The Real America: Messages from the Heart and Heartland - Hardcover

Beck, Glenn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743486331 ISBN 13: 9780743486330

Publisher: Pocket, 2003

Synopsis

There are some things people think but don't say.... "Political correctness is the classic Great Idea Gone Wrong. All it's done is shut us up. It hasn't changed anybody's mind. It hasn't changed our hearts. It's changed our faces. It's taken every opinion we have, it's taken every joke we have, and it's forced us to conceal it and hide it and bury it. It's made us superficial." "Terrorism isn't caused by poverty, poverty is caused by terrorism. Terror is a tool used by those seeking power to keep the masses in need of an answer." "Too many people blame everything on everybody else, and because they do, they will expect too little from themselves and too little from their children." Glenn Beck says all that, and more. As one of the most listened to nationally syndicated radio talk-show hosts and the driving force behind the Rallies for America, Glenn Beck entertains, inspires, and informs millions of listeners. In The Real America, Beck continues to tell it like it really is, cutting through the fog of modern-day pundits and pontificators who have made it their mission to undermine and underestimate the greatness of America, our strength as Americans, and the power of the American spirit. With his inimitable combination of self-effacing humor and heartfelt conviction, Glenn rails against many of the forces that keep us from our potential as a nation and as individuals -- and tells how to overcome them. His topics include:

• Family and community
• Politics
• Personal responsibility
• Race relations
• Religion
• Political correctness, the media, Hollywood, and celebrities
• Abortion and the deat
• penalty
• Alcohol and drugs
• Why I wave the flag

Glenn Beck's compelling message in The Real America echoes the ideas he has delivered to thousands of people with his groundbreaking Rallies for America: Once we connect with our power individually, we can empower others -- and then we can be as great and as grand as we have always wanted to be as a person, as a people, and as a nation.

About this title

About the Author:

Glenn Beck is the host and star of The Glenn Beck Program, a daily radio talk show based out of Philadelphia, and syndicated on more than 130 stations across the U.S. and Canada. His agenda ranges from political issues and current affairs to personal revelations.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Chapter 1: The Real Americans and the Real America

In my faith we have temples, and they are kept spotless and clean. The only place more sacred than the temple is your own home, and your home is to be kept just as clean and in order. Now, I don't mean, "Get out the vacuum, kids!" clean. I mean the kind of clean that keeps something sacred.

In the Real America, the most sacred place on earth is your home, and your home is a refuge. It's a shelter. In the Real America your home is the center of your universe and the center of your home is the dinner table, the most important piece of furniture you have. It doesn't have to be fancy -- it just has to be comfortable, so that everybody likes to be in that room and around that table.

In the Real America we will all be very busy -- just as we are now -- but we'll also be busy doing other people's work, not just our own. We'll be busy helping people -- and that doesn't have to mean strangers. That also means we'll help our kids, we'll spend time listening to them, talking to them -- just being with them.

In the Real America, we count on the members of our extended family. Our families provide us with an endless supply of hope, love and joy. It doesn't necessarily always happen now, but in the Real America, our greatest support will come from the family and our extended families.

In the Real America, I will be able to change. I will know I can conquer my past and be the person I want to be. We can become better people, and our families will continue to give us support.

In today's America you can do this, but many of us no longer believe it's possible. Ten years ago I was a bitter, hopeless alcoholic who hated people. In a few short years filled with difficulty, but mainly joy, I changed. I am happy now, hopeful, sober, and I only dislike people for really valid reasons. This book is not a self-help book, but by the end of it you will, once again, believe that you can change the world, your business, your family and yourself.

I have found there are four steps to change:

• 1. You must want it.
• 2. You must believe it.
• 3. You must live it.
• 4. You will become it.

If you read on from here you already want it. Over the coming pages we will focus on the second point. Not only will you believe in the Real America, you will believe that we deserve it and that we can achieve it.

The United States is still a capitalist society, but capitalism in the Real America will be an enlightened way to wealth. Sure, some people will always try to make a buck by squeezing the little people, but in the Real America, I'll be able to make more money -- I'll be able to make more of a profit -- by treating employees with dignity and giving them access to non-governmental health care and paying them what they deserve. In the Real America, the employee will be a partner and we'll all enrich one another.

In the Real America our current plastic politicians will be replaced by the more genuine, lifelike and human robots in Disney's Hall of Presidents. Actually, partisan politics is a tough topic to tackle, but we will, starting with chapter 4 -- Everything You Need to Know About Partisan Politics.

Basically, Real Politics in this better America will be based on principle not policy: Real Ethics, Real Values, Real Integrity. As Real Americans, we will not expect to agree with everything a certain politician says, but we will be able to demand that politicians always say what they mean and mean what they say. The Real American Politician will look us in the eyes and say, "Look, Jack, you may completely disagree with me on this one issue, but here are these eight other issues on which we do agree. And more important, we agree on principles. And that's just the way it is. If you can vote for me, great. If not, I understand 'cause I don't need this job badly enough to lie to you or myself."

Martin Luther King's dream will come true in the Real America: a colorblind society -- but without political correctness. Unfortunately, King's dream has been perverted and twisted by so many, white and black alike, that it is barely recognizable today. In the Real America, we will know that white men aren't racist; one man can be racist. Black men aren't lazy; one man can be lazy and racism is not an American problem, it's a human problem.

The Real America is the America we all saw on the evening of September 11 and in the days and weeks that followed, but without violence, without sorrow, without mourning. It is an America where the question "How are you?" is sincerely asked, and the answer is heard with real concern.

The Real America is a place in our hearts. It's authentic. It's a place we remember. And it's a place we can live in today.

But there are forces keeping us from being the Real Americans and living in the Real America: Now, I'm not one of those people pointing a finger at Hollywood or blaming political correctness or pointing the finger at television or blaming music, because it's not just that.

But it is just that. It's all of that...and one thing more.

The most insidious force keeping us from being the Real Americans is ourselves.

A Different Background Noise

You see, most Real Americans don't even know that they are the Real Americans. They've been trapped in a box that other people built for them, and they think that box is real. They have no idea that it's all a delusion.

It's amazing. David Copperfield couldn't pull this off, and he hooked up with Claudia Schiffer.

So what's the trick? What's the sleight-of-hand?

Somehow, the background noise has changed on us.

Somehow most Americans have been convinced that we don't have the heart we do, that we don't have the power we do. As individuals or a group, this has happened subtly.

When we were kids, we had the Leave It to Beaver generation; we had Gilligan's Island. I remember watching that show later in life and thinking, "What a stupid show." But I continued to watch it and laugh with it. Mind you -- with it, not at it. I guess because it was pure.

I mean, there was absolutely nothing really offensive or even challenging about watching Gilligan's Island, except perhaps the class warfare between Lovey Howell and Mary Ann, and maybe the hat-slapping abuse on the part of the Skipper perpetrated on Gilligan.

But that was the world we lived in. That was our background noise: soft and silly. Sex was implied in a white, sequined gown, and violence came only in the shape of the Skipper's hat.

Then, when I was growing up in the 1970s, there was a show that almost didn't make it on television: Three's Company. Why? Because Jack Tripper lived with two women -- and there wasn't even anything going on! But still there were many who thought it was offensive. That's how quiet the background noise was back then. Even Three's Company seemed loud.

People will always say, "Look at television today! Look what's happening with television! This is an outrage! This is destroying the fabric of our country!"

No, it's not.

They can put Three's Company on, they can put Friends on, they can put anything on -- name the most offensive television show that comes to mind -- how about The Sopranos -- they could have put that on in our Leave It to Beaver world, and it wouldn't have destroyed the fabric of the Cleaver family. Because the Cleavers wouldn't have embraced it. In fact, they wouldn't have even tolerated it, and they certainly wouldn't have invited Tony Soprano into their home at 9:00 P.M. on a Sunday night.

Ward Cleaver is not going to go out to the Bada Bing Club to do blow off a hooker's belly just because he watched one TV show!

But what happened to us between Leave It to Beaver and The Sopranos is that more of the background noise changed.

In the Leave It to Beaver years, the background noises were things like Goodness, Common Decency and Courtesy. You can't even hear those noises any more.

Today the background noise is "Death with Video Games." It's "Rudeness." It's "No Patience." It's "Violent Television." It's "Sexuality Directly Being Marketed to Kids." It's your son laughing as he's shooting a cop in a video game. It's your daughter with a tank top that says porn star, hot pants that say bootylicious and, of course, underneath...the kiddie thong.

Oh, the noise. Listen to it. Look at the billboards. Look at the magazines. See what's on television.

And then look at what you allow in your own home -- your temple.

That's why we're having so much trouble. The background noises we allow in our homes keep our homes from being sacred places and keep them from being a shelter from the relentless storm of background noise.

And that's just one part of it. That's where it starts -- in the home.

It all starts with Gilligan.

Political Correctness Hasn't Changed Our Hearts

Then comes the classic Great Idea Gone Wrong: political correctness.

Now, as the dad of a child with cerebral palsy, I can tell you that no family is hit more to the core by handicap jokes than the family of a handicapped kid. So when ten or fifteen years ago somebody said, "Hey, let's call them 'handy-capable' -- it'll make them feel better," I thought, "Well, okay, if saying that can make them feel better, I don't want to be mean. I don't want to hurt people. I want to live together and be kind and courteous...."

So I got on the bandwagon. "Yeah, you know, handy-capable is not such a bad idea...." I'm into empowering people.

But over time I realized: Handy-capable is as good an idea and as long lasting as Star Jones in a marshmallow boat.

Hey -- you're not capable, otherwise I wouldn't be building a ramp in front of every building in America.

You're not capable of walking up the stairs -- and that's okay.

So what happens is we start on this good path, with good intent, and we end up head first through the windshield picking the grill of a Mack truck out of our teeth. All political correctness has done is shut us all up. It hasn't changed anybody's mind. Instead it's taken every opinion we have, it's taken every joke that we have, and it's forced us to conceal them and hide them and bury them deeper.

We no longer really know what our neighbors think anymore, we don't actually know what our co-workers believe -- because what they really believe is hidden.

This is a dangerous place in which to dwell. Remember, serial killers are always described by neighbors as "quiet."

Political correctness hasn't changed our hearts -- it's just changed our faces.

That's one of the biggest problems we have as Real Americans: What we have in our hearts, we don't share. We've been beaten into feigning bogus compassion by not noticing the difference between me and the guy who should be hanging from a tool belt because he's so handy and capable.

We've been convinced that life is all about the superficial stuff. We've been convinced because we see it in commercials, we see it on television, we see it from Hollywood, we see it from our co-workers, we even see it from our own family. It's all about money, power, greed...stuff. And we think the whole world is like that, because that's the image that we're given all the time.

And so when we're driving in our cars we sometimes think, "I wish I could live in a neighborhood that's quiet and flag-lined, where the neighbors are all next door to one another and they care about me and my family. And when somebody moves in, they bake a pie or a cake or a loaf of bread" -- like a neighbor did for me -- "a neighborhood where, on summer mornings, the air is filled with the sound of screen doors slamming shut as the kids run out to play and mothers' voices cry out, "Just be home for dinner."

But because we no longer speak our minds or hearts, we think that it is just us who miss the neighborhoods we grew up in. We never realize we too can bring bread over to the neighbors. We never realize that the neighbors are pining for that too.

I moved into my neighborhood, and this family across the street actually baked a loaf of bread and brought it to my family. I didn't know these people from Adam, but they wanted to live in the same kind of neighborhood that I want to live in. In today's cynical world it's tough to know whether to say thank you or test the bread for smallpox.

But the Real America has to start somewhere. Maybe it starts with a loaf of bread.

But when you're driving in your car and you hear someone on the radio saying, "Oh, well, this is what the neighborhood really can be like," you think, "Yeah, I'd like to live like that...."

But you don't say it. You never say it out loud, because you think it's just you -- that you're being silly, corny or out of touch -- because every image you're presented with shows the exact opposite of that.

Political correctness has made us superficial liars. But in the Real America there will be no need for PC because we will talk to one another and those who are handy may just not be capable and vice versa.

Commercialism

Commercialism is another great obstacle standing in our way.

Believe me I know about commercialism. It's my job. If I couldn't get companies to put products on my show that we could sell, I wouldn't be doing my radio show. I'd be selling Hush Puppies and talking into a shoehorn -- or I'd be a homeless guy doing card tricks on a cardboard box for booze -- or God forbid it would ever get this bad: I'd be a trial lawyer.

And by the way, you just bought this book, so you know all too well that it's about selling people stuff. For us to do that -- for me to sell to you -- I have to either create a need or else capitalize on one.

For example, you listen to my program because you want this America that I'm talking about. It's a need. You want to believe it's true. And so when I say, "Go out and buy this book," if your need is great enough you will, because this book may help you fill that hole. We do that with all kinds of products from clothes with little Polo ponies to cars with German emblems on the hoods. But your appetite is never satisfied. These things are empty. Perhaps the $25 you spend on this product will break that mold. Because what you'll find between these covers won't make you look cooler or arrive in style, but it may empower you to change.

Well, now, understand that every piece of media you see, everything that spills out of your television, your radio, the movies, your magazines -- everything is to get you to buy something. That's the only reason all that stuff exists. That is why in the chapter on business I will tell you that companies in the future can succeed beyond their wildest dreams by breaking that mold -- if they understand that we are...

About this edition

• Publisher: Pocket
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0743486331
• ISBN 13: 9780743486330
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256