photo credit: P.S.Zollo

Glenn Beck has an obsession with so-called “9/11 Truthers”.

At least, that’s what one must assume upon watching how he references this hardly-cohesive group of individuals in a fear-induced hysteria that the media has, in recent years, perfected into an art form. On yesterday’s program, while discussing the recent murder of a Holocaust memorial museum security guard by “white supremacist” James von Brunn, Beck couldn’t help but pounce on the “9/11 Truthers” connection Brunn apparently has (because, you know, you get better ratings that way than if you were to use his old age to talk about the nation’s geriatric terrorist threat). Labeling him a “hero” of the movement, Beck goes so far as to claim that like Al-qaeda, those seeking truth regarding the events of 9/11 would like to destroy America.

Wait, what?

While certain individuals associated with the “9/11 Truth” movement have hardly done justice to their cause nor been the epitome of model citizens, Glenn Beck’s attempt to broad-brush and smear journalistic dung all over the quest for truth is quite telling. This is hardly the first time Beck has sought an opportunity to target the community with a loose reference from a singular event; based on his behavior, I’m guessing it won’t be the last. But what this pattern shows is a concerted effort—whether his own or handed down from his corporate masters—to discredit individuals who in essence want nothing more than answered questions.

Frankly, the political discussion in America has taken a beating from such a coordinated and calculated coup on open-minded discussion. Certain subjects have become so sacrosanct and covered in historical concrete that to posit anything different—or even simply raise counter arguments for discussion’s sake—is considered unpatriotic, treated as borderline treasonous, and labeled as hateful of America. This “Goebbels-style deception”, as then-Elder Benson called it, is exceptionally effective at pushing truth down the memory hole, furthering corruption-laden conspiracy in government, and pitting ignorant citizens against their freedom-loving countrymen. When the ability to ask honest questions to your peers and demand answers from your government is suppressed and ridiculed, then Republicanism and Patriotism have been killed off and replaced with their deceptive look-alikes Tyranny and Slavery.

I, too, have questions about 9/11. Only the most gullible of citizens would not, when presented with the government’s official explanation riddled with holes. But it is offensive for Mr. Beck to assert that I participate in any movement that seeks to destroy my countrymen and my country. It is likewise ludicrous for him to claim that Mr. von Brunn was considered a hero by “9/11 truthers” prior to his crime, as I myself had never even heard of him before. While I may be an exception to the rule, I cannot tolerate any attempt to use a single, unrelated crime and a deranged individual to derail a movement that wants nothing more than honesty and truth. Glenn Beck’s opportunistic journalism piss party does far more disservice to his integrity and patriotism than it does to the “9/11 Truth” movement.

In reality, this attack on the entire movement of “9/11 Truth” is as absurd as trying to use Chris Matthews’ self-admitted journalistic bias and corruption to then claim that everybody in the media has the same agenda and desire. Who knows, maybe Glenn Beck also secretly gets a thrill up his leg when he hears Obama speak. Seriously though, Mr. Beck is not Chris Matthews, just as Mr. von Brunn is not everybody else with unanswered questions about 9/11. One man’s random rampage does not speak for the peaceable, determined actions of another.

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