The Benefits of a Glenn Beck Education

Last updated on: December 31, 2014 at 3:28 pm by Mark Shea

The Benefits of a Glenn Beck Education 2014-12-31T15:28:05-07:00 Mark Shea

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So last week, I wrote a little piece for the Register on why it is inadvisable to get your education in history and civics from Glenn Beck, given that he has demonstrated, at one and the same time, the eagerness to be regarded as the Educator of the Masses, as well as a spectacular ignorance of historical matters such as his loopy analysis of the Council of Nicaea. A number of readers took my point right away, but inevitably a number of others, bound and determined to cling to the notion that Beck is a reliable guide to matters historical, challenged my point. Some seemed to be impervious to all reason (favorite accusation against me: “Closet Modernist Feels Threatened”), maintaining in the teeth of easily documentable evidenece to the contrary, that Beck was our sherpa guide up the Mountain of Truth whenever he spoke to matters having to do with current American history. One reader wrote back in a fever of outrage, denouncing me for failing to appreciate the awesome job Beck is doing exposing our Muslim-in-Chief’s fiendish plot to establish the Jihad on American soil (among his many other monstrous plots): “How about this quote from his book Audacity of Hope…“I will stand with the Muslims if the political winds shift in an ugly direction”. There is more, much more, but you just keep focusing on Glen Beck’s misguided take on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Shortly thereafter, somebody pointed out that this is not what Obama, in fact, wrote. They even provided a link where you could get the correct quote
Response from the Beck enthusiast:

Google or Ask Jeeves search the Quote:
“I will stand with the Muslims if the political winds shift in anugly direction” It will take you to Barak Obama’s biography.

So I go find and post the actual quote which reads as follows:

Actual quote from “The Audacity of Hope” [pg. 261]: “Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

Nothing daunted, The Beck enthusiast rejoins by saying:

Yes, Obama made the statement:
I will stand with the Muslims if the political winds shift in an ugly direction…Audacity of Hope. Google the quote, there are numerous references.

http://www.americanconservativedaily.com/2008/03/muslim-obama-‘will-stand-with-muslims-should-political-winds-shift-in-ugly-direction’/

I reply, in part:

No. He didn’t. I provided you with the actual quote, which referred to
Arabs and Pakistanis, not Muslims.

Ever watch Monk? Tony Shaloub is an Arab. He’s also a Maronite Catholic. Arab =/= Muslim.

By the way, the extreme irony of your position is that when you Google the misquote that you provided it refers you, not to the book, but to a bunch of right wing sites who are repeating the same pseudoknowledge without fact-checking it. And number two on the list is… Glenn Beck.

This is why I’m urging people who are serious about exercising their faith in the public square to get their information from reliable sources and not from quacks who pretend to be experts in history and then reveal themselves to be spectacularly ignorant. There are plenty of sound reasons to oppose many of Obama’s policies. But you can’t do that if you go around regurgitating fraudulent quotes that you believed because somebody with a well modulated voice told you so and you read it on a website somewhere. All somebody has to do is produce an actual copy of the book you haven’t bothered to read and you either wind up feeling silly or, worse, persist in circulating the quote because you think that it’s okay to bear false witness against your neighbor in a good cause.

All this brings me to today’s story:

Protesters gathered at Ground Zero Sunday to object to plans for a mosque a few blocks north of where the World Trade Center towers stood. From North Jersey Record columnist Mike Kelly:

At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims.

“Go home,” several shouted from the crowd.

“Get out,” others shouted.

In fact, the two men – Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry — were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called “The Way.” Both said they had come to protest the mosque.

“I’m a Christian,” Nassralla shouted to the crowd, his eyes bulging and beads of sweat rolling down his face.

But it was no use. The protesters had become so angry at what they thought were Muslims that New York City police officers had to rush in and pull Nassralla and El Masry to safety.

“I flew nine hours in an airplane to come here,” a frustrated Nassralla said afterward.

Obama’s quote (the actual one, I mean, not the fake one) is, in fact, not a problem at all. It is directed toward exactly this kind of mob racism. Unless you think the Executive should *not* resist a mob call to intern an entire population of people based on their religion or race, there is no reason at all to complain about it. But when you regurgitate junk that Glenn Beck asserts as fact without fact-checking it and declare people who question it to be “modernists” for defending Nicaea, you are rather more likely to be part of the mob than standing against it when they menace Christians for the crime of sharing your views in a dark skin.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 14, 2010

Monsanto: Another EvilCorp

Next Post

June 14, 2010 George Orwell...

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 September 2006 June 2006 July 2005 April 2005 May 2002 April 2002 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz