Re-Post from www.huffingtonpost.com
By: Earl Ofari Hutchinson Sept. 1, 2010
Comments 55 There were 45 thousand references on the Google and AOL search engines to the Reverend Al Sharpton's "Reclaim the Dream" March in Washington DC the day after he staged it. There were more than 32 million entries on the Google and AOL search engines referencing Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally the day after he staged it. Beck's name has soared so high there was even preposterous talk of a Beck-Palin presidential ticket in 2012.
This is heady stuff for a PT Barnum, carnival barker, talk show huckster. But Beck didn't climb to his Olympian media and public perch solely on Fox Network hype, personal shuck, corporate money, and conservatives' new found love affair with him. Beck got a huge rocket launch to that perch by the steady drum beat of Beck bashing by liberals, Democrats and the Left. He shrewdly figured out that the best way to get your name out there, and then quickly grow it, is to do and say something, anything, that's so outrageous that you'll infuriate the critics. They have been more than willing to aid and abet Beck's rise to the top by keeping up the attack. The "Restore Honor" rally was the best and most dramatic example of how a huckster can turn jeers into ratings, and con tens of thousands to trek to DC to hear his patchwork Elmer Gantry message of God and redemption.
But long before the rally, Beck displayed his unique talent for massaging, manipulating, and cajoling the Beck haters into action against him. The formula was simple. Say something so ludicrous and laughable such as "President Obama is a racist" and the pack is off to the races to pillory him for saying it. And then they'll spend countless hours trying to prove that Obama is not a racist. Beck got exactly what he wanted, and that is thousands talking and writing about an inanity, and through the back door dignifying and even legitimizing the stupidity. The result was attention, attention, and more attention, ratings, ratings, and more ratings.
The Beck bashers have learned nothing from attacking Limbaugh and the Fox Network. The thing was that the more you bash, savage, pick at and ridicule a media outlet or a gimmicky talk show host you do what ad people, P.R. flacks, agencies, and sponsors drool over, and sink a mini-king's ransom into. That is to inflate, hype, and pump up a product. The product is Beck.
To read more about this article, Click Here.
This is heady stuff for a PT Barnum, carnival barker, talk show huckster. But Beck didn't climb to his Olympian media and public perch solely on Fox Network hype, personal shuck, corporate money, and conservatives' new found love affair with him. Beck got a huge rocket launch to that perch by the steady drum beat of Beck bashing by liberals, Democrats and the Left. He shrewdly figured out that the best way to get your name out there, and then quickly grow it, is to do and say something, anything, that's so outrageous that you'll infuriate the critics. They have been more than willing to aid and abet Beck's rise to the top by keeping up the attack. The "Restore Honor" rally was the best and most dramatic example of how a huckster can turn jeers into ratings, and con tens of thousands to trek to DC to hear his patchwork Elmer Gantry message of God and redemption.
But long before the rally, Beck displayed his unique talent for massaging, manipulating, and cajoling the Beck haters into action against him. The formula was simple. Say something so ludicrous and laughable such as "President Obama is a racist" and the pack is off to the races to pillory him for saying it. And then they'll spend countless hours trying to prove that Obama is not a racist. Beck got exactly what he wanted, and that is thousands talking and writing about an inanity, and through the back door dignifying and even legitimizing the stupidity. The result was attention, attention, and more attention, ratings, ratings, and more ratings.
The Beck bashers have learned nothing from attacking Limbaugh and the Fox Network. The thing was that the more you bash, savage, pick at and ridicule a media outlet or a gimmicky talk show host you do what ad people, P.R. flacks, agencies, and sponsors drool over, and sink a mini-king's ransom into. That is to inflate, hype, and pump up a product. The product is Beck.
To read more about this article, Click Here.
