Glenn Beck chose the date August 28, 2010 for his "Restoring Honor" rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Mostly, this was because it was the only weekend he wasn't already booked for a stand up routine (he remains a professional touring comedian when not a firebrand ultra-conservative talk and TV host). He was later informed that the date in question - and indeed, the location as well - were shared by one of the more important moments in American's history - Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech from August 28, 1963.
Since Mr. Beck couldn't reschedule - he is, after all, a very in-demand demagogue, earning over $23 million annually from his speaking tours, radio & TV shows, and book sales - he decided, and announced publicly and repeatedly, that "divine providence" had proscribed this historic date for him to deliver a speech of comparable importance to his civil rights predecessor. Somehow, between the date and the location, Abraham Lincoln (as a "conservative" republican "forefather") and Martin Luther King, Jr. (as an "anti-establishment" protester) became Beck's unlikely - and unwitting - accomplices in what was, in effect, an "orgy of self-promotion" (this quote from Christian Science Monitor, no less) bouyed by cheap one-liners about "restoring American honor," "turning back to God and Jesus," and "supporting the troops."
My full report (including some audio clips) of what I observed after 2.5 hours of wandering the crowd and listening to several speakers, country music bands, and lots - LOTS - of God references, will be posted in the upcoming days.
For now, I'd like to briefly address the "divine providence" argument of August 28. But rather than most other media orgs, I'm not focusing on the MLK link. This appears to be, by all accounts, 100% accidental on the part of the organizers. While that certainly makes them seem tragically uneducated in American history - a doubly-sad fact considering Mr. Beck's recent "Beck University" video blogs to help "reteach" American history with a focus on the "contributions of Conservative values" like McCarthyism and Jesus - in truth, focusing on the Beck-MLK link only adds credibility to what, in reality, is meaningless.
In other words, by scheduling the event on August 28, Beck - unwittinglying - made it more of a statement than he intended to. Rather than credit him for such a clever turn, I'd like to look at how he originally justified his selection of the date. OF course, saying that you had an open weekend and wanted to get a paid gig doesn't do much to motivate your fans, so he needed something else. Not knowing about the MLK connection, he went Biblical, and found a passage in Romans 8:28 that he felt called him - personally - to hold a rally at the Lincoln memorial on 8-28-10 (no idea where the "10" came from - seems likely to me that he could just as easily have been 5 years late or 50 years early on this "God message").
I will use the New American Bible, which I cannot be sure this is the same bible that Mr. Beck was quoting. Though raised a Roman Catholic, for whom the NAB is a common translation, Glenn Beck is a converted and active Mormon, and his bedside copy may read differently.
The cited verse reads, "We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose."
Pretty generic, frankly. If Mr. Beck places himself in the category of "those who love God," as he certainly spends lots of time proclaiming, then I can see how he could use this passage to suggest that holding a rally on August 28 (any year) - if done by him - should "work for good" assuming that what he is doing is "according to His purpose." In other words, if we assume that God wants white people to pay less taxes, then he should logically make Glenn Beck's 8-28 rally work out well.
The number of problems with this facetious argument are manifold, but rather than poke fun at them, I'll take a different track. Here are some alternative 8:28 passages that Mr. Beck could have chosen, and what they might have meant for the "divine providence" of his event:
Leviticus 8:28 - "When he had received them back, Moses burned them with the holocaust on the altar as the ordination offering, a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord."
Beck didn't sponsor any book burnings at the 8-28 event, but clearly if he gets his way most 20th century American text books will be going the way of the Pyre. How dare they not villify the anti-christ Woodrow Wilson!
Joshua 8:28 - "then Joshua destroyed the place by fire, reducing it to an everlasting mound of ruins, as it remains today."
Except for the secret desire to one day rule the country from his own throne, I get the impression that Glenn Beck wouldn't mind seeing DC go down in righteous flames a la Gamorrah or 1900s Chicago. His rhetoric makes clear, though, that if anything apocalyptic did happen to DC, it would only be because God wanted it to happen. Puts a new spin on the Pentagon 9/11 attack.
Matthew 8:28 - "When he came to the other side, to the territory of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him. They were so savage that no one could travel by that road."
'Demoniac' is an odd translation, more commonly phrased as "demon-possessed men." That is, they were not 'demons' per say, but regular men who had become overtaken by evil spirits. If modern-day 'evil spirits' are the lurking vestiges of racism, intolerance and attitudes of religious superiority, then this passage may be spot on. There were so many of these 'demoniacs' on the Mall on 8-28 that they had to - ironically - close down Independence (avenue).
Luke 8:28 - "When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him; in a loud voice he shouted, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me!"
One of the most disturbing things about listening to Glenn Beck speak is his obvious self-importance. The histrionics, the sudden tears and long 'introspective' pauses, all bely just how "consecrated" he believes his every word and action to be. He routinely plays the "underdog" card, and on many occasions talks - at length - about his own personal sacrifice and suffering - usually over watching the nation he loves rot and decay, certainly not through his own physical discomfort or poverty. I doubt that Glenn Beck sees himself as a modern day Jesus, but I know that he plays upon his audiences pro-Jesus affinity to better position himself by association. So I say unto him, "What have you to do with me, Glenn Beck, you of the Most High Self-Opinion? I beg you, do not torment me (further)!"
Mormon 8:28 (Book of Mormon) - "Pray for them, my son, that repentance may come unto them. But behold, I fear lest the Spirit hath ceased striving with them; and in this part of the land they are also seeking to put down all power and authority which cometh from God; and they are denying the Holy Ghost."
Indeed, the Tea Partiers are looking to put down all power and authority, not from God but from the very same founding documents of this country's Constitution that they claim to uphold. Handouts about rewriting the 14th amendment (the one that ended Slavery and guaranteed universal citizenship) were one of many examples from the 8-28 rally. That's not just Conservative, repealing anti-slavery legislation is remarkably reactionary. As one DC blogger commented, in reference to the Rally organizers advising attendees not to venture onto the Green metro line for reasons of personal safety, they would have come all the way to Washington and not been able to see their beloved document in person, as it is stored in the National Archives on the Green line.
Alma 8:28 (Book of Mormon) - "And it came to pass that the people did wax more gross in their iniquities"
Amen to that. Between calls for an end to social services and "we support Arizona" anti-immigration T-shirts, the rally was a focal point of truly gross sentiments of American iniquity.
More to come from the field,
Weber
::(lame)Texpatriot
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