"Don't tell me what 9/12 means, Glenn Beck"

[stoney]

Today, you are already aware, is the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Tomorrow, you may or may not be aware, is the date of Glenn Beck's 9/12 Project, which the Fox News host will be marking with a live-TV event in Washington, and which he announced in March in an effort to

bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States, or political parties. We were united as Americans...

You can make your own judgments about the platform of Nine Principles and Twelve Values that Beck has tied to the anniversary of a heinous mass murder. But as someone who happened to be in New York City eight years ago today, the implicit premise of the 9-12 Project—that those who aren't on Beck's side must have somehow "forgotten" 9/11 and its aftermath—ticks me off royally and personally.

I was at home in Brooklyn, holding my six-week-old baby on the couch, when I saw the second plane crash into the World Trade Center on TV. I watched the smoking pit of the ruins from the roof of my apartment building as bits of memo paper and ash drifted on the winds to my neighborhood. I was there on 9/11, and 9/12, and 9/13. You'll excuse me if I don't feel warm nostalgia for the lingering smell of burnt airplane fuel, and metal, and bodies.

Nor, of course, does Beck. What he purportedly wants is to bring back our feeling of "unity." I remember that feeling. After 9/11, I remember hardcore liberal New Yorkers rallying behind Rudy Giuliani, saying nice things about President Bush when he spoke at the WTC ruins. I remember thousands of American flags being flown out of apartment and brownstone windows, not as political statements or in the you-better-prove-your-patriotism spirit of flag pins and Freedom Fries, but simply because we felt we Americans were all in this together.

So since March, what has Glenn Beck been doing to re-establish that sense of nonpartisan national brotherhood? Calling President Obama a racist, declaring that the government was bringing fascism upon us, asking his fans to dig up dirt on political figures he doesn't like, and predicting civil-war-like uprisings. Because that's how you bring people together.

None of us have a unique claim on the meaning of 9/11, or 9/12. The fact that I was in New York on 9/11 does not make my views about anything that's happened since more valid than anyone else's. (If you were in Montana on 9/11, your views are just as legitimate as mine.) Millions of us were here, and we drew millions of different lessons from that day.

New York being a Blue city, of course, millions of those people disagree with Glenn Beck. But that does not mean that those New Yorkers—or Washington D.C. residents—have "forgotten" 9/12, or 9/11. Believe me, we damn well wish we could forget.

You want to bring back the feeling of national unity and civility, Glenn Beck? You could start by not using this tragedy as your personal political platform.

Read more: tunedin.blogs.time.com/2009/09/11/dont-tell-me-what-912-means-glenn-beck/#ixzz0aFg6G0NB

tunedin.blogs.time.com/2009/09/11/dont-tell-me-what-912-means-glenn-beck/

[dgriffin]

I almost want to say Beck is an idiot. But no more than Rush and Bill O'Really. In fact, they are not very entertaining entertainers, interested in getting the most viewership from their potential audiences.

I suspected "real" conservatives didn't listen to Talk Radio, until I read that research revealed many of the shows' listeners don't agree with Beck or Rush or Bill, but listen to them anyway, looking at the shows as they would "professional" wrestling.

Stoney, what you you doing reading Time Magazine? It'll screw up your head, make you see the world through a reversed telescope and rust your feathers.

[dgriffin]

We had a thread going here not long ago that veered (as most do) into the topic of President bashing. Some of us smelled the same napalm in the air over Obama as we had over George Bush. It wasn't right then, and it isn't right now. I'm not a fan of the O Man, but I hope to keep my comments to a dislike of his actions, rather than his personal shortcomings.

As for Beck, I think the paragraphs above you bolded are apropos.

Still, I can't help but add this graphic I made up not long ago. I'm a sucker for political art. Here he is, The President as Pope.
Hahahahaha!

[wcup102]

Stoney, I have to disagree. I have only followed Beck for the last year or so and what he has shown me with the government and what they are all about and doing to us taxpayers without our representation, is heinous to say the least. I don't believe he is using 911 as a personal political platform, but as an incentive to get americans off their asses and to do something, hence the beginning of tea parties. If I could have gone to D.C. I would have. I feel every senator, congressman and representative should be voted out and replaced with new.

The government has resorted to extortion and threats to get votes for Obamacare which 64% of americans do not want. Why is it so important? They create a crisis to get things pushed through in an "emergency" sense of light. The stage a press conference with doctors at the white house, they threaten to close air force bases unless they get a vote, which in my opinion is treasonous. Politicians should be held to the same standard as us when it comes to paying taxes and taking healthcare. Do you know how many people in the current Obama admin. have not paid taxes or cheated on taxes? Quite a few, especially Tim Geithner, which is a slap in all our faces with the position that he holds. Have you researched any of the czars and read what their stances and philosophies are? They want to put sterilants into drinking water to control population, are you kidding me? Look at Van Jones that rsigned under the cover of night because he was exposed for his communistic views and stances.

Since when should gov't come into a corporation and fire a CEO(GM)? If you have a business do you think they would bail you out to avoid failure? They would have been better off letting them fail and starting over rather than giving them our money(TARP & bailout) to pay their bonuses and go on their company vacations, oops I mean business meetings.

i could go on, but I am definitely not trying to argue with you. I respect your opinion. I am not a conspiracy theorist nor an alarmist. But I do believe what I see on FOX News and Beck as compared to the other outlets, after all jeffrey Immelt is poised to get big returns with the cap and trade bill and green technology bills slated to go through so why should he not get in bed with Obama. BTW he is CEO of General Electric, the one with all the green light bulbs and green wind technology. Again, I'm sorry if I sound bitter but.....I am!!!! i am sick of the people we elect to protect us and look out for our best interest, rolling over for the "popular" thing or for private interests and lobbyists.

[gski]

Wcup, I only add a few words. Well said and well done!

[stoney]

Dec 20, 2009 13:45:33 GMT -5 @dgriffin said:

I suspected "real" conservatives didn't listen to Talk Radio, until I read that research revealed many of the shows' listeners don't agree with Beck or Rush or Bill, but listen to them anyway, looking at the shows as they would "professional" wrestling.

Stoney, what you you doing reading Time Magazine? It'll screw up your head, make you see the world through a reversed telescope and rust your feathers.

God, I HOPE they don't listen to them!

I've had this bookmarked for awhile now, but wasn't posting in Sept., so I put it on now as Beck makes me itch.

[stoney]

Wcup, thank you for being respectful in your disagreement w/me, & offering your reasons. You are a true gentleman.

(I don't agree at all with you, but at least you presented your own thought instead of just copying them.)

[dgriffin]

Wcup, you've made good points, although some of the accusations made by the 3 Musketeers are ... I think ... unsupported. A couple are misleading and many appear debatable.

Take the TARP bailout. It was supported enough by Republicans to pass, and no one had any better idea for an emergency action. Just about everyone on both sides of the aisle in hindsight wonders if it was a good idea. When should the government fire a CEO? When the government becomes enough of a shareholder by using our funds to buy in. That is a more fair version of what happened.

And Beck and company don't own the arena. There are more thoughtful voices arguing from a conservative point of view. Much of what I hear from the The Three is often misleading, and designed to inflame audiences.

It's difficult, but not impossible, to find level voices in the debates of the day. Although they certainly have a conservative stance, such shows as Britt Hume's Special Report on FoxNews, a panel show, leaves me with more of a feeling that I heard a balanced opinion, than when I come away from the clanging of Bill O'Reilly or the whining of Glen Beck. And by the way, I come away feeling like someone was trying to push their own opinion when I listen to Wolf Blitzer and certainly Keith Oberman.