Glenn Beck is clutching his pearls in righteous indignation again, and this time he had to lie down on the fainting couch.
His latest rant (begin at 3:20) was in response to an interview in which Mr. and Mrs. Obama discuss having faced instances of racism as well as Samuel L. Jackson calling for his fellow celebrities to speak out against police violence.
While clutching the aforementioned pearls, Glennda bellowed:
"You want to talk about racism? You want to talk about bigotry?" Beck said. "Let me ask you: have you tried being me? Have you tried being a conservative? Have you tried being a Tea Party member?"
He went on to fan the flames of racial resentment by claiming that it is white conservatives in Hollywood that have to meet in secret and hide their politics for fear of being ostracized by "the liberal establishment". Beck said that it is people like him who are the real victims of discrimination.
Beck then indirectly compares his knuckle-dragger world view to skin color and racial discrimination by saying:
"I can't change what I believe," he bellowed. "I believe in God the Almighty. I believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There's nothing I can do to change that. Sometimes, believe me, I don't want to believe that; it's not fun all the time, it's not easy all the time, it doesn't make you popular all the time. I can't change it. It is who I am to the very fiber of my being. That's who I am. Do you think that I want to be a pariah?"
He concluded his tirade by telling Samuel L. Jackson to "shut the hell up". What do the Obamas or Samuel L. Jackson know about discrimination and bigotry when it is white conservatives that carry that cross, err, I meant bear that burden?
But, Glennda is not the first conservative to spout this sort of diatribe. In fact, as Christmas approaches, I imagine a number of us will hear such nonsense from our crazy conservative kinfolk. That is, when they are not talking about preparing for "the revolution" or some other pressing matters. So many conservatives refuse to believe that white privilege exists--which indicates they are benefiting from it.
There are a number of behaviors and attitudes that racists exhibit, and you have probably seen them a number of times:
1. I'm colorblind.
2. Rugged individualism/bootstraps/level playing field.
3. Cry reverse racism.
4. Blame the victim.
5. Get over it/lighten up.
6. Don't blame me. I don't own slaves. (comes up regardless if blame is mentioned when talking about race).
7. I'm oppressed too.
8. There is no longer racism. That was in the 60s.
9. Deflection (What about.. sexism, bias against Christians in Iraq, etc.).
10. We are all equal under the law.
11. I'm not racist because (has black friend, Asian neighbor, etc.).
12. Whitewashing racist behaviors of others (He's really a nice person).
13. We don't have that problem here (school, town, country, wherever).
I eagerly look forward to Christmas dinner and Uncle Slayton and Uncle Cletus espousing how the white man is kept down.