I spoke to my friend Chloe last night who covered the Glenn Beck rally in Washington DC for Al-Jazeera. We discussed how the existence and prominence of lunatics like Beck genuinely mystifies us. Why is it that American politics (not exclusively, but in particular among democratic countries I think) is such a breeding ground for ignorance and intolerance and hyperbole and blatant scaremongering (Obama is a Muslim etc etc)?
It reminded me of this classic article by Richard Hofstadter (which Nick Kristof gently alluded to in his column which I posted below re. the 'Ground Zero Mosque'). It's well worth a read, and I think his theory has held up since he wrote in 1964.
Michael Tomasky has also written an insightful piece on the mentality of the Beck movement.
31 August 2010
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