Glenn Beck: Magicland

This, by Laurie Winer, in the LA Review of Books, is really interesting.

It is not news that Glenn Beck is to some degree out of touch with reality. In fact, his grip on reality is so tenuous that this should be clear to any sane person within a few minutes of hearing him speak. In fact, that's one of the scariest things about him--he's got a huge audience of people with such faulty bullshit detectors that they apparently can't tell that he's nuts. That is some scary sh!t right there, dude.

Anyway, that's not news. But for those of us who do have functioning BS detectors, Beck's origin as a radio shock jock (or, more properly, to use my friend Computer Phil's term for such people, a "laughing assh*le") makes perfect sense. And what makes even more perfect perfect sense is his "Magicland" stunt, in which he made up a story about a gigantic underground amusement park, and got some of his more gullible listeners to go looking for it. Seriously, check out the piece--it all coheres perfectly with the story of the Beck we have come to know and abhor. Definitely worth a read.