The far right, and specifically the religious right, does now, and has for years, represent the single biggest threat to our way of life as Americans.
I have been saying this for years. On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 1:05 PM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]>wrote: > > http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/26/bunch.beck.history/index.html?hpt=C2 > > Glenn Beck rewrites civil rights history > > By Will Bunch, Special to CNN > STORY HIGHLIGHTS > Will Bunch says Glenn Beck is trying to rewrite history of American > civil rights movement > Bunch says Beck views progress for minorities, women as step toward > socialism > He says many in the Tea Party are taking their lead on U.S. history from > Beck > Beck planning a "Restoring Honor" event Saturday near spot of "I Have > a Dream" speech > > Editor's note: Will Bunch is author of "The Backlash: Right-Wing > Radicals, High-Def Hucksters and Paranoid Politics in the Age of > Obama," to be published by HarperCollins on Tuesday, and of "Tear Down > This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Has Distorted Our Politics and Haunts > Our Future." He is senior writer for the Philadelphia Daily News and > writer of its Attytood blog, and a senior fellow for Media Matters for > America, a progressive research center monitoring the media. > > Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- "We are on the right side of > history! We are on the side of individual freedoms and liberties and, > dammit, we will reclaim the civil rights moment. We will take that > movement -- because we were the people who did it in the first place." > -- Glenn Beck, on his nationally syndicated radio program, May 26. > > It is Glenn Beck's most audacious stunt yet: This Saturday, in the > company of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the National Rifle > Association and others, the Fox News Channel host will stand in the > sacred shadow not just of the Lincoln Memorial but of the Rev. Martin > Luther King Jr. himself, near the spot where King delivered his "I > Have a Dream" speech 47 years earlier to the exact day. > > During this event -- billed as "Restoring Honor" -- Beck will aim to > "reclaim the civil rights moment" for his cause, and in the process he > will continue what he's been doing for the last 18 months: bending the > history of 20th-century America like a Philadelphia soft pretzel. > > The revisionist message behind "Restoring Honor" is nothing new for > the conservative shock jock. In the year and half since President > Obama took office, Beck has led his loyal followers on a journey not > just to "reclaim" civil rights but much more audaciously to rewrite > the sweeping narrative arc of American history from the time of the > Founding Fathers forward. > > iReport: Warning to Tea Party members coming to D.C. > > The backbone of the Tea Party is over-55s and especially retirees -- > some planned, some forced -- with the most valuable asset of all, > time. > > They see studying U.S. history as a powerful reconnection with their > youth. Waiting for Beck's "American Revival" show in Orlando, Florida, > in March, 70-year-old fan Joseph Cerniglia told me he was way too busy > for civics lessons when he was raising kids and working as a > stockbroker and then cider-maker. "I have learned more from Glenn Beck > -- learned more about American history and government, from Glenn Beck > -- than in the previous 40 years of my life," the retiree told me. > > For thousands of followers such as Cerniglia, there is a genuine > desire to relearn American history. The only problem is that what > they're learning is bunk. It's not history as it happened, but rather > a Beck-scripted, Tea Party rewrite of history that demonizes Obama, > Democrats and progressive activists. > > In this alternate reality version of the past, the 20th century's > heroic battles over equal rights for racial and ethnic minorities, > women and homosexuals are recast as a march toward socialism and away > from the Founding Fathers. Meanwhile, flawed progressive Woodrow > Wilson and even Teddy Roosevelt become America's Lenin and Trotsky > while it is the pre-Depression-era Calvin Coolidge who belongs on > Mount Rushmore. > > More recently, Beck has featured on Fox, at several well-attended > "American Revivals" and on his web-based "university" a new right-hand > man -- David Barton, a key figure in the recent right-wing rewrite of > Texas school textbooks -- to teach his viewers the much-debunked idea > that America's creation was rooted in Christianity. > > Barton's machine-gun-paced spewing of 18th-century God references and > black-robed revolutionary preachers gives less than short shrift to > the real achievement of the Founders in separating church and state. > In April, Barton told Beck's 3 million TV viewers that "we use the Ten > Commandments as basis of civil law and the Western world [and it] has > been for 2,000 years." > > The results of this re-education campaign have been nothing short of > phenomenal. A mere on-air endorsement by Beck of any obscure book -- > such as "Sacred Fire," on the spirituality of George Washington -- > will propel it to the best-seller list. Now, thousands of fans have > signed up for a paid "insider" package that includes an online Glenn > Beck University with lectures by Barton and others. > > But pseudo-history is having a real impact on current events. In > Texas, the new school curriculum downgrades democracy-minded Thomas > Jefferson as well as 1960s civil rights. In the political arena, some > activists are pushing to repeal the 17th Amendment that allows people > to elect U.S. senators directly -- largely because the measure was > enacted during Wilson's progressive era. > > While all these histories are too important to lose to revisionism, > none represents more of a risk than the civil rights era. In 1963, > King understood that his dream of equal rights for black Americans > would never happen without intervention from the federal government, a > concept that's such an anathema to the Tea Partiers, the > Beck-sponsored 9/12 movement and the other right-wing radicals who'll > occupy the Mallthis Saturday. > > Famously, King lashed out at the Alabama governor -- George Wallace -- > who had "his lips dripping with the words of 'interposition' and > 'nullification' " -- a reference to claims by Wallace and other > segregationists that states' rights trumped the power of Washington to > promote integration. > > Yet these two maligned principles are exactly what the Tea Party wants > their red-state governors to do to block health care reform and other > major federal initiatives of the first black president. This > contradiction is lost on the Tea Partiers, and if the recent past is > prologue, such facts will matter little to the mass of people who've > risen up in the backlash against the Obama presidency. > > Most moderates and liberals aren't even aware that this Hollywood-size > script doctoring of U.S. history is taking place -- and the political > consequences may be enormous. George Orwell wrote that "who controls > the past ... controls the future." Beck and his fans may reclaim a lot > more than the legacy of 1960s civil rights this weekend -- unless > America's too silent majority is finally ready to start fighting back > for our past. > > The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Will Bunch. > > Find this article at: > http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/26/bunch.beck.history/index.html?hpt=C2 > > -- > Larry C. Lyons > web: http://www.lyonsmorris.com/lyons > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryclyons > -- > The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do. > - B. F. Skinner > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:325957 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
