this is an old post that i never got around to finishing, given that glen beck is to leave fox news soon (the witch is dead the witch is dead) i think it might be appropriate to get it out there before its too late. SO some of the stuff might be two years out of date, and the videos may have moved (pls let me know if this is the case) but the sentiment is still valid.
I'm a firm believer in Hanlon's razor, a handy little maxim that says "never attribute to malice that which can be attributed to stupidity". I have a world view that says most people do the best they can in the circumstances they are dealt. Most people try to be good (by their own definition of good) and most douchebaggy things that they do can be blamed on brain-freeze, temporary insanity or just generally being a idiot. I'm sure you can think of some examples from your life.
Now i'll admit that this belief often vanishes quickly if i'm angry at a particular person or action, but with the benefit of sober reflection its what i believe.
The other day i read this article http://tinyurl.com/l3k9he suggesting (for comedy value) that some of kanye west's more interesting outbursts might be because he's mentally retarded. Its cracked.com so OFC its written for laughs, but maybe they have a point worth looking into, specifically re-extreme left and right wing journalism and opinion. Particularly Glenn Beck and his Poe's law comedy analogue Stephen Colbert.
You may not watch either, go look them up on you tube, here's a couple of links, watch them and come right back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szlLM5lCNJg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE_MXfXJW0A
If you can't be arsed to watch, glenn beck is the personification of fox news, he's so patriotic he cries whenever he thinks about the country he loves, he throws tantrums, believes in conspiracy theories and his views are generally contradictory. My personal favorite comes from CPAC the "conservative woodstock" just last week (last week two years ago) where he says that socialisising costs across society is morally equivalent to stalinist purges or the worst of red china. He then says he learnt all this in a library.
I'm a firm believer in Hanlon's razor, a handy little maxim that says "never attribute to malice that which can be attributed to stupidity". I have a world view that says most people do the best they can in the circumstances they are dealt. Most people try to be good (by their own definition of good) and most douchebaggy things that they do can be blamed on brain-freeze, temporary insanity or just generally being a idiot. I'm sure you can think of some examples from your life.
Now i'll admit that this belief often vanishes quickly if i'm angry at a particular person or action, but with the benefit of sober reflection its what i believe.
The other day i read this article http://tinyurl.com/l3k9he suggesting (for comedy value) that some of kanye west's more interesting outbursts might be because he's mentally retarded. Its cracked.com so OFC its written for laughs, but maybe they have a point worth looking into, specifically re-extreme left and right wing journalism and opinion. Particularly Glenn Beck and his Poe's law comedy analogue Stephen Colbert.
You may not watch either, go look them up on you tube, here's a couple of links, watch them and come right back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szlLM5lCNJg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE_MXfXJW0A
If you can't be arsed to watch, glenn beck is the personification of fox news, he's so patriotic he cries whenever he thinks about the country he loves, he throws tantrums, believes in conspiracy theories and his views are generally contradictory. My personal favorite comes from CPAC the "conservative woodstock" just last week (last week two years ago) where he says that socialisising costs across society is morally equivalent to stalinist purges or the worst of red china. He then says he learnt all this in a library.
A state funded, socialised library. Doest this just scream out to you as a pretty extreme cognative dissonance if not utter retardation? It also tell me the that whoever beck got to proof his speech sucks at their job - fact checking pls!
So yeah, its a long post to say not a lot but . . . what if Glenn Beck is retarded? I don't know him personally, maybe he actually has an IQ of 150+, maybe his persona is all comic book exaggeration, maybe he just smells the dollars in preaching to the converted.
So yeah, its a long post to say not a lot but . . . what if Glenn Beck is retarded? I don't know him personally, maybe he actually has an IQ of 150+, maybe his persona is all comic book exaggeration, maybe he just smells the dollars in preaching to the converted.
But what if he's retarded?
PS: i suspect retard might be a somewhat non-PC phrase, but mentally handicapped just doesnt scan as well and, well, it's there in the dictionary. I may have already made this point but actions define you as racist or elitist or sexist or whatever, not words.
PPS: Poes law - Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing.
PPPS: People who align to the points of view he give in his satire are more likely to believe Stephen Colbert is not using satire. http://hij.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/14/2/212
PS: i suspect retard might be a somewhat non-PC phrase, but mentally handicapped just doesnt scan as well and, well, it's there in the dictionary. I may have already made this point but actions define you as racist or elitist or sexist or whatever, not words.
PPS: Poes law - Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing.
PPPS: People who align to the points of view he give in his satire are more likely to believe Stephen Colbert is not using satire. http://hij.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/14/2/212
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