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ADL Catalogues U.S. ‘Rage’

And blames Glenn Beck for stoking it

by
Orlee Maimon
November 18, 2009
Rep. Barney Frank is confronted by a Obama-as-Hitler poster at a town hall meeting this summer.(Darren McCollester/Getty Images)
Rep. Barney Frank is confronted by a Obama-as-Hitler poster at a town hall meeting this summer.(Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

The Anti-Defamation League released a report this week detailing what it calls the rise of rage in the United States. Who’s to blame for all this rage? That’s the fun part of the study: Abe Foxman & Co. finger Fox News host Glenn Beck, the “fearmonger-in-chief” and the “most important mainstream media figure … helping stoke the fires.” Beck is more dangerous than other right-wing hosts like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, the ADL says, because they attack the government on partisan grounds while Beck also engages and indulges conspiracy theories. A few of the conspiracy theories Beck entertains are Obama’s alleged creation of a civilian national security force and the preparation of FEMA-sponsored concentration camps for dissidents. But throughout the report, it is unclear what the ADL finds most troubling—the growth of this “rage” in the United States, or references Beck makes comparing President Barack Obama to Hitler. This being an ADL report, of course it finds plenty of those.