Take the Fight to Glenn Beck!

If you haven't heard, Glenn Beck sucks. He successfully carried out a false smear campaign against Van Jones that forced Van to resign (the President helped by not standing up for Van). That campaign was based on racist attitudes towards African-Americans. He attacked Jones's past as a community organizer in California, equating black people organizing themselves with extremism and hating America (!). In a scary reversion to the days of McCarthy, Beck used red-baiting strategies, accusing Van and by extension Obama of being a communist (although anyone on the left will tell you that Obama is, if anything, a centrist). Anyone that has read about the persecution and witch trials of the 1950's should be concerned by this development.

We live in a free society. Glenn has the right to say what he will. However, from his position at Fox News he has a privileged position to have his speech heard. As a member of our news media, he has a responsibility to all of us to remain within a civilized discourse, refraining from racism and fear-mongering. His rhetoric damages our democracy by reducing the ability of people to speak across ideology. As consumers of the news, we have the right to assert our free speech rights and challenge his position of privilege.

Let's take the fight to Glenn! Click here and sign a Color of Change petition to companies to stop advertising during his show. More than 200,000 people have signed, and in response 62 companies have stopped advertising during the Glenn Beck show. Haha, let's get him to shed some tears, as the above picture demonstrates he is wont to do.