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Glenn Beck on Science

Denver

Penultimate Amazing
Denver
Joined
Sep 8, 2007
Messages
10,015
Is this a new focus area by Mr Beck?

His radio show announced earlier today, as far as I recall the wording: "The Glenn Beck Show - The best source for Science and science-related information".

Later, they were playing and ridiculing line-by-line some neck-line-slimmer product commercial.

I've heard him make fun of a lot of things, but never something so easy and non-political. I know he considers himself an entertainer and comedian, but his radio show is usually 100% political commentary (directly or indirectly). Now this sciency thing: I'm not sure what the deal is.
 
Certainly his attention to detail and his perfectionist's attitude toward researching his subjects will make his science-based commentary a worthy diversion from his bailiwick... whatever that might be.
 
Beck misrepresents something in every segment he does. The trick is to figure out what aspect isn't true.
 
Upchurch said:
Beck misrepresents something in every segment he does. The trick is to figure out what aspect isn't true.
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nooo...i think you got that backwards. the trick is to figure what..if anything..is true.

=)
 
Well, later in the show, he went on to advertise his "Common Sense" comedy tour. So maybe that sciency shift is sort of a subtle advertisement.

If I were to slip on my deviantdevious-thinking cap, I might wonder if his consultants had told him, look, if you're only make fun of political things, then you only get the (shrinking) audience that agrees with your political perspective. If you expand your topic sphere, maybe you can grab some more ears and stop the ratings slide? And with more ears, more chance to evangelize your others issues?

Or, it was just to advertise his tour. That's probably the simplest explanation.
 
Denver said:
His radio show announced earlier today, as far as I recall the wording: "The Glenn Beck Show - The best source for Science and science-related information".
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I can understand why some people have a problem with Beck, but that quote is said tongue in cheek. He's not being serious, and he's not expecting his listeners to take him seriously about that.
 
Ziggurat said:
I can understand why some people have a problem with Beck, but that quote is said tongue in cheek. He's not being serious, and he's not expecting his listeners to take him seriously about that.
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I wondered about that too. But he talks so much about the environment and the science behind global warming, I was wondering just how cheek-toungey it was really meant.
 
Denver said:
I wondered about that too. But he talks so much about the environment and the science behind global warming, I was wondering just how cheek-toungey it was really meant.
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His approach should probably be thought of more as mocking other media coverage of science issues. Sort of like the conceit that the Daily Show is presenting news. You might find reason to object to what Beck says within those segments, but that setup quote for the segment is facetious.
 
Ziggurat said:
His approach should probably be thought of more as mocking other media coverage of science issues. Sort of like the conceit that the Daily Show is presenting news. You might find reason to object to what Beck says within those segments, but that setup quote for the segment is facetious.
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I was looking around some more, and apparently this is not a new thing for him. I am finding severals articles on a quick google, all which begin with "Glenn Beck: Spotlight on Science", and at the end say: "You've been listening to Spotlight on Science, exclusively heard on the Glenn Beck program. America's number one source for science and science-related items.

Here are the first few I found:

February 2, 2009: Porn 'research'

March 16, 2009: Obama wants your thermostat

May 4, 2009: Spotlight on Science

May 28, 2009: Science -It's just that easy to be green!

The gist of the articles is generally Beck's perspective on Obama's and the goverments incorrect spending or agenda regarding science.

So I don't think they are being facetious with that quote as categorizing their view of these Beck articles.
 
It's Glen Beck. He's like Sean Hannity but less funny. Don't you just start at the bottom and work your way up on the food chain of lies?
 
Denver said:
So I don't think they are being facetious with that quote as categorizing their view of these Beck articles.
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I listen to Beck occasionally on my morning drive (not much radio choice around here), so I've gotten used to his style. He's frequently very self-effacing, especially in regards to his own intelligence. While the opinions within each segment might be serious, the whole "America's number one source for science and science-related items" is quite definitely not. He knows he's not really a source of science information (what he does present isn't really about the science as such, but about government policy in regards to science). That statement is yet another way to poke fun at himself precisely because of the image he's constructed of himself as only being of modest intelligence. It's intended to be ironic, and his regular listeners will recognize it as such.
 
Ziggurat said:
I can understand why some people have a problem with Beck, but that quote is said tongue in cheek. He's not being serious, and he's not expecting his listeners to take him seriously about that.
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In satire, the audience must know you are being satirical. In Beck's case, confusion rampant so he fails as a satirist.
 
KingMerv00 said:
In satire, the audience must know you are being satirical. In Beck's case, confusion rampant so he fails as a satirist.
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And the charge that somebody tried to be funny and failed is, well, not really that damning. If you want to get upset at Beck for something, there are far better candidates than this.
 
Ziggurat said:
And the charge that somebody tried to be funny and failed is, well, not really that damning.
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It is when they think they're a comedian. Come to think of it, that's the only damning thing one could say, professionally, about a comedian.
 
Beck and Hannity are both boobs. But Beck is at least marginally entertaining. Anyone seen that nightly "Liberal Translation" segment Hannity does, with the circus music? I don't think anything could be less funny, and I tend towards the conservative side.
 
Ysidro said:
It is when they think they're a comedian.
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But he's not. He's an entertainer, which isn't the same thing. The most damning thing you can say about an entertainer is that they're boring.
 
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