Jim Wallis responds to Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck recently attacked churches that believe in social justice (which, as far as I know, would be any church that follows the teachings of scripture) and urged Christians to leave their churches if social justice is a stated value. Jim Wallis of Sojourners Magazine suggested that perhaps Christians should leave Glenn Beck. Beck responded by issuing this creepy threat to Wallis and then followed up by devoting an entire segment to smearing Wallis.
Wallis has now given a thorough and even response to Beck. Beck is way out of his league on this one.
This stuff is, in my opinion, important to follow. Beck has influence over vast numbers of people. Yet he has evolved into more or less a propagandist and promoter for an extreme strain of conservatism which is based on the writings of Mormon conspiracy theorist Cleon Skousen.
Extremists have used mass media as a propaganda tool for as long as there has been mass media. If you read the Wikipedia entry on Propaganda techniques you will pretty much see Beck's entire playbook spelled out. Propaganda is repeatedly used as a tool to influence the masses because it is effective. Talk radio shows in Rwanda, for example, played a large role in inciting the mobs to violence and genocide through the use of propaganda.
I don't think the Christian response to people like Beck ought to be to just ignore them and hope they go away. We are called to speak truth to power and right now Beck is a very powerful voice that is propigating a very warped message about America, Christianity and "social justice".
Wallis has now given a thorough and even response to Beck. Beck is way out of his league on this one.
This stuff is, in my opinion, important to follow. Beck has influence over vast numbers of people. Yet he has evolved into more or less a propagandist and promoter for an extreme strain of conservatism which is based on the writings of Mormon conspiracy theorist Cleon Skousen.
Extremists have used mass media as a propaganda tool for as long as there has been mass media. If you read the Wikipedia entry on Propaganda techniques you will pretty much see Beck's entire playbook spelled out. Propaganda is repeatedly used as a tool to influence the masses because it is effective. Talk radio shows in Rwanda, for example, played a large role in inciting the mobs to violence and genocide through the use of propaganda.
I don't think the Christian response to people like Beck ought to be to just ignore them and hope they go away. We are called to speak truth to power and right now Beck is a very powerful voice that is propigating a very warped message about America, Christianity and "social justice".
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home