Would-be killer inspired by Glenn Beck
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Fox News has inspired at least one person to attempt mass murder — a new report released yesterday removes any doubt.1
Three months ago, a heavily armed man named Byron Williams was on his way to kill people at two non-profit organizations in San Francisco
when he got into a gun battle with police before they eventually
arrested him. Now, in an interview from jail, he's just told us that
Fox News' Glenn Beck was a major inspiration:
"Beck will deny
everything about violent approach, deny everything about conspiracies,
but he'll give you every reason to believe it ... I understand what he's
doing."2
If you needed any more evidence that Fox News is dangerous, this is it.
It's time to do everything we can reduce Fox News' influence and stop
them from spreading divisive propaganda and inciting violence. More
than 200,000 people have joined the Turn Off Fox campaign and are asking
businesses and public places in their communities to stop playing Fox
News. Will you join us?
http://www.colorofchange.org/turnofffox/580/?id=2147-1058985
Byron Williams came frighteningly close to killing people at offices of the ACLU and the Tides Foundation in San Francisco. He was stopped by police on the highway in Oakland
just a few miles from his targets, and shot at them for about 12
minutes (injuring two of them but thankfully killing no one) before they
finally could arrest him.3
While many Americans are aware of the ACLU, the Tides Foundation is an
organization that most people had never heard of — until Glenn Beck
started demonizing and spreading false information about them. Since
Beck’s show premiered, he has pushed conspiracy theories involving Tides on nearly 30 episodes. During the same time period, Tides was never mentioned on other news channels.4,5
Williams survived the gunshots police used to bring him down — and now,
he’s told us about his motives. According to an interview with Williams
released by Media Matters yesterday morning, he was driven by a bizarre and false conspiracy theory involving Tides Foundation that Glenn Beck pushed multiple times on his TV show.6
Click here to watch a video about Williams' attempted killing spree
(and its connection to Glenn Beck's conspiracy theories) — and to sign
our petition calling on businesses and public places to stop playing Fox
News:
http://www.colorofchange.org/turnofffox/580/?id=2147-1058985
Here are some more quotes from Byron Williams that show what he thought about Glenn Beck:
- "I would have never started watching Fox News if it wasn’t for the
fact that Beck was on there ... It was the things that he did, it was
the things he exposed, that blew my mind." "Anything that you do is going to be considered promoting terror attacks
or promoting violence. So now they’ve got Beck labeled as a guy that is
trying to incite violence. And what I say is that if the truth incites
violence, it means that we’ve been living too long in the lies."7
Williams is the clearest example we have of someone who was motivated by
Fox News to engage in political violence — but he's part of a
consistent pattern of violence from far-right extremists that was likely
motivated at least in part by the hateful rhetoric and misinformation
that's commonplace on Fox News and in other far-right media. Many of
those who have planned or carried out violence (including Byron
Williams) held racist and anti-Semitic views and were angry at the fact
that our country has a Black president.
- In April 2009, a white supremacist named Richard Poplawski
shot and killed three police officers that were called to his house.
Poplawski hated Jews and Black people, and believed in right-wing
conspiracy theories that say the Obama administration is gearing up to
take away peoples' guns and institute a police state. Glenn Beck has
consistently implied that the Obama administration is taking away our
rights and moving us towards a fascist dictatorship or police state.
Poplawski once posted a Youtube clip of Glenn Beck — in which he
discussed a conspiracy theory about FEMA concentration camps — to the
white supremacist website Stormfront.8 In May 2009, abortion doctor George Tiller was gunned down
in his church by an anti-abortion terrorist after being demonized for
years by Fox's Bill O'Reilly
as "Tiller the Baby Killer." O'Reilly had compared Tiller to the Nazis
and to Al-Qaeda. He said that Tiller had "blood on his hands" and that
he wouldn't want to be Tiller "if there is a Judgement Day."9
There's a very real danger of political violence from the far-right —
and Fox News fans the flames every day. It's no longer a hypothetical
question whether the conspiracy theories, bigotry, and violent rhetoric
on Fox can lead to real-world violence. It's already happened.
Thankfully, police were able to stop Byron Williams before he committed a
massacre. But we might not be so lucky with the next killer inspired
by Glenn Beck and Fox News.
We can't allow Fox News to stoke the kind of fear, division and hatred
that leads to violence. It's time to ask our friends, our neighbors,
and our communities to turn off Fox. Please join us:
Thanks and Peace,
Read More: http://www.colorofchange.org/turnofffox/580/?id=21...
Top Opinion
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Rodney 2010/10/12 19:13:27
+33LOL, typical Liberal mindset, blame everyone but the perp. It is always someone else's fault isn't it? The world is nothing but mindless boobs waiting for someone to give them an order. Shall we go into all the leftist loons that have killed, beaten and terrorized others? Shall we go there?
First, note that Beck decries violence, as anyone who watches would know. Second, he does NOT deny conspiracy, but says it is in the open, as do I. Third, Charles Manson thought he knew what the Beatles meant, too. He was nuts and so is this guy. And Joseph, do you remove all responsibility for civil behavior from the perpetrator himself? It's obviously easier and more satisfying to feed your agenda and personal vendetta than to admit the truth, but give it a try for once, okay? Fox doesn't make killers any more than Obama offers hope.
"By the fruit of their works shall ye know them."
and this was Al Gore's fault.
You all are pathetic.
However, *hands* owned by the wrong person can be dangerous. People read into *books* beyond the intent of the author and try to kill people - it still doesn't mean we should ban those books any more than we should ban a TV show.
However, I'd like to see Beck (and those that follow him) denounce the actions of this man, and repeat that they do NOT condone such actions.
Of course, denouncing or not, this is going to make his ratings spike. He'll benefit from it, and he knows just how to manipulate his watchers so he CAN profit from this - monetarily or simply via popularity/ratings.
The problem is not so much with Beck. He's just an entertainer out to make a buck. He knows how to manipulate an audience, in much the same way as televangelists manipulate their flock.The problem is with people who actually believe that he is anything more than just an entertainer. Tragically, this guy Williams falls into that category.
BTW, another poster here makes the point that the Discovery Channel could as likely take the blame for Lee's actions. That's as ludicrous as your claim.
It is clear this person has never watched Beck.
It is clear this guy has never watched Fox News!
2. Any psycho can use anything or person as a pretext for violence. When they arrested the Unabomber, he had a book by Al Gore in his possession (faithfully omitted from the evidence list by a compliant FBI), and his manifesto appeared to have been inspired by Gore.
3. How come liberals only oppose criminals that attempt to do harm to THEM, but the criminals who harm the rest of us they love, cherish, and defend to the nth degree?
I thought you were more intelligent than this but as I have said many times in the past unfortunately... you just keep proving me wrong.
Definitely can't say the same of the Left.
Too bad more on the Left can't preach the same non-violent message that Beck espouses. We'd have a much better and less violent world.
Isn't it the left who cry us a river every time there's a terrorist incident in the US that can't be blamed on JUST ONE home grown terrorist? Isn't it the left who refuse to call out Muslims when the terrorists turn out to be Muslim? So since you're into numbers, how many Muslims are there in the US that the left insists on defending?
And do you seriously want to play a numbers game after the endless horrors perpetrated on humanity by the left in the last century? (Yes, I know this is one-off logic for this specific topic, but still...you want to reduce this to numbers?)