Glenn Beck's Anti-Communist Documentary

[The Vegan Marxist]

At first, I was going to post this in the films section, but this needs more political discussion, rather than a mere discussion of if you liked the doc or not. I found myself disgusted with this documentary with all the errors that it brought out as 'truth'. So I'm wondering what all of you think of this as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psp8gJxxfdQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiQ_7Jm-Rts&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW_YpNhYbGE&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2N7qDn0-PI&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXmm1UdWx1A&feature=channel

[Little Bobby Hutton]

We thought it was fair, unbiased and hard hitting, like all material at fox news.
What do you think we all think of it
Glen beck is like Bush on steroids, Gov Schwazenneger IS George bush on steroids.

[bayano]

its nonsensical. to paraphrase "we've always been told that dictators are of the right. that che and mao and stalin need to be understood." that is not at all anything ive ever been taught in schools from grade school to college. mao and stalin were always put in the same category as hitler. in fact, so was castro. i remember several tests

"Which of the following was a tyrant?
1) Hitler
2) Stalin
3) Mao
4) Castro
5) All of the above"

and questions to that effect

[The Vegan Marxist]

its nonsensical. to paraphrase "we've always been told that dictators are of the right. that che and mao and stalin need to be understood." that is not at all anything ive ever been taught in schools from grade school to college. mao and stalin were always put in the same category as hitler. in fact, so was castro. i remember several tests

"Which of the following was a tyrant?
1) Hitler
2) Stalin
3) Mao
4) Castro
5) All of the above"

and questions to that effect

Exactly. That's how I was taught in school throughout the majority of my education. I didn't start getting a new way of looking at history until I was in 11th grade, where my Socialist teacher started telling us history that was not being told to us within the U.S. History textbooks.

[bayano]

honestly, this probably does belong in the film section. or the propaganda one. theres not a lot of political discussion to be had about garbage that we will likely all agree on.

[Chimurenga.]

He and his regurgitated bourgeois propaganda is really not worth discussing.

[The Vegan Marxist]

He and his regurgitated bourgeois propaganda is really not worth discussing.

I would have to disagree. The right-wingers, especially the Beck-enthusiasts, are the largest oppositional groups out there right now here in the States, & so we must start understanding how far they are going to go to discredit our movement. The quote "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer," needs to be realized here with us.

[Little Bobby Hutton]

I would have to disagree. The right-wingers, especially the Beck-enthusiasts, are the largest oppositional groups out there right now here in the States, & so we must start understanding how far they are going to go to discredit our movement. The quote "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer," needs to be realized here with us.

stop watching the godfather

[The Vegan Marxist]

stop watching the godfather

haha, yeah, too bad I've never watched a single Godfather movie all the way through.

[bailey_187]

I couldnt be bothered to watch it all, but saying that the Ukranian Famine was due to Stalin wanting "crush the individualist and free spirit of the Ukranians" was pretty funny. Funny how 25% of this "individualist nation" was still voting Communist in the 90s, and is also the home of that well known individualist called Trotsky.

[Rusty Shackleford]

if you want to help work on a response to beck's video the leftist film project (http://www.revleft.com/vb/group.php?groupid=354) might be helpful.

there were a few threads about it before and after it came out. a lot of us were raging about it.

[Antifa94]

Glenn Beck's astroturf corporatist movement is in its heyday, sadly.
There are few things more dangerous than conservative libertarianism.

Oh, and the pseudo-intellectual manifesto "Liberal fascism" gave me teh lulz.
Yes, there were leftist elements to Nazism, but they were purged i.e. the expulsion of Otto Strasser in 1930, the night of the Long Knives in '34.

[Audeamus]

Yeah I remember catching some of this while flipping through the channels a while back. Pretty much exactly the kind of garbage one comes to expect from him.


Yes, there were leftist elements to Nazism, but they were purged i.e. the expulsion of Otto Strasser in 1930, the night of the Long Knives in '34.

Not to mention of execution of Otto's brother Georg. Even the anti-capitalist tendencies in the NSDAP, though, were heavily caught up in anti-semitism. They saw business and banking as being dominated by the Jews and called for an end to "Jewish finance capital", and largely opposed capitalism on that deluded line. And they remained, of course, anti-Marxist.

[Physicist]

How does Beck know what common curriculum is being passed off in public classrooms when he attended private schools all his life?

[ZombieGrits]

I couldnt be bothered to watch it all, but saying that the Ukranian Famine was due to Stalin wanting "crush the individualist and free spirit of the Ukranians" was pretty funny. Funny how 25% of this "individualist nation" was still voting Communist in the 90s, and is also the home of that well known individualist called Trotsky.

too right, not to mention Makhno. Ukraine has quite a history of people that Glenn Beck probably hates :D They would be proud of that if they had ever even heard of glenn beck :p

[The Ghost of Revolutions]

From my text book

"Stalin's economic plans were used to starve the ukrianans"

"It was plain as the mustache on Stalin's face the the wily Soviet dicator was plotting to turn his german allies on the western democracies. Then after they had killed each other off he would invade europe like a colossus. "

Yeah textbooks love stalin

[The Vegan Marxist]

From my text book

"Stalin's economic plans were used to starve the ukrianans"

"It was plain as the mustache on Stalin's face the the wily Soviet dicator was plotting to turn his german allies on the western democracies. Then after they had killed each other off he would invade europe like a colossus. "

Yeah textbooks love stalin

An American History textbook actually said that? WTF? :laugh:

[Action Johnny]

haha, yeah, too bad I've never watched a single Godfather movie all the way through.

Whats wrong with you!? :laugh:

[RadioRaheem84]

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone would think of "exposing" leftists in the US. I read tons of anti-leftist screeds back in my "anti-totalitarian left" days from rabid right winger David Horowitz to pro-war liberal Paul Berman and I had always thought that in the back of my mind that someone was going to connect the dots between fascism and leftism some day and run with it like a mad dog.

I remember trying to connect Chomsky to Fascism by trying desperately to connect:

Anarcho Syndicalism to Syndicalism, thus it's equal to National Syndicalism which equals to *gasp* ITALIAN FASCISM. OMG Chomsky is a fascist!!!!!:rolleyes:

But of course, my outlook was ahistorical and bias. That would be like equating Neo-Conservatism to Leftism or Liberalism.

But it's similar to Beck's method.

What Beck did was give credence to a whole bunch of pseudo-scholar nonsense about Fascism being some leftist offshoot. So yes there are historians who have this view, thank god they're small in number but they're out there and Beck will use them.

If people aren't schooled in history then all of what Beck says can be "historically accurate".

[worldrambler]

I read "Liberal fascism" and regret the time I wasted on that drivel.
To seriously argue that fascism springs from the left wing is to be incredibly stupid, incredibly disingenious, or both. What I don't understand is how any one can take Beck seriously. He is nothing more than a money making, hackle raising fake. He has no real ideas, only to spew anger and hate, and spread those mindless feelings as far and fast as he can. I seriously doubt that he has the smallest idea on political ideology other than Government= bad. I used to watch him, just to hear from the opposing side, but I just couldn't stand that much stupidity, even in small doses. Smart Americans who want to build a truly egalitarian society know enough to let his BS go in one ear and out the other.



Glenn Beck's astroturf corporatist movement is in its heyday, sadly.
There are few things more dangerous than conservative libertarianism.

Oh, and the pseudo-intellectual manifesto "Liberal fascism" gave me teh lulz.
Yes, there were leftist elements to Nazism, but they were purged i.e. the expulsion of Otto Strasser in 1930, the night of the Long Knives in '34.

[The Vegan Marxist]

I read "Liberal fascism" and regret the time I wasted on that drivel.
To seriously argue that fascism springs from the left wing is to be incredibly stupid, incredibly disingenious, or both. What I don't understand is how any one can take Beck seriously. He is nothing more than a money making, hackle raising fake. He has no real ideas, only to spew anger and hate, and spread those mindless feelings as far and fast as he can. I seriously doubt that he has the smallest idea on political ideology other than Government= bad. I used to watch him, just to hear from the opposing side, but I just couldn't stand that much stupidity, even in small doses. Smart Americans who want to build a truly egalitarian society know enough to let his BS go in one ear and out the other.

We shouldn't just throw Beck to the side like any useless piece of trash. This guy is a propagandist, & pretty damn good at it. He is practically bringing the Red Scare back, just with more regulation holding it down somewhat. We need to take this seriously & take him seriously, because he's becoming a serious threat to our ideological beliefs.

[rednordman]

I havent watched the documentory yet, but know what to expect so will probably not. I dont think that this has so much to do with 'exposing leftists' rather than it has to do with the right wings oncoming impotansy at the real-life notion of not having clear enemy. Its no longer a black and white 'us and them' anymore.

The same can be said about the teabaggers also. Anyone with any serious rational will know that they are only complaining and plotting against problems that they themselves have a HUGE hand in. To blame this on leftism/socialism or even communism is so rediculous, it amazes me how many adult americans are actually silly enough to get themselves wound up over this.

I guess that the right are so reliant on confrontation and competition that they will eventually go as far as inventing an immaginary enemy. It also explains why alot of these people scoff at the notion of world peace. They just cannot deal with the fact that there will be nowhere to conquer.

I think it says alot about exactly how influential the cold war has played on the concience of the older generations. They just cannot get over the fact that they won, and with a severe twist of irony, the world that succeeds the 'end of history' isnt all as nice as they invisioned it to be. Infact, its actually rather horrific.

What are they going to do next? Accuse any republican bill that doesnt pass, as getting stopped by Stalinist cmmunists in the democratic party?

[anticap]

No way am I going to watch this tripe, but then I don't need to: I already know that it contains no analysis of the fundamental grievances that communists (and anti-capitalists of all stripes) have with capitalism. The purpose of these right-wing hit-pieces is to focus on everything but that.

[Red Commissar]

Glenn Beck is playing off a staple of right-wing rhetoric that has been around for years, but only recently been taken up by people.

His "arguments" mainly comes out of using fallacies to associate government regulation and taxation as a "liberal" (or "leftist" as it would translate for Americans) ideology. He then wraps this up with Fascists who happened to also have taxes and government regulation, so ergo liberals are fascists. By extension he will also jump on fascism being a form of socialism, and thus wrap all these ideologies as collectivist and thus not in interested in liberty which requires individualism.

Seems to be like Ayn Rand's crap, but dumbed down even more for the average Fox viewer to understand.

[Robocommie]

Nazis and Communists both have the color red in their flag. It's so obvious guys.

[Quail]

I haven't watched the documentary, but while I think that Glenn Beck is a nutter whose arguments generally don't make logical sense, I also think he is a bit dangerous.

He is quite a good speaker, so I can see how he can catch people's attention. He also quite often presents opinions as facts in an authoritative way, which makes people less likely to question him. He gives the illusion of knowing what he's on about when actually he's just spouting a bunch of unfounded crap.
To someone who doesn't know much about the topics he discusses, I can see how he might be quite convincing. Which is slightly worrying.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Nazis and Communists both have the color red in their flag. It's so obvious guys.
The US, Canada, UK, Russia, and a many more countries have red in their flags! NWO is here! :scared:

seriously.

also, with the logic like beck's. im sure he thinks the US is a christian nation because the majority of the population is christian. by that logic. the entire world is filled with proletarian republics. :rolleyes:

[Robocommie]

If one were to take everything that Glenn Beck says at face value, and believe them with absolute faith, one might just be tempted to consider doing nothing but staying at home and cowering in fear under a blanket, watching Fox News while wearing an adult diaper.

Really recently, Glenn Beck told all his listeners that they should stop going to their Church if the minister or priest talks about "social justice" It's because social justice is a codeword for redistribution of wealth and revolutionary socialism.

That's right. Commies are everywhere. In the Democrats. In the Republicans. In your schools. In your church! IN THE WHITE HOUSE. Your own newborn baby may be a communist! THEY WANT OUR PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS.

[The Vegan Marxist]

If one were to take everything that Glenn Beck says at face value, and believe them with absolute faith, one might just be tempted to consider doing nothing but staying at home and cowering in fear under a blanket, watching Fox News while wearing an adult diaper.

Really recently, Glenn Beck told all his listeners that they should stop going to their Church if the minister or priest talks about "social justice" It's because social justice is a codeword for redistribution of wealth and revolutionary socialism.

That's right. Commies are everywhere. In the Democrats. In the Republicans. In your schools. In your church! IN THE WHITE HOUSE. Your own newborn baby may be a communist! THEY WANT OUR PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS.

Do you expect anything more from a Mormon?

[pierrotlefou]

wow i tried to watch the first one but wow it's so bad.

[worldrambler]

We shouldn't just throw Beck to the side like any useless piece of trash. This guy is a propagandist, & pretty damn good at it. He is practically bringing the Red Scare back, just with more regulation holding it down somewhat. We need to take this seriously & take him seriously, because he's becoming a serious threat to our ideological beliefs.
I understand what you are saying, and you are making a very valid point. The sad thing is that so many Americans are buying his crap hook line and sinker. Looking behind every rock for some huge conspiracy that is out to screw them over. The only one who wins from that kind of propaganda is the corporatists. Beck spends so much time calling Obama a socialist (Which he is not of course) that he ignores all the real socialists in America who could put forth ideas to make America better. He is a modern day McCarthy, and in that respect we need to offer a defense against his
ignorant existence. What is one to do though? How does one stop a menace like Beck? Or at least conduct some damage control, to try to save the people from his BS?

[RadioRaheem84]

Beck is a maniacal charlatan. The man thinks that the system is out get him for his right wing rants when in reality the system is using him like a puppet to block even the mildest of liberal reforms. I don't think he knows he's being played like a fiddle by the corporate elite because he acts like such a victim sometimes.

[The Vegan Marxist]

I understand what you are saying, and you are making a very valid point. The sad thing is that so many Americans are buying his crap hook line and sinker. Looking behind every rock for some huge conspiracy that is out to screw them over. The only one who wins from that kind of propaganda is the corporatists. Beck spends so much time calling Obama a socialist (Which he is not of course) that he ignores all the real socialists in America who could put forth ideas to make America better. He is a modern day McCarthy, and in that respect we need to offer a defense against his
ignorant existence. What is one to do though? How does one stop a menace like Beck? Or at least conduct some damage control, to try to save the people from his BS?

To me, the only way we can help wake up the masses is by taking over the air-waves. I use to be an anti-communist conspiracy theorist who started watching Glenn Beck when he first started on Fox News. What woke me up was that I was given truth by a friend, practically forcefully, since he never let up on it & kept trying to reach to me. And so, I started researching on it, started questioning my own beliefs, & here I am, a well researched Marxist hoping to wake others up before we have no other choice but to start taking up arms. Until we start putting our reputation on the line, until we start putting our lives on the line (whether we risk death or jail) we will never reach to the masses because, within the legal status, Beck & his movement will win the majority, which means the end of our movement here in the States.

[Mumbles]

My God. I just survived the first part. And I can't go on without screaming through text. That man is a moron!

To start off, he first mentions how supposedly the way that people "defeated the constitution" was they stopped reading it. I'm guessing he's trying to call everyone stupid or something, but I'm gonna give him the benefit of a doubt for this first offense.
I mean after all, I don't think it was a lack of reading, I think it was reading, just reading rewritten history that actually made the people complacent. And I woulda thought he'd be happy with that, since, you know, sheep are a whole lot easier to control than wolves. (Also, WTF is up with the glasses? Do you think people will assume you're a geek and smart? WTF?)

Next, Communists like to be "understood in context". Yes that is important, but I also think it's important to understand ANY FUCKING THING in context. How else would ANYTHING make sense? Jesus Horatio Christ...

Ah, a break. The introduction speech. It's... so... beautiful. As Bradbury pointed out in Fahrenheit 451, television does throw useless knowledge at you so that you don't have time to read and learn or do anything productive. And since this is on the television ;D

How are labor unions doing under Castro?

Self-hating Jew? So, are you trying to say he was ethnically Jewish but not religiously Jewish? How many people are there that have Jewish ancestors that aren't Jewish? Add me to the count. I apparently hate myself. Aw, now I feel bad about hating myself. Also, what about The Jewish Question by Marx? Oh wait, I forgot, gotta refer back up to where people "aren't reading". This makes stuff difficult.

And finally, the quote about Germany. Gotta love taking things out of context. But since Beck's audience doesn't read, as he so nicely pointed out at the beginning of this... hell I can't even call this a mock-umentary... his viewers don't read, so they wouldn't realize how out of context and reworded that is.

Anyone else notice any major shit he threw in there?

[Klaatu]

I wish Glenn Beck would join this site and try, TRY to "tell us off."
I would LOVE to debate that uneducated foolish clown. :p

[worldrambler]

To me, the only way we can help wake up the masses is by taking over the air-waves. I use to be an anti-communist conspiracy theorist who started watching Glenn Beck when he first started on Fox News. What woke me up was that I was given truth by a friend, practically forcefully, since he never let up on it & kept trying to reach to me. And so, I started researching on it, started questioning my own beliefs, & here I am, a well researched Marxist hoping to wake others up before we have no other choice but to start taking up arms. Until we start putting our reputation on the line, until we start putting our lives on the line (whether we risk death or jail) we will never reach to the masses because, within the legal status, Beck & his movement will win the majority, which means the end of our movement here in the States.
Being a member of the military, I talk often to my co workers about politics. Some are hard rightists, but I have to say that a majority of them are just ignorant apathetic sheep. With the exception of a few exceptional people I have the privillege of knowing, most lean to the right, mostly because "the republicans give more money to the military, so we get higher pay checks" and so on. I do point out that the Repubs also get more of us killed, but that seems to be inadmissable as evidence. For those I know here who do have a good, reasoning head on their shoulders, I have made headway, but the overall majority are just apathetic. As soon as I get discharged this summer I plan on being very politically active, and working with some CPUSA friends I have back in Seattle. Just go and see these right wing crazies talk about armed revolution on youtube. If it came to that, I know which side I would be on. I just hope we can stop this insanity before it gets to that point.

[worldrambler]

I wish Glenn Beck would join this site and try, TRY to "tell us off."
I would LOVE to debate that uneducated foolish clown. :p
He won't ever do that because he is at least smart enough to know that he gets ripped to shreds in an honest debate with anyone who has half a brain. It would be fun though.:thumbup1:

[CartCollector]

Next, Communists like to be "understood in context". Yes that is important, but I also think it's important to understand ANY FUCKING THING in context. How else would ANYTHING make sense? Jesus Horatio Christ...
Strange thing to hear from a Mormon since they're constantly telling you that quotes from the Bible and the Book of Mormon have to be taken in context. So apparently that line of argument works for (their) religion but not (other people's) politics.

Also, on the subject of propaganda (which The Vegan Marxist touched upon), I was thinking of an article that Americans would be interested in. I was thinking it could be titled "The Truth About Communism (or Socialism, since that's been thrown around more nowadays): What the Government and Mainstream Media Don't Want You To Know" or something along those lines. It would start with a summary of the American Revolution, and end with "Just like our ancestors before us, it is once again time to fight against oppression.
But fighting against oppression doesn't mean pretending it's still the 18th century and pretending that we're under orders from General Washington. If you haven't noticed, we don't live in an agrarian society anymore. Most people don't get their sustenance from the family farm or a trade that they practice alone. In other words, the political and economic systems developed back then don't necessarily work in the Information Age." Then it could give a "list of grievances," Declaration of Independence-style, with the current economic/political situation we're in. Then it could list "What the Government and the Mainstream Media Want You To Think About Communism," and list bullet points like "Communism is totalitarian" and "Socialism means big government" and "the USSR, Cuba, and China are Communist." Then it could debunk them one by one. Then it could tell people what they can do, organizations they can join, etc.

What do you think?

[Antifa94]

I read "Liberal fascism" and regret the time I wasted on that drivel.
To seriously argue that fascism springs from the left wing is to be incredibly stupid, incredibly disingenious, or both. What I don't understand is how any one can take Beck seriously. He is nothing more than a money making, hackle raising fake. He has no real ideas, only to spew anger and hate, and spread those mindless feelings as far and fast as he can. I seriously doubt that he has the smallest idea on political ideology other than Government= bad. I used to watch him, just to hear from the opposing side, but I just couldn't stand that much stupidity, even in small doses. Smart Americans who want to build a truly egalitarian society know enough to let his BS go in one ear and out the other.
Why do they do it? the Majority of petit-bourgeois americans and the lumpenproletariats are ignoramuses, hence, they believe what he has to say due to A) the passion in which he speaks. B- Intellectual stratification- By consulting an authority (which happens to biased) that will support his ideology, he is using the logical fallacy known as argumentum ad verecundiam. This gives the appearance of intellectual credibility to the uneducated, or capitalist educated masses. C- He's red-baiting. It's fun and efficient.:blink:

[worldrambler]

Why do they do it? the Majority of petit-bourgeois americans and the lumpenproletariats are ignoramuses, hence, they believe what he has to say due to A) the passion in which he speaks. B- Intellectual stratification- By consulting an authority (which happens to biased) that will support his ideology, he is using the logical fallacy known as argumentum ad verecundiam. This gives the appearance of intellectual credibility to the uneducated, or capitalist educated masses. C- He's red-baiting. It's fun and efficient.:blink:
Well, I know that the masses are generally ignorant. Just try using the word "proletariat" in a sentence and watch the eyebrows furrow as they ask you what you are talking about. Unfortunately you are right. The vast majority of Americans are brainwashed into accepting whatever sensationalist psuedo-patriotic BS that the right wing media throws at them. Very sad, but true.

[Chambered Word]

I've watched it and yes, it's pretty fucking dumb.

Unfortunately I haven't had much time to work on the response lately, but we're getting there.


THEY WANT OUR PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS.

SEAL OFF THE BASE! :laugh:

[Uppercut]

I watched a few minutes of the first part and then stopped immediately. I really can't stand Beck AT ALL, and it's pretty depressing to me to know that Americans all rally around him and accept his words as Holy writ. He's not philosophical, or scientific at all and he's got next to nothing to contribute to Political Science, other than saying that anything to the left of his viewpoints are socialist/communist. Pretty pathetic....

[Little Bobby Hutton]

What if he was a terrorist too haha had me in stiches

[Klaatu]

Strange thing to hear from a Mormon since they're constantly telling you that quotes from the Bible and the Book of Mormon have to be taken in context. So apparently that line of argument works for (their) religion but not (other people's) politics.

Also, on the subject of propaganda (which The Vegan Marxist touched upon), I was thinking of an article that Americans would be interested in. I was thinking it could be titled "The Truth About Communism (or Socialism, since that's been thrown around more nowadays): What the Government and Mainstream Media Don't Want You To Know" or something along those lines. It would start with a summary of the American Revolution, and end with "Just like our ancestors before us, it is once again time to fight against oppression.
But fighting against oppression doesn't mean pretending it's still the 18th century and pretending that we're under orders from General Washington. If you haven't noticed, we don't live in an agrarian society anymore. Most people don't get their sustenance from the family farm or a trade that they practice alone. In other words, the political and economic systems developed back then don't necessarily work in the Information Age." Then it could give a "list of grievances," Declaration of Independence-style, with the current economic/political situation we're in. Then it could list "What the Government and the Mainstream Media Want You To Think About Communism," and list bullet points like "Communism is totalitarian" and "Socialism means big government" and "the USSR, Cuba, and China are Communist." Then it could debunk them one by one. Then it could tell people what they can do, organizations they can join, etc.

What do you think?

Very good points. In the 18th Century, the only "big business" the colonists had to worry about was King George. And they rejected his dominance. Yet, the modern-day clueless-Joe on the street has no idea of how history repeats itself, that is, we are again under a dark cloud of dominance - this time by the powerful empire of the capitalist. Also, USSR and China are not, and never were, actually Communist (not even truly Socialist.) They were authoritarian. Big difference.

[RATM-Eubie]

What gets me is how Beck is acting like none of this stuff is taught in American History classrooms.. I was in history last year and i learned all about this.. I was taught to hate Stalin and Mao and whatnot and about the terrible things they did... I dont support Stalin or Mao but man he is acting like here in America a vast amount of people love him...