The glennbeckery of Glenn Beck

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The mega-assholery of Glenn Beck has been the subject of much attention from those who bother to pay attention to him, and thankfully there are those who do, because he needs to be exposed for what he is, and I have at least twice posted on him here at The Reaction -- see here and here. Why not more frequently? First, tracking Beck's mega-assholery -- and it is very much his essence -- requires a great deal of time and energy. I simply don't have either the time or the energy to waste on him. Second, I don't want to pollute my blog with too much of him. And even mentioning his name seems like too much of him. Third, we have the invaluable Media Matters, which has thankfully devoted a good deal of time and energy to tracking his mega-assholery, as you can see here.

But I began to wonder, as I sat down to write this third post on yet another of the many outbursts of his mega-assholery, what do I have against the asshole that I would liken it to Glenn Beck? After all, where would we be without our assholes? Call them what you will, they serve a useful and essential service -- and not just in one way, I might add (and leave it at that). As with the pussy, of which you can learn more here, the asshole needn't be used as a bad and insulting word. On the contrary, it ought to be liberated from such uses. It may have a bad reputation, but how can such a useful and essential thing really be so bad?

And so I will speak no more of the mega-assholery of Glenn Beck, nor of the assholery of his ilk.

But, then, what word to use? How to describe the essence of the Glenn Becks of the world?

Allow me to coin a new word: glennbeckery. As in, the glennbeckery of Glenn Beck. Does that make sense? Perhaps this will: the glennbeckery of Bill O'Reilly, the glennbeckery of Sean Hannity, the glennbeckery of Ann Coulter.

Or this: Today on Fox News, Michelle Malkin was even more of a glennbeck than usual.

Or this: John Gibson spewed glennbeckism after glennbeckism.

Or this: Rush Limbaugh exhibited his characteristic glennbeckitude.

Is this giving Beck too much credit? Does he really deserve his own neologism? Do we need to remind ourselves of him with a new word, with new words, in our vocabulary? No, maybe not. And this may be the one and only post in which I use them...

...until the next time I find the time and energy to blog about his essential glennbeckery.

(All I ask is this: Use these words yourselves. Try them out. Just remember to give credit where credit is due. Deal?)

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Do you all know the story of Debbie Shank? If not, here's Think Progress:

In 2000, then-Wal-Mart employee Debbie Shank was hit by a semi-truck, leaving her seriously brain-damaged and confined to a wheelchair. Wal-Mart covered her medical expenses until she won a settlement from the trucking company that left her $417,000 after legal fees.

Invoking a little-noticed clause in Shank’s contract that kicked in once she won a settlement with the trucking company, Wal-Mart sued the Shank family to recoup the medical expenses it had spent on her care, all $470,000.

Thankfully, if only because it was the target of intense criticism, including from the great Keith Olbermann, Wal-Mart dropped its lawsuit: "Occasionally others help us step back and look at a situation in a different way. This is one of those times... Wal-Mart will not seek any reimbursement for the money already spent on Ms. Shank’s care, and we will work with you to ensure the remaining amounts in the trust can be used for her ongoing care."

Wal-Mart is mostly evil, in my view, and was so here, but at least, at the very least, it did the right thing in the end. And we're all happy about that, right?

Wrong. Here's what Glenn Beck, exhibiting characteristic glennbeckery, said on his radio show yesterday:

This is blackmail. And yet Wal-Mart folds. You don't deal with terrorists? Really? You just did. You just dealt with economic blackmailers.

Yes, that's right, as evil as Wal-Mart may be, it's no match for Glenn "fuck the brain-damaged handicapped woman" Beck. And just who are these "terrorists"? The Shanks, of course, but even more so the media, and especially MSNBC. We all know there are some pretty dangerous (and genuine) terrorists out there, but Beck just lumps the Shanks right in there with them. Nice, eh?

Just another glennbeckinous glennbeckism from the glennbeckiest glennbeck of them all.