Common Nonsense : Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance

by Alexander Zaitchik

• ISBN13: 9780470630648
• ISBN10: 0470630647
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2010-04-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Who is this guy and why are people listening?Forget Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity-Glenn Beck is the Rightrs"s new media darling and the unofficial leader of the conservative grassroots. Lampooned by the Left and Lionized by the far Right, his bluster-and-tears brand of political commentary has commandeered attention on both sides of the aisle.Glenn Beck has emerged over the last decade as a unique and bizarre conservative icon for the new century. He encourages his listeners to embrace a cynical paranoia that slides easily into a fantasyland filled with enemies that do not exist and solutions that are incoherent, at best. Since the election of President Barack Obama, Beckrs"s bombastic, conspiratorial, and often viciously personal approach to political combat has made him one of the most controversial figures in the history of American broadcasting.In Common Nonsense, investigative reporter Alexander Zaitchik explores Beck's strange brew of ratings lust, boundless ego, conspiratorial hard-right politics, and gimmicky morning-radio entertainment chops. Separates the facts from the fiction, following Beck from his troubled childhood to his recent rise to the top of the conservative media heap Zaitchik's recent three-part series in Salon caused so much buzz, Beck felt the need to attack it on his show Based on Zaitchik's interviews with former Beck coworkers and review of countless Beck writings and television and radio shows Explains why Beck is always crying, why he has so many conservative enemies, why he's driven by conspiracy theories, and why he's dangerous to the health of the republic A contributing writer to Alternet, Zaitchik's reporting has appeared in the New Republic, the Nation, Salon, Wired, Reason, and the BelieverBeck, a perverse and high-impact media spectacle, has emerged as a leader in a conservative protest movement that raises troubling questions about the future of American politics.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Man with the Plan

Portrait of a Young Deejay

Last Stop on the Top 40 Train

The Luckiest Loudmouth in Tampa

It's Always about Glenn

This Is CNN?

A Rodeo Clown Goes Large

Beck Unbound

False Victory

"A Deep-Seated Hatred for . . . the White Culture "

ACORN

Brother Beck Presents: Mormon Masterpiece Theater

The Ghost of Cleon Skousen

The 9.12 Project

Epilogue: The Bullet Train and the Rocking Chair

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

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