BLOGOctober 04, 2017

Do We Have to Speak in Political Disclaimers Now?

Why can’t we just speak the truth to each other? In 2017, we all find ourselves checking off the boxes and trying to explain and qualify our opinions. What if we all agree to accept what’s true, whether or not it means our “team” is winning?

Doc shared his frustration while sitting in for Glenn on radio Wednesday.

“Please stop,” Doc said. “Call out bad when it’s bad. Use all the facts.”

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

DOC: I owe you an apology. It is not easy for most of us to admit when we are wrong and certainly isn't easy on a stage this big. But I was wrong yesterday. Hi, there, it is Doc Thompson in for Glenn Beck. I failed to not express my compassion for all of those suffering because of the mass murder in Las Vegas. For that, I am sorry.

I felt pretty good about yesterday's program and some of the stuff we did and ways we approached it. We updated facts, offered speculation on the motives of the shooter, and then mocked some of the celebrities which is also good stuff. Mocking them specifically for their now concern in the middle of the tragedy over gun control again and that becoming an issue.

I didn't realize until I got off the air that some people felt I came across a little insensitive. I started thinking about that. Obviously, it was not my intention. But how I was able to miss the mark and how people misunderstood that. Then I realized it is a bit of a symptom of where we live and where we are at now.

How our lives have changed from now to 50 years ago, 20 years ago. See, if you don't know me and never listened to this program then anything you hear, if this is your first moment listening to this program, this is all you know of me. It is true of any program.

If you go into a restaurant and you eat there, that is 100% of your experiences at that restaurant.

If it is a movie, television series, if you meet a new person, that experience is 100% of your experience with whatever it.

So if you tune into a radio program and hear five minutes of material that is all you have to judge it by. If it is out of context, you don't realize that there may be a slightly different meaning. For most people that listened to me on the TheBlaze Radio Network I think you recognize how seriously we value life. I am pro-life, I am anti-abortion, I fight rabidly for veterans and veteran's causes and issues, we give time and money and service to all kinds of charities. We give of ourselves on our program even within this company regularly.

When we laid out some of the facts yesterday we didn't do due diligence to take a moment and recognize the people suffering and for that I was wrong. I just assumed mistakenly that people recognize I know that Doc and I know he gets it. That was a failure on my part.

This became evident during the election. Glenn struggled with this as well. For people that listened to this program for years they said I know what that Glenn Beck is all about and then they said I am supporting trump and here is Glenn Beck not supporting trump. Why did he change so much? Maybe he didn't. Maybe you didn't. Maybe it is just you have some differences and those differences became highlighted and became out of control, our opinions of them, because of the world we live in. That is unfortunately a failure of today's society that we can no longer trust some people we have trusted because of a difference or two even though we may have marched with them, we may have fought for certain issues. But unfortunately politics has become our highest ideas, our highest values.

I am not talking issues. I am talking about concerns or historical facts or the constitution. I am talking politics. I am talking the process of governing. Not the ideas or the solutions that affect us all but the process/the system. It has become a spectator sport. Sticking it to the other side is job one now. It is what we look to do. We are trying to win an argument. We are trying to prove we are right even when we are quite often wrong.

That is when we are now. How did we get there from even just 10 years ago? I bet you started your journey to right here to be informed about issues of the day, where we are heading, what we struggle with from a very good place. You informed yourself. You said this is knowledge I need. You learned about history, you learned about other cultures, you learned about the law, you learned about all of these things, you learned about people and you study them and you look around and say why am I so alone? And how come on social media I have people I thought I knew that I can't trust anymore? Unfortunately, we are being divided and we divide ourselves.

By number one not leading first with our values. That doesn't mean blah blah blahing about them on the radios. It doesn't mean talking about them on social media. It is not a better than, holier than thou attitude. It is not telling people they are wrong. It is living them, being them and treating people well. It is good to discuss these things on social media. Debate, values and even those that differ from you are good. It is knowledge, information, and it is challenging you. In some cases it is making you realize how right your values and ideas are.

That is unfortunately not how most of us see it now. If something is different, it's got to be shutdown. We have got to come out against it rabidly. And much like judging radio show or restaurant with one little bit of information we automatically assume we know about them. We assume we know everything about them. I will give you an example. I have sadly over the past 6-8 months had to whenever I talk about the president give a disclaimer about all my political views.

If I say something critical of President Trump I have to say but I support President Trump when it comes to this, this, and this because if you have a supporter of President Trump and you hear me say one thing critical Anti-Trump and you are on that Glenn Beck program and he didn't support trump.

No, that is not accurate. Or if I say something positive about President Trump I have to put out the disclaimer I didn't vote for President Trump and of course I didn't vote for Hillary Clinton. I vote on track record and Trump not having a track record I could not support him. I am looking for someone consistent in their values and I have to go down this nutty ass disclaimer because otherwise I will be seen by people who are not Trump supporters, the ones out to get him because they are crazy and on a witch hunt, as one of those trump supporters.

You obviously wanted people to be murdered in Las Vegas. You obviously want people to die in Puerto Rico and so on and so forth. At some point, haven't you gotten tired of this game? The futility in this? Aren't you tired of that?

I admit yesterday I did not pause enough and give what I would expect most people to recognize sympathy and compassion for people in Las Vegas and other people around the globe who had loved ones who suffered or hurt or injured because of what happened.

I would expect that you would just know that most of your fellow human beings, of course, have compassion for somebody who was shot, somebody who had a loved one shot and possibly killed in Las Vegas. 80-90% outside of crazy, evil people, wouldn't you expect they have compassion? They are sensitive? They are not wishing death upon people? I did not do my due diligence yesterday to express that. That was a failure. But why aren't we giving people the benefit of the doubt with that? I don't think the CBS executive who said she would not be sympathetic because they were likely Republican supporters or gun toters that were shot, I don't think she is really hateful or really wants to see people shot. I just think she crossed the line in expressing that because the more we share craziness like that the worse it gets. There is no compassion. There is no humanity left. That is the real crisis.

The lack of humanity and the fact that we do not give the benefit of the doubt to each other. Over the years I have been uber critical, as I should be, of people that are progressive and liberals because your ideas are quite often, mainly, wrong. They are wrong for humanity. They are wrong for my fellow humans. They are wrong systems of government. They oppress. They hurt. But I don't think most of those liberals want bad. I don't think they are evil. They are not wanting to bring the system down or to hurt people.

On the contrary, I think they want to help. I think they are actually probably very caring people. I just think they haven't been able to process the information. They are not being logical. How things need to roll out to help the most number of people. But I give them the benefit of the doubt about actually mainly being caring people. I don't get that same respect from people on the left.

They believe if you are conservative, you are evil and racist and all these things but see conservatives are that way. If you are a Trump supporter and I say something negative about President Trump even if it is accurate you quite often lead to Trump hater. I know who you are. If I say something positive of President Trump and you don't support him you say oh, you are just in the tank for Trump.

No, I look at each issue based on my values and my support of my fellow man and decide what's right. I am consistent that way even though I have suffered the slings and arrows to my program and to my career because people challenge me on that thinking. They wrongly know something about me and why? Because they can't admit their own failures. That some of the things and ideas they supported are wrong.

Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, resigned Friday over the scandal of spending $400,000 on charter flights. It is a waste of money and something I have screamed about for decades. I call Tom Price out. That was wrong.

You have the secretary of the VA spending and wasting money for him and his wife to go to Europe. You have the guy from the EPA wasting money. I called out republicans in the Trump administration just like I did with the Obama administration. Photography for you conservatives who were so concerned about President Obama wasting money, how come you are not calling out Trump on these things? These are the consistency I am talking about. Give your fellow man the benefit of the doubt. Go back to your core values of your faith, humanity and treating people well and call out people who are not being consistent even if that means the people that you covet because they matter so much to you this includes your children, your clergy, your spouse, and the people you have sent to D.C. to represent you.

That is the way forward. You want solutions, you are frustrated every day? That is it. You start right there. We all get 5% better at that today and our world will dramatically change for the better.

RADIO

Could passengers have SAVED Iryna Zarutska?

Surveillance footage of the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, NC, reveals that the other passengers on the train took a long time to help her. Glenn, Stu, and Jason debate whether they were right or wrong to do so.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, I'm -- I'm torn on how I feel about the people on the train.

Because my first instinct is, they did nothing! They did nothing! Then my -- well, sit down and, you know -- you know, you're going to be judged. So be careful on judging others.

What would I have done? What would I want my wife to do in that situation?

STU: Yeah. Are those two different questions, by the way.

GLENN: Yeah, they are.

STU: I think they go far apart from each other. What would I want myself to do. I mean, it's tough to put yourself in a situation. It's very easy to watch a video on the internet and talk about your heroism. Everybody can do that very easily on Twitter. And everybody is.

You know, when you're in a vehicle that doesn't have an exit with a guy who just murdered somebody in front of you, and has a dripping blood off of a knife that's standing 10 feet away from you, 15 feet away from you.

There's probably a different standard there, that we should all kind of consider. And maybe give a little grace to what I saw at least was a woman, sitting across the -- the -- the aisle.

I think there is a difference there. But when you talk about that question. Those two questions are definitive.

You know, I know what I would want myself to do. I would hope I would act in a way that didn't completely embarrass myself afterward.

But I also think, when I'm thinking of my wife. My advice to my wife would not be to jump into the middle of that situation at all costs. She might do that anyway. She actually is a heck of a lot stronger than I am.

But she might do it anyway.

GLENN: How pathetic, but how true.

STU: Yes. But that would not be my advice to her.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: Now, maybe once the guy has certainly -- is out of the area. And you don't think the moment you step into that situation. He will turn around and kill you too. Then, of course, obviously. Anything you can do to step in.

Not that there was much anyone on the train could do.

I mean, I don't think there was an outcome change, no matter what anyone on that train did.

Unfortunately.

But would I want her to step in?

Of course. If she felt she was safe, yes.

Think about, you said, your wife. Think about your daughter. Your daughter is on that train, just watching someone else getting murdered like that. Would you advise your daughter to jump into a situation like that?

That girl sitting across the aisle was somebody's daughter. I don't know, man.

JASON: I would. You know, as a dad, would I advise.

Hmm. No.

As a human being, would I hope that my daughter or my wife or that I would get up and at least comfort that woman while she's dying on the floor of a train?

Yeah.

I would hope that my daughter, my son, that I would -- and, you know, I have more confidence in my son or daughter or my wife doing something courageous more than I would.

But, you know, I think I have a more realistic picture of myself than anybody else.

And I'm not sure that -- I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. I know what I would hope I would do. But I also know what I fear I would do. But I would have hoped that I would have gotten up and at least tried to help her. You know, help her up off the floor. At least be there with her, as she's seeing her life, you know, spill out in under a minute.

And that's it other thing we have to keep in mind. This all happened so rapidly.

A minute is -- will seem like a very long period of time in that situation. But it's a very short period of time in real life.

STU: Yeah. You watch the video, Glenn. You know, I don't need the video to -- to change my -- my position on this.

But at his seem like there was a -- someone who did get there, eventually, to help, right? I saw someone seemingly trying to put pressure on her neck.

GLENN: Yeah. And tried to give her CPR.

STU: You know, no hope at that point. How long of a time period would you say that was?

Do you know off the top of your head?

GLENN: I don't know. I don't know. I know that we watched the video that I saw. I haven't seen past 30 seconds after she --

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: -- is down. And, you know, for 30 seconds nothing is happening. You know, that is -- that is not a very long period of time.

STU: Right.

GLENN: In reality.

STU: And especially, I saw the pace he was walking. He certainly can't be -- you know, he may have left the actual train car by 30 seconds to a minute. But he wasn't that far away. Like he was still in visual.

He could still turn around and look and see what's going on at that point. So certainly still a threat is my point. He has not, like, left the area. This is not that type of situation.

You know, I -- look, as you point out, I think if I could be super duper sexist for a moment here, sort of my dividing line might just be men and women.

You know, I don't know if it's that a -- you're not supposed to say that, I suppose these days. But, like, there is a difference there. If I'm a man, you know, I would be -- I would want my son to jump in on that, I suppose. I don't know if he could do anything about it. But you would expect at least a grown man to be able to go in there and do something about it. A woman, you know, I don't know.

Maybe I'm -- I hope --

GLENN: Here's the thing I -- here's the thing that I -- that causes me to say, no. You should have jumped in.

And that is, you know, you've already killed one person on the train. So you've proven that you're a killer. And anybody who would have screamed and got up and was with her, she's dying. She's dying. Get him. Get him.

Then the whole train is responsible for stopping that guy. You know. And if you don't stop him, after he's killed one person, if you're not all as members of that train, if you're not stopping him, you know, the person at the side of that girl would be the least likely to be killed. It would be the ones that are standing you up and trying to stop him from getting back to your daughter or your wife or you.

JASON: There was a -- speaking of men and women and their roles in this. There was a video circling social media yesterday. In Sweden. There was a group of officials up on a stage. And one of the main. I think it was health official woman collapses on stage. Completely passes out.

All the men kind of look away. Or I don't know if they're looking away. Or pretending that they didn't know what was going on. There was another woman standing directly behind the woman passed out.

Immediately springs into action. Jumps on top. Grabs her pant leg. Grabs her shoulder. Spins her over and starts providing care.

What did she have that the other guys did not? Or women?

She was a sheepdog. There is a -- this is my issue. And I completely agree with Stu. I completely agree with you. There's some people that do not respond this way. My issue is the proportion of sheepdogs versus people that don't really know how to act. That is diminishing in western society. And American society.

We see it all the time in these critical actions. I mean, circumstances.

There are men and women, and it's actually a meme. That fantasize about hoards of people coming to attack their home and family. And they sit there and say, I've got it. You guys go. I'm staying behind, while I smoke my cigarette and wait for the hoards to come, because I will sacrifice myself. There are men and women that fantasize of block my highway. Go ahead. Block my highway. I'm going to do something about it. They fantasize about someone holding up -- not a liquor store. A convenience store or something. Because they will step in and do something. My issue now is that proportion of sheepdogs in society is disappearing. Just on statistical fact, there should be one within that train car, and there were none.

STU: Yeah. I mean --

JASON: They did not respond.

STU: We see what happens when they do, with Daniel Penny. Our society tries to vilify them and crush their existence. Now, there weren't that many people on that train. Right?

At least on that car. At least it's limited. I only saw three or four people there, there may have been more. I agree with you, though. Like, you see what happens when we actually do have a really recent example of someone doing exactly what Jason wants and what I would want a guy to do. Especially a marine to step up and stop this from happening. And the man was dragged by our legal system to a position where he nearly had to spend the rest of his life in prison.

I mean, I -- it's insanity. Thankfully, they came to their senses on that one.

GLENN: Well, the difference between that one and this one though is that the guy was threatening. This one, he killed somebody.

STU: Yeah. Right. Well, but -- I think -- but it's the opposite way. The debate with Penny, was should he have recognize that had this person might have just been crazy and not done anything?

Maybe. He hadn't actually acted yet. He was just saying things.

GLENN: Yeah. Well --

STU: He didn't wind up stabbing someone. This is a situation where these people have already seen what this man will do to you, even when you don't do anything to try to stop him. So if this woman, who is, again, looks to be an average American woman.

Across the aisle. Steps in and tries to do something. This guy could easily turn around and just make another pile of dead bodies next to the one that already exists.

And, you know, whether that is an optimal solution for our society, I don't know that that's helpful.

In that situation.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Max Lucado on Overcoming Grief in Dark Times | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 266

Disclaimer: This episode was filmed prior to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. But Glenn believes Max's message is needed now more than ever.
The political world is divided, constantly at war with itself. In many ways, our own lives are not much different. Why do we constantly focus on the negative? Why are we in pain? Where is God amid our anxiety and fear? Why can’t we ever seem to change? Pastor Max Lucado has found the solution: Stop thinking like that! It may seem easier said than done, but Max joins Glenn Beck to unpack the three tools he describes in his new book, “Tame Your Thoughts,” that make it easy for us to reset the way we think back to God’s factory settings. In this much-needed conversation, Max and Glenn tackle everything from feeling doubt as a parent to facing unfair hardships to ... UFOs?! Plus, Max shares what he recently got tattooed on his arm.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Demonic Forces to Blame for Charlie Kirk, Minnesota & Charlotte Killings?

This week has seen some of the most heinous actions in recent memory. Glenn has been discussing the growth of evil in our society, and with the assassination of civil rights leader Charlie Kirk, the recent transgender shooter who took the lives of two children at a Catholic school, and the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, how can we make sense of all this evil? On today's Friday Exclusive, Glenn speaks with BlazeTV host of "Strange Encounters" Rick Burgess to discuss the demon-possessed transgender shooter and the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. Rick breaks down the reality of demon possession and how individuals wind up possessed. Rick and Glenn also discuss the dangers of the grotesque things we see online and in movies, TV shows, and video games on a daily basis. Rick warns that when we allow our minds to be altered by substances like drugs or alcohol, it opens a door for the enemy to take control. A supernatural war is waging in our society, and it’s a Christian’s job to fight this war. Glenn and Rick remind Christians of what their first citizenship is.

Glenn's Show Prep

Do We Have to Speak in Political Disclaimers Now?

Could passengers have SAVED Iryna Zarutska?

Transcript

Max Lucado on Overcoming Grief in Dark Times | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 266

Are Demonic Forces to Blame for Charlie Kirk, Minnesota & Charlotte Killings?

Here’s what we know about the suspected Charlie Kirk assassin