A group called Color of Change is putting pressure on advertisers to stop running ads on the Glenn Beck show on Fox News because Glenn Beck said mean things about Barack Obama. Apparently several advertisers, including Geico, Sargento Cheese, and others, have succumbed to the fear.
Needless to say, the enlightened visionaries of the left-wing blogosphere are jumping for joy at the boycott. Much like the boycott of Mormon-owned businesses in the aftermath of Prop. 8 in California, the boycott aims to silence — not just criticize — opposing political speech.
Is it any surprise or coincidence that this boycott is taking place against a vocal opponent of Obama’s health care restructuring and cap-and-trade plans just at the moment that opposition to such plans is coming to a head? No, the boycott simply is one part of the overall push to silence opposition, much like calling protesters un-American and political terrorists.
Nonetheless, I am happy to see this boycott. Here are my ten top reasons:
- The boycott will fail, as do virtually all boycotts.
- The failure of the boycott will be a huge victory for freedom of speech.
- The failure of the boycott will diminish the power of the boycotters.
- The diminished power of the boycotters will empower grassroots opposition to health care restructuring and cap-and-trade.
- The boycott reveals once again that many liberals are hypocrites who only want freedom for their speech.
- The boycott reveals that the left-wing blogosphere is afraid of other voices being heard.
- The boycott reminds us that large corporations are spineless in the face of liberal pressure groups.
- The boycott reminds us also that we should not confuse large corporations with free markets or free enterprise or freedom.
- The boycott will tell us whether Fox News has a spine.
- The boycott is a reflection that Democrats have few positive arguments in support of their agenda and need to create enemies.
UPDATE: And now a boycott of Whole Foods! The Left is feeding on itself, like people stranded at a plane wreck on some mountaintop. In case you were wondering, corporate Whole Foods has no spine.
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Comments
Color of Change was co-founded by Van Jones, Obama's green jobs czar. This boycott comes not long after Beck did some unflattering pieces about Van Jones. Plus, Color of Change has publicly declared that the boycott is in response to Beck's criticism of Obama.
A group co-founded by by a czar within the Obama Admin. is boycotting a critic of the Obama Admin.
Not very cricket.
I wish there were more emphasis on reverse-boycotts, as in "support these companies because they do good things." Like Whole Foods, for example.
It probably took SCJohnson management (the Johnson family) about .0000004 seconds to decide to boycott a conservative. You can look it up, if you like.
The fired-up right is just as capable of boycotting as the left is. I'm already reading about people who are canceling their insurance policies with GEICO, which has pulled their advertising from Glenn Beck. I'm guessing GEICO is more afraid of Obama than they are the Color of Change.
First, most folks care very little about Glenn Beck. According to the U.S. Bureau of Census, the US population as of 8/15/09 is 307,181,485. Glen Beck's viewer count on Fox News is 2.2 million. By using a simple calculator, that comes out to about .007 of the population watches Mr. Beck. So you are stating that Van Jones, Obama, etc are scared about a cat who draws that kind of attention. .007 of the US pop. I took a random sample survey of 10 people in my neighborhood. Not one single one of them has heard of Beck. I don't know Van Jones or Pres. Obama, but I going to guess that if both are from Chicago, they have gone up against tougher foes then pasty Glenn. I doubt any policy or strategy is based on anything Prof. Jacobson, his readers or Glenn Beck thinks or says. The right flatter themselves about their so call "juice" Finally, I think a boycott is well founded. To call Pres. Obama racist seems stupid. First, Pres. Obama would not have been President without support of many white people, at the polls, volunteers (I know three people from my job who took a LOA to take unpaid jobs with his campaign).Why would he turn on all those people who volunteered and voted for him?. Second hasn't he hired a whole bunch of white folks for admin positions. Beck should be fired for publicly announcing those thoughts. And futhermore, as having grown up in the 60's, I have firsthand knowledge of racism. I have yet to see spraying firehoses of water on innocent people, murders, hangings, forced segragation,etc. commited by Pres.Obama. Finally, I watched him yesterday get many standing ovations from a mostly white crowd in Montana. Now, that is some kind of racist. I am tired. Timed to go to bed. Have a great day.
It's amazing how Buck tries to defend the accusation that Obama's a racist as a means for warranting the boycott of Glenn Beck. You (Buck) spent your entire posted comment trying to prove why Obama was not a racist. Not once did you mention the reasons why Glenn Beck ought to be boycotted. It seems as though you're more concerned with Obama's image than you are with anything Glenn Beck says.
BUCKJOHNSON: "Beck should be fired for publicly announcing those thoughts."
So much for free speech…So do you think that Kenye West should've been censored and boycotted for saying that Bush doesn't like black people?
Hey Buck: How about those dark-skinned thugs outside the polling places – I believe they call themselves "the New Black Panthers" – intimidating would be Obama opponents from voting. our Marxist Attorney general Holder dropped the case even after the Civil Rights Commission upheld the complaint. This is the moral equivalent of "dogs and firehoses." Glenn Beck will easily survive this "boycott." Compared to the microscopic audience Olbermann and Madcow have, Beck is the king of television talk.
I guess it just galls libtards to no end that O'Reilly, Hannity and Beck…and Fox News in general are the highest watched cable news shows by far.
And, of course with Rush #1 by far in radio personalities, welllllllllllll… it just befuddles their one-track solialism mind.
Consumers picking and choosing which folks they wanna buy from? I think that's called capitalism. If you don't like it, you should go move to one of them socialist countries.
Just told a live chat rep at MagicJack that, while I _had_ been considering their product, their pulling of their ad has caused me to boycott _them_.
And Bucki? Was it hard for your bozos at ACORN to find & bus in 100 people in Montana who'd applaud for Jokerbama?
I suppose it would be interesting to compare the public reactions to Kanye West's proclamation that Bush is a racist to Beck's proclamation that Obama is a racist. As I recall, West was rewarded with rather fawning treatment, including gracing the cover of Rolling Stone portrayed as Jesus.
I wrote all the boycotting advertisers that I am now boycotting THEM. Professor, boycotts actually do work, on occasion. Corporate boycotts usually don't, but consumer boycotts scare the beejus out of corporations. During the Iraq war, corporations repeatedly backed down from anti-military policies in the face of consumer boycotts (in which I was very active). Being anti-military is perceived among normal Americans as anti-American. Obama is anti-American and his supporters are perceived to be as well.
I don't watch Beck (I don't watch FNC or any news, for that matter), but I support his views and our entire family will be in D.C. on 9/12 for his 912 Project protests and meetings. This is about liberty and free speech, period. Those in favor of censuring Beck are anti-free speech and anti-liberty. It's as simply and profound as that. I say, boycott the boycotters. 🙂
Ugh… I'm disappointed in Whole Foods. I was overjoyed when I heard about his piece in the WSJ and was telling everyone I know to go support them. AND I was having a great time laughing at the liberals who were boycotting them.
And a present for you Buck:
rac⋅ism /ˈreɪsɪzəm/ [rey-siz-uhm]
–noun 1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
Racism isn't only using firehoses on people, murdering them or hanging them. All you need is to think you are better than someone else, just by the color of your skin. That's it.
Now, Beck's comments, I think, were a little bit over the top, but hey, he has a right to his opinion, as all the liberal commentators before him who called Bush a racist.
But it looks pretty fishy when an organization (run by one of Obama's czars nonetheless!) pressures companies to boycott Beck, just because of what he said!
Now you may not like Beck, or even agree with what he said – but think about it, if you allow the gov't to open the door to this kind of behavior, where is it going to end? You have given them the power to silence YOU.
It probably took Geico .0000001 seconds to boycott Glenn. Geico is a subsidiary of Bershire Hathaway, owned by Warren Buffet (right on their home page) And the owner of Progressive was right behind. His political contributions include Moveon.org, America Coming Together, and The Democratic party. No arm twisting there.
Lux et Dhimmitude… Or… Comply AND Shutup…
Glen Beck Censorship and Censorship of 'Cartoons That Shook The World'…
Hmmm, what's going on here? Do I see a 'tactic' pattern here between jihadist 'shutup' about the Mohammad cartoons in a book about Mohammad cartoons, and Beck, 'shutup' about Obama?
Diane West…
>>> http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/981/Lux-et-Dhimmitude-Contd.aspx
"Last night, I picked up a 1967 book called The Battle of Silence by Vercors, the alias of J. Bruller.
"It is the wartime memoir by the publisher of a secret anti-Nazi press run in the midst of Nazi-occupied Paris.
"The first sentence is unforgettable:
When the Nazis occupied France after the defeat of 1940, French writers had two alternatives: collaboration or silence.
"The parrallels are distinct if incomplete.
"The Nazis imposed the censorship by force;
"The Muslims are imposing censorship by threat of force backed up by occasional bloodlettings.
"Yale has many, many alternatives — publish the pictures, for Chrissake — but it has seized on the two natural reactions of the already-enslaved: collaboration and silence.
I am sure folks on this blog are not comparing K. West about Bush hating black people to boycotting Glenn Beck. Mr West wasw representing his private op and does not depend on corporate funds. He may take corporate funds, but does not need them. Mr. Beck show has coporate sponsors who have public responsibility. Plus Bush reaction to Katrina was a global embarressment. Every friend I have who did not live in the USA at the time, including those in the military, ? why bottles of water could not get to the Superdome. I am sure that those on this board do not want to have to live through the American embarressment of that moment. No matter who was at fault, and there were many fingers to point out, it was an American low moment of compentacy
Professor, I give you props for having the courage to speak up. As a teacher, I have not been able to find work in part because I dare to speak my mind on websites and such about the dangers of the so called "enlightened" left. I hope you are doing well and will be praying for you and others like us who speak the real truth to the power of the Left. Let's hope Glenn, us, and Americans everywhere will win out and this debacle of healthcare will not get passed.
I think there are far too many political inferences read into this.
Fox does business with the advertisers to make money. The advertisers do business with Fox to make money. Fox has three times the audience as the others. I don't know the actual numbers but the per minute rates on Fox are higher than the other guys.
They know that this is a transient activist thing that won't last long. Rather than become targets they'll switch the Beck guys to a more expensive show with a discount and switch the other advertisers to Beck at an agreed upon sweetener – something like that.
Political activists against multi-billion dollar companies? They didn't get that big by being stupid.
A Boycott, eh? Let me tell you, this is just the beginning. You just wait until they get really worked up, and build a treehouse, and make up secret handshakes and oaths, and stop allowing GIRLS into their secret conclaves. And hold their breaths until they turn blue (now THERE'S a "color of change")! THEN you'll be sorry!
BUCK JOHNSON: "Mr West wasw representing his private op and does not depend on corporate funds. He may take corporate funds, but does not need them." *Heh*
In other words, it's okay for West to say whatever he wants because he can't be effectively boycotted? Is that the gist of your argument?
Will you not address the fact that a group that has clear ties to the Obama Admin. is seeking to silence an Obama crtic?
"why bottles of water could not get to the Superdome. I am sure that those on this board do not want to have to live through the American embarressment of that moment. No matter who was at fault, and there were many fingers to point out, it was an American low moment of compentacy."
And since BUCKJOHNSON brought up Katrina for no real reason, let's ask ourselves who was most responsible for New Orleans' state of preparednenss? The mayor? The Chief of Police? The various emergency services and govt. agencies at the local, parrish, and state leve– all of which failed, despite federal funding? Nope. The person most responsible is the president of the US, as West so "intelligently" pointed out.
I do not advocate silencing West, no matter how uninformed his opinions are. But according to BUCKJOHNSON, Beck should be silenced, since he takes corporate money, but West shouldn't be since he takes corporate money, but doesn't have to.
Doesn't seem like such a sound argument to me…
What BUCKJOHNSON probably really means is that it's alright for West to blithely take advantage of his celebrity and surreptitiously voice his opinions onstage at awards shows, but it's not alright for Beck to do so on a commercial political opinion program. Hmmm…
I suggest this bumber sticker for the boycotters of Whole Foods:
“I’d rather die from pesticides than support free-market healthcare”.
Boycotts of artists like West can't be effective? Has Buck ever heard of the Dixie Chicks?
WAJ: This cynical SOB hopes you're right, but is still stocking up on bourbon just in case.
Quoted from and linked to at:
http://www.thecampofthesaints.com/2009.08.16_arch.html#1250541475334
What do Beck's ratings have to do with anything? Your favorite liberal, Keith Olbermann, has literally half the ratings. Feel free to look it up.
Was this intended as parody, irony, snark, or a common-dirt joke? Its rather hard to tell here, given the tone.
I decline to believe this was meant to be taken seriously as it would mean that idiocy on the level of "Beavis and Butt-head" truly *is* genetically possible. The only sane response for such a revelation is to despair for the species, something I likewise decline to do.
I've been on both sides of the political isle during my lifetime and consider myself a moderate. Boycotting Beck is something all Americans should do. Because what he does is not "opposition" in any sense that, say, William F. Buckley would recognize. Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, et al, are propagandists that hold a Manichean worldview, and from it, stoke hatred and division that seriously threatens the UNITED States of America.
@uberscribbler – Looks like the KOS kids have arrived. @scott – concern troll
Sorry to disappoint, but I'm American, not Balkan. I've no idea why you'd think I'm from old Yugoslavia, or that I'd ever worked for the Kontra-Obaveštajna Služba. Unless you were referencing something else, in which case you could just come out and say it.
You didn't speak to the original point either, so I'll ask again: were those ten point parody, irony, snark, or just a joke?
Or were you actually serious?
This is not a free speach issue…. You are free in this country to say as you please but free speach doesn't mean you are free from a reaction.
@MrToad – This is not a mere reaction, it's an attempt to deprive Beck of his speech by forcing him off the air through pressure on his advertisers.
So free speech is dependent on the means of distribution? Is he not able to use other methods to communicate to the public?
that's your argument? They are "depriving him of free speech by forcing him off the air through pressure on his advertisers"? Weak.
Isn't their boycott a form of political speech? Are the advertisers obliged to support Beck and keep him on the air? If the advertisers had decided independently to cancel support of his show, would you accuse them of depriving Beck of speech?
How come the liberals get all up in your face if you dare boycott some dumbass clothing company that is putting naked 12 year olds on billboards, or boycotting some urine soaked 3rd grade art project funded by our tax dollars to be exhibited at some loser art gallery in Soho or the Village? How come those boycotts are not ok, but the boycott of Beck's advertisers is? Hmmmm?
Another day, another example of the liberal credo of "Free speech for me but not for thee". Do you liberals really not remember the last eight years? How many times was Bush called a racist and a fascist, let alone the left's favorite epithet "Bushitler"? Dissent was the "highest form of patriotism" and the loud, disruptive behavior of anti-war protestors was given frequent, sympathetic media coverage. Are your brain cells really just incapable of holding more than six months of history in your heads?