GLEN BECK et al.

Glen Beck and thousands of his followers, including the likes of Sarah Palin, gathered yesterday in Washington D.C. and exercised their Constitutional right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. Their choice of day and place for holding the march ruffled the feathers of many in the civil rights movement who considered it a painful affront to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King's civil rights rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. Although I deeply sympathize with their pain, I wholeheartedly support Beck's right to exercise his freedom of speech at the time and place of his choosing, just as I support the rights of Muslims near ground zero in New York City to exercise their freedom of religion at the time and place of their choosing. To support anything less would dishonor the true principles upon which this nation was founded.

What I find offensive about the whole angry movement that Beck is leading, is its systematic distortion of honor, principles, values and what God truly asks of his children on Earth. Granted, these distortions bear an appealing facade to people adrift in an ocean of distrust and feelings of helplessness in a fast-changing world, but they are very much designed to bring out the worst in humanity, and it breaks my heart to see thousands flocking to what is nothing more than a nationalistic religion of hate and intolerance.

The kind of honor Beck seeks a return to, is the kind of honor that unapologetically tortures our enemies, demonizes religions and people who do not share our viewpoints and castigates those true peacemakers of the world as idiots and fools for not carrying a gun. The kinds of principles Beck seeks to return this country to, are the kinds of principles that espouse America's claim of superiority, America's supposed infallibility and America's sense of entitlement to the largest measure of wealth on the planet. The kinds of values Beck seeks to return this country to are the same kinds of values that prompted citizens and police on the streets of Selma, Alabama to spew words of anger and hate at peaceful marchers seeking nothing more than equality for all, regardless of skin color. And the same warped version of God Beck seeks to return this country to, is the same warped version of God that terrorists the world over invoke as the reason for all that they do.

Beck can say that all he wants is a peaceful world, but Beck's version of a peaceful world is a lot like Hitler's version of a peaceful world – one where he and his followers are sitting on top and the rest of humanity is buried out of sight in an unmarked grave. No doubt, people will flock by the thousands to Beck and his ilk, like Germans did to Hitler, eager to satisfy the hunger in their bellies for someone to blame for their miseries besides themselves, but the road on which they tread will not be paved with good intentions. It will be littered with the blood of souls who actually did sacrifice their lives for peace, equality and justice for all. Those aren't the kinds of things Beck really wants to achieve. He just wants people to think he does, and the sad part is that thousands do!