The Glenn Beck problem…

The Glenn Beck problem
Mormon Times ^ | April 9, 2010 | McKay Coppins

Posted on Friday, April 09, 2010 3:01:50 PM by Colofornian

The problem with writing a column about Glenn Beck is that everyone already has said everything about him. His story has been told, his politics dissected, his rhetoric debated, his personal life invaded and his net worth revealed. And it’s all been done to the point of redundancy.

And yet the Glenn Beck conversation thrives, especially in Mormon circles.

In an effort to take something of a sociological snapshot, I posted this question on my Facebook wall on Thursday: “What do you think of Glenn Beck?”

Within a couple of hours, 10 people had responded. Some of them commented more than once, and some of them used bad words that I can’t repeat here, but two commonalities were immediately apparent:

1. They were all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (some active, some inactive), and

2. They all had negative opinions of Brother Beck.

At first the results surprised me. I’ve spent enough time with my in-laws and their extended family to know that some of Beck’s most ardent supporters are Latter-day Saints. But after reviewing the comments on my Facebook wall, I noticed a similarity I hadn’t considered: Almost all of the Beck-bashers were under 40 years old.

Without spending too much time on my opinion of the pundit/entertainer — I’m going to have to face my in-laws at the next family reunion, after all — I’ll just say I think Beck’s unique brand of hateful rhetoric, fear-mongering and conspiracy theorizing represent a dangerous fringe of American conservatism. That younger Mormons seem to be rejecting him is encouraging.

Of course, my only evidence of this assertion is anecdotal, and I’m not aware of any data that track the political leanings of LDS young adults. But more broadly, a recent Harvard study has found that an increasing number of 18- to 29-year-olds consider themselves independent of either of the dominant partisan platforms. It’s entirely plausible, if not likely, that the same trend toward moderate politics is taking place within the church.

I have written before about the hazards of our church becoming too mono-partisan. If we risk alienating Democrats by being too Republican, then we risk alienating an even larger group — namely, rational people of any political ideology who find the rantings of extremists repellent — when we defend and even join the radical fringe.

There is no doubt that Beck’s story of repentance, recovery and conversion is an inspiration, and we should be careful not to demonize him as an individual. But some of his rhetoric and some of his politics are uncivil at best and frightening at worst. If we want our church culture to welcome people with a variety of opinions, we would do well to follow the brethren’s counsel regarding civility.