Some folks - even a few at Daily Kos - have suggested that Keith Olbermann, Ed Schultz and even Rachel Maddow - are opposite numbers for Beck and other right-wing commentators. It's difficult to imagine a deeper slander.
This cannot be reiterated enough. The people on the left analagous to Beck are 9-11 conspriacy theorists and the most radical members of PETA. Notice that folks of that pursuasion are not given prime-time television shows.
I think part of the problem may be that there really isn't an analog on the left for the Glenn Becks of the world. While it is certainly the case that following the political spectrum on the leftward path to its fringe in this country, you will find people with extremely deviant world views, I can't think of any group whose belief system is as warped, callous and bitter as Beck/Limbaugh/etc.
ReplyDeleteRadical PETA members share his obnoxious smug self-righteousness, and 9-11 conspiracy theorists his perverse filter on reality, but neither group operates on a worldview that dehumanizes and devalues an entire segment of the population like Beck. In the eyes of the radical right, the poor unwashed, brown-skinned masses are objects of scorn and derision, deserving of whatever torment they face in their hard, short lives. Their opponents are demonized, and they rarely shy away from advocating violence against them.
I think it is extremely telling that the vast majority of acts of domestic terrorism in this countries' history were perpetrated by right wing groups. Lynchings, abortion clinic bombings, the Oklahoma City bombing, Dr. Tiller's recent assasination. Fringe left-wing groups are rarely, if ever, typified by this kind of brute disregard for human life. As far as I can tell, in this country, at least, it is a trait solely of the right.
I don't know, if you listen to a hardcore 9-11 goofball, they have a fairly complicated worldview that involves a world wholly controlled by mysterious shadow power structures.
ReplyDeleteThe major difference is that 9-11 conspiracy theories are almost exclusively fueled by marijuana use, so even though they get all riled up, their movement get's side tracked every time it passes a Dunkin' Donuts.
The violent movements on the left are completely unique to two movements: African and Native American Civil Rights. And given the history of actual violent repression that preceded those movements, anyone on the right trying to create an equivalence is just rationalizing their own bizarre behavior. Leonard Peltier was being shot at by FBI agents. Timothy McVeigh bought into a fevered, paranoid delusion based on mythical abuse of white folks.