As you all may be aware, Glenn Beck had a rally. In an attempt to "Restore America" he rallied an argued 25,000 to 500,000 people in a frothy festival of fury. My uncle wrote a blog entry regarding this stating that the attendees should not really the focus of our concern but the monetary issues from the situation.
What I read and took from the event infuriated me to the point of writing and submitting the following letter to Mr. Glen Beck;
Mr. Beck,
I will not pretend to be a subscriber to your ideology. I will not pretend to be a fan of yours. While I am not usually one to write angry letters to pendents and puppets, I must say that what you and others in your industry are doing is hurting this country. Based on the dialogues on your show and your soapbox speeches you seem to be arguing and touting that to be an effective American president you must be a devoutly religious and observant Christian. As a non-Christian American, I find what you are saying and attempting to push frightening and reminiscent of dangerous times in my people's past. As a Jew I am constantly wary of those who are ardently inflammatory and who would provide a scapegoat to bind people together in hate. By calling into question the President's religious beliefs: beliefs that, from our country's inception were considered personal and sacrosanct, and making reference to the possibility that he is a Muslim, you are playing upon the ignorance of the misled masses for your own political goals. Your program and other Fox and conservative media outlets have increasingly vilified Muslims throughout the world to the point of inciting violence. What you and yours are doing is blatant Antisemitism. The stream of anti-Muslim behavior and sentiment is, in portion, your direct fault and you need to realize the damage you are doing. We are a society of different perspectives, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hinduism, Atheist, Conservative, Liberal and all points in between. Fox's "News" services and other conservative outlets have been acting since they began as a wedge to drive neighbors to hate each other and not participate in rational discussion in attempt to make America a better place for her citizens. The amount of hate and passively accepted ignorance in this country has risen to the point where you and other Americans who allow themselves to be led by you should be ashamed of yourselves. What I saw of your recent rally was a shining example of this mass ignorance and hate. Unfortunate people are so misinformed by shows like yours that they not only are driven to hate and spew the same lies that you push through the airwaves but also lose their savings on worthless imitation gold.
The fact that you, and I am referring to the entire conservative media base, have focused so much on the President's religious views is a breach of his civil rights and a return to a much darker time. I would give you a quote to think upon that shows my point. This quote is from one of my favorite Presidents, Abraham Lincoln: "The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession... My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer and stronger with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them." Did this make him a horrible President or one who was rational enough to not enforce his views on the public or let his own religious views dictate his policy? I would have you take a look at a rather amazing article by Ali A. Rizvi entitled, Barak Obama: Closeted Non-Believer? where the quote is also mentioned.
I hope for all of our sake that we make it through this time of hate and mistrust and come to an understanding but to get there, you will have to let go of your hate.
Sincerely,
Andrew Kornblatt
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