Arkansas Blog

I watched Beck the Clown exactly 1 time because my brother in law wanted me to fully understand how unhinged this guy really is, and it must be the show that Stewart is mimicking here...mimicking perfectly! How can my friends watch Beck and believe his insane rantings? What's the hook?

Are my friends stupid and I never realized it before? Are they in constant need for drama and can't get it anywhere else? Are they paranoid? Or do they just hate black people? Or do they just hate everyone else on earth? Beck isn't even intelligent bullshit. I've watched con-men at the fair hocking pens that write upside down or knifes that will cut thru Jesus and while I didn't fall for their shtick, I appreciated their cleverness. Beck wouldn't know clever if it was a hemorrhoid on his ass.

I'm not scared of Beck or Rush. I'm scared of their followers. Beck & Rush are hoodless KKKers who have figured out how to make millions by saying what a demented segment of our population wants to hear. These fear-mongers only fear losing their paychecks...should a miracle occur and their listeners wise up. They don't fear Obama any more than I do..they fear low ratings for their shows.

You can say anything you want in America today. Doesn't matter if it's said well or has a speck of truth in it. Apparently you now have permission to scream FIRE in a crowded theater. I'm sorry I ever started following politics. It keeps me unhappy and it's caused me to understand how stupid Americans are. Worst of all I've found out how stupid my lifelong friends are. Everyone's wearing a bright orange button that says KICK ME or I'LL KICK YOU. Some should be wearing a button that says I KICK PUPPIES...as mean as they are to everyone around them. And Beck & Rush work that meanness and ignorance, raking in tens and hundreds of millions of dollars for themselves totally uncaring about what they're doing to our population.

Yesterday was proof of what a sick nation we've become. Did Osama know that with a few box-cutters and some airline tickets he could expose the belly of the beast we've become? Or was it just a side benefit of his evil plan? Hate him, call him what you want, but he's cause America to take off the mask and show our ugly face to the world. Show that our government is owned by Big Business (that's called Fascism), that our government has a finger in every violent uprising on the globe, shown that we kidnap, torture, bomb happy little wedding parties, and that one man with 2 guns can kill an unbelievable number of innocent people on what is billed as America's Armored Corps on the largest US Army base in the world. Not to mention for going on 9 years, Osama has managed to escape capture by the most modern, well equipped military units on earth.

If only Osama could be dumbed down...if only Osama watched Glenn Beck. I don't think anyone can save us....from ourselves.

Jon should get an Emmy for that performance. It was spot-on. The fact that so many Americans actually watch that clown, Beck, without laughing, makes me want to give up hope.

What a way to start an afternoon! I'm so sore from laughing...think I'll walk Pippin the Dog cause she's
probably just as smart as Beck who is having a national breakdown.

It's called dry drunk or dry dopehead syndrome. Beck may not be ingesting large amounts of booze or dope anymore but the behavior continues, like phantom feelings from a severed arm or leg. Only on FOX can a dry drunk make a fortune from the great unread.

.

"They don't fear Obama any more than I do..they fear low ratings for their shows."

Truer words were never typed. And the tragedy is that "what is news?" is defined by what sells the most products.

>>I'm sorry I ever started following politics.<<

Don't confuse wingnuts with politics. This is not politics. This is national hysteria. Insurance companies formulated and instigated the same stuff back in the early 90s when Hillary tried her hand at
reforming health care. Recall Clinton gave a tax break to the middle class and we can have none of that.

This is Koch stuff.
This is Scaife stuff.
This Club for Growth stuff.

All carefully fed and watered so they can watch the berries and estradas grow and spout while they will never get a damned thing from it. They are commodities and disposable.

Government is only instituted to serve the needs of the super rich and when it steps a little out of line you see hysteria formulated and dispersed by billionaires like Murdock. He does not care who delivers the message cause if Beck, Palin or O'Reilly fails there are others who can be pumped up to do it.
They can find another house painter like Hannity with large egos and give him 6 months of training.
So long as there exists a non-thinking handful who can shout the loudest, that's the thing.

Racism? For sure. Any irrational fear that can breed more fear among those who feel so inferior and are afraid to admit it so what's left but anger covering up a big deep hole of inferiority that answers well to fear based rhetoric.

Birthers? Why not, more of the necessary hysteria so they can grab bigger pieces of the pie with the
masses not realizing it.

This is not about politics. This is about MoMoney for the few. Hysteria is the puppet to refocus attention.

It's an old trick used many times over.

Thanks for the laugh -- where's my depends?

"A new wormhole to a parallel world, Glen Beck..."
Colbert

click it.

Jon can be brilliant!

DBI -

This is the second or third time (at least) I've seen you mention this problem - and it's a problem I and many others have too.

"Are my friends stupid and I never realized it before? Are they in constant need for drama and can't get it anywhere else? Are they paranoid? Or do they just hate black people? Or do they just hate everyone else on earth?"

Yes they ARE and yes they DO, DBI.

Though isn't the operative phrase, "my friends?"
___________________

I'm not alone here in feeling your pain at realizing what some, many, or even most of your friends are REALLY like. Particularly over the polarizing last decade or two.

I don't feel it as acutely as you, I imagine, because I've not lived here most of my life. I'm not TIED to anything or anybody here, and so free to choose, since moving here - and loving it -- with whom and what I want to associate.

Mine is a different frustration, DBI. I am constantly astonished at how MANY people here really DO, to one degree or another, embody the negative Arkansas stereotype held by the rest of the country (for well over a century, incidentally).

The minute Arkansans' racism or homophobia or religionism or class envy or pretension or dull intellects or inferiority complexes present themselves, I'm gone.

Exactly the same thing is true in megalopolises, DBI. I doubt the percentages are much different. But THERE, in enormous cities, your educational and career and social and economic choices inevitably self-select a similar and homogenous group. Just like thugs in the 'hood only the coin's other side.

There aren't that many people, relatively, in Arkansas. And it's certainly a predominantly conservative southern state, with all the subtextual weight that implies.

Still, I've been continually surprised and often shocked, and ultimately saddened, since I moved here, by the accuracy of the stereotype.
___________________

The operative phrase for me is always, "my friends."

People who're racist, homophobic, religionist, envious, pretentious or intellectually dull aren't my friends, DBI. By my choice.

I've been there, DBI.

I'm not sitting around another parlor in an old Quapaw Quarter restored mansion listening to people reminisce about their "people" moving here from Savannah in 1840 with their slaves and "this very furniture in this parlor - isn't it magnificent? - ". . . and how "the War" ruined everything and Yankee carpetbaggers (mostly Jews) took over all the businesses and changed their names so, even today, you can't really be sure . . . and "I'll never forget 1957" . . . and "It's not that I don't have gay friends: I DO! It's just that marriage is a Christian thing between a man and a woman." . . . "Have you seen their daughter? She's adorable! But you can't really tell what COLOR she is. And her hair's kind of Brillo. I mean, it's SOFT, but still- " . . . "Well, you don't really know WHAT you're getting when you adopt." . . . "I'm not sure. I think they go to Fellowship Bible." . . . .

Zombies aren't your "friends," DBI. No matter how wealthy or well-dressed.

The world and America are at major crossroads and these animatronic vampires sit around talking about antiques and ancestors and the Junior League -- whilst sucking the Life out of you?

I NEVER return their phone calls and ALWAYS blame it on issues with my AT&T voicemail.

Here's the dead giveaway for ME, DBI.

No sense of humor. They don't get it 'cause they don't got it.

These may be trying times for friendships (and family), DBI, for me and lots of Americans. Nobody but you determines your choice of friends and activities.

In Life you've got your choice of forward gears: 1st, 2nd, 3rd (4th?) (vroom-vroom-vroom) . . . Neutral (idle stationary purr) . . . or Reverse (SCREECH!).

It's your chassis, honey.