A Glenn Beck Rally and Our Current Culture of Bias

Posted by on Sep 4th, 2010 and filed under Congress, Defense, Legal, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry from your site

It is not news to hear that we are in an environment of bias which is fueled by our mainstream media. It is not even news when we hear that people who speak truth are pushed down by this sector. However, a recent situation has forced us to not only see the strength of this realization but also the danger. Can a Glenn Beck rally  turn the tide?

Recently, Glenn Beck carried out a rally to influence and enhance the honor of this nation in one of its most tumultuous times since the Great Depression. Almost immediately after being announced, it has to come to the defense of itself via the media. Even supposedly conservative hosts such as Joe Scarborough are attempting to wonder the reasoning behind it actually using the world “bewilderment” in a tweet discussing the segment. Ignoring real news such as a liberal legislator wanting to question conservative groups’ funding against the 9-11 Mosque and not the funding of it’s prospective creation, rambles continue on to figure out the events’ reasoning and no recognition of the actual chance to revive the nation and remind us of who we are.

Today, we actually live in a time where uniting for the good of the nation becomes cause for threatening debate instead of full fledged celebration that we are a nation which can do this type of thing even in times of turmoil. Even the selection of the date, the anniversary of Martin Luther King ’s Speech and same location, was under attack when in reality it is this type of event which King professed himself: Celebrating this nation and our ability and freedom to recognize it. A Glenn Beck rally captures very spirit.

As a 20-Something year old conservative woman in New York, home of many recent rallies, it scares me that events at our nation’s capitol to profess exactly what we were made for can be attacked. In fact, it is this fear which leads me to politics in the first place as well as many of my colleagues. However, despite any attack or negative response no matter what the prospective strength of this negative reaction, even in times of turmoil we show the true errors of our ways which must be revised not only for our nation’s sake at this point in time but also for us to thrive at all. I just hope this event and the actions within it and the participants begin erasing these situations as soon as possible. If only for our nation’s sake.

2 Responses for “A Glenn Beck Rally and Our Current Culture of Bias”

  1. Stephen M. Hunt says:

    While I do find your opinion and general perception of the Glen Beck Rally to be eloquently stated, I would have to disagree on a few fundamental levels.
    I would submit that it would be incredibly dangerous to imply in any way, shape, or form, that our country needs to be taken back to or from anything. Allow me to clarify… In order for it(America) to be taken back to any “golden era,” or from any “enemies” some people may percieve us to have, creeping around in the shadows, known only to Tea-party members and some Republicans, it would have to have been taken from us in the first place. This is still America, you have more freedoms than (almost) anyone in the world. When a party and or president is elected to office with a staggering majority, this is the Democracy we cherish in action. Wether you voted for that man, woman, party, if they get the majority they’re in. And the last time I checked the major hindering of anyone’s individual liberties was The Patriot Act. Now, I have heard a lot about about the freedom of expression and speech coming from a lot of circles lately who were all too quick to dismiss it from the other side of the fence no more than 3 to 4 years ago…
    Which brings me to my next point- no one “attacked” Glen Beck for holding the rally when and where he did. The implications of the word “attack” are too often used, and I think people have become a little too sensitive. Was his judgement questionable? Yes. Was this a little short on tact? Yes. Did he have the right to hold this rally where and when he did? YES. I have not once heard any liberal or progressive or whatever passe term is used to describe the evil media, state that he had no right to hold his rally, they just questioned his judgement, as did I. Mine was for 2 very basic reasons,1) Glen Beck’s views and the views of his fans(yes, they are just fans, sorry), are, by and large in stark contrast to that of Dr. King’s, the civil rights movement, and the struggle for equality that sparked that great moment in our history. Not wanting to be taxed, and wanting more religion(specifically Christianity) in government, schools, etc. is not a struggle, it’s a gripe. Everyone at that rally has every oppurtunity to raise their children as they wish, worship whichever God they choose to, without fear of persecution, not to mention jail time, vandalism, lynching, fire hoses, attack dogs, and so on. Now…. this brings me to my last point for the moment…
    While they rally on that spot, on that date, preaching and practicing the rights granted to them as Americans, claiming that we need a return to the constitution, they(and yes, I’m sorry, I’m referring to Republicans and Tea Partiers), drum up ridiculous claims about an Inter-faith(which means all are welcome to pray to whomever they choose) Islamic Center-think YMCA via Muslims. First of all, how dare anyone oppose this, you want to win a war on terror, you pray this thing is built. Certain peoples’ vocal opposition is already being used(successfully) as a recruiting tool for the Taliban, as admitted by a Taliban spokesman. Secondly, IT IS NOT AT GROUND ZERO!!! It is two blocks away, New York City blocks, not small, college town, midwestern blocks. To anyone who says that is still too close, I will reply with,”I’m pretty sure there’s a Christian house of worship within two blocks of the Oklahoma City Federal Building, Where are your picket lines there?” Then I will wait for a response that does not involve outright bias toward a large group for the actions of a few, and I will be sorely dissappointed, or answered with silence, at which point I will walk away, sad…..
    I say sad because this is exactly what I did not expect, even though I am prone to giving people, as a species, way too much credit. I never expected in this country, that our politicians would feed off this and spit it back into the masses’ eager gullets, with noone stopping to say,” Wait, am I really being attacked, stripped of my rights, over-taxed, or just distracted?” I can assure you it’s none of the first three, at least not to the extent that any American should be up in arms about it. What we all need to do,as a nation, is stop our petty, self-centered complaining(on both sides by the way), and sit down, offer constructive, all-encompassing(i.e. American) solutions to the problems that face our country(and the world for that matter). If any one person or group cannot do this, Then all they should do is sit down, fold their hands in their laps, and let the grown-ups work these things out.
    Phew…
    I love this country, but we as a people should expect more from ourselves and our representitives, we can do a lot better. I promise.

    Report this comment

  2. One of the main problems with politics in our country is the need for the mainstream media to label voters. I for one refuse to wear a label. There is a movement by people of various political persuasions called No Labels (Nolabels.org) which seeks to get beyond the liberal/conservative divide.

    Report this comment

Leave a Reply

//*

Categories

Archive