The devastation caused by California’s wildfires is almost hard to believe. At this point, over 420,000 acres have burned, nearly 900,000 people have been evacuated, and nearly 1,200 homes have been destroyed.
And CNN’s Glenn Beck is still focused on the patriotism, or lack thereof, of those in Southern California affected by the fires.
Beck got things started on Monday, when the far-right blowhard said:
“I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today.”
This, not surprisingly, raised a few eyebrows — Media Matters publicized the remarks, blogs picked up on it, and then media outlets in California noticed and alerted a larger audience.
Interest in the story led Chris Balfe, Beck’s producer, to tell USA Today, “To most rational people, unfortunately still means unfortunately.”
Apparently, he wasn’t kidding. According to Beck’s producer, telling a national audience that wildfire victims “hate America” is fine, so long as one says it’s “unfortunate” for those who hate America to lose their homes. By this logic, one could say, “Unfortunately for Glenn Beck, he appears to have the intelligence of a cardboard box.” This isn’t an insult, because, to most rational people, unfortunately still means unfortunately.
But it wasn’t just Beck’s producer who failed to make sense. The controversy apparently reached the point in which Beck himself felt the need to respond.
Instead of apologizing for his insensitive stupidity, Beck bashed bloggers and felt sorry for himself.
On the October 23 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, while responding to criticism of his recent comments about some victims of the California wildfires, CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck lashed out at “a few liberal bloggers” who, he said, “claim that I’m serious when I’m joking and try to cause trouble, and then they say I’m joking when I’m serious and try to cause trouble.”
Addressing his radio audience on October 23, Beck said, “[L]et me tell you, so you know, so you can tell those who want to make me into an evil supervillain. Who do you have to be to think that it’s a good thing that anybody’s house burns down? Who do you have to be?” Beck further explained, “When you listen to this program — I hate to break it to, you know, those who don’t listen to the show, but if they ever would listen to the show, let me give you a little piece of advice: You have to engage what I like to call ‘your brain.’ You actually have to think. I might be making a joke. I might be serious.” Beck added, “We joke a lot about, you know, the Hollywood crowd living in Southern California. For example, I believe I have advocated Hollywood building giant air conditioners so they can fix the global-warming problem. I’m pretty sure I was joking then.” He further stated, “But you wouldn’t know that if you hadn’t engaged your brain. So let me be serious for a minute. Let me extraordinarily clear. I clearly do not want anyone’s house to be burned down.”
Beck, in the course of this rambling nonsense, seems to suggest he was kidding when he said some wildfire victims hate America. First, I’ve heard the original comments; he wasn’t kidding. Second, even if we suspend reality and give Beck the benefit of the doubt, does he really believe it’s appropriate to joke about the patriotism of victims in the midst of a natural disaster?
Beck adds that he doesn’t want homes destroyed. How big of him. The controversy, of course, wasn’t about whether he wants homes burned down, but rather why he has the temerity to question the patriotism of those whose homes are burned down.
But it’s the self-pity that’s really over the top. Poor Beck. Big, bad bloggers told people what he said, which apparently hurt his feelings. Please.
Why CNN pays this clown to talk on the air remains a mystery.