I guess I feel fortunate that I rarely meet people without a real education. I spend nearly all my time on a college campus, or with friends and family who have all been to college, and are all more or less reasonable and informed people. Although some pseudo-intellectualism occasionally pops up, I've found that educated people can be swayed by good arguments. I am only aware of Glenn Beck because of the awful clips that are being ridiculed on blogs or being parodied on Colbert.
It was a bit of a shock to the system to be at a recent event with my extended-extended family. That is, not my grandparents, cousins, and uncles, but a further removed branch with great uncles, second cousins, and their children. While enjoying a wonderful view from under the roof of a nice outdoor bar, several of these people began to ridicule the president. My liberal spidey-sense began tingling.
A few choice quotes. "I am SO glad we didn't get the Olympics. That guy thinks he can do anything." "Did you see what he said about Fox? He has a press czar, or something." "All the blacks voted for him because he was black. Did you see them out there? [aping a stereotypical black voice] 'oh, I dunz wants to vote for Obama, all dat is good.' " "Man, what an idiot [Obama is]."
OK, so these people hate the president, I get it. Fox News (aka, the Ministry of Truth) has only about 3 million viewers (less than 1% of the population), yet it seems that when you find one, you find a bunch of them. They are vehement and unthoughtful in an interesting way. This is especially true of these particular people, who appear to be devotees of Glenn Beck. The cognitive dissonance here is rather interesting. They all believe themselves to be nonpartisan freethinkers, and yet they all think the same things, and agree with the Republicans 100% of the time.
They use smokescreens, though. They regularly call GW Bush a "jackass". See? That proves they are nonpartisan (even though they voted for Sarah Palin, opposed the stimulus, opposed health care reform, oppose moving Guantanamo inmates to the US, etc). They are "not racists", even though they listen to Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, who say that health care reform is Obama's attempt at getting reparations (how is the idea that Obama is surreptitiously trying to steal the white man's money not racist?).
I was, at one point, cornered by what appears to be the ringleader of this viper's den, who was also the homeowner. He loves Glenn Beck. Interestingly, he is a very productive member of society, an autodidact who builds huge houses (his own home was lovely).
But his lack of education has made him two things: impressionable and paranoid. Glenn Beck appears to prey on these traits. Demagoguery rarely can take hold with educated people, since they have learned to investigate critically, evaluate sources, and detect nonsense or ad hominem attacks. But among those without much education, an insinuation coupled with a half-truth is easily convincing. And how.
I was unaware of this, but apparently there is a widely believed conspiracy theory involving the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, JFK's assassination (though he kept mentioning Sirhan Sirhan, who killed RFK 5 years after JFK was killed), the devaluation of the dollar, and the establishment of a unitary world currency. Their claims are an odd mishmash of half-understood macroeconomics (in this case, the man owned a business, so he "just knows" how things work), delusions of a shadowy organization that owns the Federal Reserve, an odd belief that said shadowy organization is all-powerful but also somehow rigorously beholden to the constitution, and a deep seeded fear of rapid inflation and the destruction of the United States (naturally). Of course, all of the points are easily debunked, but that isn't the point.
I told the unhinged man that Glenn Beck had poisoned his mind (his retort was that I needed to "grow up". Did I mention ad hominem attacks?). He obviously takes his beliefs seriously, since he claims to have gone down to the bank and tried to cash in his in his gold certificate (they were withdrawn from circulation in 1933, after which it was illegal to hold them). They treated him like the nutcase he is, and he ridiculed their attempts to pacify him. (Attempting to disarm a raving, possibly dangerous, man. How silly of them.)
The number of actual falsehoods stacked up quickly. The Fed was established to earn interest for the 9 families that own the Fed, since the treasury is not allowed to charge interest (The Fed rebates the interest to the Treasury Department every year. Its board is made up of government appointees.). The Fed was established in a closed-door meeting (it was enacted by Congress in the Federal Reserve Act of 1913). He believes health care will fail because it's support is at "30 percent" (it's a plurality of 47% in favor of how Obama is handling it), which he reveled in. He thinks that any amount of deficit spending, by the government or individuals, will inevitably end up with the collapse of society (many countries, including this one, have run up massive debts while remaining solvent and even running eventual surpluses to pay down the debt).
Is there a way to combat this? Is it even worth it, with such a small (albeit vocal) group? I don't know. But since when do conspiracy theorists come out with their insanities during social gatherings? If the man wants to be a raving lunatic while he's at home, then that's fine, though I pity his wife. But don't invite people over to proselytize your regurgitated lies. It's just rude.
*Update: Whoa, did I understate the support for health care. As Timothy Noah points out today,
A tracking poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that support for "a government-administered public health insurance option similar to Medicare" hovered just below 60 percent during the previous three months. A September New York Times/CBS News poll found more support than opposition to the public plan even among Republicans.