Glenn Beck and the rise of Fox News' militia media

[leftchick]

Published on The Smirking Chimp (http://smirkingchimp.com)



By Eric Boehlert
Created Apr 8 2009 - 11:43am

After a night of drinking, followed by an early-morning argument <1> with his mother, with whom he shared a Pittsburgh apartment, 22-year-old Richard Poplawski put on a bulletproof vest, grabbed his guns, including an AK-47 rifle, and waited for the police to respond to the domestic disturbance call his mother had placed. When two officers arrived at the front door, Poplawski shot them both in the head, and then killed another officer who tried to rescue his colleagues.

In the wake of the bloodbath, we learned that Poplawski was something of a conspiracy nut <2> who embraced dark, radical rhetoric about America. He was convinced the government wanted to take away his guns, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported <3>. Specifically, Poplawski, as one friend described it <4>, feared "the Obama gun ban that's on the way" and "didn't like our rights being infringed upon." (FYI, there is no Obama gun ban in the works.) The same friend said <5> the shooter feared America was "going to see the end of our times."

<snip>

Jones might be a "freak," but he has recently been embraced -- and mainstreamed -- by Fox News, as part of the news channel's unprecedented drive to push radical propaganda warning of America's democratic demise under the new president.



We don't know if Poplawski tuned in to watch Jones' star turn for Fox News last month. But is there any doubt that Fox News is playing an increasingly erratic and dangerous game by embracing the type of paranoid insurrection rhetoric that people like Poplawski are now acting on? By stoking dark fears about the ominous ruins that await an Obama America, by ratcheting up irresponsible back-to-the-wall scenarios, Fox News has waded into a territory that no other news organization has ever dared to exploit.

What Fox News is now programming on a daily (unhinged) basis is unprecedented in the history of American television, especially in the form of Beck's program. Night after night, week after week, Beck rails against the president while denouncing him or his actions, alternately, as Marxist, socialist, or fascist <11>. He felt entirely comfortable pondering <12> whether the federal government, under the auspices of FEMA, was building concentration camps to round up Americans in order to institute totalitarian rule. (It wasn't until this week that Beck was finally able to "debunk" the FEMA conspiracy theory.) And that's when Beck wasn't gaming out <13> bloody scenarios for the coming civil war against Obama-led tyranny. In just a few shorts months, Beck raced to the head of Fox News' militia media movement.

[aquamarina]

1. If it is found that he was influenced by Beck , the victims' families

should sue the hell out of Fox News Corp. and Beck personally for wrongful death. I'm all for freedom of speech but I think Beck has crossed the line to inciting violence with his rantings.

From what I've seen, this program has no redeeming value. Beck is a lunatic who's been given access to my airwaves and is actually putting peoples lives in danger.

[DesertFlower]

2. IMO people on the far right like

Glenn beck are dangerous.

[leftchick]

3. if they were far left

the term would be terrorist.

[DesertFlower]

4. exactly.

[sufrommich]

5. Yes it would. nt

[oberliner]

6. I think that RW paranoia exists irrespective of Fox News

There have always been nutcases feeding conspiracy theories and dire predictions to anyone who would listen. I don't know that I would call this a new phenomenon. It is disturbing that there is an attempt to "mainstream" some of these clowns, but I think the sort of person who would attempt to commit mass murder would have found some justification for their actions somewhere - as many have in the past. Think of the presidential assassinations and assassination attempts that occurred in the halcyon days before Fox News.

[taxjustice51]

7. Storm Front

This may be another internet rumor, but the 'word on the Street' is that he was into the 'Storm Front' web site.
Now if you want to feel all warm and cuddly, Google it and check out this 'delightful' group of people.