I don't think the 'debate' about incessant violent rhetoric being suggestive is going away any time soon ~ and, obviously, Glenn Beck is one of the most guilty ~ but I'm really posting this to preserve the end-clip in case Fox pulls 'a Palin' and scours its site ~ Sooz

‘You're going to have to shoot them in the head,' Beck said of Democratic leaders
By Stephen C. Webster
Thursday, January 20th, 2011 -- 5:36 pm

Discussing Democratic leaders during a June broadcast for the Republican Fox News Channel, conspiracy host Glenn Beck told his followers they would have to "shoot them in the head" in order to bring an end to an alleged "communist" agenda.

"They believe in communism," he said. "They believe and have called for a revolution. You're going to have to shoot them in the head. But warning, they may shoot you."

A transcript of Beck's show was still available on the Fox News website. (Screenshot.)

In the very next breath, he mentioned then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), claiming her "George Washington" was "Karl Marx."

For context, more of Beck's contentious statement is reflected below:

Beck has long proved highly controversial as a media figure popularized by the Republican Fox News Channel. He's previously joked about poisoning Pelosi and once claimed that President Obama wants to enslave white people.

His litany of outrageous comments and often completely fabricated narratives led many advertisers to stop supporting his program and at one point last year his show found itself without even a single underwriter in Britain, where it has been kept on the air nearly 11 months with no advertisers.

A changing environment for political speech

In the wake of a mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, which left six dead and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head, many in the media have criticized increasingly violent rhetoric from pundits and politicians.

It didn't help that days after the shooting, Beck issued a call for peace on his website, next to an image of him holding a handgun and posing as if he were a character on a television action-drama.

Some have even accused Beck, among others, of being a direct inspiration to killers who allegedly adhered to some of his more extreme political fantasies.

One California man, Byron Williams -- who was arrested after opening fire on the police officers who discovered him in the process of donning a bullet-proof vest -- later claimed he wanted to "start a revolution." His targets were two groups Beck had made out to be antagonists: the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Tides Foundation.

Williams' targeting of the Tides Foundation was especially indicative of Beck's inspiration: they were almost completely unknown until he began claiming the foundation was somehow behind a massive communist conspiracy to kill Americans.

The Tides Foundation is actually a non-profit group that awards grants to other non-profits committed to progressive initiatives. Financing from Tides helped form People For the American Way and the ACLU's Campaign to Defend the Constitution, among others.

Following the incident, Tides Foundation CEO Drummond Pike urged advertisers to drop Beck or come to terms with potentially one day having "blood" on their hands.

The alleged shooter in Arizona, Jared Loughner, did not appear to have a well defined political ideology, but was known to have adopted some ideas propagated by the extreme-right Sovereign Citizens movement. Loughner's YouTube account further insisted

omfg. he is in serious trouble if this gets circulated.

Anyone read National Journal Michael Hirsh's In Hate's Wake ?

http://nationaljournal.co...violence-begins-20110113

So why hasn't Beck been arrested for uttering threats?

I don't know if you mean legally or with his supporters because you know his fans will justify it somehow. "He didn't mean it THAT way", "He's speaking metaphorically", "He just said that to stir the liberals into a frenzy". Did I get all of someone's usual bullshit defensive phrases?
  

"It's just a joke."

Yeah, but not half as funny as Rep. Giffords and numerous others getting shot.

purdy much.  it is fun to watch righties defend the indefensible.

  

Another deeply disturbing read ~ Beck is truly a menace ~ and Fox encourages/enables him ~ Beck/Fox go waaaaay beyond the boundaries of 'political dissent' ~ Beck and Fox both are 100%/totally/completely irresponsible and playing exceptionally dangerous games in the name of ratings ~ Sooz

WHEN BECK'S MINIONS GET THE MESSAGE.... Glenn Beck doesn't just rail against perceived enemies, whom he considers dangerous villains who must be stopped; he also chooses obscure enemies he considers worthy of his rage.

It's one of the many oddities of Beck's bizarre message. The condemnations of President Obama and Nancy Pelosi are predictable, but Beck sees imaginary patterns and conspiracies involving figures most Americans neither know nor care about: Van Jones, Frances Fox Piven, George Soros, Saul Alinsky, the Tides Foundation, etc.

In Beck's unhealthy imagination, each are nefarious players in a plot to destroy you and everything you hold dear. Sane people don't see the danger, Beck says, but that only proves the point -- the mentally healthy are probably in on it.

The problem, of course, is Beck's minions take all of this seriously, and consider Beck's perceived enemies their perceived enemies.

If you've never heard of Frances Fox Piven, don't feel bad. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't either. Apparently she wrote some radical stuff about poor people and political activism in 1966, and the voices in Beck's head tell him this is important and relevant in 2011, never mind the fact that the vast majority of liberals haven't read her work and have no idea who she is.

Though it's tempting, it'd be a mistake to dismiss this is inconsequential silliness. With Beck having singled out Piven as an instigator of political violence, Beck's audience has published death threats against the CUNY professor, and some of his followers have even contacted her directly with menacing messages.

The Center for Constitutional Rights this week urged Fox News chairman Roger Ailes to intervene, explaining that Beck has put Piven in "actual physical danger of a violent response."

Fox News disagrees and has said it will take no action.

No good can come of this.

—Steve Benen 8:45 AM January 22, 2011

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archiv ... 027647.php

It's disturbing that Beck has a televised forum for his diatribes.  There's nothing to be gained from commentators becoming the leading characters on supposed news networks.

He's a stain on political discourse, and can't leave the scene soon enough.

Fox should follow MSNBC's lead and dump him, along with their other commentators.

but they must be identified as commentators, anchored in reality, and work from facts that are fully sourced ~

No money in that. And since the entire political system is based on money don't expect any changes, except for the worse.

it would be nice if we had the same reverence for journalism that we once did. however, that too has been a systematic campaign from the right (the liberal media bullshit). so, if you want to complain about the decline in discourse, you should be a strong proponent of the Fairness Doctrine and for other systems of checks and balances that keep this sort of thing from happening. otherwise, you are merely complaining about symptoms, all the while supporting the disease.

gop, I wouldn't even call them characters, but caricatures. Bloated, distorted representations of the lowest denominator on "news" tv. 

gopqed
Fox should follow MSNBC's lead and dump him


MSNBC dumped Beck? I missed that.
Comcast dumped Olberman- I don't care what their lackeys say.

Which legislators does Comcast own?