4/10/11

WP's Milbank: Why Fox Dumped AntiSemite Glenn Beck

It has amazed us that the rabid antiSemite Glenn Beck rose to such popularity in democratic America in our times. WP columnist Milbank theorizes that it was only possible in the midst of the great fear of economic ruin. Now that things are better, Beck is gone.

Milbank does not convince us of the cause and effect. He does summarize the bizarre and dangerous content that Beck spewed forth on his TV programs. And yet, Beck is not gone yet!
Why Glenn Beck lost it
By Dana Milbank

On Friday, the unemployment rate dropped to 8.8 percent, as businesses added jobs for the 13th straight month.

On Wednesday, Fox News announced that it was ending Glenn Beck’s daily cable-TV show.

These are not unrelated events.

When Beck’s show made its debut on Fox News Channel in January 2009, the nation was in the throes of an economic collapse the likes of which had not been seen since the 1930s. Beck’s angry broadcasts about the nation’s imminent doom perfectly rode the wave of fear that had washed across the nation, and the relatively unknown entertainer suddenly had 3 million viewers a night — and tens of thousands answering his call to rally at the Lincoln Memorial.

But as the recession began to ease, Beck’s apocalyptic forecasts and ominous conspiracies became less persuasive, and his audience began to drift away. Beck responded with a doubling-down that ultimately brought about his demise on Fox.

He pushed further into dark conspiracies, urging his viewers to hoard food in their homes and to buy freeze-dried meals for sustenance when civilization breaks down. He spun a conspiracy theory in which the American left was in cahoots with an emerging caliphate in the Middle East. And, most ominously, he began to traffic regularly in anti-Semitic themes.

This vile turn for Beck reached its logical extreme two weeks ago, when he devoted his entire show to a conspiracy theory about various bankers, including the Rothschilds, to create the Federal Reserve. To make this case, Beck hosted the conspiracy theorist G. Edward Griffin, who has publicly argued that the anti-Semitic tract “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” “accurately describes much of what is happening in our world today.”


Griffin’s Web site dabbles in a variety of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, including his view that “present-day political Zionists are promoting the New World Order.”


A month earlier, Beck, on his radio program, had described Reform rabbis as “generally political in nature,” adding: “It’s almost like Islam, radicalized Islam in a way.”


A few months before that, he had attacked the Jewish billionaire George Soros, a Holocaust survivor, as a “puppet master” and read descriptions of him as an “unscrupulous profiteer” who “sucks the blood from people.” Beck falsely called Soros “a collaborator” with Nazis who “saw people into the gas chambers.”

Fox deserves credit for finally putting an end to this. Its joint statement with Beck’s production company, claiming that they will “work together to develop and produce a variety of television projects,” is almost certainly window-dressing; you can be confident Fox won’t have Beck reopening what his Fox News colleague Shepard Smith dubbed the “fear chamber.”

In banishing Beck, about whom I wrote a critical book last year, Fox has made an important distinction: It’s one thing to promote partisan journalism, but it’s entirely different to engage in race baiting and fringe conspiracy claims. Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity may have their excesses, but their mainstream conservatism is in an entirely different category from Beck.

Fox has rightly, if belatedly, declared that there is no place for Beck’s messages on its airwaves, and Beck will return to the fringes, where such ideas have always existed. Because his end-of-the-world themes will no longer be broadcast by a mainstream outlet, there will be less of a chance for him to inspire off-balance characters to violence....more...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I know this is from a few months ago now, but I'm new to your blog and I find it interesting.

The only reason Glenn Beck was caught in hot water over this is because Fox News depends on heavy hitter Jewish money. This is true with 90% of media. He wasn't kicked off the air when he was dragging Obama through the mud. He wasn't kicked off when he criticized the Arabs either. Funny that only the Jews are untouchable in mainstream media. It's okay to say Islam is Fascist but it's not okay to make a catch phrase like Judeo-Fascism.

I don't think it's anti-semitic to tell the truth. Whether the Protocols of Zion were truly written by the first Zionist Congress or not, or whether they are Jewish in nature or not, it does accurately describe what is happening today. I believe people can think for themselves and read the protocols themselves. It's not up to the television or any corporate overseer to tell a free nation what it can and cannot say.

You mention "fringe conspiracy claims." The Protocols is not fringe by any means. It's an important historical document that needs to be read by anyone who is interested in understanding the truth.

You also mention Griffin's website dabbling in "anti-semitic conspiracy theories" that "political Zionists are promoting the New World Order." Are they not? Zionists don't just want the little strip of land that is present day Israel, they want Greater Israel, the promised land. As an informed Rabbi I'm sure you can attest to this. I'm sure you've read Old Testament prophecy. I'm sure you've read Theodore Herzl.

Hiding criminals behind the term "anti-semite" is as bad as if you were to stifle debate about the Italian Mafia by saying it was "anti-Italian."

Jews commit crimes too. It's not anti-semitic to point that out.

I can almost guarantee that you will not allow this comment to be published because you have no way to respond.