Glenn Beck, Fox end dark, nasty cable era today (major hurl alert)

The Baltimore Sun ^ | 10:47 a.m. EDT, June 30, 2011 | By David Zurawik

[Lucky9teen]

When Glenn Beck signs off today at the end of his last Fox News cablecast, he will leave a TV legacy of reckless, divisive and ugly speech in his wake. He and Fox News should both feel some shame for the harm they have done to the national political discourse -- how they have taken an hour of dinnertime each weeknight and used it to help polarize us with paranoid and angry words.

But, of course, Fox and Beck seem to have no shame, do they? In the case of Fox News, it thinks good ratings are all that matter. And in the case of Beck, it's all about the new projects he has and his claim to make $30 to $40 million a year, with only a tenth of that having come from Fox.

Good for them and their skewed value systems.

I will tell you something, I did much of my Ph.D. dissertation research on the blacklisting of the 1950s, and Glenn Beck's speech and attacks were as nasty and dirty as any of it. And there is no one who can absolve Fox News for loosening those ugly forces on American life again at a time when we as a nation need to come together to solve massive problems like no time since World War II.

Tell me about how Beck will end his Fox run in third or fourth place overall in cable news ratings, and I'll ask you at what price? He and Fox did it by speaking to our worst demons and betraying any notion of public trust that comes with being a cablecaster and part of the American press.

[chris37]

God Bless and Protect Glenn Beck.

I don’t know where we would be at this time without him, he is truly a hero.

I will be buying a subscirption to his tv network, and I will have no further need to watch Fox, aside from Redeye, of course.

[Georgia Girl 2]

True. And most of the so called hate speech is just quotes that Glenn plays from these crazy commies Obama has put in high places. The guy who wrote this article is too stupid to realize that he’s right about the hate speech but its coming from his own tribe.

[Edgerunner]

I will tell you something, I did much of my Ph.D. dissertation research on the blacklisting of the 1950s, and Glenn Beck's speech and attacks were as nasty and dirty as any of it.

I looked this guy up. Now I know why he tries to impress the reader, he has the brain of a tulip.

[Terry Mross]

The hypocracy is amazing. Amazing that they don’t see it. He compares Beck to blacklisting yet he wants to blacklist Beck. They see this as reasonable.

Plus, he never mentions Chrissy Mathews.

[ExNewsExSpook]

I’m guessing the writer never read (or has conveniently ignored) books like “Red Star Over Hollywood,” the brilliant debunking of the blacklisting myth by Ronald and Allis Radosh.

I can’t recommend the book fAs most of you know, Radosh was a communist for many years, and knows the territory well. As he outlines in the book, many of those in the film community accused of being “Reds” were guilty as charged, and their plight was cleverly manipulated by the Communist Party. I used the term plight advisedly; as the Radoshes remind us, many of the “blacklist” victims maintained a very comfortable lifestyle, and many still found work in their profession.

In fact, the real victims of the blacklist were those who tried to expose the communist influence. Case in point: Edward Dmytryk, director of “The Caine Mutiny.” For “naming names,” he became a pariah in Hollywood. He kept working, but his career tapered off after “Caine,” largely the result of his testimony before the HUAC. He was largely blacklisted by the power brokers in Hollywood for exposing communists. That was the “real” blacklist.

[cbkaty]

My ROKU arrived today....soon I will have GBTV 24x7.....

It's like awaiting a juicy prime cut of perfectly grilled beef.....It not only looks great, but it will taste as good as it looks.... One can depend on uncut "primebeck".............

[The Duke]

I will tell you something, I did much of my Ph.D. dissertation research on the blacklisting of the 1950s, and Glenn Beck's speech and attacks were as nasty and dirty as any of it.

The "blacklisting of the 1950s" is child's play compared to that which is needed. I want criminal leftists working for years at hard labor in chain gangs.

[ExNewsExSpook]

Correction in my post...meant to say I can’t recommend the Radoshes book highly enough. It is a great read, superbly researched and well-written. Completely demolishes the blacklisting myth and documents the long influence of communists in Hollywood.

Another good book (though not widely read) is Edward Dmytryk’s memoir, “Odd Man Out.” He covers much of the same territory, from someone who was a communist in Hollywood, realized the error of his ways, and cooperated with the HUAC.

[andy58-in-nh]

Here’s yet another anti-American communist denying that anti-American communists actually exist or ever existed. Naturally, anyone who claims otherwise is a “McCarthyite” - which is the Left’s preferred epithet for those unafraid to tell the truth. Deception and false accusation are as natural as drawing breath to these people, for whom the ends always justify the means.

[Terry Mross]

And 2 million of them must be liberals. Otherwise how could they know that “Beck lies all the time” and “spews hate and intoerance”? sarc

I have an idiot cousin who actually posted the following on FB:

“Fox News is not a news channel. Everyone knows that. Only Fox News thinks they’re a news channel.” Huh?

He constantly posted that Beck was a liar. I constantly asked him for one example and all he’d do is keep repeating that Beck is a liar. We no longer speak to each other. I’m no longer on FB. My life is so much more calm.

[B.O. Plenty]

I was in high school at the time. I recall that my family didn't have a problem with McCarthy.

I do remember, however, there was a teacher who taught "civics", who tried to get us all to write a letter to our senator to "stop McCarthy"..it didn't work with me.

I suppose that there have been liberal nuts trying to warp young minds since time began...

...(I am ready for the final conflict)....

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Where do newspapers get people like this David Zurawik? He is guilty of that of which he accuses Beck.

[Emperor Palpatine]

"I will tell you something, I did much of my Ph.D. dissertation research on the blacklisting of the 1950s, and Glenn Beck's speech and attacks were as nasty and dirty as any of it."


History has proven that Joe McCarthy was right. Stick that in your Grade-F dissertation and smoke it, Dave.

[Aut Pax Aut Bellum]

I like Beck, disagree with the hope,Charity,etc. But he has shined a huge spotlight on some dark corners in the the US. Pay to listen to him on the web, not likely. Paid to listen to satellite radio (XM) at night while working, now that he’s gone, might drop XM....but not paying to listen more....I’m mobile over 14 hours a day, no time for “podcasts,etc”