Monday, September 6, 2010

On Beck's Claim that his Rally was not Political

"Apolitical? Not by a Long Shot"
Indeed, one of the more interesting claims made by Beck and his fellow organizers was that the rally was not “political.” Even the New York Times’ Ross Douthat claimed that “[Beck] had promised that the rally… would be an explicitly apolitical event. And so it came to pass.” But Douthat goes on to identify what was really at the heart of Saturday’s gathering: “a long festival of affirmation for middle-class, white Christians.” What he seems to mean is that the rally’s speakers did not explicitly endorse a particular legislative agenda. But anyone who thinks that such a “festival of affirmation for middle-class, white Christians,” given the nation’s current religious and political landscape, is “apolitical” needs—to say the least—a more robust and nuanced definition of politics.  Source

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