So, can a media pundit or news anchor really look in to the camera and say Beck's rally was "non-political" without acknowledging how intertwined religion and politics is in America?
Many who are liberal, progressive or Democrat would say Beck's rally was a distraction, that we should stay focused on the economy and not discuss this topic because it's what Republicans want to talk about so they can win votes in the election. They would assert that Beck is trying to take a movement because Obama is in the White House. That's not to say that is untrue, but there's also truth in the fact that the economy can play a huge role in pushing fearful followers of Christ into people who tap into hate, prejudice and bigotry in the worst of times and attack minorities because a leader tells them those are the evildoers who are making the country impure.
There's an analogy to be drawn to an episode of the Twilight Zone called, "He's Alive!" It was Twilight Zone's creator Rod Serling's warning to Americans that as long as ignorance and hate persists so too will characters who are perpetually hungry for greatness, who are looking to exploit ignorance and hate for honor and power.
On first look, Beck's rally seemed like an event organized so that tens of thousands of fearful easy-to-manipulate would give him a strokejob. When one goes deeper, it's much darker than that--Beck wanted a strokejob, but he wanted that to also be part of pushing the country closer to one that abandons religious pluralism, forsakes the idea of separation of church and state, and marches onward toward the kind of closed-minded society most Americans would condemn Muslims for instituting.
*If you are interested in more conversation on Beck and what his rally, speech and followers mean for this country, a weekly radio show I do held an Emergency Beer Summit last night. We recorded one long segment analyzing the implications of Glenn Beck and the reclamation of honor he promotes.
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