has been subject to extreme persecution or hardship in the past.

Something to ponder, or you can just say I'm a fool who's got it all wrong.

[kelly1mm]

23. Doesn't modern anthropology promote the theory that all humans

originated in east Africa (Olduvai Gorge), and thus are not all Americans African-Americans?

[kelly1mm]

25. Who says she is not an African-American (assuming she is a US citizen)? nt

[proteus_lives]

35. I told a friend once that Charlize Theron is more African than him.

Pissed him off but I was right.

[ProfessorGAC]

43. I Have A Friend Of The Family, For Many Years. . .

. . .who was born in Morocco. His family came here when he was about 5 years old, and his brother was about 2. (The youngest, a sister was born here.) He's always wondered if that made him an African-American. I guess he's got a point.
GAC

[Bucky]

48. Look, race is kind of optional in this country (to some extent)

So you have a point. The stupidity I'm pointing out is Beck's boneheaded refusal to accept the choices and identities that other people embrace for themselves. Why does he do that? I'm guessing it's because he doesn't like black people.

I remember a couple of years ago when the silly "Is Obama black enough?" controversy got going, since he's not the descendent of slaves (or at least of American slaves). His response was "I still have trouble hailing a cab in New York City." Bigots like Beck impose their opinions and prejudices on other Americans, so heritage is not 100% choice--some of it is imposed by environment and randomly selected genetic factors (not height, but nose configuration; not eye color, but skin color; and ethnicity is more likely to be passed down from the father's side of one's family tree--all fairly random). But to the extent it is chosen, it's not for Beck to choose for other people.

[bridgit]

16. Look - Glenn Beck is not the gift that keeps on giving, he's the backed up toilet dumping shit...

on the floor, way past time for Roto-Rooter


But plenty of time to snake his dumb ass out

[iamjoy]

17. Beck is Right

African American is a made-up term. So is just about every word or term we use every day. So what. That's what they prefer to be called. Why do you care? It's kind of neat that the term acknowledges their recent and distant ancestry. They are affirming their sense of belonging to this country. I'd think you flag wavers would appreciate that, but I could be wrong.

Next time you want to get petty about semantics when it comes to - ahem, African Americans - let's just look at a little history. Four hundred years ago your ancestors grabbed their ancestors and shoved them into the holds of ships like objects rather than living, breathing creatures (much less human beings). For two-hundred fifty years your people treated their people like property subjecting them to torture and abuse. For one hundred years White, or Caucasian Americans may have "officially" recognized "Negroes"/"Coloreds"/"Blacks"/"African-Americans" as human, but still systematically denied them the equal protection under the law they should have always been due. It is only within the past fifty years or so that those descendants of slaves have had a glimmer of an opportunity for equal access to education, the courts and public services.


Beck, why do you give a shit what they want to be called?

Oh, and for not having any friends because you are afraid you might offend them - I call bullcrap. If they are really your friends they won't care if you occasionally say something non-pc. Good friends are like that - it doesn't matter what their color or nationality or race or whatever happens to be. They forgive. Of course, if it isn't just the random non-pc comment but that you are are an arrogant, bigoted fool maybe no sensible person (African American or otherwise) would want to be friends with you.

[Nikki Stone1]

19. Caucasian was an invented term too, based on the mistaken impression

that whites emerged from the Caucuses.

[LooseWilly]

20. I would venture an opinion, but I voted for Nader in 2000... hence I'm a sucker.

"Go fuck myself..."

'nuff said.

:+

[Bucky]

49. Ha!

Alright, ya got me.

Grrrr ;o)

[Union Yes]

22. BecKKK: Hate barfing white supremacist. nt

[big david]

24. history 101

in the slave trade africans were robbed of their true nationality,history and heritage. a slave owner named willie lynch devised a scheme to keep africans brought to america as slaves in a docile & passive state in order to accomplish this feat you must wipe away their original historical mental history & create a multiplicity of illusions which prevail to this very day. this is why our original names have been forgotten among our people & made the names african-american,colored and negro remembered. the knowledge of who we really are and were is the knowledge that was taken from us. we had our names changed and for generations were told that we had no history or culture.this is why we are called by various names to this day. the masses of our people still have no idea who we are to this very day.so someone as dumb as glenn should allready know this.

[orion007]

26. Thank you, big david

Do you see this question on the Census being answered differently by age groups?

Welcome,I'm also very new here.

[Bucky]

50. Whoever and whatever you are, you're welcome here at DU

Thanks for posting. Remember, even if we argue (and we do a LOT of that here) it's a family argument. Welcome to our circus.

[winyanstaz]

27. Beck is what is Bogus.

[Arkana]

28. Is he kidding?

Of course not, what am I saying? It's Glenn Beck.

[ismnotwasm]

30. Fuck him

He's an asshole, always was an asshole and is always going to be an asshole.


What bothers me is little clips like this is he's just doing some ass kissing to the racist assholes who listen to his show. Racist assholes LOVE to debate this type of shit.


If Black Americans prefer the term African Americans that's their business. If Black, or African Americans wish to debate this topic among themselves, that's their business. It's certainly not the business of some white little puke like Beck who just wants to stir up shit and lower the collective IQ and at the same time increase the collective hate of his listenership.

Fucker.

[Voltaire]

52. That's what I was going to say as well

Fuck that motherfucker.

[MadMaddie]

34. He also said he doesn't have many black friends because

he is worried he might say something to offend them. This is his excuse for not having black friends.

[quaker bill]

39. He should stop worrying

this task was accomplished long ago.

[omega minimo]

37. Whereas "glen beck" sounds like a fetid, gunky, accumulation under the hood of a car or a boat dock

[timtom]

42. Perhaps it's time to drop the "race" category

from all polls, documents, etc. It is an insidious form of profiling and separation.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

45. The categories are a necessary evil when it comes to loan apps etc.

I used to work in the auto finance business. The old timers used to tell me how they would put a little "x" on the corner of the black person's application before it was sent to the underwriter for approval ... or in the cases of the "x', denial.

If we go back to the old ways it makes it impossible discover patterns of discrimination.

[Bucky]

51. Respectfully disagree: It's a way of seeing just how diverse we are.

I don't have a problem sharing a country with other kinds of people (and I'll bet in your gut you don't either). Racial categories are descriptive, not prescriptive, and they're actually kind of fluid over generations. I think, over time, we've come to care a lot less about race than we used to. We've also come to care less about religious differences, but we still do well to embrace that rainbow of traditions and the way it makes us a more interesting people.

[CBR]

44. Why not just let people refer to themselves as they please?

My husband prefers to refer to himself as black. Friends and co-workers of mine prefer African-American. No one is preventing you from referring to yourself as "German-American", "Italian-American" etc...