For those too young to know who Glenn Beck is, he’s a mixture of Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, and a batshit insane TV preacher with a dark secret and a private jet. Not a true believer, from what I can tell, but someone putting on a show. He’s in part responsible for US politics going off the rails. Very popular when he was still on Fox News. He spread theories about Soros, Obama building FEMA deathcamps for conservatives, that kind of thing. IRC he’d regularly fake crying about ‘them’ coming to get ‘us’.
It’s really hard to describe the damage Glenn Beck has done. To my knowledge, he was the first, mainstream talk show host to actually give a platform to the alt-right. Many conspiracy theories he started are still a problem today.
His show also basically taught people how to justify their own conspiracy theories. He pretty much walked everyone through his “thought process” on every show. He also did it in a way that radicalized people who originally were just disgruntled with, or distrusting of, government.
I remember one time he even went so far as to have a purported “insider” come on the show as a black silhouette with a fake deep voice to “confirm” everything Beck was saying about Obama and the “Liberal Agenda.” How people fell for that is beyond me, but they did.
Eventually he got so out of control Fox News fired him. But the damage was done.
And then you look at people who came after, like Alex Jones. Batshit fucking Alex Jones talking about goblins and gay frogs.
In some sense, I’m not surprised people followed Glenn Beck. Because at least there was some “thought process.”
It’s funny and sad to look back at some of the early characters in all this. Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, the “I’m not a witch” lady, in addition to people like Glenn Beck. Bill O’Reilly is another one. But they don’t even compare to the charlatans we have today. And probably those that’ll we’ll have tomorrow.
For those too young to know who Glenn Beck is, he’s a mixture of Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, and a batshit insane TV preacher with a dark secret and a private jet. Not a true believer, from what I can tell, but someone putting on a show. He’s in part responsible for US politics going off the rails. Very popular when he was still on Fox News. He spread theories about Soros, Obama building FEMA deathcamps for conservatives, that kind of thing. IRC he’d regularly fake crying about ‘them’ coming to get ‘us’.
9/11 really did a number on the US.
It’s really hard to describe the damage Glenn Beck has done. To my knowledge, he was the first, mainstream talk show host to actually give a platform to the alt-right. Many conspiracy theories he started are still a problem today.
His show also basically taught people how to justify their own conspiracy theories. He pretty much walked everyone through his “thought process” on every show. He also did it in a way that radicalized people who originally were just disgruntled with, or distrusting of, government.
I remember one time he even went so far as to have a purported “insider” come on the show as a black silhouette with a fake deep voice to “confirm” everything Beck was saying about Obama and the “Liberal Agenda.” How people fell for that is beyond me, but they did.
Eventually he got so out of control Fox News fired him. But the damage was done.
Edit: grammar
And then you look at people who came after, like Alex Jones. Batshit fucking Alex Jones talking about goblins and gay frogs.
In some sense, I’m not surprised people followed Glenn Beck. Because at least there was some “thought process.”
It’s funny and sad to look back at some of the early characters in all this. Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, the “I’m not a witch” lady, in addition to people like Glenn Beck. Bill O’Reilly is another one. But they don’t even compare to the charlatans we have today. And probably those that’ll we’ll have tomorrow.