Posted on 01/10/2011 1:14:39 PM PST by Lucky9teen
While Americans are grappling to understand the Arizona tragedy, the absolute vacuum of leadership on both sides is staggering.
We live in a country that has been struck by John Hinckley Jr. and Sirhan Sirhan, Lee Harvey Oswald and Mark David Chapman. And one that’s been hit by terrorists like Timothy McVeigh, the DC Sniper John Allen Muhammad, the Fort Hood killer Nidal Hasan, and 19 highjackers all claiming to be freedom fighters. You’d think we’d understand the difference between madmen and terrorists.
All evidence points to the fact that the assailant from this weekend was severely mentally disturbed. His belief system was not rational by any modern political standard. He was an atheist, believed George W. Bush was responsible for 9/11, feared a global currency, cited the Communist Manifesto as one of his favorite books and thought the Mars rover landing was staged. These are not the opinions of a coherent individual.
Far too often, we have seen in our schools and in our post offices, acts of violence from misfits of society. While we can look for the warning signs, these horrific events will always be with every nation.
Though violence is a human problem, every American citizen can make a personal choice today. Do you believe that Americans, from any walk of life, can convince themselves they are freedom fighters and carry out acts of violence? My answer is yes. If you agree then you must take a clear stand.
Turning these horrific events into an opportunity for a political attack is a very childish response to a very grown-up problem. This is not about winning a political blame game. Atheists are not to blame. Those who hate George W. Bush are not to blame. Those who don’t believe in space travel are not to blame. Jared Lee Loughner is to blame. Period.
This tragedy should not be used as an opportunity to try and bend reality to retroactively place a madman on the other side of the aisle. It should be a time to pray for the victims and their families, a time that we can all come together and state that violence is off limits for all sides in a Republic. It’s a time for us to state with a unified passion that we won’t accept anyone who threatens or actually carries out violence.
Denouncing violence from all sides including your own does not make your movement any less just. To quote Martin Luther King:
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
I challenge all Americans, left or right, regardless if you’re a politician, pundit, painter, priest, parishioner, poet or porn star to agree with all of the following.
I denounce violence, regardless of ideological motivation. I denounce anyone, from the Left, the Right or middle, who believes physical violence is the answer to whatever they feel is wrong with our country. I denounce those who wish to tear down our system and rebuild it in their own image, whatever that image may be. I denounce those from the Left, the Right or middle, who call for riots and violence as an opportunity to bring down and reconstruct our system. I denounce violent threats and calls for the destruction of our system – regardless of their underlying ideology – whether they come from the Hutaree Militia or Frances Fox Piven. I hold those responsible for the violence, responsible for the violence. I denounce those who attempt to blame political opponents for the acts of madmen. I denounce those from the Left, the Right or middle that sees violence as a viable alternative to our long established system of change made within the constraints of our constitutional Republic. I will stand with anyone willing to sign that pledge. Today I make a personal choice. I urge leaders of both sides and all walks of life to join me as all Americans joined hands on 9.12.2001.
I believe that we must change ourselves to hold on to our republic. That’s why I have been talking about e4. Enlightenment. Education. Empowerment. Entrepreneurship. It’s a personal solution for all of us to become the people we were born to be, not the people we’ve allowed ourselves to become. I have called for a personal revolution; change ourselves in order to change the world. Those who live with honor and are responsible to themselves and their families will be the key to the future of our Republic, not those playing political games.
While everyone seems to be focused on politics, I instead choose to focus on Christina Green, the nine year old victim killed Saturday. Born on 9.11.2001, she is now a victim of another case of horrific violence. I hope we can all remember Christina by acting the way we did when she was one day old: To focus on values and principles, to use common sense and stop playing politics.
Kinda like 8/28. The left was psychotic and rabid and Glenn was speaking about calm and rebuilding our country.
The end result is that the left looks psychotic.
They don't just look psychotic my friend. Many of them clearly are.
The left is indeed psychotic as well as pathetic, utterly useless and as Marxist as Lenin.
Glenn Beck is groveling again, distancing himself from this monstrous shooting as though he feels some inner need to do so. He's turned into a nutjob himself, and he's definately on some sort of self appointed Messianic mission. He tries at once to sound like Thomas Jefferson and Saint Paul the Apostle. He stinks at both and should just stick to what he does best, talk about politics and espouse conservatism. Somebody needs to tell the bipolar Beck that he is neither the self proclaimed prophet Joseph Smith, Albert Pike, Thomas Jefferson or Jesus Christ, no matter how much he tries to sound like them.
You do realize he was quoting Martin Luther King there, (and those aren’t actually Becks words you italicized), don’t you?
Interesting that this ICON of peaceful protests was advising non violence yet the left continues to call for violence. And the left wants to stop all protests that disagree with their communist desires.
No, I didn't realize that. But what's the difference, Beck is now all over the map and has become a turnoff. He is really perverting who and what he once was. Watch, Beck will fall from popularity and grace like a stone in water over the next year. He and that straightman laugh machine he has on the radio with him spend most their air time yucking it up and guffawing like two buffoons constantly trying to one-up each other with immature wit. Then it's the mormon Biblical teachings mixed in with Jeffersonian quotes that he attempts to join together like a master welder, mostly leaving the audience wincing or confused. It's important to talk about God, at least Beck knows that. But the way he tries to connect the dots in his primary school chalkboard fashion, whether on radio or T.V. would be humorous if it weren't so insulting. You really like that stuff?
If I want to hear the master of political commentary I listen to Rush, then Savage, then Mark Levin and others. If I want to listen to Biblical teachings and God's Word I go to Church, read the Bible or "the Live of The Saints", or watch EWTN. Glen Beck is a confused amalgamation of an occultist pseudo Christian named Joseph Smith, a Twelve Step Program, a libertarian who seems to constantly find his spine and then lose it, a 3rd Grade chalk board teacher and a comdedy radio act with his laughing gas straight man.
So do you come on Beck threads just to toss the hatred for him then? Why bother?
You won’t change any minds...
And yes, I do like Beck and the way he runs his show - chalkboards and all. He makes it interesting to learn about history, God, the Bible, etc. I really appreciate how he ties things together.
Other than his preachiness, which I can get tired of sometimes, I find the way he illustrates things entertaining and very enlightening. Also...he never has claimed to be what you claim he is. He has always stated he is an ENTERTAINER...and I believe he’s going to be doing just fine.
All evidence points to the fact that the assailant from this weekend was severely mentally disturbed. His belief system was not rational by any modern political standard. He was an atheist, believed George W. Bush was responsible for 9/11, feared a global currency, cited the Communist Manifesto as one of his favorite books and thought the Mars rover landing was staged. These are not the opinions of a coherent individual.He probably thinks Shakespeare didn't write his own plays. Thanks Lucky9teen.
I like some of those things about Beck too; at times I believe he's a true genius. But he's gone over the line, has reached that point where he begins to believe he's a prophet, as though he's some figure so close to God that he begs others to listen to him because he can't possibly be wrong. But what I really can't cope with is when he, (constantly), condemns some radical left wing idea but then backtracks and qualifies his statements, (to protect his "popularity), by saying things like, "look, I'm not against homosexual marriage, let them do what they want to do, I don't hate them and I don't want anyone else to hate them either. And I don't think the Founders would care either". In short, Beck has many sound conservative ideas, but destroys them all by ignoring one of the most basic conservatives of all.
Then he'll say something deeply conservative, but then WAFFLES through qualifying and mitigating his statements. Just listen to the man and you'll 'see' it. At times he comes accross as a sniveling coward with an ego bigger than that of Barak Obama's, if that's possible.
Like I said, watch, he'll fall from fame faster than a stone dropped into a pond. He's much too in love with himself and his "prophetic" knowledge to survive long. And he'll take the slow thinkers down with him.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.