Who Do I Trust? Certainly Not Glenn Beck

Growing up in Washington you can't help but be exposed to politics. Everything you see on your local news eventually ties into government; almost all of the local newspapers have some news item dealing with national policy or what the government (local, state and federal) maybe planning for the near term. In short you can't go anywhere without hearing a political opinion (either for or against whatever it is you stand for). That being said it's no wonder that being in this area also exposes you to lots of political shows. You get to see both ends of the spectrum, ultra-liberal or staunch-conservative. Very rarely do you see anything in between simply because unless it's scandalous or angry (or provocative) you're not likely to get viewers which is why commentators (in the guise of news reporters) like Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck and the like all seem to do so well depending on what party is in control of the government.

Over the last decade or so though things have taken a turn for the worse in my opinion. Not only do you have increasingly angry attacks on opposition party members by both sides but you also have rhetoric being spewed to the point that it truly has become an 'us versus them' mindset in every part of society. Now I grant you that there are definitely extremes in portions of the government but it's come to the point now that I'm almost afraid to identify my political leanings or affiliations (and note that I said almost). Given the proper arena I will jump into a political discussion if that's what it's going to be; a discussion. I'm not interested in a shouting match or name calling or anything that resembles a schoolyard. I finished school lo these many years ago and I'm not in a rush to return to those days.

But lately it's come to the point that if the Democrats are saying it then Republicans will treat it like the plague and vice versa. Rather than seeking to bridge the divide, political pundits like Beck and the rest are seeking to sow the seeds of divide and further erode the sanity that at times can permeate the government. Take for example a recent commentary by Glenn Beck regarding the H1N1 virus (more commonly known as swine flu). In this commentary, Beck talks about how he's a little skeptical of what the government is telling him in regard to the swine flu vaccine. He indicates that he is not very trusting of the people (read that to mean the government or liberal..mainstream media) who say that this virus could be so deadly that it could lead to as many deaths as past flu epidemics.

However, if you read Beck's commentary he says that he doesn't trust the government and he doesn't trust the experts who are on television or in the news saying that the vaccine works but he doesn't want to trust them. Because (get this), there has been too much lying and misinformation being spread by the government and the media in the last few years. So is Beck using this statement as a referendum against the Bush Administration (which has proven to have falsified it's statements regarding the justification of the Iraq War) or the Obama Administration which has been in power for a scant 8 months? I'll let you decide that one. But what I see more and more these days is that Republicans are starting to listen to these so-called experts as being voices for the 'true' conservative experts in America. If you believe that then I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.

David Brooks, a columnist for the New York Times and a former liberal who 'saw the light' and turned conservative (though not radically conservative) recently wrote an editorial on this very subject. In it he wrote that the major problem for the Republican Party is that they have aligned themselves increasingly with these media personalities and take their rhetoric to be the voice of the people. What ever happened to actually going out and asking your constituents? If Republicans (and Democrats with their own media personality favorites) want to listen to people who are in actuality more like bloggers but with a truer and more prominent forum then I see that as a sign of a truly lazy bunch of people in the government.

I mean if we start hearing politicians encouraging people to avoid being immunized against swine flu because they don't trust their government or the medical community (not apparently divided into the mainstream and 'normal' medical communities as yet) then I feel we're on the verge of a true epidemic. In his commentary, Beck doesn't come out and say that he's been immunized (and the fact that he points out that that is a private concern of his and his family leads me to believe that he has indeed been immunized or at least plans to do so) leads me to conclude that he is a hypocrite. If you don't trust your government or medical doctors to not get immunized then don't. What I see happening is that a growing number of idiots (and there's no other word for them) will refuse to immunize and then the spread of the virus will be worse. Rather than attempting to protect and inform the public through their forums, people like Beck will cause more harm than good. Is this news that's fair and balanced... or just genocidal?