He hasn’t produced a doctor’s note, but I’ll point out that people asked this about Robert Novak’s brain tumor - and the tumor did eventually kill Novak. When people lie about their health, the people around them notice when they don’t get sick. Since Beck is on a nationally broadcast TV show, it’s hard to see why he would lie about it or how he expected to get away with it.
Why won’t Beck release the doctor’s note that says he has macular dystrophy? I’m not saying that I think he doesn’t have macular dystrophy, I just wonder why he won’t release the proof that he has macular dystrophy.
I started to write a post that he could be saying he has macular dystrophy now, and then claim to be healed later. A week before the election, maybe, as a blessing from God and a sign that we should all vote for Michele Bachman, or something.
But I didn’t post it. Rush Limbaugh took heat for mocking Michael J. Fox, and saying that he was exaggerating his symptoms for political advantage. It’s a low blow, and I won’t make the same charge against Beck. I don’t agree with his message or his methods, and I think he damages the public discourse in this country. But if he loses his vision, that’s a tragedy, and I wish him the best.
Glenn Beck accused me (by virtue of my association with an organization generally known for doing good works) of being a Nazi.
I’m having a hard time feeling much sympathy for him.
I don’t see what being conservative or liberal has to do with wanting the world to be a better place through subtraction. I hope its lethal, or at least very painful.
Wow, such vile words. And I’ll bet you people go to bed at night, secure in the belief that you are the **good **guys.
The only bad guy in this conversation is Beck. Even you aren’t a bad person, you’re just misguided.
Beck increases the amount of racism and ignorance in the world. Unless he invents a cure for cancer he isn’t likely to leave the world better for his existence.
I suppose you haven’t visited a right wing message board or comments section lately? I know, I know “just because they’re doing it” isn’t a proper justification for anything, but you want to read some really vile words, head into the comments section of any number of Free Republic stories.
As impolite or inappropriate as some of the comments in this thread may be, none of them carry any moral dimension to them. That is to say, while it may be tacky to revel when natural misfortune befalls someone you dislike, it is not in and of itself an evil (or, for that matter, good) act. It’s a violation of manners, not morals. So there isn’t any particular disconnect between chortling at Beck’s health problems, and sleeping the sleep of the just.
The idea that one should “turn the other cheek” and always show compassion, even for those who have wronged you, is a very Christian concept. As I am not a Christian (Glenn Beck is, though, and yet I don’t see him being especially kind or forgiving), I don’t feel particularly obligated to be nice to someone who has said incredibly offensive things about me. It isn’t required by my belief system to show compassion and kindness to everyone.
I wouldn’t wish anything bad to happen to him. I generally don’t wish ill on anyone. I just can’t find it within myself to care too much about his misfortune.
I don’t wish the man blind and hope he can pull through this, but at the same time if people are cracking a few jokes at his expense, that’s what happens when you act like a clown.
My sentiments exactly.
And for the suggestion that comments by those of us who don’t have much sympathy for Beck falls to the same depth of Rush Limbaugh flopping around, mimicking Michael J. Fox, I call bullshit. Not even close.
Since you’re already taking this to GD territory, I might as well continue.
But then there’s no reason for your enemy to be nice to you, or care about you. It always goes both ways. You don’t care about your enemy, so those who support them don’t care about you. So you don’t care about them. They feel insulted by this, and thus insult you back. You take offense insulting them even more. And on and on it escalates, until one side is at war with the other.
That’s the reason why this Christian concept is superior: rather than getting in an escalation group, you learn not to just walk away (which only sometimes works), but to use your ability to love to diffuse the situation itself before it even starts.
It’s the one thing about Christianity that I can’t understand any objections about, from moral people, at least. I thought people mostly objected that most Christians (including myself) don’t live up to it.
If you can only have sympathy for people who you like, then what good is that sympathy?
Ugh. I can’t help feeling a bit bad for him. The idea of having an eye problem feels scary. So is the idea of not being able to read. I know, I know, there are probably ways to get around dealing with it, but reading is such a fundamental part of my life. The idea of having to give it up would be devastating.
I’m reminded of the news that Rush Limbaugh was losing his hearing. I didn’t like the guy’s bombasts, but was sympathetic. Then when I learned it was due to abuse of oxycontin, I was pissed that my emotions had been manipulated.
I’m rather leery of this story now. What hypocritical behavior has Beck done to bring on the MD?
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
(I was already going to hell anyway. Might as well get my money’s worth.)
Well, first of all, I am disinterested in having a moral debate. You’re a Christian and nothing I say can dissuade you from your position that the Christian position is superior. I don’t care if you think that, but I disagree. Therefore, it is a waste of both of our time to debate the issue. I think it’s fine if you want to live your life in that way, but I don’t feel obligated to do so, because I am not a Christian. I’m an atheist, but my beliefs tend to be drawn from Judaism, which has more of a “if you fuck me up, I’ll fuck you up right back” code.
I wanted to clarify my position. I feel sympathy for all kinds of people. If you know very much about me at all, I think you will know that I am a pretty generous person who cares a great deal about the well-being of other people.
In this case, I find the person in question so abhorrent that I simply can’t care too much. As I mentioned upthread, he condemned me (using terms that I find extremely offensive) for activities I think most people would consider positive. So pardon me if I can’t feel too much sympathy. There are a lot of other people in the world doing a hell of a lot worse; I’ll save my empathy for them.
Rush says he’s ‘100%, totally deaf’.
But, that’s not what Jesus would do. At least, he never acted like that in the Gospels. The only episode that comes close was the woman taken in adultery, and he defused that with guilt-tripping, not love.
That’s cause Jesus was a Jew. 