Common Sense: an oxymoron

Yep, oxymoron...at least as far as Glenn Beck is concerned. I was at work today (another rant entirely) and, as it was painfully slow, I picked up Beck's book Common Sense to see why it was selling so well. Unfortunately, I have to report that I was appalled at what I read. If my fellow citizens think this man has any answers, we are in more trouble than I thought we were in. I have to report that I only read about 25 pages, scattered around the book, and they were all uniformly egregiously bad.

However, I think a paragraph on Page 5 pretty much sums up the basic, underlying rot that infects Beck and his writing. On Page 5 he states,

"You don't hate people who are different than you, but you've stopped expressing opinions on sensitive issues a long time ago because you don't want to be called a racist, bigot or homophobe if you stand by your values and principles."

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but the only way you could be called those things is if you made derogatory comments about blacks, Jews/Ethnics or Gays. If your "values and principles" leave you open to the epithets listed above, then I would submit that your "values and principles" leave a great deal to be desired. Even more to the point, the fact that Beck obviously does not see a problem with this leaves pretty much his whole book without a firm moral foundation.

I need to find a way to access this book without contributing to Beck's fiscal wellbeing. If I could come up with a copy which was not paid for, I'd do a page by page rebuttal a la Fred Clark and his demolition of the Left Behind books. I do have a library card (which I haven't used in years) so I could go get myself put on the waiting list for the book down at our local library, but that would mean that I would have to scan it into my computer so I would be able to quote accurately. Oh well, maybe I will think of something less labor intensive as the writing part is going to be labor enough. Until I do find a freebie copy that did not contribute monetarily to Beck, let me urge you not to buy this book.