Glenn Beck Attacks Demonizes All of America's Volunteers
It takes a special man to attack volunteerism and community service as somehow un-American but Glenn Beck was more than up to the job yesterday (10/19/09). You might say he even relished the task as he mugged before the camera with his latest conspiracy theory – which looked a lot like his other conspiracy theories – that a television industry effort to promote volunteerism and service is somehow part of a communist plot by the Obama administration to stamp out capitalism and The American Way Of Life. With video.
“When you’re watching TV this week, you might notice a common theme on some of your favorite TV shows: service and volunteerism,” Beck sneered at the opening of the segment. He was referring to the same Entertainment Industry Foundation initiative that The O’Reilly Factor attacked last week in which more than 60 television shows will somehow showcase the benefits of volunteerism. “Not just public service announcements, but service and volunteerism will be worked into the plots...Your favorite character might volunteer at the dog shelter or at the park.”
“That’s great,” Beck added with disgust. “I just have one pesky question." Then he proceeded to ask a series of questions. "Are we running out of volunteers in this country?... Are we trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist? Are we creating a problem that doesn’t exist? To have an emergency that doesn’t yet exist?” Then, in his “rodeo clown” voice, Beck said, “or is it just a coincidence that all of this falls into line with President Obama’s Corporation for National and Community Service.”
Beck didn’t seem to care enough to answer his own questions but I did, at least the last one. As it turns out, the Corporation for National and Community Service was created in 1993. By my math, that’s about 15 years before Obama was elected president.
Furthermore, Beck forgot to mention that, according to USA Today, the EIF program, called “I Participate” morphed out of a bi-partisan call to action by then-candidates Barack Obama and John McCain.
The Boy Scouts of America disagrees,
The Boy Scouts of America relies on dedicated volunteers to promote its mission of preparing young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetime by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law. Today, nearly 1.2 million adults provide leadership and mentoring to Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Venturers.
Through the dedication of these many volunteers, the Boy Scouts of America remains the foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training in America.
To these volunteers we would like to say thank you for your dedication to Scouting.
And, to adults who are not currently Scout volunteers, we invite you to become a volunteer and share in the positive experiences of the Scouting programs.
