I watched Glenn on a video clip recently where he was smashing a “participation trophy”, while saying, “Tell your child ‘no participation trophies!’ and when he says, ‘you’re really scary, Daddy’ say, ‘yeah’…” (paraphrase)
I understand what he was trying to say: we’ve moved from a nation of achievers, who earn merit and rewards, to a nation of participants, entitled to get whatever we want or perceive as a need. But…..that was a bit over the top, to say the least.
Glenn Beck has raised many of the nation’s best and worst moments in history, educating people about things revisionist leftist have tried to hide, paper over, or simply lie about. He has made some prescient predictions, and been an outstanding supporter and advocate of Israel.
What he sees as the collapse of our society may well happen – it is almost happening now; if we get 4 more years of Obama, it is probably irreversible decline for America as we know it.
But…….how much is too much?
How much of this is real, entertainment, or just crazy? Your guess is as good as mine.
“How much of this is real, entertainment, or just crazy?”
How often have prophets and heroes risen from the ranks of professional entertainers?
Beck is not crazy, he’s an entertainer.
The typical Beck schtick is to make a qualified ‘prediction’ formulated in such a way that it is very hard for it not to come true. It works like this:
If A doesn’t happen, B will be the result, wherein A is some ameliorating event or process and B is some Beckian apocalyptic calamity.
Example:
“People, do not doubt me! If we don’t wake up soon and demand accountability from our leaders[A], America as we know it will cease to exist[B].”
If A occurs and B does not, Beck is correct. When B does not occur, how hard is it to spin that, as Beck predicted, it’s because A had happened? Since 1776 there have been people demanding accountability from our leaders.
If both A and B occur, the prediction is unscorable because the Beckain apocalypse will have destroyed us all. Beck will have been wrong, but no one will know it, which is indistinguishable from being correct and satisfying before the fact to a media narcissist.
If A does not happen and B happens, again, who is left to know?
If neither A nor B occurs, the prediction lives on indefinitely, neither correct nor incorrect. There is no limit for its lifetime.
This is the same essential formulation used by psychics, seers, and palm readers. No matter what happens, they can’t lose. The key is to make vague predictions: “The cards tell me the love of your life is on the horizon!” Three, six, twelve months later, the sitter asks the psychic, “Hey! Where’s this love of my life?” The psychic replies, “You must be patient! Love must not be rushed!” and the sitted is mollified, returns to looking for that great love.
Never put a deadline on your predictions.
Another sort of person makes apocalyptic predictions – the fringe preacher, like the guy who recently had to eat crow when, darn it, the world didn’t end as he’d predicted. He messed up. He put a hard date on when his prediction would occur.
Beck and Romney are both Mormons. I’m not saying that there is some kind of Mormon conspiracy, just that their shared beliefs give Beck a reason to trust Romney — a reason which those of us who are not Mormon do not have.
He is certifiable. And where does he go from here? He should call his next big scheduled event in 2012 “Restoring Sanity”.
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I watched Glenn on a video clip recently where he was smashing a “participation trophy”, while saying, “Tell your child ‘no participation trophies!’ and when he says, ‘you’re really scary, Daddy’ say, ‘yeah’…” (paraphrase)
I understand what he was trying to say: we’ve moved from a nation of achievers, who earn merit and rewards, to a nation of participants, entitled to get whatever we want or perceive as a need. But…..that was a bit over the top, to say the least.
Glenn Beck has raised many of the nation’s best and worst moments in history, educating people about things revisionist leftist have tried to hide, paper over, or simply lie about. He has made some prescient predictions, and been an outstanding supporter and advocate of Israel.
What he sees as the collapse of our society may well happen – it is almost happening now; if we get 4 more years of Obama, it is probably irreversible decline for America as we know it.
But…….how much is too much?
How much of this is real, entertainment, or just crazy? Your guess is as good as mine.
Great bit by Beck.
“How much of this is real, entertainment, or just crazy?”
How often have prophets and heroes risen from the ranks of professional entertainers?
Beck is not crazy, he’s an entertainer.
The typical Beck schtick is to make a qualified ‘prediction’ formulated in such a way that it is very hard for it not to come true. It works like this:
If A doesn’t happen, B will be the result, wherein A is some ameliorating event or process and B is some Beckian apocalyptic calamity.
Example:
“People, do not doubt me! If we don’t wake up soon and demand accountability from our leaders[A], America as we know it will cease to exist[B].”
If A occurs and B does not, Beck is correct. When B does not occur, how hard is it to spin that, as Beck predicted, it’s because A had happened? Since 1776 there have been people demanding accountability from our leaders.
If both A and B occur, the prediction is unscorable because the Beckain apocalypse will have destroyed us all. Beck will have been wrong, but no one will know it, which is indistinguishable from being correct and satisfying before the fact to a media narcissist.
If A does not happen and B happens, again, who is left to know?
If neither A nor B occurs, the prediction lives on indefinitely, neither correct nor incorrect. There is no limit for its lifetime.
This is the same essential formulation used by psychics, seers, and palm readers. No matter what happens, they can’t lose. The key is to make vague predictions: “The cards tell me the love of your life is on the horizon!” Three, six, twelve months later, the sitter asks the psychic, “Hey! Where’s this love of my life?” The psychic replies, “You must be patient! Love must not be rushed!” and the sitted is mollified, returns to looking for that great love.
Never put a deadline on your predictions.
Another sort of person makes apocalyptic predictions – the fringe preacher, like the guy who recently had to eat crow when, darn it, the world didn’t end as he’d predicted. He messed up. He put a hard date on when his prediction would occur.
Brilliant, HH. Thanks!
Glenn seems to be approaching Charles Johnson territory.
Maybe not but his assertion of possibly voting for Ron Paul puts him in the vicinity of Pluto, far out.
He is rapidly becoming irrelevant ..
Beck and Romney are both Mormons. I’m not saying that there is some kind of Mormon conspiracy, just that their shared beliefs give Beck a reason to trust Romney — a reason which those of us who are not Mormon do not have.
He is certifiable. And where does he go from here? He should call his next big scheduled event in 2012 “Restoring Sanity”.