Glenn Beck doesn’t understand anything about the message emulated by Dr. Martin Luther King. Yes maybe he knows that he was born in Atlanta Georgia, perhaps that he was African American (as pesky a fact as that is) and perhaps that he was assassinated in Memphis on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in 1968. But barring these facts and the tiny fact that he gave a semi important speech on August 28, 1963 Mr. Beck truly has shown he understands nothing of respect for his fellow man or anything pertaining to what Dr. King stood for.
His speech two weeks ago was a cheap attempt at masking prejudice and anger with his own spin off of religion. Sorry Mr. Beck but your motifs are transparent; taking your fear mongering doctrines and prejudices against minorities, Muslims and even liberal whites and wrapping them in a Bible.
His twisted spin off of Christianity where he urges followers to flee churches that don’t line up to his beliefs in the same breath that he says no one has the right to tell people how or where to pray is confusing. Sarah Palin at the same rally screaming to a supportive crowd “we must not fundamentally transform America” is also truly puzzling. Excuse me guys but Martin Luther King was someone who fundamentally transformed the United States. They must have forgotten that civil rights were not what most folks considered part of their moral values 47 years ago.
What they seem to be failing to understand is the beauty of this country is that we haven’t stayed the same. I’m sure honest George Washington valued his slaves but wow am I glad that this country has grown to turn away from those practices. Our ability to evolve and change is what has made us great. Slavery while economical was wrong so we changed it, women weren’t allowed to work so we changed that, women wanted to vote so we gave them that right, African Americans, Latinos and others were given their right to vote, to go to the same schools as whites, to ride the same buses to have the same jobs. Each step of the way there was great resistance from religious figures and others but every step in Ms. Palin’s words “fundamentally transformed” this country.
Its crazy how the organizers f the “Restoring Honor” rally “didn’t realize”, e.g. didn’t care about how offensive this entire thing might not only to African Americans but to the general American public. Claims that we need to retake the dream a horribly offensive. There is nothing wrong wit fulfilling the original Dream of Dr. King. I believe Mr. Beck follows 9 principals or values
Honesty
Reverence
Hope
Thrift
Humility
Charity
Sincerity
Moderation
Hard Work
Courage
Personal Responsibility
Friendship
I’ll take a couple of those and apply them in a helpful way for Mr. Beck. Reverence of Dr. king would have given him the humility to not attempt to usurp the message for a credible movement. Furthermore sincerity would have lead him to be more honest about the fact that it was no accident that he put his polarizing event on the same day that Dr. King so many years ago put hope, love, brother and sisterhood into the hearts of people of the world. Moderation of his ego would have given him the courage to swallow his pride and accept personal responsibility for his mistakes. Then we would have been able to forgive him and he would thus have more friendship among a wider ‘demographic’ of people. He just needs to admit he wasn’t right. It doesn’t matter if Al Sharpton himself put a rally in the same place as Martin Luther King , in that context Mr. Beck did Dr. King’s message a disservice. His preachings of divisiveness towards migrants to this country, minorities and other in the past were part of what was most disturbing.
We need to be able to fight for what is right. Nothing is ever going to be right until all Americans can say, “I am American and I have the exact same rights as my neighbor. I may not always agree with my neighbor but I respect my neighbor.” Right now in a world were its no longer en vogue to say out loud prejudice views towards minorities, some (like Beck) have sneakily found a new way to hate and now even better groups to exercise their hatred on. “Illegals, Anchor babies, terrorists, reverse racists”, the slurs and terminologies maybe different but the same sentiments are attached. Sentiments of separatisms and superiority to these groups for whatever reason.
Mr. Beck was right about one thing when he said that we are at a crossroads. In a time of change we are always at a crossroads. Do we stand and fight for true rights and justice or do we take the easy route and regress safely into the outdated practices of yesterday. There have been counteractive people like Mr. Beck every step of the way in American History. Promising Armageddon or in his words “streets of blood” if we change. But those who insist on standing still will always be left behind. I invite all who wish, to remain standing at those crossroads or even those who wish backtrack to do so. The rest of us are reaching out to you but there’s only a matter of time until those who oppose progress must be left behind.
Let Dr. Kings message of hope freedom and love ring forever.
Nicole Robinson can be reached at nrobinson@spartans.ut.edu
Glenn Beck is the worst political and social anylist of the past few years. This is not just my own opinion, just ask all of the 215,000 people that attended the Jon Stewart rally to restore sanity. Glenn Beck is a full on retard and is the farthest from sanity someone can get. The difference between him and Jon is that Jon reports facts and Glenn Beck is close to eating his own poop. I wish only the wrost for Mr. Beck and the world would be a better place if he was not on it
what ever happened to the right to have an opinion? if you don’t agree with someone else’s opinion- shut your trap! You are close minded. quit trying to censure people.
To everybody supporting Glenn Beck in the comments section: What the hell is wrong with you people? Does he really have you brainwashed that much? i can’t even understand what goes through your minds to make you feel like you need to comment on a college newspaper’s website just to insult the author and worship Glenn Beck.
It was funny reading all the pro Glenn Beck comments at first until i realized that you people actually believe this stuff and at that point it just became sad. I can’t wait until Glenn Beck inevitably loses his mind and tells all of his followers to commit a mass suicide in honor of Beck’s great name and you all do it.
The guy can draw vague connections between Obama and former terrorists over 20 degrees of separation. I feel like i’m watching a game show host any time this rambling asshole is on TV.
in the words of Glenn Beck, “If Jesus were alive today and ran a TV show, i don’t know how he’d do it, but i’m trying my best.”
Philippa Hatendi,
Your call for civility here in the comments section is commendable, but it rings hollow given the circumstances and the resentful tenor of the article above.
Instead of scolding commenters, it would earn more respect among readers for you to just accept responsibility and apologize for the proof-reading errors and for allowing questionable accusations in the article to go to press (or posting online).
In regard to the other comments here, I hope no one proof-reads these entries for spelling or grammar. Like many others, comments are typed in quick text-message fashion and not with the time given a class paper or an article.
Oh and Bob H
Its laugh or cry not “…laugh ‘of’ cry…” as you stated in your comment. Just saying 🙂
I guess there is a proofreader out there.
Oh and Bob H
Its laugh or cry not “…laugh ‘of’ cry…” as you stated in your comment. Just saying 🙂
I guess there is a proofreader out there.
Bob H.
is it that you do not have the ability to reason out a clear and concise argument when reading or it is just the grammar and spelling that you understand?
You have no right to start insulting and making claims of someone you do not know, a publication you are not affiliated with and arguments that are far beyond your reasoning ability or is just the intelligence to understand them that’s the issue. I’ll that for you to think about the next time you you think of throwing words loosely
Before you go calling out people and spreading your negativity,consider what value of your words are, because your comment here adds no value whatsoever,save some space for actual sense.
Seriously, to all the people above…if your purpose is merely to insult…instead of leave a decent comment on an article, please don’t bother to leave comments at all.
Because for the majority, most of you were just practicing your ability to insult rather than making useful comments on the article.
In future, if you have nothing positive to say…then say nothing at all.
Thank you.
Smarmy first paragraph sets tone for the remainder of this immature and bigoted article.
I believe Mr. Beck follows 9 principals or values…
Honesty,Reverence,Hope,Thrift,Humility,Charity,Sincerity,Moderation,Hard Work,Courage,Personal Responsibility,Friendship
Hey genius. That’s TWELVE.
I tell my son that kids between 13 and 17 are best off just not saying anything because odds are that anything they say will be stupid, ignorant or both.
I guess that should be extended to the early twenties as to cover Ms. Robinson.
Of course, if she is older than that, then there’s nothing that can be done for her.
Ms. Robinson.
Does it embarrass you to have something bearing your name on the internet full of spelling and grammar errors?
Apart from that, you don’t seem to have much of a point about anything at all; except that you hate Glenn Beck. Maybe it’s your jealousy over his ability to construct a sentence. I can’t believe this publication would allow itself to look so silly. Are there no proofreaders around?
Maybe you are still just young and foolish. You should print this article out and put it in a drawer somewhere. After you grow up, take it out and read it sometime. You won’t know whether to laugh of cry over the vapidness you once considered good writing.
I hope you can get smarter and wiser as you age. Good luck!
My cousin went to the restoring honor rally in DC and it inspired him to be a better person. He said the main idea of the rally was to honor people in our country who are trying to make this a better place to live. There were many speakers there, including Aveda King, Dr. Martin Luther Kings niece, and she talked about her uncles ideas of freedom and everyone all living together. The rally made my cousin want to help others more, and to think about how he can be the best person he can be. From the first hand account of someone I’m very close to, he saw no hatred at the rally and it has just inspired him to take action and help everyone he sees that needs help, including complete strangers. For him at least, it seemed like a life changing event for the better.
MLK was a Republican. Abe Lincoln started the Republican party. The civil rights laws of the sixties were passed by Republicans despite filibuster attempts by the democrats. Blacks only vote democrat because they have been lied to. Now you, Nicole, are parroting the lie. What a useful idiot you are.
MJ is correct.
Also, polling does not suggest that the recent rally was thought offensive by a majority of Americans. Of course, the people who attended the rally seem to represent the majority of Americans, just sayin’.
It’s all too easy to dismiss the views of others, lest one’s own tightly wrapped beliefs come under scrutiny. That’s true no matter what ideology anyone holds, but this article trips itself with what it aims to denounce.
“…some (like Beck) have sneakily found a new way to hate and now even better groups to exercise their hatred on. “Illegals, Anchor babies, terrorists, reverse racists”, the slurs and terminologies maybe different but the same sentiments are attached.”
Cloaking activism critical of illegal immigration, global terrorism, or radical domestic policy (of the leftist persuasion) with the blanket description of hatred stifles dialogue.