Fox News And Glenn Beck: Pro Genocide?

The latest demonstration of right-wing dementia is actually just a variation on an old theme: Whatever Obama does, they’re against it. In this instance they are coupling that with a perennial conservative favorite: Whatever it is, George Soros is behind it.

From the moment the crisis in Libya began there was an outcry from rightists that the President should intervene on behalf of the rebellious citizens whom Qaddafi was slaughtering. That is until the President did just that, at which point they were outraged by his reckless imperialism.

Now the attacks on the administration are escalating to accuse Obama of conspiring with a shadowy organization that they allege is tied to terrorists and aspires to invade Israel. The organization is the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. This ghastly, UN-backed backed group lists barbarians like former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Bishop Desmond Tutu amongst their patrons. Their mission is to enlist the international community’s cooperation to prevent genocide, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes. What a dastardly plot!

Glenn Beck took up this argument this morning on his radio program. He was alerted to it by a caller and could barely contain his glee. For him it was another piece of the conspiratorial stew that mashed together many of his favorite demons including Soros, Muslims, and Cass Sunstein whom he calls “the most dangerous man in America.”. And somehow by becoming even more conspiratorial he insisted that this puts an end to criticism of him as a conspiracy theorist. Apparently the conspiracy theory that he is a conspiracy theorist is a conspiracy theory itself. And least that’s Beck’s theory.

It’s clear, however, that Beck’s caller got his information from either WorldNetDaily, who published an item claiming to have found “Soros’ Fingerprints on Libya Bombing,” or from one of their many conservative repeaters, including Fox Nation. The WND article was written by notorious Birther Aaron Klein and declared that…

“Philanthropist billionaire George Soros is a primary funder and key proponent of the global organization that promotes the military doctrine used by the Obama administration to justify the recent airstrikes targeting the regime of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya.”

Klein is a long-time Obama basher who wrote a book titled, “The Manchurian President,” that questioned Obama’s citizenship and patriotism. He has been working tirelessly to taint the President’s policy toward Libya. Just two days ago he posted an article on WND that asked…

“Could President Obama’s decision to sidestep Congress and strike Libya as part of an international coalition put the U.S. on a military collision course with Israel?”

There’s that Israel invasion thing again. You have to wonder whether these guys actually believe what they are spewing or are they just so infected with Obama Derangement Syndrome that they’ve lost the ability to process coherent thoughts?

The policy they are so feverishly flagellating is known as “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P). It was adapted from the 1948 United Nations “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” which was a response to the atrocities witnessed during the Holocaust. There was worldwide condemnation of genocide and war crimes, and agreement that it must never be permitted to happen again – even if that meant using force to defend civilians being victimized by their own government. In 2001, the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) published a report that refined the policy and it was formally adopted by the UN in 2005.

That’s the policy cited by the right as justification for restraining Qaddafi. And that’s the policy that Fox News and Glenn Beck are opposing. By extension, it must be concluded that they are in favor of ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity that the policy prohibits. Beck even conceded that the mission of R2P sounded good until he discovered its wicked roots. He began by expanding on the U.S. plot to invade Israel on his television show today. Not surprisingly he got everything wrong. He attributed the policy to a National Security aide, explicitly asserting that it “came from Samantha Power,” not the UN.

No it didn’t. It came from the UN commissioned ICISS report while John Bolton was ambassador, and it was supported by conservatives in the Bush administration including Secretary of State, Colin Powell. Beck asserted that the UN got the idea from Soros who got it from Power’s book, “A Problem from Hell.” The only problem with that theory is that Power’s book (which, by the way, won the Pulitzer Prize) came out the year following the publication of the ICISS report so could not possibly have been the inspiration for it. Typical Beckian disinformation that can’t even make the ends meet. But that doesn’t stop him from filling his gullible disciples weakened brains with hogwash.

Now Beck and the right is closing ranks to attack this humane policy that is illustrated by sentiments like this:

“True sovereignty belongs to the people, who in turn delegate it to their governments. If governments abuse the authority entrusted to them and citizens have no opportunity to correct such abuses, outside interference is justified.”

While that sounds like it could have been uttered by anyone from Reagan to Clinton, or even to Beck, that quote was in fact from (you Tea Baggers may want to sit down), George Soros. It epitomizes the Open Society philosophy of people-powered democracy that Beck distorts as being a version of a New World Order.

I find it more and more depressing that there are people who actually buy into the fiction that Beck and Fox News promote. Granted those numbers are in decline, but it’s still a concern. It is the most delusional faction that still adheres to these lies and they can be a dangerous lot. That’s why it remains so important to continue to counter the disinformation with the truth. At least it may be possible to mitigate the damage they do.

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8 thoughts on “Fox News And Glenn Beck: Pro Genocide?

  1. Of course these neo-Fascist pukes are in favor of genocide – as long as it’s not *white* people or the Israelis (gotta save them for Jeebus to kill) getting genocided…

  2. Heh, there you have it, where Obama bashing is concerned its ok to abandon principles and switch ranks. Iobserved poignant republicans like John McCain and Joe Lieberman call for immediate action in Libya when the news that Gaddafi was unleashing his armies on his own people broke. Far as I know they haven’t abandoned that stance though McCain for one is saying may be a little too little too late.

    Be that as it may, this situation is WAY more complicated than most people think. I’ve observed a lot of people rip into Obama for going in, the same people who chastised him for not doing anything before he got involved. Their favourite argument being that he’s a hypocrite for getting involved when he had won the nobel peace prize awhile back and for opposing the Iraq war (he still supports the Afghanistan one though and is, surprise surprise, being ridiculed by some of the same people who supported the invasion in the first place, but now think it was all his idea :). This argument may hold some weight if he were say, invading Iran on the premise of rooting out WMD, or “freeing its people from tyranny”. The No-Fly zone over Libya isn’t based on either of these principles, but rather on the principle of saving lives as stated in the above UN policy.

    It’s rather a long shot to say that this means that Beck et al are in favour of genocide, that requires a really large leap over a logical chasm that I am mentally incapable of handling. Given however that said leap or one similar to it would be required for me to believe Beck’s statements as truth, I’m sure it’s safe to say that he isn’t making much logical sense…..as usual.

    • FYI: I often use hyperbole in my headlines to illustrate the irony in the frothing exclamations from the right. And because it’s fun.

        • Did I say Hyperbole? I meant guacamole. I often use guacamole in my headlines.

  3. Fighting fire against fire may not be the best way even if its fun.

    As we all know, the truth hurts more even when its plain boring.

  4. What is the foreign policy genius Sarah Palin saying about this? Oh, wait, let me guess. Obama should go in there immedeately when Khaddafi unleashed his military on the rebels and stop him from this. Now that Obama has done this. How dare Obama do this with out first getting approval from congress. Don’t these people know that there is this thing called video and audio tape showing there first official position up to one day before it changed because Obama implemented it. That is impeachable! Did Reagan, the first Bush, Clinton and second Bush get congressional approval everytime they used the US military?

  5. What I’d like to see is people acknowledging that, at the point in time when the decision was made to suport a no-fly zone, things could have gone badly either way.

    I’ve seen only a few “damned if he did and damned if he didn’t” articles with regards to this issue out there. Seems like not many are acknowledging the true nature of this incident as a catch-22 as well as its true significace/possible consequences.

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