Glenn Beck is Insane

In other news, Glenn Beck is still around. This is about the Occupy Wall Street protestors, but honestly, it could be about anything.

The Cognitive Dissonance of American Political Thought

Image from Salon

All of us have our little moments of cognitive dissonance, which is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time. The thing is, a rational person will usually recognize that "these things don't go together," and then sort out the dilemma. An example might be holding the belief that gay people have all the same rights as any other American, but that they shouldn't have the right to get married. A rational person would realize that those two thoughts are in conflict, and then come down on one side or the other.

But increasingly, our political discourse is jam packed with this duality. To wit: The government would screw up a public option in health care, and the result would be terrible. But given the option, everyone would take it, and all the insurance companies would go out of business! Well, which is it, terrible or great? And that's just one example.

Part of reason that this paradoxical thinking is so prevalent might have something to do with the ascendancy of talking heads like Glenn Beck who do more than their part to foster it. The article excerpted below does a better job of explaining what I mean, so here you go. . .

[Excerpt]

The Antilogical Reasoning Of Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck has already solidified his position as the Evangelist of the Coming Obama-Pocalypse. Now he is pioneering a revolutionary new model for polemics that introduces a level of absurdity heretofore unimagined in the world of rational thought. It is a breakthrough that rattles the foundations of conventional discourse. In recognition of this achievement, Beck will forever be remembered as the Stephen Hawking of what I shall dub “Antilogical Reasoning” - or reasoning that contradicts its own premise. Perhaps the best example of antilogics is Beck’s recent comments as to whether President Obama is a racist. . .

Read more at: News Corpse

Gay Marriage Drives Michael Savage Insane

Image from source, Media Matters

Wait, there's something wrong with that headline.

Gay Marriage Issue Reveals Just How Insane Michael Savage Has Always Been

There. That's not perfect but it's better. The Savage Wiener (­­™The Thom Hartmann Show) is quite simply an out of this world lunatic. Anything remotely associated with gay people sets him off on horrific rants. I don't understand how this man rates third in talk radio (making him literally third rate). Obviously, since he is a right-wing talker, I'm prone to disagree with him. But I'm at a loss how any sane person--Democrat or Republican--could listen to this guy and like him.

Sadly, I've been informed that my Step-Dad is a regular listener. Maybe I'll call him up and ask what he thinks this means. . .

[Excerpt]

Savage: "The children's minds are being raped by the homosexual mafia"

Responding to a caller who said, "I had to explain to my young son why these two men were holding hands the other day," Michael Savage stated, "You've got to explain to the children ... why God told people this was wrong." He went on to say, "You have to explain this to them in this time of mental rape that's going on. The children's minds are being raped by the homosexual mafia, that's my position. They're raping our children's minds. . ."

Read more (with video) at: Media Matters

What is Wrong with Clinton's Die-hard Supporters? UPDATED

Image from Illseed

There has been talk for many months about Hillary Clinton's die-hard supporters refusing to support or vote for Barack Obama. They've been said to be so dead set against him that they'll stay home on election day, or vote for John McCain. I viewed this as little more than sour grapes, and figured that after a little time to mourn, they'd pretty much all come around.

Then came last night, and Clinton's peculiar speech indicating that she was going to press on. That seems less likely now, but last night, she urged her supporters to visit HillaryClinton.com to give her ideas of what to do next.

So, I went there. I had a little difficulty finding where the people were commenting, but it turned out that it was in the comments section of Clinton's blog. And what I found was stunning, somewhat mesmerizing, and completely bizarre. The overwhelming majority of commenters quite vehemently hate Barack Obama. They're fairly vague and nonspecific about why, but they mostly claimed that they wouldn't even vote for him if Clinton was on the ticket (go there, if you don't believe me).

Worse, most of them are enthusiastic about voting for John McCain, who they see as second best to Hillary Clinton! The combination of Hillary Love and unabashed Barack Hatred was astonishing, and more than a little creepy. I understand that these folks are feeling a bit of the "Kübler-Ross model" of the stages of grief. They're feeling a combination of stages 1, 2, 3 and 4: Denial, Anger, Bargaining and Depression. But they're so dedicated to their cause, I fear that they won't progress to step 5: Acceptance. But I'd like to help them get there.

I've peppered the labels section at the bottom of this post with some incendiary words to try to lure some of them here with a Google search, to ask them a few questions. The words are only for that purpose, not intended to express any personal insults. But if it worked, and you are a Clinton supporter that fits the description above, I'd personally love answers to these points.

1. If you are a Clinton supporter, why would John McCain--whose positions are 180-degrees from Hillary's--be a better choice than Obama, whose policy positions are virtually identical to hers?


2. What did Barack Obama ever personally do or say to Hillary Clinton that would brew such vitriol from you?


3. Does it concern you that McCain would likely fill one or two Supreme Court Justice slots with conservatives, turning the whole court to the right, and probably overturning Roe V. Wade?


4. Even if you're angry with the DNC about their alleged treatment of Clinton, why take it out on Obama, and by extension the whole country?


5. What exactly did the DNC do to Clinton, specifically? And for that matter, does reporting the reality of the delegate math automatically put the news media "in the tank" for Obama?


6. Does Hillary Clinton get a complete pass for everything she did in the campaign, from saying that Obama doesn't pass the Commander-in-Chief test, to heaping praise on McCain?


7. Do you think there is any possible way Clinton could win the Presidency if she ran as an independent? Really? Are you unaware that she'd split the Democratic vote, and that McCain would win in a shoo-in?

Thank you for your time.

UPDATE: Having just spent a great deal of time at HillaryClinton.com, and reading many of the comments, I've come to a couple of conclusions. First, they apparently hate Barack Obama mostly just because he beat Clinton. Second, they are so enamored of Clinton, they believe she did everything right, and nothing wrong in her campaign. They believe that everyone was out to get her, and conspired against her: Barack Obama, the media, the Democratic National Committee, everyone.

They remind me of a woman (or man) who has found that their partner has cheated on them. The wronged partner automatically hates the "other woman" or in this case, "other man." Their grief is palpable, and their response is understandable, if completely irrational. I really do fear for their emotional well being. Hopefully, this condition is limited to the relatively small amount of posters in the "Hillary Family" at HillaryClinton.com.