Has Glenn Beck lost his mind?
- Thread starter oddiduro
- Start date
Sensationalism, meant to drive ratings.
Go back and watch the classic movie "Network."
You will see the same elements in play today that were the point of that movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/
Coincidentally, Network came out in 1976, the year that Jimmy Carter won the presidency...
The real nut case talking heads of today are all caricatures of Howard Beale...and they stay in the public forum because of the ratings game they win.
Here is a review of that film, 30 years after the film came out in 1976:
Prescient..., 28 August 2005
9/10
Author: Christopher T. Chase (cchase@onebox.com) from Arlington, VA.
It is the only word I can come up with to describe this masterfully savage satire, and IMHO, it's the only word that need be used.
Once I had seen ALTERED STATES and read the novel, I was hungry to find out more about the late novelist/playwright/screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, and sought out this movie. It blew me away years ago, but I find it even more stunning now. Not just because of the writing, Sidney Lumet's taut direction or the Oscar-caliber performances by everyone involved, all of which are almost beyond being lauded with superlatives.
But what knocks me out is how Chayefsky seemed less to be writing from the power of his imagination, than channeling Our Times Now. As if he was capable of some form of mental time travel; able to look into the Nineties and beyond to see the coming of SURVIVOR, or Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, Bill O'Reilly and Paris Hilton. Even HE probably didn't know how he knew, but he sure as hell felt it and wrote it down for us to marvel over today.
Sure, there are political and cultural analogies throughout the picture that are dated. But the core of his vision remains startlingly clear and eerily prophetic. As for Howard Beale, there is not one single "celebrity" who mirrors that character today, but maybe he is a composite of several different personalities with whom we have become all too familiar in the world of "news-fo-tainment." Or maybe he simply hasn't materialized yet. Maybe that is just how far ahead of its time NETWORK really was.
After all, being "mad as hell" nowadays has so many more layers of meaning than it did nearly thirty years ago...
Go back and watch the classic movie "Network."
You will see the same elements in play today that were the point of that movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/
Coincidentally, Network came out in 1976, the year that Jimmy Carter won the presidency...
The real nut case talking heads of today are all caricatures of Howard Beale...and they stay in the public forum because of the ratings game they win.
Here is a review of that film, 30 years after the film came out in 1976:
Prescient..., 28 August 2005
9/10
Author: Christopher T. Chase (cchase@onebox.com) from Arlington, VA.
It is the only word I can come up with to describe this masterfully savage satire, and IMHO, it's the only word that need be used.
Once I had seen ALTERED STATES and read the novel, I was hungry to find out more about the late novelist/playwright/screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, and sought out this movie. It blew me away years ago, but I find it even more stunning now. Not just because of the writing, Sidney Lumet's taut direction or the Oscar-caliber performances by everyone involved, all of which are almost beyond being lauded with superlatives.
But what knocks me out is how Chayefsky seemed less to be writing from the power of his imagination, than channeling Our Times Now. As if he was capable of some form of mental time travel; able to look into the Nineties and beyond to see the coming of SURVIVOR, or Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, Bill O'Reilly and Paris Hilton. Even HE probably didn't know how he knew, but he sure as hell felt it and wrote it down for us to marvel over today.
Sure, there are political and cultural analogies throughout the picture that are dated. But the core of his vision remains startlingly clear and eerily prophetic. As for Howard Beale, there is not one single "celebrity" who mirrors that character today, but maybe he is a composite of several different personalities with whom we have become all too familiar in the world of "news-fo-tainment." Or maybe he simply hasn't materialized yet. Maybe that is just how far ahead of its time NETWORK really was.
After all, being "mad as hell" nowadays has so many more layers of meaning than it did nearly thirty years ago...
The party of Beck and Rush, et al. lost and they don't know what to do other than attack the party that won since they can't say, " see how great things were when Bush and a Republican congress were running the show"
Seneca
Seneca
not sure how that would go over though.I'm also secretly hoping Obama fails, too
Hillary or McCain would have been more qualified.
Hillary or McCain would have been more qualified.
I still don't get the hoping he fails thing. I mean I get it that his policies suck, and I believe they would be bad for America. I dont think they have a shot in heaven or hell of having any success. But, Obama himself could become very successful if he is willing to cross party lines, if he is willing to listen to both sides and not continue his nah nah nah nah booh booh we won shit. I hope he succeeds, and not only succeeds but does so in an amazing way because that would mean we, AMERICA, would do the same. I just can't understand the people who claim to be patriots, yet at the same time want to see the country fail.
I want to see us change, I think we are heading down a terrible path. My hope is that Obama will see this at some point and chance as well, and then he can become very successful. The policies he has right now havent really got a chance, so I dont even understand the point of talking about "I hope they fail", its not a matter for hope or anything else, they have failed every single time they have ever been tried, they will fail again.
"I'm secretly hoping something and keeping it a secret by telling the world my secret through posting it on the Internet. Ain't I clever."