Following on the heels of Rush Limbaugh in the annals of right-wing talk radio in America, was Glenn Beck. In fact, Limbaugh took “credit” for Glenn Beck. “Glenn Beck is a result of my success,” claimed Limbaugh And he might be right.
The September 11, 01 attack on America by Al Qaeda followed a couple of years later in 203 by an American led invasion of Iraq, together, supercharged the right-wing in America. They had a new enemy for their gospel of hate. And the pundits of right-wing talk radio were in heaven. George W. Bush pushed the war as a “just war” to destroy weapons of mass destruction and to prevent another attack on America. He said that, and Americans believed it, despite the fact that Iraq had no such weapons and the United States had more of such weapons than the rest of the world combined. Only America and a select few other countries, has the right to such weapons. Everyone else’s use of them is somehow illegitimate.
Paranoia like that which has engulfed the United States leads to such magisterial leaps in logic. And the American right wing feasted on such claims. They saw American acting in rightful defense from attack by a dangerous other. A follower of Satan. It was a battle of civilizations and religions against each other. The Americans also believed naively that the people of Iraq would immediately drop their weapons and turn on their own leaders as soon as they caught a glimpse of the righteous leaders of America.
As Glenn Beck, one right wing commentator said, “I truly believe that these Mullahs are far worse than Hitler. Hitler was crazy evil. I believe these guys are biblically evil.” He also said, Nancy Pelosi and her acolytes want us to lose in Iraq. They want there to be chaos in Afghanistan. They want this. They’re rooting against their own country.”
The Dixie Chicks (later called “the Chicks”), until then were one of the most successful bands in America but when their leader said they were “disappointed in the president of the United States,” they were cancelled around the country. Radio stations across the country banned their music. Some radio stations hired steam rollers to crush their CDs. Some set up fires to burn their CDs and they became a favoured villain on American talk radio. All that for saying they were disappointed in their president!
Yet thousands of people also protested against the war on terror launched by George W. Bush. Glenn Beck organized a rally against those who opposed the war and their perceived “liberal” allies. He called these “rallies for America” and dozens were held across the country. Beck said Americans should pay more attention to the torture chambers organized by Iraq then spending so much time criticizing the American president. The rallies were huge in many America cities. There were more than 100 such events in America and Canada. Thousands of people waved little America flags. One of them at one of these rallies had a tattoo of the twin towers burned across his entire back.
The devoted followers of American right-wing extremists were ecstatic. They had a new enemy to replace the evil communists who had been successfully defeated, only of course to rise again in the form of right-wing populists or right-wing dictators.