Again Thomas Frank has put together a very poignant article, this time about Glenn Back's latest book The Overton Window. He headlines his article The Confessions of Glenn Beck.
At times I have wondered why Glenn Beck is even a conservative. Many of his grievances seem more those of a left-wind pundit. He is upset about the rampant consumerism instilled in the American people. He laments the influence of public relations firms on the citizenry. He fears the surveillance state that was installed so vigorously under the last Bush administration. Yet he uses these grievances not to attack the backers of the those interests and political views, which sit mainly on the right, but to attack the liberal "elites" and those whose political views lean left. It has always been the most strange of things to me. I felt it was some kind of internal confusion within Mr. Beck that must have led him down this path.
Thomas Frank discusses this situation with a colleague and she points out that "It's really common for the right to adopt paranoid versions of the legitimate complaints of the left, and Beck is the master of this sort of projection". The reply comes from Michelle Goldberg. When I read this it dawned on me that this is an age-old technique of demagogs of all stripes. Take valid grievances and assign blame to parties who are not to blame. I still cannot help myself wondering if it is a conscious decision, which would be so callous, or if it is the effect of a deeply troubled and confused mind. Maybe we will never know the answer and I for one cannot settle on either.