Glenn Beck Reads Cartoon Brew On-The-Air

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on

Just in case you’re interested, Glenn Beck discussed Walt Disney and read from yesterday’s Cartoon Brew post about Walt, interjected with his own thoughts on the subject.

Also in Cartoon Brew...

  • A Play about the
    Death of Walt
    Disney That May or …

    deathofwaltdisney-play

  • Disney’s Crankiest
    Veteran is Still
    Cranky, And …

    waltperegoy-main

  • EXCLUSIVE CLIP: The
    Fairest One Of All

    fairest_book_promo
  • http://beesbuzz.biz/ fluffy

    I… I don’t think I can post any comments that wouldn’t run afoul of the comment policy here.

  • SKent.

    well it’s a dubious honor.

  • J Lee

    To try and be as ideologically neutral as possible — when you have a dead person who is not just part of the modern pop culture history but also in some way part of its politics, the long knives come out from haters on either side. You can pretty much claim JFK bedded every good-looking woman in the Boston, Washington and Hollywood phone books in the most lurid ways possible, and certain people on the right will believe every word. People on the left really want to believe J. Edgar Hoover wore a dress — in both cases, the stories are too good to check, and in the storytellers’ minds, dead men neither tell tales or file libel lawsuits.

    So Beck is right that the Disney vitriol stems from the HUAC hearings (and before that, the ’41 strike). But the politics of personal destruction plays out both ways ideologically, and has only grown worse in both directions the easier it’s gotten to dissemble scandalous stories, either via websites or operas.

    • Jason

      So truth is in the middle, south park style?

  • Pedro Nakama

    I think we should all wait and voice our opinions Friday night at The Animation Guild’s Annual Party and just have a big brawl at The Autry Center.

    • Nik

      Find some friends who can sing and re-enact the Disney Strike in the lobby!

  • Julian

    I find this kind of ironically funny because there was a website that claimed Glenn Beck raped and killed a girl in 1990. It was complete BS, but it managed to apparently convince people and got good reaction out of him to the point where his media company filed a law suit in an international court, which apparently went against the principals Beck claimed to believe in and in turn caused a big brouhaha all over. Really, it was like a mini version of the whole Disney fiasco.

    • http://www.cementimental.com Tim Drage

      That was a parody of/response to his similar methods of smearing people on his show tho.

  • Yikes

    Was with him up until it turned political. And of ALL the examples of the Disney corporation being an abomination (endless endless examples)….don’t know that a sanitation worker walking over a piece of paper is necessarily the strongest example.

    But even agreeing with Glenn Beck 50% has left me shocked and confused.

    • SKent.

      agreed, that was a bit of a weak anecdote.

  • James

    While I’m no fan of Glenn Beck and generally ignore him, it’s good that time was taken by someone on network TV to take time to talk about this. It’s also good that Cartoon Brew was name-dropped, which is good publicity for this site period.

    Even though he throws in some partisan crusading (this is Glenn Beck after all), he did give a decent discussion on the subject. In particular he makes a good point about the bad taste of the pedophile angle of the upcoming play which takes no consideration the feelings of Walt’s surviving children. But it’s really nothing new in the realm of exploitation.

  • http://www.itsthecat.com Mark Kausler

    Glenn Beck sure is knowledgeable about Disney, ain’t he? He doesn’t know that Sharon Disney died in 1993 and that Cal Tech and Cal Arts are not the same things. I wouldn’t say that it’s a feather in Cartoon Brew’s cap that he reads the site. Can you block him?

    • http://whataboutthad.com Thad Komorowski

      And what planet is he on where the Disney family is happy with Neal Gabler’s book? The Disney marriage was wretched? Has he spoken with Diane Disney Miller? This video isn’t exactly providing aid to the case for improving the Walt Disney image. It is, though, further proof that Glenn Beck is a noisy ignoramus.

  • autisticAnimator

    …Glenn Beck reads Cartoon Brew?

    • Jow

      Finally! Now I can have the Crossover I always dreamed!

    • Joel

      Ever since he met Donald Duck, yes.

  • David

    It’s a sad day indeed when Cartoon Brew has to drag out Glenn Beck to stand in defense of Walt Disney. I like how he talks about racism in the 40′s and frames it in such a way as to say that it’s OK because everyone was doing it – as if there was not progressive thinking around at the time.

    This is the same guy who described the Norway massacre victims as comparable to Hitler youth.

    • Zac

      I think when people make references to early American racism like that it’s really more for the reality check, to keep things in perspective. If you’ve ever met some old dude who make off-color remarks about race you’d have an idea what I mean. You can’t really judge a person for being raised like that, maybe hold it against them that they never did some critical thinking for themselves on the topic, but I think you have to look at ‘the times’ as a frame of reference just the same. History doesn’t make sense otherwise.

    • Julian

      I didn’t pick up that he was saying it was ok at all, he basically said it was a wide spread social attitude, which from what I can gather, is true, and people naturally weren’t aware like they are now because of the culture they were immersed in. Tell me, are you just trying to make Beck seem like a racist further right than he is just because you don’t like that he’s on the right end of the spectrum? Or are you really trying to write Walt Disney off as some inexcusable, morally culpable, racist.

    • ShouldBeWorkin’

      Glenn Beck compares everything he disagrees with to Hitler and Nazisim.
      “Nazi Tourettes”
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/lewis-black-glenn-beck-ha_n_574659.html

    • ShouldBeWorkin’

      Racism was never right but we do have to place attitudes in historical context.

      I don’t think a 19th century abolitionist, for example, even thought about desegregation or inter-racial marriage. They may have gone running the other way. Social progress is made incrementally. There will come a day when they will look back at us and not believe how backwards we were.

      So yes, in a world where women, for example, where women are allowed zero equal opportunity, a man who stands up and say, “You broads/chicks deserve equality.” would be a beacon.

      But that’s all I agree with with Beck.
      Otherwise he is a ramblin’ d*ck.

  • http://www.animationisart.com Philip Wesley

    I wish less people respected Neal Gabler’s biography on Disney and I dislike what Glass is doing.

    For what it’s worth, I feel that Glenn Beck tends to talk past the point of where he is saying something. But I listen to his show as well as other shows on AM radio, podcasts, APR, and NPR; so I’m used to it. I’ve been listening to talk radio since I was 8 and I am a huge fan of Paul Harvey. (No one on the radio can live up to Paul Harvey. Maybe he rest in peace.) That considered, I feel that the message he (Beck) wants to state in so many flowery sentences is that he disagrees with both the deification of Walt Disney’s image and the desecration of Walt Disney’s good name. Regardless of political aspirations, I feel we can support that disagreement.

    I believe that libel of an artist is disrespect for the art and the people who enjoy it. I could say that Glass likes to burn kittens while composing his music; but that is neither right nor fair to Glass, his art, and the people who enjoy his art. I won’t libel Glass; but I would really appreciate it if he didn’t libel or slander Disney. Glass is really spitting on those of us who enjoy the art that Walt and his team have made. That is truly a shame.

    On that note, if this means even more people check out Cartoon Brew.. GOOD. This site (along with a few others) is part of my daily routine and I feel that my life is made better by including this place in it.

  • Rose

    Yet again, take everything Glen Beck says with a grain of salt. (Shocking I know.) There’s too many assumptions leaping from his lips. He isn’t accurate on his Disney history and the “facts” he stated are flawed. He shouldn’t in any way attempt to be a mouthpiece for the Disney family, nor is he in a proper position to say what they do or do not approve of. And Neal Gabler’s book simply isn’t “the fairest” in the land. The book has its own faults, errors and isn’t universally accepted. Of course if you want to discuss the juicy bits on Walt Disney without proper context, by all means jump in.

  • MissConception

    Despite what you think of Beck politically, we should be glad someone with a larger megaphone is trying to help rectify the Walt Disney image problem. Many people believe the lies about Disney, but many people also don’t realize how tainted Walt’s reputation is, being stuck on him as a deity figure or at least wise old Uncle Walt. Nice to see Beck is getting the message out and sprinkling in some truths along the way. It helps the old man, and it helps us as an animation community and industry. At least be grateful for that.

  • http://www.rauchbrothers.com Tim Rauch

    Maaaybe his wife hated the studio and the parks because it completely consumed her husband and left her without his companionship through much of life??? Just a theory.

  • http://zeteos.blogspot.com/ mick

    Glenn Beck is a cartoon. Mad as a wasp that lad. From his adopted homeland of extreme posturing and comical gibber he is perfectly placed to comment on magic and make believe

  • DJ Scott

    Wow, that was an articulate and well spoken piece filled with common sense and factual knowledge… why haven’t we seen more of this Glenn Beck over the years? I actually don’t have a problem with this guy.

  • http://MrFun Floyd Norman

    My god! I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be agreeing with Glenn Beck. He made some solid points, however and I applaud him for that.

    I do, however take issue with Beck’s portrayal of Disney as a “tragic man.” Walt was having one helluva time during the years I observed him. He loved his job and he loved his life. Had it not been for those damn cigarettes he would have lived a long, happy and productive life. We should all live such a “tragic” life.

  • ShouldBeWorkin’

    Wow.
    I dunno.
    I liked what he said about 1940s’ standards
    but his efforts to humanize Walt was kind of backhanded.
    I can see his listeners exaggerating some of that already exaggerated info further.

  • Mike Caracappa

    Glenn Beck: “Aww Jerry, I don’t know anything about Walt Disney! You always tell me what to say on my show, and then the next day everyone tells me I’m a moron!”

    Jerry Beck: “Do it for Ma, Glenn.”

    Glenn Beck:”You always say that, and every time it gets me to do what you want! Grrr….Fine, I’ll do it for Ma! But I swear this is the absolute last time!”

    Jerry Beck: “See you in the funny pages, Glenn.”

    :)

  • Luke

    Why does everyone forget Bob Thomas’ biography “Walt Disney: An American Original”?

  • Paul N

    Beck takes a fact and makes it sound insidious. Yes, there was no Disney art in the Disney home, because Walt wanted to keep his home life separate from the studio. Everything I’ve read says that the girls had Disney character toys, but since that doesn’t fit Beck’s narrative…

  • http://www.trevour.com Trevour

    Hmmm, I wonder if Beck’s crew became aware of CB after I linked Amid’s two posts in their comments section of an entry they did on Walt Disney Imagineering. Go check out the rest of the comments for more entertainment.

  • Jasmine Rossetto

    I really could not care less how crazy this man is and I’ve never heard him speak before, I just regularly check Cartoon Brew – in this instance I agree with Glenn Beck on this. My dad said that Walt Disney was a Nazi, and he was a boy when Disney produced Snow White. But I didn’t believe him and at the end of the day that’s a rumour because we live in Australia and didn’t know him or anyone who did know him. I agree with Glenn Beck because I hate that people feel the need to tear successful people down. We are never going to know all the facts, and noone will ever be satisfied no matter how much dirt is dug up – it never ends! There is so much negativity in this world, and people seem to thrive on drama. Just because you think something, doesn’t make it true.

    • GW

      I find your closing words particularly relevant to the nature of drama in storytelling. It needs to be more widely understood that drama is not a necessary component of storytelling and that stories can exist which are based simply on the exploration of ideas. I think most people realize this on some level, but it hasn’t had much effect on literary theory and thus on other areas which depend on it like film.

    • Gray64

      All true, but also remember that really, really disliking something doesn’t make it untrue.

  • http://www.daryl-rhystaylor.co.uk DarylT

    Im am actually quite upset and angry about this whole Walt Disney opera thing.

  • Gray64

    I’m pretty sure the only reason Beck wants to defend Walt is the same reason a lot of people want to tear Walt down. He’s frequently used to represent the mythic, old-timey America that Beck thinks he grew up in and haters are convinced was all a big sham. To Beck: things weren’t as perfect and sweet as you think and to the haters: while their lives surely weren’t perfect, most of those contented suburbanites weren’t secretly nazi-sympathizing baby-eaters.