My Home Beck-ons
Oh snap. You know what I just found out? He lives in my town! Glenn Beck lives in my Connecticut town!
Some of you may know that I recently moved to Connecticut from Manhattan so my three kiddies would have a little more room. We chose this town because of its great reputation for special education. I did not know before moving here, for example, that Stephanie Seymour detoxed here, or that Kitty Genovese is buried here, or that Paul Simon lives here. But, now that I’ve learned this fun fact about Glenn Beck, I’m hoping to settle this edgy Beck/Ricochet thing right here at my house!
Listen, as I read through some of the comments on here about Beck, I got agita. I chewed my fingernails. I bit my lip and twirled my hair and walked into the kitchen with a furrowed brow and saggy shoulders. I mean, I’m one of those people who hates conflict. I know people have disagreements, but I have this silly belief that people can be really pleasant about their differences, not all bristly and porcupinish.
I mean, I like to imagine Rob and Peter have founded a new American colony or something. They founded it on certain principles, and now we are the people moving in from our persecuted and polarized homelands. We have to be neighbors, so we can’t, like, raze each others’ tomato gardens.
Nor do we have to hold hands every evening in prayer. I get it. But I just want it to be a little more “I understand you, but here’s where I’m coming from,” instead of, “You are a snob because you don’t think like me.” That breaks my heart. Wealth (or lackthereof), or home town, or even one’s job, are not determinative. They inform us all in different ways.
Let’s try not to be too judgmental, here. (I know, I know. Do I live under a rock? You are perhaps thinking: “These Beck threads are life affirming! Salty! They make our blood flow!” I know. But still. I’m a wimp.)
Maybe if we all just gathered at my place, we could invite Beck, and have him be a FOR (friend of Ricochet). So, let’s retire the ire and start thinking about how I can get Beck to come for a little Rico Roundtable. (You are all invited.)
I was thinking of waiting for him near the town dump. Everybody has to take out the trash, right?
When I see him, our conversation might go something like this:
Oh, hi there Mr. Beck. My name is Ursula Hennessey, and I write for Ricochet, this website with a bunch of really interesting people on it. Maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s sort of a conversation site? Run by Rob Long and Peter Robinson? We have great contributors, like James Lileks, Pat Sajak, Emily Esf…
Uh, anyway, we were having this great conversation about you and it seems that, while some Ricochet people really think you’re great, others are not sure what to make of you.
So here’s my idea. I have a really small house kind of near here. Yes, near the dump! I know you probably live way over by the nice part of town, but we’re still neighbors, right? So you can come over? We can just have a smallish little shindig kinda thingy, and everyone can sort it out for themselves?
Great, and are you really throwing away that chair? I might need it for the party.
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May '10
Re: My Home Beck-ons
You just made my day Ursula. Go for it -- though maybe farmer's market would work just as well as the dump.
Re: My Home Beck-ons
Though it would be a radical departure for me, I would actually request a load going to the northeast to be a part of something like that. Thanks for a great post, Ursula! Oh, and I'll need a place to park the 18 wheeler.
Jun '10
Re: My Home Beck-ons
No place like home to get yer-beck-on. I'd imagine he would be a delightful guest, a real gentlemen. I sometimes rate celebrities and pols by my desire to have a burger n beer with them rather than by their talent or opinions. Beck would be pretty good on both counts. Comes across that way.
All nicely put, Ursala.
Re: My Home Beck-ons
Ditto the above comments. I always love readings your posts, Ursula, and this post in particular brightened my morning.
Also, loved the second to last line--I'm getting ready to move and furnish a new apartment, and man, I would love to make someone else's trash my treasure.
"Great, and are you really throwing away that chair?"
May '10
Re: My Home Beck-ons
In Houston, nobody takes their old furniture to a dump. Just set it out by the street and ring the furniture bell.
I suggest setting up a donut stand with your kids. I get the impression Beck has a sweet tooth.
Or just lemonade, and set up right in front of Beck's house. If he questions your business strategy, just tell him, "Location, location, location."
Re: My Home Beck-ons
Tim: I sometimes rate celebrities and pols by my desire to have a burger n beer with them rather than by their talent or opinions....
I do this too, Tim! For me, there aren't all that many people in this category (most politicians and celebrities would make me feel nervous and intimidated), but I've always thought Sean Hannity and Mitch Daniels would be great folks to invite to a family bbq.
Jun '10
Re: My Home Beck-ons
Ursula, don’t forget Ricochet’s association with Rupert Murdoch, never under estimate the power of a strategic name drop. Play your cards right, and Glen Beck might just give you a new chair to impress the powers that be at Fox. I would caution against hanging out a ‘Fox Rox’ banner from your bedroom window, though, too pushy. Our ace in the hole is Dave’s 18 wheeler, we could take up a collection and paint up the trailer with a silk screen of Glenn Beck, after which Dave could drive around town until the residents took up a petition asking Glen to move back to New York. The way I see it, Glen would favour us with a guest contribution appearance at Ricochet just to get Dave to stop driving around town. This as a double win for everyone involved: Glen Beck gets free advertising and Dave gets a break from his nomadic existence. The bonus as far as Dave is concerned is that he gets to run over as many Eastern Liberals as fall into his path.
Jul '10
Re: My Home Beck-ons
I would come up to Connecticut for that. Meeting you would almost certainly be more interesting but...I'd be polite to him, and I think we actually agree on at least a few issues already. I was encouraged yesterday by his insistence that he wasn't running for President. I think he's someone who could potentially contribute a great deal from outside mainstream politics, it's when he's talked about as a contender that I get incredibly nervous about some of the things he says or has said.
Re: My Home Beck-ons
I'm on for the party, Ursula, although I consider Mr. Beck entirely optional. You and Dave Carter would prove more than enticement enough. And I figure I could make the trip on the cheap, spending the night somewhere in Dave's cavernous truck.
Jul '10
Re: My Home Beck-ons
As much as I respect your desire for a kindly and peaceful atmosphere on "Ricochet" and indeed, throughout the US of A, I am reminded of a couple of things. In a very old movie, "Never on Sunday", the central character, a happy Greek prostitute (Melina Mecouri) didn't like stories with terrible endings. Thus, as far as she was concerned, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra and Cassandra and Orestes and Electra, after all the uproar of their story, went down to the beach and had a picnic!
Jul '10
Re: My Home Beck-ons
Further, I would actually like to have your thoughts on the following quotation made by Dorothy Sayers:
"In this world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Indifference, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nthing, and remains alives because there is nothing for which it will die."
I certainly do not want to live in a time or place where thugs rule, and violence is the norm. We are so fortunate to live now, where many of our political problems can be dealt with at the ballot box. But then, it is my strong opinion that many of our social and political problems cannot be solved with a vote. And I am very concerned that letting these problems fester will lead, ultimately, to violence.
Re: My Home Beck-ons
Hmm. Not sure how I feel being compared to a Greek prostitute, if that's what you're getting at, heathermc! Actually, in all seriousness, I'm not one for a happy, cheery world that never includes despair or frustration or anger or tragic endings. (After all, Anna Karenina is my favorite book.) But I do make a distinction between disagreement and conflict. I don't feel comfortable around true conflict because it reeks of people not really listening to one another. Neither side is really absorbing the points of the other, and people in conflict try to oversimplify the other side to score cheap points. (1/2)
Re: My Home Beck-ons
heathermc: Further, I would actually like to have your thoughts on the following quotation made by Dorothy Sayers:
"In this world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Indifference, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nthing, and remains alives because there is nothing for which it will die."
And I am very concerned that letting these problems fester will lead, ultimately, to violence. · Aug 30 at 1:24pm
I'm not sure I can get at the essence of this quote. Perhaps you mean that if one does not battle passionately with others on points both big and small then that person "knows nothing, enjoys nothing, etc. etc." I understand the concern over festering leading to violence. I guess while some believe the best way to combat that is to shout it all out of the system and apologize for low blows later, I would urge more periods of silence to really consider one's view. I don't think this is the way of the world these days, though, and I blame liberals. (1.5/2)
Jun '10
Re: My Home Beck-ons
"(After all, Anna Karenina is my favorite book.)" Best opening sentence in all of literature.
Edited on Aug 30, 2010 at 3:12pmRe: My Home Beck-ons
If you ask a liberal, for example, to explain why abortion is fine with them, they talk about the poor or women as victims. But they won't look at a video about what abortion really is. They don't want to ponder it too much, they'd rather shout about it on their terms. Likewise with comments like "George W./S. Palin is an idiot" and examples like "nucular" and "I can see Russia from my back steps" or whatever, but they don't want to really think about what they are saying, which is that people who trip up on occasion are not fit to inspire or lead others. Who are we to judge who and what works or doesn't work for another individual? I guess that's my beef. I can see how abortion is a really difficult issue with many tough elements to consider, but I choose a side on it. Pro-choice proponents seem to want to insist how SIMPLE it all is and that people who disagree are idiots. To conclude, I urge more listening, more "chewing on it" rather than retorts and nastiness. (2/2)
Jul '10
Re: My Home Beck-ons
Ursula, you are clearly a kind soul and smart as a whip. I am trying to understand the distinctions you are after here. On the surface I hear the sort of discomfort with cheap partisan hit-politics that all of us find appalling. And which seems to be increasing in our political culture. But I also sense a stylistic discomfort with forthright (aggressive?) debate. Personally, I'd much rather debate in good faith with hammer and tongs than soft-pedal differences for the sake of feigned civility.
But I think the larger reason for this trend is that our sense of common, shared principles and assumptions is degrading. Once the debate moves form "what is true" to "what is right" then the polite civil debate turns nasty. Because while we are willing to compromise on what is true, we are loathe to do so in terms of basic moral principles.
Beck is deliberately refocusing the debate on recapturing our traditional shared moral principles. I think that is necessary. It is also "divisive" in the sense that those who hold oppossing moral standards are forced to respond. The trick is to hold our moral ground without compromising our principles.
Re: My Home Beck-ons
Patrick, I certainly don't think of myself as a debater, partly because of the win/lose element to it. (But I also don't "feign civility.") I think there are very few important issues that can be boiled down enough for people to score points with words. Perhaps this is what many believe Ricochet is and should be. I, personally, empathize and sympathize and consider circumstance more than others; some would say I do it too much. I hesitate to speak too strongly to any "truth" or even a "moral standard" because over the course of my life, I have been fundamentally changed by experience. My own or my family's experiences with addiction, depression, religion, disability, finances, death, the workplace, child rearing, (etc.) have caused me to deeply consider and RE-consider positions. So, when someone brings up a good point, I prefer to think about it. Roll it around in my brain. I also expect this kind of humility in others with whom I engage. I consider it a strength, but I completely see how others (you?) see it as a weakness with regard to debate/truth-seeking.
Edited on Aug 30, 2010 at 6:30pmJul '10
Re: My Home Beck-ons
Actually, no I was not implying anything about you, by describing the heroine of "Never on Sunday". It is important, however, to take seriously, the current state of affairs in the USA . Now, I live 'north of 60', next to Alaska. I am quite aware that Canada is in fact a power vacuum. If my country were not next door to America, it would be in much the same situation as, say, Krgystan. As America evinces weakness, life becomes very dangerous for her friends.
When Palin made that pipeline agreement with Canada, there were several companies bidding on the contract. One of them was a Chinese company. The Palin government chose a Canadian pipeline company to do the job. However, it is also true that China has invested in mineral rights and mines throughout Canada's north, in ways that manage to fly under the radar set by Canadian laws relating to foreign investment. One friend of mine, who has dealt with Chinese interests, is worried about this, because he knows that China has different ideas about agreements than do countries in the Anglo Sphere.
May '10
Re: My Home Beck-ons
Okay, Ursula, let's make this happen. I live in the next town and can be at your house in 15-20 minutes. I also bake. With chocolate. I'll bring treats. BUT I will be away for a month starting Friday. Can we do it in October?
Re: My Home Beck-ons
Cas, are you related to Pavlov? I get to cruise the block in The Beast looking for wayward liberals? Wait, ...I hear something, ...the truck motor just started by itself! It's a plan then. And Peter, the sleeper has bunk beds, a desk, small closet space, television, military patches everywhere, a "Don't Tread On Me" flag, jazz cd's, WFB books, and a really good Victor Borge DVD. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to do some house cleaning, sweep the carpet, hang a painting or something, get a throw pillow, and make the joint presentable. Thanks Ursula!