"You're never going to get any truth from us." How the film 'Network' is quickly coming true.

It's amazing, and terrifying, to me how network news channels have found just the right recipe of politics, lies, and fanaticism to hypnotize a large percentage of American television viewers. It's been said that art imitates life, but, we've established a culture where life can now imitate art. Television and radio took on powerful and dangerous roles ever since their inventions. No other film illustrates that as well as Network. If you're not familiar with the film, the protagonist, Howard Beale (pictured above), is a network news host who decides to announce his suicide plans on the air, which involves the suicide itself occurring on the air. This of course gets him a huge ratings boost, and he is given his own show.

The film Network shows how insane and ridiculous the television industry is, and how putting crazy people on the air will actually make them money. Crazy people, like Glenn Beck.

"Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube. This tube is the gospel, the ultimate revelation; this tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers; this tube is the most awesome goddamn propaganda force in the whole godless world, and woe is us if it ever falls into the hands of the wrong people," says Mr. Howard Beale.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am in no means comparing Howard Beale and Glenn Beck. Howard Beale stands against everything Glenn Beck represents, and then again, so do I.

I could go on for hours and pages on what Glenn Beck represents. I could write novels on the closed-minded, hypocritical, fear ridden, hatred filled words that spew from Beck's lips every night to millions of viewers. But that wouldn't be as fun or as convincing as actually just watching his show and catching him in his blatant insanity.

This is Beck pretending to poison Nancy Pelosi:

This is Mr. Beck pretending to light "Americans" on fire (apparently what the Obama Administration is doing to us?):

And this is Beck's hypocrisy at its best, illustrated by The Daily Show:

People actually believe this guy. No facts, just fear. If some stupid 18 year old kid decided to joke around about poising a prominent political figure and posted a video like that online, he would be in serious, serious trouble. Yet, someone like Glenn Beck can televise his sick sense of humor to millions and get away with it? The only happy fact about this whole story is that Beck's sponsors are now slowly starting to pull out. About a dozen of them.

Free speech is a wonderful thing, but we must always be conscious of how we use it. I dislike Glenn Beck about as much as I can dislike anything, but I would never wish death on him, or on anyone for that matter. There are crazy people out in the world who take you seriously, Mr. Beck, and you are giving them dangerous ideas. In fact, you're one of those crazy people yourself, Glenn.

I leave you with what can only be one of my favorite film rants of all time.