or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
•
"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
November 15, 2006
Well, At Least Glenn Beck Has Learned From The Very Best
Here's the CNN promo for a Glenn Beck special tonight:
As I've said before, one interesting thing about propaganda is it can be 100% real. A standard propaganda technique is to locate the most extreme statements by anyone on the other "side," and hype it as much as you possibly can to your "side" as embodying the true spirit and goals of your "enemies." Thus, propagandists in the mideast hype Ann Coulter's craziest statements and Ralph Peters' nutty map. And a propagandist like Glenn Beck does exactly the same thing on CNN for our "side."
I just hope that tonight Beck is gracious enough to acknowledge his debt to those who've come before him:
Theodore N. Kaufman was a 31-year old owner of a theatrical ticket agency in Newark, New Jersey who published at his own expense a 100-page book titled Germany Must Perish! in March, 1941. It called for the sterilization of the German population and the dismemberment of Germany, with its land being turned over to neighboring states. The book received no serious attention in the U.S., but the Nazis discovered it in July 1941. They played it up big...Late in September 1941, this pamphlet by Wolfgang Diewerge appeared in an edition, according to Goebbels, of five million...A month after publication, the Nazis released a four-page flyer to remind Germans of Kaufman's plan...Kaufman remained a mainstay of German propaganda for the remainder of the war, his last major appearance coming in a late-1944 pamphlet titled Never!, which collected every manner of Allied threat against Germany.
What amazes me about the stupid ads for this "expose" that I keep hearing on the radio is it pretends as if this is all something new that Glenn Beck just discovered. I mean, "crazy evil terrorists say crazy evil things, and they want to kill you!" Gasp!
Posted by: bobbo at November 15, 2006 02:26 PMI laughed for five minutes at this guy, pointing at me, with the tagline "Glen Beck Exposed!" After that I sort of lost your point . . . can you put it in the form of a ten-second screaming sound bite?
--SF
Hey there, while this may not precisely fit the formula of hyping crazy statements by unrepresentative nutcases, I still couldn't help thinking of it reading your post.
"We in the Middle East have followed the American policy in Iraq for a long time, and we are very much impressed and encouraged by the stability which the great operation of America in Iraq brought to the Middle East."
I suppose to see this in the also time-worn tradition of burying the craziest statements by representative nutcases is closer to the mark, as google news shows it getting virtually zero play. Clearly, this is the kind of statement that's just not newsworthy.
Posted by: Ex Pat at November 15, 2006 03:04 PM"Watch Glenn tell you why as many Americans as possible should watch his special tonight"
Glenn, I really want to kill and maim and burn and dismember and spit on and destroy all the extremists. But how is watching you tell me to watch you going to help with that?
Perhaps you could work up an action plan or a PowerPoint deck with key takeaways I can distribute to my team members who are unable to attend your exciting presentation. Is that possible to get that to me by COB today? That would really help me out at least.
Man, that is an off-putting picture. Makes me want to slap that smarmy grin off his face and/or break off his finger. And that was before I even knew who he was/what he was saying. I guess I am just a violent person with Issues.
Posted by: saurabh at November 15, 2006 05:20 PMThe truth is, I could post pictures more horrible than any they would ever show on TV if I chose too.
There's no shortage of pix to fuel outrage toward Israel and the West.
Olberman just declared Beck today's worst person of th' world. His desparate "expose", and his encouraging his viewers to tell others to watch sounds like he's in (abundantly justifiable) ratings trouble.
Posted by: Jonathan Versen at November 15, 2006 08:40 PMYa know, if I want to see someone exposed, I'll go to that back room in the video store and pick a recent release.
Unless, does Netflix do Adult Features?
Posted by: wkmaier at November 15, 2006 08:53 PMVy you alvayss pick on ze Germans? Ve now are good, demokratik, multi-kulturell and zink Jews are regular people.
So, now you tell me: iff you are black Amerikan and stopped in your car by two Polizei Offiziere, vould you razer haff zese kops be LAPD or Munich Polizisten? You know what iss ze trut. Ja.
Heil, but no Sieg!
Apparently CNN/Glenn Beck thinks that Americans aren't fearful enough yet.
Time to watch Bowling For Columbine again.
Posted by: r€nato at November 16, 2006 12:36 AM
