Glenn Beck's (he's a talk radio show host, and he hosts a TV show on Fox) popularity is, for me, one of those things. Heck, the fact that he has the sheer nerve to say half the things he says would be admirable, if he wasn't such an absolute piece of pond scum.
I'm sure this is old news to a lot of people, but in case it's not, I'd like to share with you a couple of things that make me feel like pulling out Ye Olde Insultes:
"When you are rioting for these tickets, or these ATM cards, the second thing that came to mind was -- and this is horrible to say, and I wonder if I'm alone in this -- you know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims' families? Took me about a year. And I had such compassion for them, and I really wanted to help them, and I was behind, you know, "Let's give them money, let's get this started." All this stuff. And I really didn't -- of the 3,000 victims' families, I don't hate all of them. Probably about 10 of them. And when I see a 9-11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, "Oh shut up!" I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining. And we did our best for them. And again, it's only about 10.
But the second I thought I had when I saw those people and they had to shut down the Astrodome and lock it down, I thought: I didn't think I could hate victims faster than the 9-11 victims. These guys -- you know, it's really sad. We're not hearing anything about Mississippi. We're not hearing anything about Alabama. We're hearing about the victims in New Orleans. This is a 90,000-square-mile disaster site, New Orleans is 181 square miles. A hundred and -- 0.2 percent of the disaster area is New Orleans! And that's all we're hearing about, are the people in New Orleans. Those are the only ones we're seeing on television are the scumbags -- and again, it's not all the people in New Orleans. Most of the people in New Orleans got out! It's just a small percentage of those who were left in New Orleans, or who decided to stay in New Orleans, and they're getting all the attention. It's exactly like the 9-11 victims' families. There's about 10 of them that are spoiling it for everybody."
Spoiling it? Spoiling what? Spoiling death, and tragedy, and and and-- guys. Guys. I was going through that, trying to put in bold all the parts that make me actually want to die, and I couldn't. There's too much. It's all of it! It really is. Please, just read the whole disgusting thing, if you can take that much.
As much as I hate to give the man any more publicity, as much as I would love for him to just fade into well-deserved obscurity, I don't think he's going to. So I feel the need to point out that these things that he's said? They're the so very, very far removed from okay.
I just-- he only hates maybe ten families? How in the world does that make it alright? "Pssh, I hate 10 families out of 3,000. Come on, guys, I only hate 10 families who have gone through hell, who have lost loved ones in a national tragedy, whose suffering I can't even imagine. Why're you looking at me funny? It's totally justifiable!"
I don't care what Glenn Beck thinks of how people conducted themselves in the aftermath of 9/11. I don't care how he feels about those 10 families. I fervently wish he would just shut up and keep it to himself, because nothing in the world would give him the right to say these things. Let him internalize his self-righteous vitriol and his hate and his sheer senselessness. Because I enjoy hearing from people I disagree with-- I think it's healthy, and it's good, and it makes for a strange, frustrating, and wonderful political system-- but I don't enjoy hearing it when it's a hateful cheapening of the public discourse.
How can one person be so completely and blithely offensive?
He's said plenty of other awful things, of course. Google him, if you're interested. It's a fun time, let me tell you.
Argh. Something really fantastic better happen somewhere in the world right about now, because if I try to finish my life philosophy essay at the moment, it will not be a pretty sight.
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