Reception
Beck's on-air persona has been described as a "mix of moral lessons, outrage and an apocalyptic view of the future … capturing the feelings of an alienated class of Americans." Beck has referred to himself as an entertainer, and a rodeo clown. Additionally, Beck has identified himself with Howard Beale, the fictional news anchor portrayed by Peter Finch in the 1976 film Network who, in a moment of indignation and fury, urges his viewers to declare "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Says Beck, "When came out of the rain and he was like, none of this makes any sense. I am that guy."
Beck's style of expressing his candid opinions have helped make his shows successful, but have also resulted in protest. On November 14, 2006, Beck asked then-newly elected Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, to "prove to me that you are not working with our enemies" and saying "And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way." Beck later regretted the question saying it was "quite possibly the poorest-worded question of all time" and joked about his "lack of intelligence". While Ellison stated he was not offended by the question, it later spurred several Arab-American organizations, such as the Arab Institute and the Muslim Public Affairs Council, to publicly protest Beck's hiring as a commentator by Good Morning America, accusing Beck of "anti-Muslim and anti-Arab prejudice".
Read more about this topic: Glenn Beck Program
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion.... Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art.”
—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)