Comments on: The Beckian Wing of Conservatism

By: Mike Farmer

Mike Farmer — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:47:27 +0000

Elizho,

Yes, one problem I have with Beck is that he can get caught in contradictions because he hasn’t yet developed a non-contradictory philosophy. The same goes in spades for Jon Stewart, Keith Olberman and all the modern liberal commentators — and writers, like Alan Wolfe.

By: Elizho

Elizho — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:34:28 +0000

I am glad to know that in a sea of irrationality stewed in the political sphere of right these days, there is a voice of reason calling for collective reflection and outing the impostors. The majority of these so-called pundits do what they do solely for personal self-aggrandizement. In case of Beck, he is an ultimate showman/entertainer with little to offer when it comes to the practical and applied system of political discourse as a whole. He usually swim in a shallow water of one-dimensionality and there is absolutely no depth to his rant. The sad commentary here is that people’s intellectually indolence and their inability to cease pandering to one’s confirmation bias are impeding them from doing an honest, scholarly research on the subject matters.

Glenn usually attempts to conceal his blatant intellectual bankruptcy behind a broad shield of generalization while marinating the topic with poorly constructed satirical garbage and garble of contradictory non sequiturs. For most part, it has served him very well because not only the proponents get so intoxicated on the self-satisfying soundbites, at the same time, the opponents are so tangled in his matrix of verbal goulash, any decent attempt in deciphering the spiel proves to be rhetorically so complicated that by the second corner, he can do a mental somersault and have his fans convinced of contextual soundness. Beck is a bona fide charlatan dancing for the landscape of viewers and listeners only to rake up $20-$30 million/year.

Turn off your TV, turn off your radio, and keep them off.

By: funny man

funny man — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:56:39 +0000

Mike, what you describe actually happened in part. I used to live in Detroit and heard a guy speak who graduated from Wayne State University. Wayne State actually has a really good Medical School as part of Detroit Medical Center. So this guy just went to the different medical departments and asked the doctors what would be really helpful to them. He then asked some scientists and engineers if they could come up with a device or procedure to do that task. If they said yes he would approach some venture capitalists for some seed money etc. You get the picture. This guy actually founded many of the biomedical companies in San Diego (moved there from Detroit). So all this sounds like picture perfect capitalism (and it’s great). However, it doesn’t work without the scientists and engineers from the university. So again, all I’m saying is that this is an example of a good symbiosis. I would also add that most of the best and most innovative research in the biomedical field came from NIH or NSF funded research (so give those people some respect too). That is my two cents.

By: Mike Farmer

Mike Farmer — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:28:42 +0000

funny man,

I just saw your reply above — I missed it somehow — yes, I get a bit lofty, but i wonder what would prevent a private research company from forming and selling it’s discoveries to businesses? It would only take a couple of successes to pay for the failures and make a profit. Or perhaps a company could be created which receives funding from private companies which receive the benefit of the research. I think research would go on without government involvement, and it would be more efficient, focused research that doesn’t play political games to keep funding going.

By: bsjones

bsjones — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:12:51 +0000

Hyperbolic free speech from the duly elected Republican Representative from Illinois Mark Kirk about the possibility of the duly elected Governor from Illinois being shot over tax policy.

Elected Representative Kirk:
“I think that the decision to raise taxes by 50 percent in Illinois is political suicide,” Kirk said of Quinn’s proposal to raise the tax rate to 4.5 percent from 3 percent, coupled with an increase in the personal deduction. “I think the people of Illinois are ready to shoot anyone who is going to raise taxes by that degree.”

Does it makes sense that one of the good people of Illinois would be ready to shoot their elected Governor over tax policy changes?

Just political speech?

Comments?

By: bsjones

bsjones — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:21:19 +0000

Mike Farmer,
My question was simply if hyperbolic infotainment comes at a cost.

By: Mike Farmer

Mike Farmer — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:50:43 +0000

bsjones, I don’t know what generation you belong to, but I grew up in the sixties as a wild-eyed radical on the left. A lot of serious activists at the time thought the yippie movement, with Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin as the leaders, was destructive to the cause because of their theater-of-the-absurd antics, but I was attracted to Hoffman and Rubin because of the bare-footed irreverence toward the status quo — it was all immature and not a very intellectual approach — but this type of craziness to get points across is somehow very American. It at least fired a national debate, even if it ended in state force and bullets at Kent.

By: bsjones

bsjones — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:31:29 +0000

Mike Farmer,

At the bottom of all my posts in this thread are the questions:

At what cost Glenn Beck style infotainment?
Is there a benefit?
Is there a cost?
What are they?

By: Mike Farmer

Mike Farmer — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:08:36 +0000

bsjones, yes, I can see where some would not like Beck, but I give him him a lot of room because of his humor. But it’s really not about Beck, and he knows that — it’s about paying attention and acting.

By: bsjones

bsjones — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:29:22 +0000

Mike Farmer,

post #59 was me.