Glenn Beck is dangerous, argues Media Matters' Eric Boehlert in The Huffington Post. Since 2009, the Fox News host has used his bully pulpit to foment fears of a "nefarious cabal" of progressive organizations that are supposedly "determined to destroy democracy in America." Earlier this month, Beck's rabble-rousing rhetoric led Byron Williams, a "government-hating, gun-toting nut," to stock a pickup truck with guns and ammo, and set off on a crusade to "open fire" at the offices of the Tides Foundation, a California non-profit. Fortunately, Williams was pulled over by the state police en route. But if Beck's "unequivocal" calls for a right-wing insurrection aren't quickly silenced, says Boehlert, it's only a matter of time before innocent blood is spilled. An excerpt:
[T]he sad truth is we're going to see more like Byron Williams. We're going to see more attempts at vigilante violence during the Age of Obama simply because the right-wing media, led by Beck, continue to gleefully (albeit irresponsibly) stoke dangerous fires with the kind of relentlessly incendiary rhetoric that has no match in terms of modern day, mainstream use in American politics or media....
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