I've been doing this for years, only now, after accusing President Obama of being a "racist" with a "deep-seeded hatred of white people", advertisers are also starting to boycott conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck. That's right, back in July on Fox and Friends (aw, how quaint it sounds!), Mr. Beck shot off his mouth and shot himself in the foot, not once, but twice. You see, after the initial allegation of racism, host Brian Kilmeade gave Beck a chance to remove his foot from his big mouth, and Beck, instead of retracting his original accusation, promptly put his other foot in his mouth and added: "I'm not saying he doesn't like white people, I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist."
In response to Beck's irresponsible rantings, the African-American advocacy group Color Of Change has, through its many members, pressured companies that advertised on Beck's program to cease, lest they be associated with his inflammatory conservative rhetoric, and thus be seen as tacitly condoning such views. Thus far they have commitments from 36 major corporations that they will not advertise during Beck's time slot.
Beck has fired back on his FoxNews show by attacking the character of Van Jones, who was a former co-founder of Color of Change and a current environmental consultant (dubbed the "Green Czar") to the Obama administration. Beck referenced how Jones had been arrested twice for political protests in the past, which led Beck to opine "Why is it that such a committed revolutionary has made it so high into the Obama administration as one of his chief advisers?" Hello---conspiracy against White America! Duh!
To say that Glenn Beck is an idiot is a charge that I refuse to make, not only because it is the same kind of inflammatory rhetoric that Beck spews out, but also because it would be an insult to idiots everywhere, who themselves possess more sense than Mr. Beck.
Ah, but issues of race and the wonderful complications that always arise from them are never as simple as they seem on the surface. Do you remember Kanye West's angry assertion that "Bush doesn't care about black people" during a fundraising drive for the Katrina hurricane victims in New Orleans back in 2005? First of all, that has to be one of the best television moments ever---I just love the shocked and uncomfortable expressions on Mike Meyers' and Chris Tucker's faces after West dropped his comment. Classic! Anyway, Color For Change, while decrying Glenn Beck's charge of racism, are guilty themselves of marketing a racist viewpoint in the fact that they are selling t-shirts that state "Kanye Was Right" boldly on the front of the shirt. Hmmm...
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