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Glenn Beck and "Agenda 21"

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Robert Elisberg
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Re: Glenn Beck and "Agenda 21"

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Interbane wrote:I see this as intellectually disgusting, but it could be due to the fact that I disagree with the ideas.
In some ways, it is probably difficult to separate ideology from the action, though I suspect the action predominates your response. Let's take the other end of the spectrum and imagine that a story came out tomorrow that Rachel Maddow's book, Drift, had actually been written by someone else, and she just swept in, bought the rights and put her name on the cover as author. Would you find it intellectually disgusting? It would seem likely.

I'd also guess that the outrage on the far right would be more than that which we're seeing towards Agenda 21. In fairness, some of that might be because, whatever conservatives think of Rachel Maddow, they accept that she has a PhD and is a Rhodes Scholar, whereas liberals probably aren't terribly shocked by the story about Mr. Beck and Harriet Parke's novel.
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Re: Glenn Beck and "Agenda 21"

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Hi Robert! I really enjoyed your piece. I hadn't heard of the book before. The descriptions of it are tempting, but I don't feel comfortable putting money in Glenn Beck's pocket, honestly.

I think you're right that the outrage would be greater if it were Rachel Maddow. I'd attribute that to a strong anti-intellectual note that I often hear in Republican discourse, but where that note is coming from is hard to discern sometimes. As a writer, I'm kinda outraged by Beck's action, which seems dishonest to me. I hope Harriet Parke is seeing some serious royalties in exchange for letting someone else put his name on her hard work.
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Robert Elisberg
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Re: Glenn Beck and "Agenda 21"

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Catrambo,

Thanks. And I suspect you're right in part about anti-intellectualism. But also, I think we all simply have higher standards for those with credentials. But we're more likely to let pass the actions of those we have few expectations.

It's sort of like when the baseball player Manny Ramirez was on the Boston Red Sox. he was a truly wonderful hitter who had a sort of goofball reputation, often doing strange things (like once running inside the Fenway Park "Green Monster" wall between innings) that we would never tolerate from others. But after so many of them, he kept getting a pass with a shrug and the phrase, "Well, that's just Manny being Manny."
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Re: Glenn Beck and "Agenda 21"

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You have to feel for the audience of FOX. They want to "take back America" and their quest will fail. America is increasingly darker in complexion. Their religious beliefs are moving from dominant to one of many. Their politics of anger is no longer as dominant as well. This is unsettling and scary for many of them. Watching their fear on facebook through posts and posted pictures from right wing sites is something else to behold.
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Robert Elisberg
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Re: Glenn Beck and "Agenda 21"

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Pheidippides wrote:They want to "take back America" and their quest will fail.
That's a phrase that, indeed, we regularly hear, unrelentingly. Whenever I hear it, I tend to ask, "Okay, how far back?"

I suspect that the neighbors of Aristotle and Plato back in the days of Ancient Greece were saying, "I want my country back." Unfortunately, for better or worse, Life moves on and it, always seems to go forward.

Two years ago, I wrote a Huffington Post column about it being said today -- "The Noble 'I Want My Country Back' Thing." That's the link from thems what are interested.
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Re: Glenn Beck and "Agenda 21"

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That's a phrase that, indeed, we regularly hear, unrelentingly. Whenever I hear it, I tend to ask, "Okay, how far back?"
:happy2:

I'm using that. I've had the question posed before. I tell people that the country belongs to the future generations, not to them. If progress makes them uncomfortable, that is their issue, not the country's issue. For every 'con' of current society thrown out, an equally impactful 'pro' can be used as a counter. There's not enough time in the day to list all the 'pros', and there's no doubt they vastly outweigh the cons.
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.” - Douglas Adams
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