Beck equates stem-cell research with eugenics
By David Neiwert Tuesday Mar 10, 2009 5:00am
On his Fox News show yesterday, Glenn Beck fretted about President Obama's executive order ending the federal ban on funding for certain kinds of stem-cell research:
Beck: This is what bothers me. When we are -- when we put science in front of ethics, we start having a bunch of people walking around -- especially progressive scientists -- walking around in little white coats and talking about, 'Hey, we could make the master race. Why don't we go ahead and use eugenics?' That happened in America with progressives and science, when they decided that we can make people better, and they took out all of the ethics. I mean, what's to say, when we don't attach principles and ethics to things, that this just doesn't go off the road?
Speaking of going off the road ...
Beck was using this line earlier in the day on his radio program. Think Progress has the audio:
BECK: So here you have Barack Obama going in and spending the money on embryonic stem cell research, and then some, fundamentally changing – remember, those great progressive doctors are the ones who brought us Eugenics. It was the progressive movement and it science. Let’s put science truly in her place. If evolution is right, why don’t we just help out evolution? That was the idea. And sane people agreed with it!
And it was from America. Progressive movement in America. Eugenics. In case you don’t know what Eugenics led us to: the Final Solution. A master race! A perfect person. …. The stuff that we are facing is absolutely frightening. So I guess I have to put my name on yes, I hope Barack Obama fails. But I just want his policies to fail; I want America to wake up.
As Ryan Powers at TP observes:
In reality, of course, stem-cell research has nothing to do with the search for a “master race.” Rather, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) explained this morning, “Obama’s executive order is a huge win for the millions of people who suffer from spinal cord injuries, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis and many other illnesses.”
You can read more about eugenics here. Of course, it's worth remembering that in recent years, eugenics has been primarily a right wing obsession (remember The Bell Curve? Or how about the recent eugenics revival at NRO?). It's also worth remembering that even in its original incarnation -- in which progressives were indeed involved -- it was also ardently adopted by such conservatives as the Ku Klux Klan, not to mention the fact that it had a religious component as well.
Beck also appears to be confusing eugenics with genetics. The latter is a "hard" science built out of biochemistry, and ethics are indeed a constant concern for geneticists -- having learned the lessons of eugenics.
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anything Sylvester Beck actually knows anything about? Gotta be without a doubt, the dumbest media personality with his own show, anywhere on the globe.
Oh let's face it, Beck doesn't know his ass from his elbow. He spends hours every day proving it. His overly dramatic actions seem to be his attempt to cover or blur the fact that everything he says is yanked directly from his elbow.
Remind me not to rub elbows with him.
have him toe tap in the next stall.
I was thinking a bit lower and more to the center.
There is no stopping the intelligence vacuum of the right. They will say anything irregardless of its factuality or non-sensicalness if they think that they can "strike a nerve" with their base. It is what they have done with every single issue on which they have taken a negative or obstructive stance for the last 30 years or more, be it Gay Rights, Abortion, Affirmative Action, Sex Offender Recidivism...
You name it, the right has distorted and lied about it.
Intelligence is not required for a job at Fox News.
No doubt.
Glen Beck isn’t too smart.
Here again, he badly uses a good argument against the wrong target. (Anyone wishing to lookup American Eugenics should also lookup Dr. Paul Popenoe. By 1930 over 60,000 Americans were sterilized .)
It’s strange to me that anyone could be against stem-cell research. Equating growing stem-cells to eugenics is like comparing apples to sun-burn.
Comparing apples to sun-burn? Write Beck and ask him about this. He could make a whole show about it. That's his kind of topic.
I think Fox only hired him to make everyone else at fox look at least smarter than he is. He is their litmus test. If you act and look crazier than Beck, you won't be hired.
If you act and look crazier than Beck, you won't be hired.
I guess I'll have to stay here.
Oh go ahead and apply for a job there. You never know. ;)
No, that would be genetics, and it's already happening. It wasn't influenced at all by boosh's stem cell research ban, because it wasn't considered part of the stem cell controversy.
And the country club set who so reliably vote republican allow their tween daughters to get surgically altered eye color and breasts implants.
Listening to this crazy mother fucker is probabaly what eating rotten, maggot infested meat is like...some people must have the constitution for it.
Or at least the constitution for toilet paper.
And if Glenn Beck is unhappy with President Obama's decision then he should refuse any benefits that may come from stem cell research. My advice to Glenn Beck is "just say no" and then get out of the way. Other peoples needs don't need to be pushed aside just because Glenn Beck is a regressive.
Let's just start calling them what they are...
REGRESSIVES!
Exactly!! That should go for anyone who protests this. Put it on their drivers license that they do not want any medication derived from embryonic stem cell research.
The rational of this is bizarre to me. I respect anyone who feels their religion forbids this science, but for those who feel it is worthwhile, allow them to benefit from it.
because he knows that conservatism is genetic and scientists will be able to filter out his ignorance from future generations now. Moohoohaahaa!
perhaps Glenn should reconsider his position.
With enough advancement in this field, science might be able to grow him a brain.
is science fiction!
http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q137/comic...
Billo a new heart. Rush a cystless new ass. Ann Coulter a...well...y'all fill in the blanks.
Ann Coulter a...well...y'all fill in the blanks.
thanks for the offer...but...I'll pass.
GAAAAH!
with a sound that reminds us of an Adam's apple?
ricky...
no, wasn't my intention at all.
dibble dee gooble deee...stem cell...ubbbity bobbbity slopperdy...kill children...bbbbiiibbity blooobity...liberals..slibbbiety hopppity...BLUE MEEEANIES!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSIgC1GWC38&fe...
I can't access youtube from work...but I'm sure you picked up the right clip.
Careful with that Axe, Eugenics
C&L is my primary source of Glenn Beck news but it seems to me that he'd have been a real popular state sponsored media personality during nazi Germany.
i'm surprised he's not all over breeding teh gay out of people.
the topic of breeding is a bit out his range...although...it's never stopped him before.
I love hearing torture-endorsing, hate-spewing lunatics hold forth on the importance of ethics.
Not to mention the irony of the leading lights of the White Christian Male Power Structure Club whining about 'liberals and eugenics' when the WCMPSC can't even cope with the fact that they're not in the majority any more.
eugenics never took hold. his genes would have found their way into the circular file for sure.
I feel kind of embarrassed watching Beck. He definately has issues and if I watch him and laugh, I feel like I am laughing at someone who has mental problems and I know that is a rude thing to do. He is not going to sway anyone. The people who agree with him were already messed up. I guess he gives them comfort just as BillO gives his lesser messed up audience comfort.
if he weren't in a position of power with his TV show, but I think you are right, he and Bush both are obviously dry drunks and it shows.
in ridiculing twits like Glenn Beck.
He has a public forum, if he wants to use it to make himself look like a moron, that's not our fault.
According to two reports from bushco insiders, he never stopped drinking.
I remember seeing a couple of speeches where he seemed plastered.
Remember the pictures from China? The ones that showed two or three men holding him up to keep him from falling.
Good times!
could grow Dubya a new liver.
Tue, 03/10/2009 - 06:59 — liberalNmoderation
I remember seeing a couple of speeches where he seemed plastered.
________________________________________________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XTmWag6wfw&fe...
Come on now Glenn , stem cell research could be used to make millions of little Glenn Becks , now wouldn't that be cool ? You see it's not all bad , think of the positives silly boy .Now you and Bill-O go put your tutu's on and practice your ballet in the rec room .Sheeesh .
These religious morons need to be laughed out of the public debate and laughed out in such a way that they can no longer be elected to political offices. They hurt America.
c'mon liberals, stop with the "we can't judge people's religion" nonsense. Stop acting as enablers; the defenders of the absurd; the "I insist on tolerance for the intolerable".
And no, not all liberals are like this, just too many.
can't someone take this retard bowling and get him off the teevee?
Well you know what would happen if you took him bowling. He would be throwing the pens at the ball.
Normally I despise the word "retard"... but what else fits this buffoon?
As Jed Clampett always said of Jethro "If brains was lard that boy couldn't grease a pan".
Or maybe not.
I've said before that Beck has been looking for, and possibly found, his "shtick" to stay relevant and on TV.
take the retards bowling was a song reference, but I can't remember at the moment who did it.
In my opinion the democratic party is the party of freedom of and from religion.
except the truth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQaF4YXCXsc
looked at this...it's funny stuff dammit!
From a different viewpoint, I contend that some U.S. pharma businesses have successfully practiced eugenics for more than 2 decades. When Eli Lilly received a patent and FDA approval for genetically-engineered insulin, sales were low—it was not the purported blockbuster for this first-ever GE drug. Since they literally controlled the U.S. market, they removed the competition (their very own natural animal insulins), and drove patients to their new, latest-greatest, patented (more expensive) “insulin.” Some diabetics COULD NOT use (or survive) on the rDNA insulin created synthetically. By removing a needed product, and successfully lobbying to prevent the sale of natural products in the U.S., Lilly caused unknowable numbers of deaths.
Since this pertains to the FREE MARKET, for whom Beck is an avid supporter, I can only believe that scientific eugenics is morally wrong, BUT corporate eugenics is a-okay. As long as there is a profit motive involved, what’s a death or two (or many) among friendly capitalists?
Corporations like Monsanto are well known for their ethical behavior.
"Corporations like Monsanto are well known for their LACK of ethical behavior."
Monsanto always looks out for the little guy...like CEOs...shareholders...etc,etc.
ESPECIALLY, they look out for the farmers!
I'm probably mistaken, but doesnt Glenn Beck have a special needs child (autism?)? So what if that child could be helped in some way by this research...or what if him or a family member was stricken with Parkinsons or Alzheimers? I'm sure he would change his tune if it was on his front doorstep. It's time to evolve.
..oysters. This was on a "farm" specializing in growing oysters. I instituted a husbandry program and management told me that they didn't want me to do it because they didn't want to get into Genetic Engineering. Teh Stupid!
Misunderstanding this aspect of this science is easy for the
Grand Obstructionist Party and various loyal minions in the MSM.
Glenn, one day your taking embryonic stem cells and using them to save lives and the next day you are wiping out an entire race of people, they go hand in hand. It's just like your forgotten man theory Glenn.
This guy just gets crazier every day. Dave, I'm glad that you call him out on this B.S.
Always remember, when debating the irrational, that the 'slippery slope' argument goes both ways. If Beck is worried that lifting this ban will lead down a slippery slope of unethical experimentation, cloning, Eugneics, etc... we need to point out that banning certain types of research because of what 'might' happen with the findings (in spite of known benefits) will lead us down a slippery slope of blocking funding for any other types of research that a portion of the population (minority or otherwise) fears could eventually, potentially, lead to controversial actions. In the latter environment, science, learning, and progress would simply come to a halt.
Beck is insane no doubt but what about the people who watch and think he knows what he is talking about? And then they repeat his nonsense. Beck needs to be removed. To bad he fits right into the Fox News play book. Hannity, O'Shithead, Beck and Gibson with Greta trying to hook her wagon to the train. What a line up.
Perhaps after the election in November, Fox knew they needed to sound a little less crazy but they didn't want to lose their crazy base. So they hired beck to hang on to their crazy base and this allowed the others to look a bit more sane.
who are more reasoned, articulate and (probably) more photogenic than Beck, even after they have half a dozen cold ones in them.
Keeping speed limits in place might mean that less serial killers are killed in car accidents. Anything can lead to anything.
their big cats. They ain't good for much else.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkyn5fucANQ
i attended an 'ethics in genetic research' seminar last week at a top-five research university. ethics is paramount in genetic research. why?
because the unintended consequences can be far too great to overcome. the scientific community is a notably cautious bunch.
nice try Beck.
The scientific community may be cautious, but businesses are not and they pay out a lot of paychecks. A scientist has to eat, don't you know.
True. The Scientific Method is an unbiased tool. Scientists who use this tool can still be biased (and paid for).
As much as I despise, loathe and am generally repulsed by this sorry excuse for human flesh, he's right. Even though Obama did say that the funding was not for cloning or human experimentation, there are always those that want to push the envelope. As much as I think it's great that this work can now be openly pursued by the scientific community and funded by the Government, the oversight on this could be daunting. This can be about as gray an area as anyone could ask for.
Do you hear that sound? That's the heads of religious fundies all across the nation exploding.
He's right in that Eugenics had ethical problems just as Genetics may have ethical problems. He's wrong in that because they share the same general ethical concerns they are equivalent.They are not.
This moron needs a straight jacket and another long rest in a mental hospital where he came from.
Beck does have a special needs child, that's why he was crying with thanks about sarah palin. the republican wonder child with a special needs child that cut the special ed budget in her state last year and also cut the special olympics program by 1/2 this year.
Why can these crazies accept people like the KKK and white supremacist group/ This is a passive form of eugenics, but that doesn't bother people like Beck or Hannity.
Obama always stated that he would reverse the ban on stem cell. I know why the republicans are angry with him.
He is doing what he said he would. Unlike republicans that say one thing and do another.
Obama is confusing the hell out of republicans and they do not like it one bit !
Eugenics has also been widely practiced in this country in the past and has even been the subject of rapturous conjecture by wingnutz.
Picking the gender of your baby! Picking eye color, height etc.. The slavocracy bred slaves for certain traits.. There was even that awful moment on Fox when someone suggested Coulter and Limbaugh have a child (if I could get past the creation part, I'd enjoy the torment the young tater would most likely bring Mommy and Daddy). There's alot to think about here, simple prohibitions and blanket permissiveness are probably not the answers.. I'm alot more comfortable with stem cell research than my first four examples.. But we can hardly trust 'scientists' (who strive, to the best of their abilities and in the context of their personalities, for objectivity) to choose the wisest path. Nazis had scientists and so do our business interests and and so do other arrogant meglomaniacs..
How can two men have a baby? Wait, I guess Limbaugh's sex IS in question. So, this just might work....
regarding Coulter...wtf?
Tony Perkins was on the News Hour last night and tried to promote the same type of crap - tax dollars would be used by unethical scientists mimicking the worst of Nazi science. He attempted to talk over the Dr. opposite him - the usual right wing tactic when your ideas are specious - but Gwen Ifill finally stopped him, much to his dismay.
I used to think the left needed the right to keep it honest. I have abandoned that idea. The right needs to be so marginalized they are no longer invited to express their views. Let them have Faux Gnus and CNN, the MSM should simply ignore them using Specter, Snowe et al as a foil if one is necessary.
The whackos emit more heat than light.
I saw that one.
If the religious can decide the ethics of science, can scientists decide the ethics of religion?
But what does Perkins have to do with religion or ethics?
Only if they prove (or disprove) the existance of God.
We have something else substituted for the right, it's horrifying.. Perhaps sites like these could find more responsible representatives than the nutz we're being fed..
I am so saddened by this clip. Has anti intellectualism and fear of the new really reached this far? Perhaps this man, Beck, is a put on and a jokster out to make a name for himself by feeding the frenzy of ignorance that is ripe for the taking. Perhaps I have been in my own world for too long to not recognize that there are very stupid, illinformed, dangerous lunkheads out there that are given airtime to vent their sadly unrealistic views. This kind of garbage is unbelievable to me.
Beck is dumber than a sack of rocks.
who puts rocks in a sack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i8rawi_f-c
Respond to me with that anytime. Awesome Beck.
Astronauts. But that goes back to science.
And, most vexingly, how did he get a TV show? (Of course, it IS Faux Noise.)
Seriously, I'd rather listen to a guy in a sandwich board railing on a street corner.
This is one sick puppy. Everything he spouts is hysterical and fact-challenged.
"Everything he spouts is hysterical and fact-
challengedfree."FIFY...
Facts and the truth are nowhere in evidence in the Raving Buzzcut's house of mirrors.
Since the election and the inauguration the right has shown why Obama and the Dems in Congress were the correct choice. Everything the right wing have done and said shows how nuts they are. Obstructing for the sole reason to obstruct. Scream for FAILURE!!! on the airwaves (This has been done by many others than Rash. Look at how many Congress people have been asked on national TV if they agree with Rash and none of them have said that they disagree!!). E V E R Y fucking thing that Obama and the congress have proposed have been obstructed and met with plain bullshit. Every fucking thing!! They don't give a damn about the country. They only care about themselves. They don't care about their constituents. They only care about themselves. They don't care about their states. They only care about themselves. They don't care about Iraq or Afghanistan. They only care about themselves. They certainly don't give a shit about the troops because they only care about themselves and the next photo op. These assholes are sick. Look at the crap that Beck and O'Craphead and Hannity spew every day and night. It is all negative and lies and hate. Nothing ever positive comes out of their pie holes. I just can't imagine that even their best fans don't see this and are not getting sick and tired of it. Always obstructing and never solving. I hope they bury themselves to the point they will never be able to come back.
and I'll be glad to help them. I'll even wear my little white coat.
Are you in the medical profession?
Why do you own a "lttle white coat"? ;0)
You're tellin me you DON'T own a "little white coat"?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive...
the compound...er uh..I mean, HOUSE...never leaves the house...yeah...that's it...
I was referring to THIS kind of white coat...
a little more snazzy...
http://www.sixstaruniforms.com/Merchant/graph...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CaWMKB-fh0&fe...
Beck mentions progressive scientists. He must be referring to the ones that believe in global warming and evolution by natural selection. I've only known a few outwardly conservative academics (scientists) in my time and they were more contrary, egotistical asshats than anything else.
you can not be a scientist and a conservative at the same time.
It explains the GOP belligerent attitude towards anything remotely scientific.
They don't give a rats ass about a full grown human being, but they throw a fit if a couple of nonviable cells are used for research?
I am not interested in getting lecture about scientific matters from a person who believes in magic underwear.
He used the wrong word. He said 'ethics', instead of 'extreme Right-wing ideology'.
What in the name of science is wrong with these people, are they a bunch of 3rd graders? One of them reads something they don't understand in the stimulus bill, and tells someone else, who then tells the next one... by the time it gets halfway around the circle, it's turned into "Hussein Obama wants a private rail line from the White House to the front steps of the Bunny Ranch!!" And just like every group of 3rd graders who ever played the telephone game on a rainy-day recess, before long it will turn into "Sally eats boogers HAHAHAHA!!!"
Thank you!
Ann, Ann Coulter, Ann eats boogers...
What the hell are you smoking, Glenn? Whatever it is, I most certainly do not want some.
Try the green instead.
Seems more like he's more coming from Tweakersville to me.
He does have speed-freak like abilities.
Dogs and cats living together... Mass hysteria.
This is the same argument that Ben Stein tried to use against evolution in his crappy movie that no one saw. That was fucking stupid and so is this. God forbid, actually helping people who are already here instead of the "unborn". These goofballs live in an alternate universe, one which you never want to visit.
What in the H*ll is this? Beck projecting his beliefs on others again.
Anyone with a half a brain can see that the starving of poor people is in itself, eugenics.
We the people, the workers, have been forced to reduce the size of our families because we can't afford to feed and educate them, or to provide medical care for them. But the RICH KEEP HAVING GIGANTIC FAMILIES.
If that isn't eugenics, what the hell is?
...Glen Beck is not a member of any "master race."
I've seen Hollywood chimps who were both more intelligent and more serious-minded than Beck, who continues to be the Biggest Clown on Earth.
who owned a chimp named Whiskey. I don't know why I would associate Whiskey with Beck. It isn't Hollywood. Whiskey mostly stayed in the trailer behind ntghe Chicken Shack in Baytown.
Is worried that they will use stem-cell research to create a master race? I guess if he realy believes that, he should be affraid. I'm pretty sure Beck isn't even in the master SPECIES let alone the master RACE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cE1fzfOogo
This guy needs to fess up. Someone ought to fact check if Beck claims that he finished high school. Or any school, for that matter.
Arrgh... *sigh*
From the viewpoint that could be considered a consistent life ethic (but not the pro-kill consistent "ethic" of Repugs)I personally equate the decision to give embryos to science for stem-cell research to be on the level of allowing yourself (or more tragically, ones young child)'s organs to be donated after your passing. Nothing more can be done for these embryos, they were going to be discarded, but they can help save or improve the quality of life of someone who is here with us now.
Beck's an idiot of course, looking for Hitleresque conspiracies under every nook and cranny. He's going to drive himself mad one of these days, if he hasn't already.
And we all know what a fucking rocket scientist Beck is. Eminently qualified to make the analogy.
Was a stupid idiot.
What the commentators on Fixed News are doing is reprehensible and despicable. It broadcasts nothing but made up stories that makes The Star look like The Bible. The legacy of Bush and the last eight years is struggling to survive, and there are enough nitwits around to keep it alive. If they want to be afraid all the time, just go and rent a good horror movie. The rest of us want to get back to living our lives with a modicum of joy. The joyless and sick-minded right wing nuts that are given a bully pulpit is disgraceful. The FCC should take away Rupert Murdoch's FCC license and charge him with criminal negligence. The damage that is being done by the garbage being spewed from the mouths of the hate-mongers on The Fake News needs to be stopped. They are not stupid, they are evil and vile creatures.
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