Is the Rhetoric Really Violent? by Brad Valentine

Is The Rhetoric Really Violent?

Glenn Beck is often accused of inciting violence with a certain violent rhetoric. How can someone make such accusations when Beck often says things such as, “I denounce those from the Left, the Right or middle, who call for riots and violence as an opportunity to bring down and reconstruct our system.” (http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/01/10/glenns-letter-to-the-american-people-politicians-and-media/). By boldly questioning and researching these accusations, one can easily find the truth and see there is nothing concrete about these false accusations.

Looking at who is actually affected by violent rhetoric, is important in learning how one could use it to incite violence. Only five percent of the population has a severe enough psychological disorder to be affected by violent rhetoric. ““After a lot of laboratory research, we believe that a person must be psychologically unbalanced for hateful or violent messages to motivate violent behavior.” (http://star.txstate.edu/content/violent-rhetoric-affects-those-already-prone-violent-acts). Five percent of the population is a very small amount, and not all of them listen to Glenn Beck. However Glenn Beck is still accused of inciting violence in his listeners.

“What constitutes violent political rhetoric is subjective. What constitutes political violence is more clear-cut,” Says Daniel Flynn. So if violent rhetoric is subjective then, anything could be interpreted as inciting violence, by anyone. I think it would be easier to measure how many violent acts Glenn Beck has committed, which is none by the way. There is the saying that “actions speak louder than words,” let’s follow that when analyzing Glenn Beck.

Glenn Beck often challenges his viewership by quoting Thomas Jefferson, “Question with boldness, even the very existence of God.” So why don’t we use his words and ask why would someone accuse Glenn Beck of inciting violence? Maybe it could be that they are from a liberal background, but that couldn’t be because Beck will often times critique people from both sides of the political spectrum, in an appearance on the television show The View, Beck explained to the women that he criticized Bill Clinton when he was in office and also criticized George W. Bush when he was in office.

Don’t get me wrong if you really don’t agree with the guy then that is fine, but he has every right to say what he wants.

Furthering the questioning, maybe Beck is just wrong about what he is telling his viewers? That may be true, but consider that Glenn Beck has been telling his viewers to have a dynamic investment portfolio. Specifically he has told his viewership to invest in gold. Looking at the prices of gold per ounce in the last five years, the price has doubled. Glenn Beck told his viewers that this would happen.

When the protests broke out in the middle east, Glenn Beck displayed a map on his television show, on this map he highlighted the countries that he theorized that the protests would spread. When he came out with this map he was called crazy. Then a few days later, many of the news stations came out with a map that was very similar. (Beck’s map: YouTube - Glenn Beck-01/31/11-B)(CNN’s Map: Unrest in the Middle East and Africa - Special Coverage on CNN.com) That’s two very important things to be right about, so your motive behind critiquing him can’t be because he is wrong.

Glenn Beck calls himself a “Paul Revere” like person, because he is just trying to make people realize what is going on in America. Glenn Beck is an effective speaker. He organized “Restoring Honor Rally” on August 8, 2010. In the rally he told the crowd to have faith in America. Glenn Beck is a caring individual, he often will donate to charity; he is known for crying on the air because he is very passionate for what he does. Maybe instead of tearing down his integrity as a person, we can debate him. I strongly believe that when people civilly debate something, we can learn from each other. Let’s not waste time by making false accusations and use our time productively by finding our own truth.