Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance Rating :
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137 of 176 people found the following review helpful.
Fact-filled and to someone who likes to deal in facts - a bit depressing
By Happy Reader
My title says I found this book is a bit depressing. It's depressing because after showing all the ignorance, not to mention out-right lying, that goes into numerous Glenn Beck pronouncements, the author, Alexander Zaitchik, is forced to admit that Beck is not going to smarten up or disappear anytime soon. Beck's schtick makes too much money and gets too much press and gives Beck too much a feeling of omnipotence and power.
Two people can look at the same set of facts, and come to different conclusions. Of course. But as Zaitchik illustrates, Beck pulls stuff out of the air and uses it as if it's a fact. I want to review Zaitchik's book, itself, and not just write an opinion piece on Beck (because boy is that another review). So, speaking about this book instead of about its subject matter, I must say that Zaitchik's detail is excellent. As a non-fiction book, it has extensive footnotes and you always know from where he got his information. Though you can tell Zaithchik is not a Glenn Beck fan, there is no unsubstantiated ranting (in the manner of, oh, Glenn Beck) - rather, you're told when, where, what and how.
I found the detail fascinating and I took pages of notes while reading this book. I came away with these main points:
1. Beck was into personal attacks while he was a drug-addled drunk DJ, and cleaning up his drug habit has not cleaned up his attitude towards demonizing in the harshest terms anyone who disagrees with him. This includes what Beck considers cute stunts. During the Terry Schiavo uproar, a local newspaper columnist disagreed with Beck's view. So Beck said on his radio show that he'd like to "murder" the man, and gave out the columnist's phone number, address and email address on the air. The columnist was inundated with death threats. If you don't think this is a big deal, imagine your daughter or your wife picking up the phone to have an anonymous voice threaten to kill you.
2. It may only be a matter of time before someone kills someone in the name of Glenn Beck. Beck knows this - in his 2009 book "Common Sense", in at least three places Beck reminds his readers to not use violence. (The publisher's lawyers probably had a hand in that.)
3. Beck is a royal-class con man. Four times he's asked listeners to send him money so he can continue to spread the conservative word, and every time his listeners send this man money just because he asks. The last time he raked in $450,000 - personal money, it didn't belong to the station. Beck brags that he can cry on cue, there's taped interviews where he admits this.
4. Beck is trying mightily to deny it now, but you don't have to go that far back in his professional history to find some really ugly stuff. After so many people working so hard for so many years to blunt the effects and acceptability of racism, Beck has made it OK for his audience to be proudly racist. Before him, a woman might actually be ashamed to carry a sign with a picture of a black man (Obama) with a stuffed monkey stapled next to it.
I'm reviewing from the "Advance uncorrected proof".
263 of 344 people found the following review helpful.
Portrait of a Dangerous Lunatic
By Terry Sunday
There's no denying that political discourse in America today is more rancorous and uncivil than at any previous time in our history. There's no denying that misinformed talk-show demagogues and their fawning followers have hijacked key debates about national issues, and drown out the voices of thoughtful moderates with their strident, ignorant clamor. And there's no doubt that the broadcast media has played a major role in amping up the hype over controversial issues in their endless quest for ratings at the expense of truth, accuracy, balance and integrity.
"Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance," paints an appalling portrait of one of the darlings of today's paranoid, fact-challenged, know-nothing, right-wing political fringe. In this review, I won't summarize Beck's rise to prominence--I find him too thoroughly detestable to be worth that unpleasant task. But I will say that this book chronicles that rise in clear, chilling, footnoted detail, using primary sources that leave no doubt that this is an accurate picture of the man. That his racist, bigoted, militaristic, hyper-religious, fact-free, self-serving bombast has any appeal at all for any Americans is a sad statement on the extent to which willful ignorance has today become a virtue. That Beck, and others of his ilk, continue to draw oblivious, adoring listeners into their hate-filled fantasy worlds testifies to the immense power of the modern media, a power that Nazi propaganda minister the late Dr. Josef Goebbels would envy. That they continue to do so also shows the distressing triumph of mindless entertainment over factual substance. "Common Nonsense" tells the story of how this condition came to be, in a highly readable, fast-paced, compelling, disturbing narrative that would be hard to believe in some places if it weren't true.
Some books self-limit themselves to readers in certain demographic niches. If you hang on every hateful word of Beck, Hannity and Limbaugh, you need not waste your money or time on "Common Nonsense." Make no mistake about it--this is not a complimentary book. If, on the other hand, you take pride in being open-minded, want to know some of the story behind modern American demagoguery and seek to get a look at the thought processes that motivate the knee-jerk radical right, it is a must-read. I recommend it most highly to every intelligent, thoughtful American who cares about the nation's future. Dittoheads and extremist wackos need not apply...
59 of 77 people found the following review helpful.
the emperor has no clothes
By Nadyne Richmond
I'm mixed on this book. On one hand, the author did a great job of researching Beck's radio past and rise in television, and takes a pretty good look at many of Beck's influences. On the other hand, the author's contempt for Beck drips from nearly every page. If anything, I think that this book will serve for the left what Beck's books do for the right: preaching to the choir. If you don't like Beck, then this book just confirms everything that you already believed, and gives you a bit extra ammunition when you call him a charlatan who is interested in nothing other than building his own personal fortune by playing to the fears of his audience.
Product Description
Who is this guy and why are people listening?
Forget Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity—Glenn Beck is the Right’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, Beck’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 Believer
Beck, 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.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #806651 in Books
- Published on: 2010-05-24
- Original language:English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.84" h x6.42" w x1.03" l,1.10 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 288 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780470557396
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
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