This is one of the best rebuttals to Glenn Beck I've read in a long time. James Poniewozik writes on Time's blog Tuned In:
You can make your own judgments about the platform of Nine Principles and Twelve Values that Beck has tied to the anniversary of a heinous mass murder. But as someone who happened to be in New York City eight years ago today, the implicit premise of the 9-12 Project—that those who aren't on Beck's side must have somehow "forgotten" 9/11 and its aftermath—ticks me off royally and personally.
I was at home in Brooklyn, holding my six-week-old baby on the couch, when I saw the second plane crash into the World Trade Center on TV. I watched the smoking pit of the ruins from the roof of my apartment building as bits of memo paper and ash drifted on the winds to my neighborhood. I was there on 9/11, and 9/12, and 9/13. You'll excuse me if I don't feel warm nostalgia for the lingering smell of burnt airplane fuel, and metal, and bodies.
[...]
You want to bring back the feeling of national unity and civility, Glenn Beck? You could start by not using this tragedy as your personal political platform.
Too bad Beck won't read this. And even if he did, he wouldn't care.
It's worth noting that my parents had an excellent LTE in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
HEALTH CARE REFORM
We need the Obama who was the candidate
We were enthusiastic supporters of candidate Barack Obama; we saw him as the agent for change that America so badly needs.
But now, for many reasons, we are concerned that he has succumbed to business as usual in Washington, D.C., not the least of which is his apparent capitulation on real health care reform.
Candidate Obama eloquently explained why we need significant health care reform, yet President Obama now seems ready to abandon real reform to pander to the health insurance lobby and the politicians who they have bought. Far too many members of Congress are funded by the health insurance industry, and they are ignoring what is good for the country in favor of what is good for their campaign coffers.
A true leader for change would call those politicians out for what they are. A true leader for change would call the Republicans out for being opposed to all health care reform and for their campaign of lies and fear-mongering. A true leader for change would not sell his soul for a single Republican vote. A true leader for change would fight for what is right even if the fight is hard and he runs the risk of losing. A true leader for change would use the bully pulpit of the presidency to get the real health care reform that America needs, including a public option, an employer mandate, a prohibition on denying coverage based on preexisting conditions and a prohibition on raising rates or canceling coverage when people get sick.
Where is the true leader for change we believed in, supported and voted for?
I was incredibly proud when I read this. And I was disgusted when I found out that mom received a threatening--and no doubt frightening--phone call from someone who had read their LTE.
The kind of thuggery felt by my parents is no doubt the result of Beck's "we surround them" rants and vituperation. If Beck were serious about his calls for unity and civility he might want to start by condemning and disowning the despicable and dangerous behavior of some of the people who watch his TV show.
It might also be good to remember that, between 9/12 and 9/14 there were "more than 300 reports of harassment and abuse ... nearly half the number [The Council on American-Islamic Relations] received all last year."
And of course, there were things like this:
In Mesa, Arizona, a man was charged with first-degree murder Sunday in connection with a series of shootings that police said could be a racially-motivated response to last week's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
Mesa police said Francisco Roque, 42, was being held on a $1 million bond in the killing of Balbir Singh Sodhi, 49, a Chevron gas station owner. Sodhi, from Punjab, India, was shot to death while doing landscaping outside his business Saturday afternoon.
My fear is that Beck's 9/12 project is more about fear and division--things that were certainly present on 9/12 than unity and strength--also things that were present on 9/12. And, while I do not believe that Beck wants violence, I do believe that, if he carried his beliefs to their logical conclusion, he'd see the ugly side of 9/12 as clearly as I.
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