White Man's Burden

It's not just Pat Buchanan or Rush Limbaugh or even Sean Hannity that stoke the fires of racial divisiveness within certain segments of America. Glenn Beck is becoming somewhat of a champion of what many would claim to be nothing more than abject racism.

On Tuesday's Fox and Friends, Beck - milking the Henry Louis Gates dust-up for more than it's worth - went so far as to call Obama a racist and then say that he never suggested it at all.



There are several aspects of Becks inflamatory rhetoric that show not only distrust and distaste for blacks ( as this viewpoint likely extends beyond Obama since Beck seems willing to hold up "white culture" as something that is in trouble ) but for anyone that isn't white and takes up a contradictory position against himself or those that he claims to identify with.

In the end, it's nothing more than an easy way for Beck ( or any white conservative that wants to concern troll and issue ) to completely ignore the real, and teachable, aspects of tense interactions between whites and any other ethnic group.

Rabid conservatvism has always built itself around key pillars that benefit the few rather than the many. One of those pillars has been, and continues to be, that the white man in society comes first. The way that it plays out in the ways conservatives present themselves is by doing what Beck, and many others like him, continues to do - play the role of victim. It's a rather interesting way to approach issues of race, considering the very real fact that it is the minorities within a given society that have to struggle for the most basic of rights that white have enjoys for centuries.

Is Glenn Beck a racist? Who's to say with absolute certainty one way or another. But one thing is clear, he doesn't like being accused of having fear of black people, so what makes it so easy for him to call Obama a racist?

There are a variety of reasons that Beck would say this. First, and paramount to anything that he may actually hold deep in his heart, is that it makes him money. Glenn Beck, as well as others that I mentioned before, make a good living off what has been called "angertainment".

Profit, above all, is another of the pillars of conservativism. And, if it can be done with minimal damage to the image of white men, profiting off racial divisiveness will remain. And ever since Obama announced he would run for President, conservatives have been profiting on a daily basis.