Freedom In America
Posted By Aaron Marcelli on December 17, 2009
A few days ago I watched Barbara Walter’s end of the year special where she lists the year’s ten most fascinating people. I was honestly pretty board with the list as it included no actors, few entertainers, and only one sports athlete. I really did not care that much to hear interviews with Jenny Sanford, Kate Gosselin, Sarah Palin, or the Jackson kids. I did however appreciate hearing from Tyler Perry, Lady Gaga, and Brett Farve. The list also included Adam Lambert and Michelle Obama, both of whom had compelling things to say. What I would like to write about here though is sparked from a quote on the show from Glenn Beck.
Now, I would consider Beck more of an entertainer than an expert on anything, but in his interview he came off as calm and almost level headed. He said, “I stand up for what I believe. When it’s hard to say the things I say, I say them because I believe them and if that makes me enemy number one in America then we’re lost aren’t we?”
Again I’m going to fall to the temptation to be political on this blog but it’s because my heart jumped when I heard the above words from Beck. Being totally honest, we all would have to say that our country as a whole has become very closed minded and intolerant of others. Not only do we contend with the opposition for trying to win others to their side, but we have come so far that we are not content with them having their own beliefs within their own homes. I remember growing up that music was a very hot button issue in my church and school. It was constantly argued about and most would get very upset and defensive, taking the discussions so personally as though to attack someone’s music was to attack that person themselves. That’s what I feel we have in our country today.
We are unable to detach people from the issues and cannot get past their party, belief, or religion to be willing to still sit down with them. Many criticized President Obama for traveling to meet with leaders across the world in his first days as president. Many slurred him for meeting with people who were of extremist religions or had possible terrorist ties. He was only sitting down and talking with them for goodness sake!
In reading about the health care bills being proposed in congress I was saddened as I read the republicans were celebrating voting a certain bill down and lumping all liberals as trying to destroy our system. Then some democrats attacked back and labeled all conservatives as stubborn and unwilling to compromise. Both parties were trying to make it sound like a win for their side. I got mad as I read how each party was apparently working harder to save face than solve the problem. I think it is a very bad thing that our party, religion, region, or the kind of people we hang out with are supposed to pretty much predict how we vote. What happened to every man is our brother first?
When dealing with racism we say you should see a person first and not a color. Well that has to work in every area. You should see a person first, not that that they’re liberal, Hindu, pro-life, homosexual, female, or poor. The attitude used to be that it’s ok that you’re republican, gay, Buddhist, whatever, as long as you don’t try to impose that on me. Well now it seems that it’s not even ok with me that you’re that way.
So being honest, I don’t care for Glenn Beck or much of what he has to say. But if what he said to Barbara Walters is his philosophy, then I whole heartedly agree with him! I mean, isn’t that what freedom is all about, the ability to choose? Because if simply giving your opinion and saying what you believe (whatever that is) causes you to be viewed as an enemy, then perhaps freedom is fleeting.
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11 Responses to “Freedom In America”
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Hey Aaron, I’ve been listening to Glenn Beck since around 2000. Initially he was an entertainer and his show was very much comedy driven. However, in the past few years his show, both radio and TV, have become more focused on presenting truth and facts. For example, he discovered the truth on Van Jones and his (Van Jones) self proclaimed communist views. He has exposed many people in the current White House Admin that hold Chairman Mao as their hero, NOT a good thing. So maybe more people should listen to and watch Glenn and see if they can disprove what he says. Most “news” stations won’t even mention one thing about who’s in the White House admin or how much control SEIU and Andy Stern have on WH agendas. Yet an “entertainer” is exposing who these corrupt people are. I would tend to agree with most of what you said in your blog, however you are mistaken in your view on Glenn Beck.
One more thing, Glenn Becks book “An Inconvenient Book” which was a contradiction to Al Gore’s book and movie came out a couple of years ago and factually showed the errors of Al Gore’s Global Warming scam. And now with the emails showing how Global Warming IS a scam and scientist are ‘manufacturing’ data to support their cause, here was an entertainer shedding light on the hoax of Global Warming and once again facts and truth will prevail, led by Glenn Beck’s research staff. So maybe you should spend some time listening to him and when you disagree with what he says, try to disprove him.
Thanks for your comments Kevin! Open discussion and the ability to have healthy dialogue and even disagreement is exactly what i had in mind when writing that post. I will be honest in that I have not given any of Beck’s shows or books much of a chance simply because i have little time and politics is not even one of my largest interests. I will assure you though that i read just as much from the right as i do the left and am disappointed that neither is as balanced as it claims to be. Much of what i have seen of Beck though i would classify as scare tactics and emotional appeals.
I have to strongly disagree with you though on the global warming issue. I still do not see how taking care of our environment became a party issue. some holes in one person (or groups) interpretation of science does not make the entire philosophy false.
Doing a little research on sea life and elevated climates such as snow melting to produce for farmers in western states show rather conclusive evidence. there are species in the oceans going extinct with no other reasonable cause than elevation changes over time in the deep seas and the earths temperature.
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I’m so tired of this, I wish he would just leave
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