NY Times calls Glenn Beck feminine, compares him to Oprah Winfrey
By: Patrick Roberts | Published Wednesday, September 29, 2010, 5:40 PM | Updated Friday, September 9, 2011, 9:50 PM
I have heard
Glenn Beck compared to many people, some flattering, some not so but never
Oprah WInfrey.
However, the Sunday
New York Times magazine says that Beck is secretly a Winfrey wannabe and that there is "something feminine about Beck — the soft features, the crying on the air, the reflexive vulnerability."
Glenny Beck effeminate, gay even, is that what The Times are hinting at?
Beck's staff love the comparison to Winfrey, as does Beck himself apparently.
They point to the fact that Beck has more female viewers than other right wing hosts and that they feel he understands them better than most men.
“Part of Oprah’s appeal is that people see her as a real person,” Joel Cheatwood, the Fox executive who initially brought Beck to
CNN’s Headline News and then to Fox told The Times.
“She has struggled with her weight; she is open about it. Glenn is not a pretty boy. He comes off as a regular guy who has also been open about his struggles.It sets him apart from the standard, testosterone-addled rant artists of cable and talk radio."
Just when you thought you might have figured out the Glenn Beck role in American life, the hard nosed evangelist for the Tea Party movement, along comes this interpretation, that it is really all about his soft feminine side and how he wants to be Oprah.
The only comparison I see is that they both like to talk about themselves endlessly and
America finds that fascinating enough to tune in in their millions.
And they both laugh all the way to the bank.
25 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.IrishAndProud | Oct 11, 2010, 12:06 AM EDT
The NYTimes is completely irrelevant, as a national force, anymore -- and what they say about anyone is moot. They're either spewing the same leftist rhetoric that has relegated them to the ignored fringe, or (rarely) they're belatedly acknowledging what everyone else already knows (the re-ascendancy of conservatism in the USA) and trying to minimize it, at that. They're dinosaur media, and going extinct, fast. Newsweek (another lib rag) just recently sold for ONE DOLLAR, for crying out loud. A kid with a lemonade stand in foreclosure could have bought them. These are the dire straights that the old media find themselves in nowadays, in this age of the internet where they simply can no longer exclusively control what people see and hear (a time not that long ago, really -- I remember it well). And the most poetically just part of it all? The common people themselves are doing them in, because after all, it is they who watch/buy/listen to the news, and provide any outlet with its financial backbone. Without the people, you're sunk. And the people are NOT on the side of the leftist media, and never really were. It's just that now they have other avenues -- and they're taking them in droves.
Monsoonman | Oct 07, 2010, 08:38 PM EDT
I am not sure what you speak of my friend, we have anti trust laws on the books, if the govt. enforces them like it is supposed to do and stays out of the way the capitalist system works well. It rewards success and punishes failure. Very simple. In the liberal mindset nobody loses and outcomes are based to be equal. This insures everybody loses...
seanomelbourne | Oct 07, 2010, 07:45 PM EDT
I think you miss the point Mman. Enlighten me to the difference between fair return and corporate greed? As i pointed out the middle class and small business are held hostage by banks and corporations.They increase their prices with impunity forcing small business to pass it on to everyone else. How tight do you have to be squeezed my friend before you cry enough!enough!
Monsoonman | Oct 07, 2010, 02:16 AM EDT
Lad, I am not an advocate of price controls, let the market determine the prices. But you seem to be advocating that sort of behavior by saying greed is anti business. So do you invest in companies that think profit is a terrible word? When you were a businessman did you think profit was evil??
seanomelbourne | Oct 07, 2010, 12:35 AM EDT
Are you advocating price control Mman? Do we have to live (again) the corporate greed which almost ruined America and by proxy the rest of us.Surely banking and corporate boards should be accountable to the rest of society.Greed is anti business anti social and unnecessary for good corporate governance and fair dividends. I'm over 60 and lived through a number of boom/bust scenarios. The poor/middle class and small business are the only ones who suffer in these scenarios,yet when the Obama administration tries to pass laws to protect the above your right wing mates filibuster/castigate and call on their middle class voters to protest.I don't think you see whats happening here.YOU ARE VOTING FOR THEM TO PROTECT THEIR STATUS QUO and where doe's that leave you.Maybe the GOP can fool most of their supporters all of the time.
maloney | Oct 06, 2010, 10:11 PM EDT
communism = uniform & gun. socialism = no uniform & no gun. progressive = socialist. If it walks & quacks like a duck, it's a duck. ducks do come in different colors but they're still ducks. It's not that complicated, just different degrees.
Monsoonman | Oct 06, 2010, 09:24 PM EDT
Lad, I am not differentiating systems, I am just trying to come to grips with the mindset is all. How a socialist can condemn capitalism, yet at the same time reap the benefits of the capitalist system and get rich off of it, or at least make a nice living...Yet can attack business as greedy. Doesn't a "greedy" business mean a profit for the shareholders and added value to the stock and quarterly dividends? Don't people who are invested in oil companies want the price of oil to go higher so they can make more money? I personally know trust brats who are total liberals/socialists, yet they loved it when oil went to 150bbl and caused suffering to the rest of us. I know others who were invested in car manufacturers and loved it when gm could make a 14K profit on one minivan...doesn't that seem like an obscene amount of profit to a fair minded liberal? Shouldn't the prices be controlled so that sort of profit can't be made?
seanomelbourne | Oct 06, 2010, 07:10 PM EDT
Monsoonman! maybe if you differentiate between socialism,liberal democracies and communism and not like Maloney and lump every system you dislike into a convenient basket, therefore negating your need to understand various political systems and how they work.
maloney | Oct 06, 2010, 06:49 PM EDT
Soros comes to mind in the world of liberal socialists who manipulate for his own ends. He'll destroy entire economies to line his pockets.
Monsoonman | Oct 06, 2010, 10:51 AM EDT
I don't know lad, it seems there are Socialists or socialists. It seems that Socialists don't like corporations because they are greedy, but at the same time, it seems some socialists are more equal than others through the usage of corporations/capitalism to enrich themselves. Seems a bit hypocritical to this neutral observer.
seanomelbourne | Oct 05, 2010, 07:48 PM EDT
Monsoonman!!do socialist invest in corporations? It depends on how narrow your view is of socialism. You deem all left leaning governments to be socialist,yet they have vibrant stock markets and liberals (like myself)buy and sell shares.You need to pull yourself out of the 1930s and understand modern liberalism. As far as justifying atheism maybe you should remember that most atheist were once religious and do have a background knowledge of various religions it helps us come to a decision on which way to travel,a decision not made lightly i might add.
Monsoonman | Oct 04, 2010, 09:06 PM EDT
Lad, it seems atheists are more up on the technicalities of religion than the main stream religionists are. Probably due to defending/justifying themselves. How did the muslims and animists do?...Sorry Seano, the seiu love train left for dc without me, I am not a card carrying member of the communist party or public employee union so i was not going to get a free ride. Do socialists invest in corporations?
maloney | Oct 04, 2010, 11:29 AM EDT
Or Becks rally had at least 3 times the turnout of the one nation rally.
maloney | Oct 03, 2010, 07:30 PM EDT
Why no mention of the ONE NATION rally here on IC when all of the IC staff were at the rally? Not radical enough? To politically correct for comment?
seanomelbourne | Oct 03, 2010, 06:36 PM EDT
Monsoonman the piece I read never mentioned snake-handlers.I am succored you recognise us atheists as the most intelligent.Were you at the Washington march?
Monsoonman | Oct 03, 2010, 01:00 PM EDT
Yes lad the atheists came in first place overall. They scored highest on the essay question section, which gave them a commanding lead. But buried in the report which I found interesting, was that on the multiple choice part of the quiz, the Fundamentalist Christian Snake-Handlers won hands down. Next time you post something as a fact, please provide all of the pertinent information.
seanomelbourne | Oct 02, 2010, 11:44 PM EDT
A recent survey in the U.S. asked 3400 people Dorothy Dixer questions on various religions e.g. what religion was Mother Teresa or what did God give to Moses on the mount. Atheists,agnostics and Jews topped the list as "most knowledgeable".The Beck and Palin" show, the last thing we need is another pair of failed Yankee comics.Monsoonman if God existed it would be a wonderful world.
maloney | Oct 02, 2010, 03:51 PM EDT
I hear Beck & Palin are going to Australia together to convert the heathens & build the tea party for the enlightened masses.
Monsoonman | Oct 02, 2010, 01:35 PM EDT
A confused lad: Meet the parents. Mom a devout 7th Day Adventist, who dutifully spent days cold calling knocking on peoples doors preaching her religion. Dad, a confirmed atheist, whose door got knocked on by Mom. One thing lead to another with mom getting knocked up and a lad being born. He grew up with a tremendous desire to knock on doors, but when the door would open, he would stand there speechless, not knowing what to say.
Monsoonman | Oct 02, 2010, 01:18 PM EDT
Does a "false" christian offend an atheists sensibilities and sense of fair play more than a "genuine" christian...jes askin'....Seems to me that in the liberal/atheistic world they both belong in the same category, but what do I know....Maybe they're practicing "fake it til they make it" mentality.
maireadinmelb | Oct 02, 2010, 09:30 AM EDT
and by writing about it Pat you give him more publicity, we can only hope if we ignore him he may go away!!!
seanomelbourne | Oct 02, 2010, 02:01 AM EDT
I wonder if Oprah is a reformed drunk/druggo born again false christian like beck.
kell7757 | Sep 30, 2010, 05:54 PM EDT
A glimpse inside the twisted thinking of a liberal journalist. Obsessing about Glenn Beck sexually and attacking his sexuality. Creepy.
Monsoonman | Sep 30, 2010, 09:50 AM EDT
Irish American President, O'Bama, said he was “amused” by Stewart’s planned rally in DC, the socialists antidote to the glen bec rally. o'bama said stewarts rally was for people who expect some common sense and courtesy in their daily interactions. So lets see, if you went to the Glen Beck rally in DC you were a discourteous, wild eyed extremist with no common sense. Does that include Dr. martin Luther Kings daughter too mr. o'bama?
DennisQ | Sep 29, 2010, 11:52 PM EDT
Glenn Beck seems to have inherited the audience that used to watch Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood in the 60's and 70's. They were children then, and they're grown ups today, but they still like soft-spoken guys who gently calm their fears about the big scary world.
One difference is that Fred Rogers used to draw a distinction between real life and make believe, while Glenn Beck drifts back and forth between reality and fantasy. It's no wonder why Beck's viewers get so angry that his sponsors are only in it for the money. They have an infantile fixation on Beck as someone who talks softly to them the way Mr. Rogers did.
Fred Rogers used to devote whole segments to children's fears, which he took very seriously. He once spent fifteen minutes showing children why they won't get swallowed up by the drain in the bathtub. Now the updated Mr. Rogers, Glenn Beck, tells his viewers to buy gold coins so the mean old government won't take them away. When the listeners find out that Goldline actually makes a profit, they demand a congressional investigation.
Night show host Johnny Carson famously refused to allow his children to watch Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. "He's not a good role model for children," said Carson. "He's not manly enough."