Hey Kids! It's Glenn Beck Time!

Oct 1st, 2011
by F. Grey Parker
NSFW. Also, it's not a violation of Godwin when you are actually fighting a fascist.

I have to admit that I'm surprised I didn't see this coming sooner. Remember when Glenn Beck accused the President of "indoctrination" for giving a back-to-school speech to America's children?


Beck likened Barack Obama to Mussolini at the time. How could he not draw such a frightening comparison when the President's speech was riddled with such overtly partisan messages as this one?

"Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide."

You get the idea. Well, Beck's back, baby, and he actually is after the children.

Politico reports:

"When he left Fox News last April, Beck explained it was in part because he wanted “to target the youth.” And, starting on Monday, he will take direct aim with a children’s show on his new GBTV Internet network with the tea party-friendly name "Liberty Treehouse."

Beck won’t be the host of the hourlong show, grounded in American history and the day’s news, but it will lead into his own daily 5 p.m. show on the subscription-based network. And politics, long considered a taboo in children’s programming, will be a frequent topic, informed — like everything else on GBTV — by Beck’s populist conservative sensibility."

One has to hand creative points to Politico for conflating nihilistic and intentionally dishonest misrepresentations of empirical truths with "populist conservative sensibility." With all due respect, spraying cologne on a corpse doesn't cover the stench.

Glenn Beck wants to teach your children history. That's like Jeffrey Dahmer teaching your children to cook.

Perhaps, Glenn Beck's hero, "historian" David Barton is involved. One can only assume that the Barton memes will be predominant. After all, Beck recently said that Barton was "one of the most important men alive today" and that he has "done more to save our country then most people alive."

This is a man who, more than once, has accepted speaking fees from the ultra-white supremacist Christian Identity organization. This is a fact. This is also actually old news. As far back as 1993, his "Wallbuilders" movement was forced to engage in excuse-making for Barton's associations.

Via TPM: "Simply because David Barton gives a presentation to a group of people, does not mean that he endorses all their beliefs."

Gee, I had no idea that burning cross meant it was a Klan rally.

Barton has recently brought a series of lawsuits against people who have been exercising their 1st Amendment rights by drawing attention to these admitted facts.

This is Beck's official "historian." Is that the kind of guy you want influencing impressionable minds about our traditions of "freedom?"

What are some of the things about our Democratic Republic that children might "learn" from "Liberty Treehouse?" Maybe they will be taught that congress printed a Bible for use by public schools. In turn, the kids could be taught that the separation clause is a recent progressive plot. They might even be told that John Adams thought "legitimate" governments had to be overtly Christian.

These are all lies, but the kids might "learn" them. This is also barely scratching the surface of Beck's bottom silt.

The thing is, ideas of this kind, with flashy production and graphics added, can be dangerous when naive adults are exposed to them without critique or context. To foist such dishonesty upon children is actual indoctrination. Of course, Glenn Beck endorsed indoctrination. Literally. You see, he thinks it's awesome... as long as it is done by the Tea Party, Americans for Prosperity or Freedom Works.

You might dismiss my pronouncements here mere hyperventilation. However, dry-drunk, failed pseudo-intellectuals have actually managed to do staggering damage to the world in the past. It happens when we do nothing to stop them at the outset.

Glenn Beck: "I want my country back!"

Pol Pot: "Everything I did, I did for my country."

Perhaps, I am overreacting. Maybe the children's segment of GBTV is not going to continue the trailblazing fraudulence of his "adult" programs. Maybe Beck will keep it simple. You know? Maybe it will just teach its young viewers that "sharing is Communism" and that the quiet kids should all be called "faggots."

After all, it's everybody's God given right to be a craven, manipulating, hate-mongering and prevaricating scum-bag. Hooray for America!

Let's cut to the chase. If you are a parent and you discover that your children's friends are living in homes where this is encouraged viewing? Play dates are over. I mean it. Unless, that is, you support the creation of a Dominionist Jugend Bund.