The Beck Phenomenon

Oh, what a difference half a year makes. About the time I made my last blog post here at the Hood, Glenn Beck was nothing more than a lowly pundit with shitty ratings, no influence and was, in essence, an industry joke.

Now? He's the wunderkind of Fox News, the bane of the Left and...an industry joke. Still, if the joke works, you don't toss it out. You gotta go with what gets ratings, even if it's crap. "Dancing with the Stars" never lost money, did it?

So now Beck is everywhere. Whipping up the troops for the Teabagger protests, scratching his paranoid musings on a giant chalkboard like some deranged psycho in a basement contemplating a takeover by the Illuminanti and, without warning and to great histrionic effect, bursting into tears when he feels his country is in danger by that racist sumbitch Obama.

Who the hell is this clown? How in the Sam Hill does he gain followers? Who, at the end of the day, could take such an obvious, bloviating gasbag seriously?

Turns out, a lot of people. Oh, we're a gullible nation, my friends, and there isn't a leader too ridiculous to get disciples. True, Beck's "legions" are a small, tiny fraction of our great nation but...these people are coo-coo bananas. If anyone actually pulls out a gun and starts shooting at one of these rallies, you can bet that they are regular Beck watchers.

I'm serious. Guys like Beck, Hannity and Limbaugh are whipping up their supporters into a frenzy. They warn these gun-toting whack jobs that the country is in danger from Obama and then act all surprised when it is suggested that one of their kook listeners might take things into their own hands and shoot up the place someday.

Well, I'm here to tell you: the country is in danger. But it isn't necessarily from the guys with the guns. It's the guys...with the microphones.