Glenn Beck is amazing

[Deuce]

Yes, it's having a discussion. Watch me link them:

Many progressives think that empathetic people must support government welfare. Nazi Germany had government welfare.

Zing.


Hey, you're starting to catch on! Maybe there's a reason why he's capable of doing it so effortlessly...:roll:

He's got plenty of uneducated people watching his show. One has to mold one's presentation of a message to suit the audience.

He's criticized government spending on both sides of the aisle, but sure, he definitely criticizes the left more because they agree with him less.

So you're calling me Hitler and claiming to be just having a discussion. Ok

 

[Hoplite]

Hey, you're starting to catch on! Maybe there's a reason why he's capable of doing it so effortlessly...:roll:

Except history is rarely so comfortably cut as to perfectly support a point. History is goddamn awkward at times and Beck presents a very clean cut version that tends to ignore points he doesnt favor.

He's got plenty of uneducated people watching his show. One has to mold one's presentation of a message to suit the audience.

So uneducated people are the majority of his audience?

He's criticized government spending on both sides of the aisle, but sure, he definitely criticizes the left more because they agree with him less.

So he attacks people who disagree with him?

 

[somepeoplesay]

Some people argue that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990. Also, BUY GOLD!

 

[Deuce]

Some people argue that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990. Also, BUY GOLD!

The really hilarious part is that Glenn Beck sued to take this website down and lost. Once the courts agreed the website was protected under free speech and was NOT libel/defamation or whatever, the owner just gave him the website. Handed it over to be taken down. Of their own free will.

 

[ecofarm]

I don't understand why the WIPO rules on a libel case (it was international?). I've looked into the above event and cannot find a mainstream article.

A little help with citation, or explanation? I mean, I don't want to look ignorant and stuff but I don't get it.

 

[somepeoplesay]

I don't understand why the WIPO rules on a libel case (it was international?). I've looked into the above event and cannot find a mainstream article.

A little help with citation, or explanation? I mean, I don't want to look ignorant and stuff but I don't get it.

Yea I remember hearing about that but I can't recall where it was from. Also, I doubt many mainstream media outlets would be interested in covering petty disputes like that.

 

[ecofarm]

Fair enough. Nice name. I find it to be a wonderful argument/evidence

 

[Awesome!]

Im saying I dont see what's so blindingly insightful on Beck's part to have a guest come on and monologue something we pretty much knew already.

The questions I see him ask and the points I see him scramble to make are NOT the kinds of things you get into if you have a basic education on civics.

Except he DOESNT talk about the Right, or at least I've never seen him do it. I see him rant and rave about the left and Nazis and thats about it.

If you have to talk down to someone, you do it because you think they wont understand you. If Beck is hiding his knowledge, it means he thinks his audience either wont understand it or wont respect him for showing it which means he thinks his audience is stupid.

Watch any segment of Beck talking about history, American history especially. Somehow everything he brings up has a way of working out to favor whatever particular stance he happens to be taking today.

Strong opinions are fine, but you dont get to substitute those opinions for information when you feel like it. That's not how it works.


Ok, why dont you show us some numbers. Show us that you can directly link Beck's recommendations with an upturn of book sales in general.

Ok, it just struck me as a little odd because a lot of people on here who go with Undisclosed dont do a good job of ACTING like they dont want their status known.

Your making the assumption that most people knew the Soviet Union was a very oppressive country.

A lot of innovators do not follow the status quo or certain norms. For example getting into assumptions that may be beyond the scope of your understanding "with only a basic education in civics"; a lot of professors would only wish they had such a motivated mind to teach...

I think the reason for the focus on the left is due to his belief that our country is moving left of center versus more right of center...

I interpret Beck not talking down to people but recommending what he feels is important.

I just don't have the time right now to investigate everything that Beck throws out there, like his feelings about the Wilson administration, but I would like to investigate it...I don't see Beck taking a new stance everyday, but factoring in a lot of assumptions about what could be wrong with our country.

It's called free speech and information is very subjective, just like your reaction to watching the Beck show versus mine.

Its apparent that his recommendations are leading to spikes in purchases which would contribute to the overall sales of books. The spikes in sales are coming after the recommendations from his show.

You will find many things odd with people, just like you do with Beck but that is what makes America great as we can express our opinions openly.

 

[Hoplite]

Your making the assumption that most people knew the Soviet Union was a very oppressive country.

Yes....how dare I assume that we'd all passed high school history. I'm sorry, I'm not like Beck. I assume my audience has some degree of education and I refuse to act as though they dont to increase my appeal.

A lot of innovators do not follow the status quo or certain norms. For example getting into assumptions that may be beyond the scope of your understanding "with only a basic education in civics"; a lot of professors would only wish they had such a motivated mind to teach...

Except Beck isnt an innovator. He doesnt come up with new or radical ideas nor does he push for the justifiable re-examination of old ones. He simply demagogues against anything or anyone he disagrees with and does not add anything to our understanding of anything else.

I think the reason for the focus on the left is due to his belief that our country is moving left of center versus more right of center...

Even if that were demonstrably true, all it does is show that Beck cares more about party lines than he does about actual solutions.

I interpret Beck not talking down to people but recommending what he feels is important.

The two are not mutually exclusive

I just don't have the time right now to investigate everything that Beck throws out there, like his feelings about the Wilson administration, but I would like to investigate it...I don't see Beck taking a new stance everyday, but factoring in a lot of assumptions about what could be wrong with our country.

Research doesnt take that much time. Try something; when next you watch Beck's program, isolate a single claim that he makes that you are unfamiliar with. Research that claim and see if it's well-founded. Try to do this once a day or once per program and you'll see that Beck relies heavily on his audience being intellectually lazy.

It's called free speech and information is very subjective, just like your reaction to watching the Beck show versus mine.

Information is not subjective, information is neither good nor bad, black nor white, it is entirely objective.

Claiming free speech is fine, but to do so must be tempered with the understanding that free speech does not protect you from criticism. Beck has the right to say whatever he pleases and I do not begrudge him that, but coupled with that is my right to call him out on bogus claims and bad information. To that, Beck has the right to ignore me, respond, or just make fun of me. Free speech is a give and take set-up.

Its apparent that his recommendations are leading to spikes in purchases which would contribute to the overall sales of books. The spikes in sales are coming after the recommendations from his show.

In fact, it isnt. We have no solid evidence to suggest that Beck's recommendation are generating significant upturns in the sales of recommended books. It's a good guess, Beck has a large audience of mainly middle and upper middle class viewers, but to say that you can definitely say it's Beck's influence that's causing the rise in sales is not demonstrable.

And again, an upturn of the sale of one book does not mean printing volume increases. If Book A becomes popular, the publisher may order more copies of Book A, but to offset some of those costs, he will order fewer copies of Book B, which isn't as popular. The actual volume of work that the printer is producing and the amount of money the printer makes doesn't change, only the type of printed material produced.

 

[mmmike1977]

Beck appeals to quite a few "educated" people that I know, and THAT is scary. Not so much Beck himself, but that we can have people with professional degrees who willingly swallow the crap that spews out of Beck's mouth...

So your "EDUCATED" friends listen to Glenn Beck and you don't? That would make me believe...........Uhm.............wait a minute.............nope, I thought I was on to something but its gone.

 

[UtahBill]

So your "EDUCATED" friends listen to Glenn Beck and you don't? That would make me believe...........Uhm.............wait a minute.............nope, I thought I was on to something but its gone.

You misquote me....read it again, not all my educated friends, just some, mostly those who are easily manipulated by progpaganda. ANd notice I didn't say my intellectual friends, as those are people who can think on their own, without beck/limbaugh, etc. I fully expect some people to swallow the crap, but those would be those who barely made it thru high school, if they even got that far...
Lots of educated people go thru 4 or more years of college and come out as intelluctally deprived as when they went in....

 

[mmmike1977]

Lots of educated people go thru 4 or more years of college and come out as intelluctally deprived as when they went in....

Well, I agree with you there, most college professors are pretty liberal. College is like one big propaganda machine, they don't gain knowledge, just talking points.

 

[Deuce]

Well, I agree with you there, most college professors are pretty liberal. College is like one big propaganda machine, they don't gain knowledge, just talking points.

I must have missed out on the whole liberal college professor thing. I can't even recall any professors getting particularly political, they mostly just stuck to whatever the lesson plan was. Of course, I went to school in North Dakota to learn to fly planes, so maybe this is more of a PoliSci/Business/Finance/Marketing thing or perhaps being in a red state tempered it somewhat.

 

[Redress]

I must have missed out on the whole liberal college professor thing. I can't even recall any professors getting particularly political, they mostly just stuck to whatever the lesson plan was. Of course, I went to school in North Dakota to learn to fly planes, so maybe this is more of a PoliSci/Business/Finance/Marketing thing or perhaps being in a red state tempered it somewhat.

In my one year of college, there was one teacher with a noticeable political slant. He was my econ professor, and he had at one time had a small job in the Nixon administration, and was quite conservative. He had the best stories...

 

[Muddy Creek]

Talk show hosts on both radio and TV, and I'm not just talking about political ones either, will often talk about or recommend certain books they've read to their audiences. I'm not talking about newly released books, where the author is a friend, or comes on their show to talk about their book. I'm talking about books that are 20, 30 and even 100 years old, some of which haven't been in print in decades.

Usually when a host does this, those books will get a small, temporary spike in sales at places like Amazon.com. When Glenn Beck does this, the resulting sales are phenomenal. A few weeks ago, Beck made news because 4 books he mentioned on his shows that were not new releases, were all on Amazons top 20 at the same time. Two of them were in the top 5, including the number one slot.

Well he did it again. Yesterday on his Fox show, he recommended a book written back in the early 1940's called "The Road To Serfdom", and today is the #1 selling book at Amazon.com. Along with that, the book entitled "George Washington's Sacred Fire" which was #1 last week after Beck recommended it, is still in the top 10 along with the soon to be released "The Overton Window", which Beck wrote himself.

Last time I checked people, low IQ, uneducated, mindless, hillbilly, idiots (you know, those the left claims must comprise Beck's audience) don't buy a lot of books or do a whole lot of reading... especially on subjects like constitutional law, American history and world economics.

Glenn Beck is waking America up to the destructive path that our government, especially the Obama administration, is leading us down. To all you liberals/progressives out there, your days are numbered. If I were you, I would be scared.... Very scared.

.

I'd challenge your opinion here. I don't find it credible in any way.

 

[UtahBill]

.

Glenn Beck is waking America up to the destructive path that our government, especially the Obama administration, is leading us down. To all you liberals/progressives out there, your days are numbered. If I were you, I would be scared.... Very scared.

.

He isn't saying anything that others didn't already know. Granted, he may be more effective at spreading the word.
And I am scared, scared that a bunch of paranoid delusionals will screw things up even more than they already are.
What bothers me the most is that Beck has made the word PROGRESSIVE an evil thing. Progress is essential, sitting on our collective butts and doing nothing is no kind of answer for anything...

 

[Grim17]

What bothers me the most is that Beck has made the word PROGRESSIVE an evil thing. Progress is essential, sitting on our collective butts and doing nothing is no kind of answer for anything...

The progressive political movement is an evil thing and as I have already said, thank God America is waking up and figuring it out.

.

 

[Hoplite]

The progressive political movement is an evil thing and as I have already said, thank God America is waking up and figuring it out.

.

I hate to demagogue here, but the vast majority of what we now consider to be positive social steps were advocated, pushed, and usually passed by people that were, in their day, considered extremely progressive or liberal.

 

[winston53660]

The progressive political movement is an evil thing and as I have already said, thank God America is waking up and figuring it out.

.

Well I for one am glad that Upton Sinclair a known progressive could inspire the formation of the FDA.

 

[ecofarm]

What bothers me the most is that Beck has made the word PROGRESSIVE an evil thing. Progress is essential, sitting on our collective butts and doing nothing is no kind of answer for anything...

You're joking?

I mean, if a political party named itself "Cookies", would you be all "Glenn has made the word cookies an evil thing!" "But cookies are not evil!"

Really, if anyone is to blame... it is the people who named themselves 'cookies'. Not that I have anything against progressives in particular, just sayin'.

 

[Deuce]

You're joking?

I mean, if a political party named itself "Cookies", would you be all "Glenn has made the word cookies an evil thing!" "But cookies are not evil!"

Really, if anyone is to blame... it is the people who named themselves 'cookies'. Not that I have anything against progressives in particular, just sayin'.

You act as if the term progressive was somehow arbitrary.

 

[ecofarm]

You act as if the party name indicates that everything it does is for positive change (positive being the key word there, and implicit in the term). Should we also assume that conservatives only conserve valuable resources, thereby saving everyone from certain ruin at the foolhardy plans of people who risk change? Perhaps we should also assume that communists are responsible for all the sharing in the world.

Do you really take labels at face value? C'mon. If I named my party "Everything Good", it doesn't mean we cause and support everything good. "Progressives" are about change, but not everything they propose would necessarily be a good change (that's a matter of opinion). Unfortunately, the word progress includes the caveat of 'positive' change - which you seem to just take as a fact.


Saying that Glenn cannot attack a party because it has a positive name and we wouldn't want to ruin the word is bordering on lunacy.

 

[Deuce]

You act as if the party name indicates that everything it does is for positive change (positive being the key word there, and implicit in the term). Should we also assume that conservatives only conserve valuable resources, thereby saving everyone from certain ruin at the foolhardy plans of people who risk change? Perhaps we should also assume that communists are responsible for all the sharing in the world.

Do you really take labels at face value? C'mon. If I named my party "Everything Good", it doesn't mean we cause and support everything good. "Progressives" are about change, but not everything they propose would necessarily be a good change (that's a matter of opinion). Unfortunately, the word progress includes the caveat of 'positive' change - which you seem to just take as a fact.


Saying that Glenn cannot attack a party because it has a positive name and we wouldn't want to ruin the word is bordering on lunacy.

Well it's a good thing I said literally none of those things.

 

[ecofarm]

You act as if the term progressive was somehow arbitrary.

Then what was it?

Was it the perfect name for a party who makes changes only when they are good and everything they do is so progressive? Really, it is no more meaningful than the Miami Dolphins claiming to be sea-mammals. As a party, they support change - true - but whether that change is good and thus "progressive" is a matter of opinion.

Aside from wanting change, the name is totally arbitrary and according to their own opinions. Just because their name is "Good Change" does not make the "good" part true. If I name my party "Good Stuff", we might support "stuff" but there is no guarantee that it is "good". Progressive does not only mean "change", it means positive change - and just because you name yourself that doesn't make it so.


It is arbitrary. It is no more than a positive self label. It's not like other people (let alone scientists) gave them that name.

Your complaint is that Glenn made a term meaning "positive change" evil. That's absurd. I feel like I got trolled.



BAH!

I was referring to this:

What bothers me the most is that Beck has made the word PROGRESSIVE an evil thing. Progress is essential, sitting on our collective butts and doing nothing is no kind of answer for anything...

(bolding mine)

I don't know how you got involved. You can see that thinking I was responding to the same person was surreal. Claiming that Beck has made 'positive change' an evil thing is absurd. I should have never responded, so much for community service (I should never have delved into so silly an incentive).




Nevermind, kids. Beck is making good words bad (I sure hope he doesn't start making bad words good). Sure. Carry on. But if he does start making bad words good, please tell someone (preferrably your mental health assistant).

 

[Awesome!]

Yes....how dare I assume that we'd all passed high school history. I'm sorry, I'm not like Beck. I assume my audience has some degree of education and I refuse to act as though they dont to increase my appeal.


Except Beck isnt an innovator. He doesnt come up with new or radical ideas nor does he push for the justifiable re-examination of old ones. He simply demagogues against anything or anyone he disagrees with and does not add anything to our understanding of anything else.

Even if that were demonstrably true, all it does is show that Beck cares more about party lines than he does about actual solutions.

The two are not mutually exclusive

Research doesnt take that much time. Try something; when next you watch Beck's program, isolate a single claim that he makes that you are unfamiliar with. Research that claim and see if it's well-founded. Try to do this once a day or once per program and you'll see that Beck relies heavily on his audience being intellectually lazy.

Information is not subjective, information is neither good nor bad, black nor white, it is entirely objective.

Claiming free speech is fine, but to do so must be tempered with the understanding that free speech does not protect you from criticism. Beck has the right to say whatever he pleases and I do not begrudge him that, but coupled with that is my right to call him out on bogus claims and bad information. To that, Beck has the right to ignore me, respond, or just make fun of me. Free speech is a give and take set-up.

In fact, it isnt. We have no solid evidence to suggest that Beck's recommendation are generating significant upturns in the sales of recommended books. It's a good guess, Beck has a large audience of mainly middle and upper middle class viewers, but to say that you can definitely say it's Beck's influence that's causing the rise in sales is not demonstrable.

And again, an upturn of the sale of one book does not mean printing volume increases. If Book A becomes popular, the publisher may order more copies of Book A, but to offset some of those costs, he will order fewer copies of Book B, which isn't as popular. The actual volume of work that the printer is producing and the amount of money the printer makes doesn't change, only the type of printed material produced.

Well that is where I think you are missing the central theme to what Beck is alluding to, which is not high school history, but America being doomed to repeat it if we think that moving to the left is a good idea.

I don't agree as the book by Ayn Rand - Atlas Shrugged seems like a good read and relevant to some of the problems we are experiencing in the US and the World today. Seems innovative to recommend great reads for people to access more information to help gain perspective???

No, I disagree, Beck talks a lot about solutions. State rights, cutting taxes, regulations. Geez, as a business owner I could do a lot for the economy if the tax burden wasn't so high??? Simple solutions but our government I guess can the spend the money better.

I don't think Beck talks down to his audience. I would need an example because I haven't seen that yet from his show?

I did a little research on Woodrow Wilson because I don't know a lot about him as a person. Just recall him being the President that brought us into WW1 because I used to read a lot about the history of war. Seems he was a racist like Beck talked about and he didn't appreciate the individual rights of the individual...which the founders of our country did. That is one piece of research I did and what Beck said, seemed to be true???

I think in this case information is subjective because we can't agree on our experience with Glen Beck. You would report that he is being shady and not telling the truth. My experience would be quite the opposite saying that he is?

I'm glad you recognize that Beck can say whatever he wants and I appreciate your right to state that if he is making bogus claims and giving out bad information, he needs more criticism so that he would ultimately stop doing that. But again, I don't see any bad information or bogus claims, so I'm not sure where to go from here. I guess I could research more but would be nice if you could point me in the right direction...

Here are some links/sources which do help show that Beck is the reason for more book sales. Half of the sales of the road to serfdom in 24 hours and another note that the warehouse is struggling to keep enough inventory in stock. Looks like Beck's influence is indeed remarkable...

With Assist from Glenn Beck, University of Chicago Press Book Tops Amazon Rankings

Glenn Beck sends 'evil' anarchist manual's sales rocketing | Books | guardian.co.uk