Empire Zone [1] does a nice job of summarizing Glenn Beck's musings on drowning New York City.
According to a CNN transcript of the program “Glenn Beck on Headline News,†when it was suggested that a hurricane could cause a 20- to 25-foot storm surge in New York City, Mr. Beck said, “Actually, that would clean the streets out. It might not be bad.†Liberal blogs have cried foul, noting that studies show such a storm would cause “heavy loss of life.†One local blog’s summary: “Glenn Beck wants to kill you.†(It should be noted his show is based here.)
So you have to wonder: why aren't people talking about this? And why does the man still have a job?
As the Zone notes, it's the liberal blogs, pretty much alone, that are talking about this; certainly not the rightwing blogs (who are more interested in hysterically yapping about war with Mexico [2] and muttering darkly about their crypto-terrorist luggage [3]). You might think that those folks would occasionally wonder if their allies aren't bigger threats than whatever it is that they exercise themselves over so loudly and often. But that would require a bit of critical distance from the rightwing Kool-Aid, and that's a step none of these folks seem ready or able to take.
So you have to wonder: what would they be saying if some leftwing outlet – say, The Nation – called for, killing Glenn Beck? Maybe, while we're speculating, by sodomizing him with a broken whiskey bottle?
There'd be no end of dismay, no end of outraged demands for abject apologies from the entire left. We'd be caricatured as Stalinists, there'd be the usual screeching about how 'liberals just can't stand freedom of speech', and so on and so forth. Seen it all before, been there, done that. Ward Churchill [4].
So why the silence now? Here's a thought: these rightist blogs want to play a role in rebuilding their shattered party in this state. It would help if they decided to hold their own guys to what are known as 'basic standards of decency'. One word: credibility.
As to the media, it's pretty clear that rightwing hate speech still isn't a subject they cover; for some reason, the other side pretty much gets a pass on that (unless it's about race, witness Trent Lott). True enough, the story that some rightwinger is calling for (or gloating over the possibility of) the death of other Americans isn't news, because it happens all the time; but shouldn't it be? What kind of country are we when it's not news that some blustering fool wishes for a wall of water to 'cleanse' the country's largest city? How can this just be glossed over? Do we need to wait until the next rightwing nutjob blows up the next office building [5]? Where do people think on-air musings about exterminating your fellow citizens lead to?
The good folks over at My Two Sense [6] have a petition, calling on CNN to fire Beck, here [7], and provide a link to CNN's feedback page, here [8].
Somebody needs to say that wishing for the destruction of an American city needs to have consequences. It would just be nice if that weren't the job of the liberal blogs.
(Originally posted at The Daily Gotham [9])
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