Saturday, April 9, 2011

Glenn Beck Transitioning Out of His Daily Show

I don’t know how many of you feel about Glenn Beck. He is controversial and, agree with him or not, he evokes strong emotions in everyone who watches him. I have very close friends, whose opinions I hold in high regard, that have completely opposite views about him. 

Some think he is absolutely right and serving a valuable purpose in alerting the public to what is going on in the world. Others think he is a conspiracy monger and con man who has found a niche scaring people and feeding off of their fears. Personally, I have seen both qualities in him at different times. 

Frankly, I used to like his concentration on history (something I think people should know more about). Unfortunately, I have heard him misrepresent and/or take historical facts out of context, or out of order, to support his theories and I find that unforgivable.

Now it appears that Glenn may be “transitioning” out of his daily program. Here is the announcement that appeared on his website theblaze.com: (Strangely, this was later taken down but the same announcement was later reported in both the New York Times and the Huffington Post and then it was confirmed by Glenn, himself, on his show)

FOX NEWS AND MERCURY RADIO ARTS ANNOUNCE NEW AGREEMENT

(New York, NY) Fox News and Mercury Radio Arts, Glenn Beck’s production company, are proud to announce that they will work together to develop and produce a variety of television projects for air on the Fox News Channel as well as content for other platforms including Fox News’ digital properties. Glenn intends to transition off of his daily program, the third highest rated in all of cable news, later this year.
One thing about him, he gets people to watch. For the 27 months that “Glenn Beck” has aired on Fox News, the program has averaged more than 2.2 million total viewers. That number includes 563,000 viewers 25-54 years old. That is more like shows airing in primetime, not at 5pm.

It has been reported that conservative thought leaders had become more and more circumspect of Beck’s conspiratorial theories and “end of days” rhetoric, which lead some to theorize that his days at the cable news leader may in fact be numbered. I tend to agree and I have heard several of my friends, even his most ardent supporters, say similar things.

When he made this announcement, Glenn said he had never wanted to do his daily show, but he chose to do it because he felt the American people needed to have their eyes opened so they could see and prepare for the terrible times that are coming.  He has consistently talked about the doom and gloom to come. He generally stopped short of actually predicting it, or saying that anything would definitely happen at a certain time, but he points to things happening, connects them with other events and talks about how, together, all these things are indicators of how people and groups of various extremists (left wingers, progressives, Communists, Jadahists, etc...) are working to change the world and destroy our way of life. In the shows I have watched (admittedly not many) I have counted 3 times he actually predicted the complete and impending collapse of the stock market and talked about how he has gotten out, sold his stocks and bought gold. A great many people believed him and did the same thing, only to see the stock market bounce back. 

He just goes too far. He has uncovered and pointed out some very interesting and important facts, but he has waived the conspiracy flag way too much. I will not miss him all that much, mainly because I do not watch all that much.  I think there is a good chance that, once he is off the air on a daily basis (if he actually stays off), the phenomenon that is "Glenn Beck" will quickly become a faded memory and his name will become a synonym for "conspiracy theory". -And for those of my friends that watch him regularly and are disappointed, don't worry about him too much -in the time he has been on the air he has been extraordinarily successful. He has a syndicated radio program, a powerful website, several best selling books, and commands speaking fees which could payoff California's debt problem... He will be fine.




Live Long and Prosper...

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