I’ll take the bait… (the bait being your fallacious ad hominem needling I shall point out)
I believe this certain video shows Beck not as a “one man wrecking crew,” but rather as an example of terrible journalism. Here are examples of how:
After showing the clip of Dunn, Beck begins with his analysis of the clip saying
"...But I wanted to make sure we didn't take it out of context, we showed you the nice things she said about Mother Teresa."
Just because Beck shows what he considered a “nice” part of the speech as well does not mean it was not taken out of context. I still have absolutely no idea what Dunn was trying to address. Beck did not include enough of the video before, nor give any background for me to see what point the “…third, lesson, and tip…” was supposed to address. This is terrible journalism on Becks part.
Since I now have no idea of Dunn’s argument, I cannot have any idea of whether her claim, the“…third lesson and tip…” was valid or not. All I know is her third point seems to be claiming that those in the audience will be making their own choices, and they should not let outside influence affect these choices. This can be seen with her quotes “…You’re going to make choices, you’re going to be challenged, you’re going to say why not. You’re going to figure out how to do things that have never been done before. But here’s the deal, these are your choices, they are no one else’s…” and later by saying “…You don’t have to accept the definition of how to do things, and you don’t have to follow other people’s choices and pasts. Ok, it is about your choices and your past; you fight your own war; you lay out your own past; you figure out what is right for you; you don’t let external definition define how good you are internally; you fight your war, you let them fight theirs…”
Dunn used her two favorite political leaders Mao Tse-Tung and Mother Teresa as evidence for these claims by saying “…the two people I turn to most, to prove a simple point, which is, you are going to make choices…” This is an assertion in this context and not a claim. Logically, Beck cannot challenge this assertion only her claim, but I will still consider his arguments, as illogical and incoherent as they may be.
To make a quick recap, Beck did not present Dunn with an argument, only a single claim, her third lesson and tip, in which she stated two of her favorite political philosophers to be used specifically towards the support of this claim as evidence. Since she was using this statement as an assertion, rather than a claim for her apparently unknown argument, Beck most definitely did take her arguments out of context, whether by accident or on purpose, with the rest of the her speech.
Since Beck presented no arguments in Dunn’s video, he was forced to set up a series of straw man arguments that he could easily tear down. After Beck sets up a straw man argument he proceeds to argue against it by poisoning the well, among many other fallacies. These fallacies alone are enough to question just about everything said after this point, however I will dig deeper and find even more fallacies committed by Beck.
Directly after the first quote he does take her quotes farther out of context by saying "... the most important political philosopher, for her, is Mao Tse-Tung..."and mumbles so as I had to replay the clip several times before I noticed "...Oh, and Mother Teresa." From here on out Beck only focuses his arguments against one portion of her shown speech. Why did he even include the other portion about Mother Teresa if he was not going to address it? This commits two fallacies, argument by selective observation and argument by half-truths. Although this alone should show Becks terrible journalism in this video, let’s dig even deeper.
Beck then commits more fallacies on top of the ones already mentioned by saying:
“The guy responsible for more deaths than any other 20th century leader is her favorite political philosopher...how can that man be your favorite anything?” This is begging the question, assuming “the guy” being “responsible for more deaths than any other 20th century leader” is the reason why Mao is one Dunn’s favorite political philosophers. This also is a complex question, treating the two points of Mao Tse-Tung’s responsibility for these deaths and Mao Tse-tung being Dunn’s favorite political philosopher as though they should be rejected together.
“That would be like me saying to you, ah, you know who my favorite political philosopher is, Adolf Hitler. Have ya read Mein Kampf? Just fight your fight, like Hitler.” Is an example of Bad Analogy (Hitler and Mao are placed at opposite sides of the political spectrum), Extended analogy (Hitler and Mao are both responsible for many deaths, therefore are analogous to each other), and Argument by Scenario.
He also attempts a Reductio Ad Absurdum, claiming “It’s insanity!” however his argument so far has hardly addressed Dunn’s claim (its obvious he missed it), more or less that people will make choices, and tries to address her assertion, in which I have shown he still leaves gaping holes in his logical argument against it, and therefore her claim or even her assertion may still reach a logical conclusion and therefore he has actually committed his own fallacy, Disproof by fallacy.
According to Beck “She thinks of this man’s work all the time, that was a quote.” The two closest quotes from the video I could find were: “…the two people I turn to most, to prove a simple point, which is, you’re going to make choices…” and when she also asks the audience to “…think about that (Mao’s quote) for a second…” This turns from taking quotes out of context to completely misquoting Dunn, committing the fallacy, error of fact. I cannot prove whether he lied by intentionally committing this error in fact, but I can say a professional journalist should be aware of the accuracy of his quotes.
“Could you please put the Gulags back up here? Could you please put the images back up here, of China Please? While I remind you the Gulags, not that picture, gimme the picture of the Chinese... and the brutality. The Gulags, the re-education camps, and he's your favorite?” Now Beck is questioning Dunn’s assertion of her favorite political philosophers. Although his reasoning is prudent against Mao, he commits an appeal to fear when criticizing Dunn’s assertion; while it is prudent to realize Mao was associated with the gulags and their re-education camps, this does not provide evidence against Dunn’s assertion, that Mao Tse-tung and Mother Teresa are two of her favorite political philosophers.
“How many radicals surrounding our president will it take before you understand that when the president says he wants to transform the country! Well, he, he wants to transform it alright.” This is a red herring, it attempts to draw our attention away from Dunn, and now place the blame on Obama.
“Progressives don't care what you think. They will drag you to reform if they have to…” Hasty generalization, I mean, surely not all progressive don’t care what “you” think.
“We are not just talking about progressives now; we're talking about revolutionaries that idolize Mao!” This is the least probable hypothesis I could think of, instead I think Dunn idolizes Mao for his ability to think for himself, which would seem to fit her claim nicely.
“You tell me the difference between these phrases: Castro, revolution first, elections later; Mao, people who try to commit don't commit suicide, don't save them; China is so populist that we can do without a few people! This is an argument by fast talking and argument by gibberish, I don’t know what point he is trying to make.
Now let’s look at what was said and see what we can actually consider non-fallacious:
“... But I wanted to make sure we didn't take it out of context, we showed you the nice things she said about Mother Teresa. Ok, so the reason this phone hasn’t rung all week is because the most important political philosopher, for her, is Mao Tse-tung ... (Mumbles) Oh, and Mother Teresa. The guy responsible for more deaths than any other 20th century leader is her favorite political philosopher...how can that man be your favorite anything?" He killed 70,000,000 people. That would be like me saying to you, ah, you know who my favorite political philosopher is, Adolf Hitler. Have ya read Mein Kampf? Just fight your fight, like Hitler. It’s insanity! This is her hero's work! 70,000,000 dead! … She thinks of this man’s work all the time, that was a quote. Could you please put the Gulags back up here? Could you please put the images back up here, of China Please? While I remind you the Gulags, not that picture, gimme the picture of the Chinese... and the brutality. The Gulags, the re-education camps, and he's your favorite? ... America...how many radicals is it going to take? How many radicals surrounding our president will it take before you understand that when the president says he wants to transform the country! Well, he, he wants to transform it alright. Progressives don't care what you think. They will drag you to reform if they have to; but we are not just talking about progressives now; we're talking about revolutionaries that idolize Mao! You tell me the difference between these phrases: Castro, revolution first, elections later; Mao, people who try to commit don't commit suicide, don't save them; China is so populist that we can do without a few people! What is the difference between that…and the clip I’m going to play for you next?”
It seems the only non-fallacious remarks of Beck's were when he asserted that Mao was responsible for the deaths of 70,000,000 people, which I will be honest; I have no idea if it is true or not based on fact. The other place he was able to a show non-fallacious remark was when he acknowledged Dunn’s assertion. However one could argue that his use of the word "heroic" may in fact be a weasel word or a euphemism.
To conclude, I cannot disprove that Dunn may in fact be communist, and I will not try. But I think I can prove that Glenn Beck in this example was a very unprofessional, in fact, a terrible journalist.
