Sometimes, one can only hope that Glenn Beck is the Republican version of Jon Stewart and that it was all one big joke we didn’t latch onto in good time… but there’s that gnawing feeling that he really does believe the beserk stuff he says.
And it is his views that have seen him and his family being targeted by “hateful” crowds at a screening of The 39 Steps in New York City on Monday night.
While there, Beck & Co were caught in a “hostile situation”, and if you look at his history, it isn’t difficult to see why that will happen from time-to-time. You troll people, there’s a strong chance they’ll harangue you in return. So let us glare at him at his most weird.
Apparently, Beck was at this outdoor screening and someone kicked wine onto his wife Tanya’s back, soaking her clothes and their Stars ‘n’ Stripes blanket. Then, after that, when Tanya and their daughter Hannah went to the bathroom to clean up, someone yelled “We hate conservatives here!”
The Becks did their best to ignore the catcalls and people taking pictures of them, but it obviously didn’t work, with Beck saying on his radio show:
“These people were some of the most hateful people I’ve ever seen. All I wanted to do was watch a movie in the park. I have a right to watch and enjoy a movie in the park.”
Hate? Wanna talk about hate? See, Beck was mockingly applauded as he left the show. While it may be very uncomfortable to be chided in public, you have to wonder where this behaviour comes from. Seeing as the screening was in New York, you have to assume that saying things like ‘I hate 9/11 victim families’ will turn a community against you.
And of course, Beck’s melodramatic response probably doesn’t help matters.
“If I had suggested ‘Does anybody have a rope? Because there’s a tree here. You could just lynch me.’ I think there would’ve been a couple in the crowd that would’ve.”
It isn’t exactly a good idea to bring up lynching is it, especially given that Beck has been accused of ‘race hate’ in some quarters.
Fact is, if you’re on a huge platform like the Fox Network, given the opportunity to speak without fear of immediate reply, if you have views that are, to put it kindly, controversial, then people will build up loathing and weariness which could easily manifest itself as… well… taking the piss out of you while you sit on a rug in a park.
Of course, Glenn Beck has the right to his views and no-one should ever take that right away from him… but y’know, the right to speak goes both ways, so if someone wants to boo and heckle you, they’ve got that right too, especially if you’re the kind of bloke who can lose his bap on-air and furious slate a caller, only for you to call them a “pinhead”.
Public attacks aren’t very nice are they? Mercifully, we revel in it and would love the chance to mindlessly call Glenn Beck names, mainly because he looks like Bobby from King of the Hill.
It goes without saying that, while Beck recalled all this on his show, he got all choked up. It’s not like Glenn Beck to cry is it? Not one bit…
Beck, who launches a live streaming video network in Sept., closed his segment about the incident with a plea for love, “Find a way to love because in the end only love remains. The only thing that is true is love. Everything else is a lie. Do not hate, love. That’s the promise of America. That is the shining city on the hill that cannot and will not be hid.”
Beck’s GBTV will feature Beck’s new daily two-hour show and other original and licensed programming.
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dog wover says
Please rewrite this story and make it harsher, more critical, add some swear words and be meaner that you ever thought you could be ( e.g.describe his wife as a mindless Steppford wife with no vagina). New Yorkers rightly hate him and pray a 747 crashes into his house while he sleeps. (That’s if this vampire sucking the blood out of America’s brain cells actually does sleep) If he hadn’t gotten a job babbling mindless drivel he would have only qualified for a janitors job at jack-In-The-Box. Never, ever hold back on trashing Beck. It’s un-American.
Now, let me tell you how I really feel ……….
Greg says
I live in Canada and I have never understood how this works: If Jon Stewart’s family had been treated this way by a Tea Party mob (which has never happened btw) there would be universal condemnation. If a minority person had been treated this way there would be universal condemnation. But because Glenn Beck says things on air that you don’t agree with, that makes it ok to treat his family this way. You say you respect his right to free speech but the rest of the article belies it. Where is the famous American tolerance for diverse views?
Patrick Donaghue says
hecklerspray is British.
Sherry says
Would Jon Stewart take his family to a
Tea Party even? I wouldn’t
gilbert wham says
Plus, Beck is a terrible, terrible cunt and clearly deserves it.
Cookie Monster says
Greg, you live in Canada, but are you Canadian? In any case, I don’t see the relationship between your statement about your location and anything else that you sprayed into the comment box.
Jon Stewart makes fun of people. He uses intelligent humour to lampoon those in the news, his primary target being politicians and pundits. It is possible to miss ‘the joke’ only if one is a drooling retard. Glenn Beck uses baseless rhetoric to inflame his audience, his primary target being anyone who doesn’t agree with him, and his primary audience being those of slack jaws.
What I’m saying is that a comedian is a comedian, and an asshole is an asshole. There is no fucking mystery; they are treated as they treat others. It’s the golden rule of showers, or something like that.
Are there any other things that you ‘have never understood’ that the ministry of the painfully obvious can help you with? Rest assured that we endeavor to stave-off permanent flatlining in cases such as yours, however faint the hope.