King & Beck: Tracing the Trajectories
Chip Berlet printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Sat Aug 28, 2010 at 08:57:41 AM EST
Trace the trajectory of Rev. King from his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (April 16, 1963) to his speech at the Washington Mall (August 28, 1963) at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom; to the Riverside Church speech decrying the war in Vietnam (April 4, 1967); to his final speech in Memphis (April 3, 1968), where he had come to support striking sanitation workers.
With King we see a leader growing into his role with grace and humility and recognizing that race, gender, class, and peace are woven together in systems of oppression and aggression.

Tracing Glenn Beck reveals no trajectory. His leadership is that of a smug, self-impressed demagogue aggressively mobilizing resentment toward the oppressed on behalf of unfair power and privilege.

King offered the dove of peace.
Beck unleashes the vultures of anger.

King opened a door to reconciliation.
Beck slams the door in the face of those he fears and loathes.

King imagined justice running down like refreshing water.
Beck poisons the wells with toxic conspiracy theories.

King offers a dream.
Beck is our nightmare.

Which vision becomes our future is up to us.



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King & Beck: Tracing the Trajectories | 12 comments (12 topical, 1 hidden)
Well Said Chip (5.00 / 2)
I hope that the Left will pick up on MLK's dream by building bridges between intellectuals and blue collar folks.  That, I believe, is the key to defusing the Glenn Becks of the world.

by Frank Cocozzelli on Sat Aug 28, 2010 at 09:37:11 AM EST

Comparing them is laughable. (5.00 / 4)
The two are polar opposites. King's message essentially boils down to three things.
  1. Peace. He was not only antiwar, but also opposed to violence generally. Beck supports both of our current wars, and wants to start more, with Iran for example. He also defends violence in the form of torture.
  2. Economic Justice. King felt it was one of his primary missions to speak on behalf of the poor and the helpless. Beck speaks on behalf of the powerful. And tells people to run from preachers who preach economic justice. They're like Hitler and Stalin according to Beck.
  3. Equality. King is of course best-known for his position on racial equality, but he believed in religious equality, equality of all kinds. Beck supports racial profiling of Latinos and Muslims. He's used his show to smear blacks like Shirley Sherrod. And he claims America is a Christian nation, and that non Christians should at most be tolerated, certainly not treated as full equals.
And while we can't blame Beck, it's worth remembering that during the Civil Rights movement, conservatives of the time were against it, and many called it a Communist plot. Communist plot by a charismatic black man, sound familiar?

by Dave on Sat Aug 28, 2010 at 09:08:58 PM EST
Sounds very familiar... (5.00 / 1)
...and I write about it in the current issue of <i>In These Times</i>.

= = = The Public Eye: Website of Political Research Associates
Chip's Blog = = =

by Chip Berlet on Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 03:57:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]


King & Beck: Tracing the Trajectories | 12 comments (12 topical, 1 hidden)

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