Glenn Beck Gives Tutorial on How to Engage in Civil Dialogue, Says You Can't Make Wild, Baseless Accusations

Posted by Tana Ganeva, AlterNet at 1:26 PM on September 16, 2009.

On his radio show today Glenn Beck expressed concern about the declining quality of our public discourse. Apparently, the national dialogue is being polluted by people who say things without basing their assertions on solid evidence. Really? Like who? According to Beck, the main culprits are those who point to race as a motivating factor in some of the crazy attacks (you lie!) against Obama.

Said Beck, without any shred of irony that I could suss out,

"I would say that the false cries of racism on Joe Wilson ... when there's absolutely nothing to back it up... Just back it up! Just back it up! You wanna say "Hey, I think this guy's a racist ... let's listen to the explanation. What is your evidence that this guy's a racist....what is your evidence."

Beck then launches into a tutorial of sorts on how to have a civil, intelligent debate about hot-button issues like race, arguing that one party should present their evidence for review by those who may disagree, and the other party should respond in kind, leading to a rational conclusion about the issue at hand. You know, like what Beck always does on his show.

Crying "racism" without backing it up, continues Beck sagely, is tantamount screaming "Fire!", because "racism is dangerous." Beck twists the fire metaphor in ways I can't really follow, until he reaches this conclusion: "Why do they keep screaming Fire? [Fire is "race", but who's "they? Hmm."]

And there you go. I hope you learned something from Glenn Beck about how to engage is fruitful, reasoned debate. And about race in America.

Don't really know what to do with this one, except orient you to the ColorOfChange boycott campaign against the shock jock, launched after Beck accused President Obama of being a racist with a "deep-seated hatred for white people and white culture."

(Worth noting that this crazy, stroke-inducing hypocrisy on issues of race seems to be a pretty useful strategy, having fueled conservative grievance-based ideology for decades.)

Beck's clownishness aside, there seem to be about a billion disturbing Obama/race stories unfolding at the moment: from Drudge sounding the alarm about some kid getting beat up on a bus and Limbaugh blaming Obama because the victim was white, to everyone being super concerned about Obama's take on Kanye West's manners.

The most recent, at least as of this morning, is the controversy surrounding Jimmy Carter's comments yesterday, which Addie highlighted here (presumably this is what Beck was partly referring to in his call for more civil dialogue!). On NBC last night, Carter said:

"I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man," Carter said. "I live in the South, and I've seen the South come a long way, and I've seen the rest of the country that share the South's attitude toward minority groups at that time, particularly African Americans."

Carter continued, "And that racism inclination still exists. And I think it's bubbled up to the surface because of the belief among many white people, not just in the South but around the country, that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country. It's an abominable circumstance, and it grieves me and concerns me very deeply."

About Joe Wilson's outburst, Carter said:

"I think it's based on racism," Mr. Carter said at a town-hall-style meeting at his presidential center in Atlanta. "There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president."
[...]
"Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a sincere debate on whether we should have a national program on health care," he said. "It's deeper than that."

Steele released a statement freaking out about Carter's comments. A Drudge headline screamed, in disbelief: IT'S BECAUSE HE'S BLACK?

Alex Pareene at Gawker has a nice response:  

But to answer your question, Mr. Drudge: it is in part because he's black, yes. And it's also because he represents the emergence of an urban elite/black/immigrant/gay/poor coalition that poses a threat to the rural/suburban white Christians who've been told for a century that they are Real America, making this guy who is patently not a member of that group a False American.*

h/t Media Matters

Tagged as: racism, obama, glenn beck