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"Our sacred honor. It means that you tell the truth. The whole truth and nothing but the truth."
~~Glenn Beck
August 28th, 2010
Captain Newton still deceiving his followers
During his restoring honor speech last Saturday, Glenn Beck used an old deception of his, a rewritten quotation from Thomas Jefferson, and a new fabrication about why the Washington Monument is "scarred." Normally, "little" deceptions like these are just another day on the job for Mr. Beck, but on what Beck has now called a "world stage," after calling on his listeners in front of him and where ever people heard him to "tell the truth" no fewer than six times, these made up facts are nothing short of cynical hypocrisy of our period's self-assigned, messenger of God.
Previously, this Review has offered Beck two Fox News shows to correct his intentional or accidental deceptions and demonstrate credibility as a media representation of a reactionary (Tea Party) movement. After Monday's and Tuesday's episodes, during which Beck talked about nothing but how the media got it wrong about how the event would go down, and how wonderful the whole day was for his audience, the country and Glenn Beck, nary a word of correction was uttered about his two historical fabrications.
Previously, this Review has offered Beck two Fox News shows to correct his intentional or accidental deceptions and demonstrate credibility as a media representation of a reactionary (Tea Party) movement. After Monday's and Tuesday's episodes, during which Beck talked about nothing but how the media got it wrong about how the event would go down, and how wonderful the whole day was for his audience, the country and Glenn Beck, nary a word of correction was uttered about his two historical fabrications.
The misquote of Thomas Jefferson comes originally from Beck's book, The Real America, where Beck claimed that Jefferson, in a letter to his nephew, Peter Carr, wrote "Question the very existence of God, for if there be a God, He must surely rather honest questioning over blindfolded fear." What Jefferson actually wrote in that letter was, "Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear."
During his speech on 8-28, Beck used this self-modified quote again: "If you haven't, as Thomas Jefferson said, 'Question with boldness even the very existence of God, for if there be a God, He must surely rather honest questioning over blindfolded fear." "More approv[ing] the homage of reason" is not "surely rather honest questioning." This notion of Beck's "honest questioning" has been dismissed by this Review previously as "unintelligible," but more reflection upon the idea of what other types of questioning someone might engage in led to the simple opposite: dishonest questioning.
An example of dishonest questioning would be Mr. Beck asking about why the Communist, Van Jones, was working in the Obama Administration. It's a dishonest question because at that time, Van Jones was no more a Communist than Glenn Beck was a lush. The honest question would have been why there is an ex-Communist working in the White House, but Beck never asked that. That was then, and the very dishonest questioning of Mr. Beck makes the need for him to insert the phrase "honest questioning" into this quotation by Jefferson all the more puzzling. Why would he invite researchers to follow this odd phrase from the misquotation to one more example of hypocrisy on Beck's part? That's an honest question about Beck's method of communication.
This misquote could be ignorance (Beck uses ghost writers), or it could be intentional. Either way, using this distorted quote during a speech stressing truth and honor was not just disingenuous, it's Beck being Beck: one more shade of hypocrisy.
Beck's story about how the Washington Monument got "scarred" was also made up. Beck said, "A quarter of the way up, it changes color...How did the scar get there? They stopped building it in the Civil War." Construction wasn't stopped because of the Civil War as Beck claimed. According to "History and facts about the Washington Monument:"
As the work began, the obelisk gradually began to ascend towards the sky. To aid in the process of building the monument, the Society invited civic groups, nationalities, states, and private organizations to donate commemorative stones to be placed in the interior walls surrounding the stairwell. However, due to increasing instances of vandalism and theft, the contributions eventually ceased in 1854, when the monument was only 152 feet tall.
The Civil War did not start until 1861. This is another deception from someone who deems himself informed about history; another shade of hypocrisy.
This Review previously posited that Beck's story about Captain Newman's changed life could have been an indication that Beck was turning a new leaf toward honesty, truth, integrity and honor, but if Beck wasn't truthful even during this "world-wide speech," then apparently nothing has changed. "Captain Newton" is still piloting a slave ship meaning that Glenn Beck is still a liar, a hypocrite and a charlatan, or more precisely these days, a false prophet.
Maybe, henceforth, Beck will stick with the truth. That's highly unlikely because he knows his followers don't care or notice that he deceives them. Why should they? After all, Glenn Beck is a man of God leading the country in a new direction: backward toward the 19th Century.
Update 9/01/10: Make that three deceptions, but this one ranks as a bald faced lie. As noted, Beck's misquoting of Jefferson may have been a consequence of ignorance if Beck had a ghost writer for his book. The second lie about the Washington Monument may have been a leap of imagination on Beck's part, a white lie. Investigation has now revealed that Beck's claim to have held Washington's inaugural address in his hands was a flat out lie. According to Susan Cooper, spokeswoman for the National Archive, "Those kinds of treasures are only handled by specially trained archival staff." (1)
There is no excuse any supporter can offer to rationalize the sheer and naked hypocrisy of making that claim, which he had to know to be false, in a speech proposing to reclaim honor. The Review has documented many of Beck's false claims and examples of hypocrisy over the last four months. However, the hypocrisy of this lie, in this nationally staged setting, after Beck's repeated insistence in truth and honesty in a speech about honor, God and country, takes first place in terms of obviousness and, in what would have been in the moral order this blogger grew up in, completely disgraceful. For any politician this kind of bold-faced lie would be remembered at election time. Because "brother" Beck has elevated himself from "rodeo clown" to the position of messenger of God, he will -- because of the emotional bond he has built up with his supporters over the years -- be forgiven by his flock.
However, Glenn Beck cannot restore even his own honor because Beck, a recently self-described "recovering dirtbag" with many lies and hypocrisies documented over just the last four months, never had any honor to begin with. He can't even use his moment in the spotlight, his grand rally, which is supposed to, according to Mr. Beck, begin a new direction for America to move, to stop acting like the slave ship version of Captain Newton. In other words, in terms of the three criticisms of The Glenn Beck Review - that Beck is a liar, a hypocrite and a charlatan - August 28 was just another day on the job. He makes this deceitful claim, that he's telling the truth, all the time.
Update 9/01/10: Make that three deceptions, but this one ranks as a bald faced lie. As noted, Beck's misquoting of Jefferson may have been a consequence of ignorance if Beck had a ghost writer for his book. The second lie about the Washington Monument may have been a leap of imagination on Beck's part, a white lie. Investigation has now revealed that Beck's claim to have held Washington's inaugural address in his hands was a flat out lie. According to Susan Cooper, spokeswoman for the National Archive, "Those kinds of treasures are only handled by specially trained archival staff." (1)
There is no excuse any supporter can offer to rationalize the sheer and naked hypocrisy of making that claim, which he had to know to be false, in a speech proposing to reclaim honor. The Review has documented many of Beck's false claims and examples of hypocrisy over the last four months. However, the hypocrisy of this lie, in this nationally staged setting, after Beck's repeated insistence in truth and honesty in a speech about honor, God and country, takes first place in terms of obviousness and, in what would have been in the moral order this blogger grew up in, completely disgraceful. For any politician this kind of bold-faced lie would be remembered at election time. Because "brother" Beck has elevated himself from "rodeo clown" to the position of messenger of God, he will -- because of the emotional bond he has built up with his supporters over the years -- be forgiven by his flock.
However, Glenn Beck cannot restore even his own honor because Beck, a recently self-described "recovering dirtbag" with many lies and hypocrisies documented over just the last four months, never had any honor to begin with. He can't even use his moment in the spotlight, his grand rally, which is supposed to, according to Mr. Beck, begin a new direction for America to move, to stop acting like the slave ship version of Captain Newton. In other words, in terms of the three criticisms of The Glenn Beck Review - that Beck is a liar, a hypocrite and a charlatan - August 28 was just another day on the job. He makes this deceitful claim, that he's telling the truth, all the time.
Before more people start tuning into Beck's deceitful propaganda, get involvedPost a commentAll non-spam comments approvedFree speech is practiced here------------------------------------------------------Please get involved for 10 minutesShare this URL with your friendshttp://sharethisurlaboutglennbeck.comThank you1) From Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Sept. 1, 2010
