The Blue-Eyed Smiling Face of Rebellion (no guns please)
by Michael Hopping
Glenn Beck has hit the big time. His recent Time magazine cover puts him only half a cover behind fellow conservative broadcaster Rush Limbaugh, who once had to share the honor with Howard Stern. Bill O’Reilly, Seah Hannity, Lou Dobbs, and Michael Savage are still waiting.
Depending on your point of view Beck may be a real-life incarnation of Howard “I’m-mad-as-hell-and-I’m-not-going-to-take-this-anymore” Beale of the 1976 movie Network. Or perhaps he embodies the egomaniacal country boy pitchman Lonesome Rhodes from 1957’s A Face in the Crowd. Either way, Beck is the media darling for a wave of anti-government dissent.
He has perfected the art of fomenting outrage — the quote above is
followed by “they’re gonna eat the rich” — and then issuing “aw,
shucks” disavowals of violence. He’s inflammatory, emotional, wears his
religion on his sleeve, and isn’t overly concerned with the factual
accuracy of what he says.
Terms such as communist, socialist, Nazi, and racist come easily
from him when applied to liberals. But the intensity on his face looks
more like old-fashioned gumption than menace. He plays it off against
self-deprecating humor and expressions of blue-eyed innocence that make
fans want to reach into the screen and give his adorable chubby cheek a
little pinch. And the way he sticks his tongue out at the enemies of
our republic, like subscribers to Time!
In short, Beck is a perfect pitchman for a sizeable segment of the
American public – those who are frightened, resentful, angry, and
gullible. His books are best-sellers. The Glenn Beck Show trounces its
cable news competition for ratings. A recent advertiser boycott
sponsored by the African American activist group Color of Change cost
the show over sixty sponsors and hundreds of thousands a week in ad
revenues. Ratings climbed. The Glenn Beck Show recently ran a close
second to The O’Reilly Factor for FoxNews supremacy.
Lonesome Rhodes, Howard Beale, Glenn Beck. Which one is real, which only a demented character? Who can tell?
