What a difference 47 years can make. On this date in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his immortal "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. That address helped inspire a nation to finally take on the difficult task of abolishing a deeply ingrained system of oppression and injustice. As such, it was a transformative event in the annals of American history. Today, 47 years later, right wing broadcaster Glenn Beck is holding a rally on the same site. I want to discuss some of the similarities and some of the differences between Martin Luther King and Glenn Beck.
First, with respect to the similarities, both men always seemed to make a lot of angry white people angrier, King because he threatened the unjust white stranglehold on power and Beck because deliberately provoking white fear and anger is how he makes his living. While his broadcasts may also happen to contain other elements, his principal objective is to fan the flames of wild-eyed paranoia. Removing this from Glenn Beck's show is like taking the guitar away from Jimi Hendrix.
Another similarity is that Dr. King, as a visionary, could see things that didn't yet exist such as a far more just society. One of Glenn Beck's most prominent characteristics is his unusual tendency to see things that don't exist such as secret FEMA concentration camps or how empathy leads to genocide. The former example was so wacky that Beck ultimately had to go on the air and admit these camps didn't exist. You know something is nuts if it's too far out there for Glenn Beck! That's like being too fast to be a sprinter or too beautiful to be a model -- it's hard to even fathom the concept.
With respect to differences, Dr. King always took the high road and spoke from and to the better side of human nature no matter what horrific examples of man's inhumanity to man he encountered. Martin Luther King encouraged his followers to reject bitter emotions and embrace the nobler Christian ideals of charity and compassion as they struggled to make the world a better place. Glenn Beck does the exact opposite, doing everything in his power to bring out the worst in people. Although this clip is just a piece of comedy, Lewis Black's "Glenn Back Has Nazi Tourette's" illustrates how Glenn Beck can liken anything, no matter how innocuous, to Nazism. He uses Nazi Germany because this is the most hideous nightmare the masses can easily picture. By constantly comparing whatever he dislikes to the most terrifying evil he can conjure up, he achieves his goal of injecting the maximum amount of fear and hatred into the hearts and minds of his audience.
All of this said, I watched most of today's event online and I found it pretty inoffensive. Those who said this would be apolitical proved to be right and those of us who said in effect, "yeah, right!" were wrong. I didn't see him, Sarah Palin, or anyone else say anything too obnoxious. Even if they did once or twice and I missed it, that's perfectly acceptable playing to the crowd. Seeing the rally play out as it did was like expecting a Rolling Stones concert to be full of their hits from the last 45 years, only to see them perform nothing but two hours of polkas. For those of you who missed the event altogether, here's the Reader's Digest version: Our soldiers are heroes and God is great. Except that people have differing views on religious matters, this was about as controversial as asserting that Siberia gets nippy in the winter. I expected to see something resembling the Glenn Beck Show and instead I saw an Amway rally or Come to Jesus Revival Meeting.
I hope this saner, more decent Glenn Beck is a sign of things to come.
