Glenn Beck is an ass.
I've never liked what he has had to say. He strikes me as a person with a deepseated disinterest in the life experiences of women and minority groups in this country (and yet loves passing judgment on them), a casual relationship with actual facts, and a hatred for all those who happen to disagree with him and say so. My hope is that he is simply playing crazy for the audience and when the cameras are off, he becomes a sane and rational person capable of speaking in opposition to the people he disagrees with in a tolerant and collected manner. Proof of this remains to be seen.
Even if he were capable of such behavior, his tactics on-screen would remain irresponsible, cruel, and idiotic. His alarmist style of "reporting" is obnoxious and unnecessary, which is why I was glad to see that he will no longer be representing Fox News, a channel which I try, and generally fail, to respect for what it is. As it is, I usually attempt to ignore Glenn Beck, as I am clever enough to know that right-wing extremist political pundits don't speak for the majority of this country, thank the Lord.
Beck's recent take on Planned Parenthood, however, has insulted me on a much deeper level than his childlike tantrums, melodramatic weeping, and for-your-own-good speeches, in which he attempts to decide for all Americans what is "best" for the country, as if we weren't doing so for ourselves in the dark, lonely years before Glenn Beck came along and showed us the light. In his rant against Lawrence O'Donnell, he not only portrays all women seeking out Planned Parenthood for procedures as after abortions, of which Planned Parenthood is responsible for a mere 3 percent, but also suggests that all women who get abortions are callous and flagrant about their use of such services. As if any and every woman continually gets abortions, year after year, without a thought for the consequences. As if the decision to get an abortion were not something deeply personal and potentially heartbreaking for everyone involved, especially the mother of the aborted child. As if women equate birth control with candy and abortions with getting our teeth cleaned: a simple, procedure that should be performed on a regular basis. As if women were not aware of the severity of their actions because our inferior feminine logic disallows such higher masculine thought. As if women were not conscious of the human life at stake.
I never thought I could be so thoroughly disgusted with another human being who, by all accounts, hasn't broken a single law (at least not a criminal law, just a few laws of humanity). It just goes to show you what lengths humanity can go to to prove a cautious optimist wrong.
