Beck presented segment mocking Egyptian students' names
On his CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck aired a segment mocking the names of 11 Egyptian students who went missing on July 29.
On the August 9 edition of his CNN Headline News program, host Glenn Beck aired a mock news segment or commercial -- it's not exactly clear which -- asking for help "if you've seen any of the following Egyptian students missing since July 29." The segment mocked the names of the missing Egyptians and added that one "may have shaved his mustache since this photo was taken," another "may answer to the nickname Sparky," and another "may or may not be accompanied by his camel." The segment showed pictures of crowds and pointed to random, unidentifiable people as the missing Egyptians. It ended with a reading of the names in quick succession followed by the announcer pretending to gag as he struggled to pronounce the names, and the announcer saying: "If you know the whereabouts of these men, please call the FBI immediately. If you know how to correctly pronounce their names, well, call us."
As Media Matters for America has noted, Beck has used mock commercials to make fun of Mexican immigrants.
From the August 9 edition of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck:
BECK: Now, while everybody -- nobody really seems to be too concerned about the eight missing Egyptians, we are. And we'd like to do everything we can to find them. And I think our efforts are already paying off.
[begin video clip]
ANNOUNCER: The FBI wants to know if you've seen any of the following Egyptian students missing since July 29. El Sayed Ahmed Elsayed Ibrahim, age 20. Ibrahim may have shaved his mustache since this photo was taken.
Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Abou El Ela, age 21. May also be going by the name Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Mohamed Abou El Ela.
Moustafa Wagdy Moustafa El Gafary, age 18. El Gafary may also answer to the nickname Sparky.
Mohamed Ragab Mohamed Abd Alla, age 22. Abd Alla may or may not be accompanied by his camel.
Here are the rest: Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed El Moghazy, Ahmed Refaat Saad El Moghazi El Laket, Ebrahim Mabrouk Moustafa Abdou, Mohamed Saleh Ahmed Maray, Eslam Ibrahim Mohamed El Dessouki, Alaa Abd El Fattah Ali El Bahnasawi, and Mohamed Ibrahim Fouaad El Shenawy.
If you know the whereabouts of these men, please call the FBI immediately. If you know how to correctly pronounce their names, well, call us.
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Beck is so funny.
He's been trying to terrify his viewers with the news of these missing Egyptians and then takes a light-hearted turn mocking their ethnicity. Which is it Beck? Is this serious or just another opportunity to make racist jokes about anyone who isn't a white American.
I wonder if the media would be making such a big deal if it were eleven Saudis missing? Or would that just reinforce the need for democracy in Iraq?
Yeah, it's stupid, and offensive, and tired.
But...
As I've mentioned before regarding other members of the republican media, even Beck knows this isn't funny.
He's just pandering to those who think it is. I think we all know folks who would laugh their ass off at this stuff.
You know the type: When the winning numbers of the 50/50 drawing are announced at a sporting event, they jump up and cheer even when they haven't won so that they get attention.
They think it's funny even though the joke is older than Lou Rawls (sp?)
3rd grade stuff
Slade, your spelling is correct IF you're referring to the veteran soul singer (he sang classics like "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing" and "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", and who performed songs in the Garfield animated TV specials). However, I'm not sure why you chose to invoke his name for your metaphor.
If my memory is correct, it was a lyric in a Naughty by Nature song. Must be 15 years old by now. Funny what sticks with you.
Kind of reminds me of this ...
In late 1996, veteran CBS foreign correspondent Tom Fenton pitched his network on a plan to use Saudi connections to land an interview with Osama bin Laden. "Our bosses saw him as an obscure Arab of no interest to our viewers," Fenton says. "More concerned with saving dollars than pursuing the story, they killed the project." Months later, Fenton says, he sat down with an Arab journalist who had interviewed bin Laden and described his violent designs on America, but "our navel-gazing executives" left that part of the piece "on the cutting-room floor." He says CBS executives asked that all references to bin Laden be cut because the story had "too many foreign names." ...
Beck has a well established pattern of saying awful things - jews in pizza ovens comes to mind - and then laughing them off as a "joke".
I agree that he isn't funny, but I think the humor is secondary to his messages of hate.
Because, you know they have long funny names.
Next on Beck: Jay Leno has a big chin.
Dear Glenn,
Robert DeNiro and Saturday Night Live called - they want their idea back. Try being original (and funny) next time.
Sincerely,
America
[link to paulkatcher.com]
It is truly amazing that when Mel Gibson allegedly uttered anti-semetic words, the media and the like fell on him like there was no tomorrow. Yet, when race baiter, bigot and CNN's resident cracker spews his hatred towards Arabs, Hispanics, where is the outrage. Sadly, there is and never will there be a call to account. With each passing day, the US is getting very close to being the new Apartheid South Africa, ruled by Nazi's. Now, let us ask the question are we going to allow the media to promote a modern day vesrion of Nazism?
" CNN's resident cracker"
CRACKER[ from Dictionary.com] :
Offensive.
Used as a disparaging term for a poor white person of the rural, especially southeast United States.
Used as a disparaging term for a white person.
-----------------------
Hate Beck? Cool, the guy is a jerk....BUT why are YOU bringing HIS race into it after COMPLAINING that he's a RACE BAITER & BIGOT? Mmmmmm? WHY did you feel the NEED to use the word "cracker", when a word like idiot or fool would have sufficed???? Pot meet kettle...
I'd NEVER even heard of Beck until I read about him HERE at MMFA. I tried watching his program--I lasted about 15 [excruciating] minutes before flipping the channel.
His "jokes" about the missing 11 Egyptian students were offensive [actually they've caught up with 3 of them].
However, I do hope NONE of you OBJECT to using "profiling" to track the remaining 8. Or will you CLASSIFY that as BIGOTED?
'Profiling', assuming you mean 'racial profiling', is thoroughly irrelevant and unnecessary in this case, when we have photos of the men in question being widely disseminated. "Profiling", when it means "We're looking for a crime suspect of such-and-such a description" is hardly controversial. "Profiling", when it means "treat members of X minority group as guilty of Y category of crime until proven innocent", is a whole different ballgame.
Most everyone has heard about the missing 11 [now 8], BUT not everybody has SEEN the photos, or would remember what ALL 8 looked like even if they had. NOR would many-- if any---outside of law enforcement be carrying around their photos. So being vigilant when observing unusual behavior of anyone that FITS a particular profile can be helpful.
Of course you don't "treat members of X minority group as guilty of Y category of crime until proven innocent", HOWEVER if we're looking for *Egyptian Students* between 19-22 [I think those are the ages] AND we happen to see SOMEONE who fits that description acting in an unusual manner--do we just IGNORE it because someone might be offended? No, you TRY and use good judgment.
"Egyptian student" is not a physical description at all. Mind telling me how you can tell at glance how someone is (a) an Egyptian and (b) a student?
It is very easy to spot an Egyptian student. There head and feet are always in profile and their bodies aren't.
Jeesh, I thought everyone knew that!
pretty funny!
Arab ethnicity--College age
But you KNEW that.
I'm sorry but you are totally wrong about this. First, what constitutes "acting suspiciously". I can't tell you how many times as a teenager I was pulled over for being young and black. When I asked my white friends if they had similar experiences the only one who did had really long hair and drove a vw van with grateful dead stickers all over it. I on the other hand drove a new ford escort an dressed in a polo shirt with jeans. Racial has been proven to be ineffective. There is no need for it.
However, I do hope NONE of you OBJECT to using "profiling" to track the remaining 8. Or will you CLASSIFY that as BIGOTED?
The authorities know the identities of the people they're looking for, and they know they're Egyptian. Profiling isn't necessary.
One of the meanings of the word "cracker" was "slavedriver," i.e. the one who held and cracked the whip.
Next time you want to castigate someone for their word usage, make sure you do a little research first.
These guys:
[link to dictionary.reference.com]
[link to dictionary.reference.com]
=====
Yes I'm SURE vapaday meant to call Beck a "slavedriver". *roll eyes*
The whips were "cracked" by cattle drivers, not slave masters.
It's derogatory enough as it is without adding the slave angle.
Jeter2 knows better. Long ago, he actually posited the argument that "cracker" was as offensive as the 'N' word. Not a rational position, nor one that bears the slightest scrutiny. At the time, it was explained to him that "cracker" wasn't a racial slur as much as it was a name for a particularly foul type of southern racist. He's either forgotten or is pretending that he has.
I PROVIDED a definition and a link to go with it.
I'll WAIT for you to do the same.
AND being you have SELECTIVE memory, what I said [way back when] was that ALL racial slurs are hurtful, and attempting to rank them is foolish. Calling a Caucasian a "cracker" is a racist slur. Calling a Hispanic a "sp#c" is a racist slur....do I need to go on?
Jeter your'e right. It definitely is a slur. I have heard it used as a slur by people of other races against white people. That makes it a slur. The "N' word used to have a different meaning also but no one would say that it is not a slur.
You're not going to get through to SJ not matter how much you argue with him. He thinks it is OK to slur his own countrymen but throws a fit when you slur someone of another country.
Just this crackers opinion
Good take on Johnson, I'm happy others here have FIGURED out his routine and aren't fooled by it. I'm VERY aware of how he operates as I've been reading his posts [and rolling my eyes] for a few years now...This guy is SO out in LEFT field [pun intended] that it's usually best to just IGNORE him.
It is better to just ignore him, but its just not as much fun.
"how he operates as I've been reading his posts [and rolling my eyes] for a few years now"
Now, that's a lie. Unless you were lurking for the first year MMFA was going, as I you didn't start posting until the last year or so.
As for left field, I'd like you to name one policy I'd advocated that puts in the "far left" category. Just one.
The reality is, I draw ire from you guys because I won't give you credit for your faux moderation. You want liberals to be namby-pamby, like you like them.
Slur his own countrymen? Hmmm. Who would that be? Got any quotes?
...168 people in Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh was blond and Irish. Why doesn't Beck mock the Irish? And blond men?
Oh, yeah. He looks like Beck.
that leads to the following state of affairs in America:
USA's Muslims under a cloud
By Marilyn Elias, USA TODAY
Motaz Elshafi, 28, a software engineer, casually opened an internal e-mail at work last month. The message began, "Dear Terrorist."
The note from a co-worker was sent to Muslims working at Cisco Systems in Research Triangle Park, N.C., a few days after train bombings in India that killed 207. The e-mail warned that such violent acts wouldn't intimidate people, but only make them stronger.
"I was furious," says Elshafi, who is New Jersey-born and bred. "What did I have to do with this violence?"
Reports of such harassment and discrimination against Muslims are rising, advocacy groups say. A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,007 Americans shows strong anti-Muslim feeling. And the hard feelings are damaging the mental health of U.S. Muslims, suggest new studies to be released at the American Psychological Association meeting starting Thursday in New Orleans.
Thirty-nine percent of respondents to the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll said they felt at least some prejudice against Muslims. The same percentage favored requiring Muslims, including U.S. citizens, to carry a special ID "as a means of preventing terrorist attacks in the United States." About one-third said U.S. Muslims were sympathetic to al-Qaeda, and 22% said they wouldn't want Muslims as neighbors.
Verbal harassment and discrimination correlate with worse mental health in studies of Muslims and Arab-Americans since 9/11, says psychologist Mona Amer of Yale University School of Medicine.
In Seattle, Hate Free Zone Washington, an education and advocacy group, was launched five years ago to oppose backlash against local Muslims, Sikhs (sometimes mistaken for Muslims) and Arab-Americans. "We've seen an increase in bias-based harassment since 9/11," says Amelia Derr, the group's education director.
Derr says she has seen some Muslim children so traumatized by violent bigotry that she wonders whether they'll ever recover. Last October, a Seattle high school junior who had faced verbal harassment was assaulted in gym class. He suffered a hemorrhage behind his eye and a collapsed lung, Derr says. "The good thing is that the student who did it was convicted of a hate crime."
Beck and his ilk tacitly encourage such behavior through their overt chastisement and mockery of Arabs and Muslims. This man is a RACIST!
"Even some who were born and raised in the USA feel their religious freedom has limits. Jafumba Asad, 32, of Tulsa stopped wearing the traditional dark robe after 9/11. 'It's bad enough just wearing a head scarf. I get nasty stares every day. Wearing full cover makes it harder to get a job. It scares people,' says Asad, a community college teacher and graduate student.
Muslim women who wear head scarves are more likely than those who don't to say they face discrimination and a hostile environment, according to a study to be presented at the psychological association's meeting by Alyssa Rippy of the University of Tulsa. The scarves make Muslim women stand out and could change behavior toward them, she suggests.
A few years ago, in a Wal-Mart parking lot, Asad says two men approached her and aggressively shouted 'Y'all ought to be (expletive) locked up!' Pregnant at the time, she quickly backed away and then realized there were parked cars behind her. 'I felt trapped and very vulnerable. I'm pregnant. I didn't know if they were going to get violent.' Luckily, she says, they just walked away."
Good to know that salt-of-the-earth Americans are continuing the great American legacy of hatred, bigotry, ignorance, and xenophobia. I'd take a compassionate, wealthy, volvo-driving liberal over two redneck hicks any day!
Blue, I do not believe most people truley discrminate on any middle eastern person. However, for those that do, I think a majority of them are just plain ,uneducated onthe matter. The media is no help in this. For the record, I woek side by side with a lady from Isreal, and downstairs a couple from India. You should here the way they talk about the Muslim culture. Much hate. It is not just Americans.
They'll be ignorant idiots whatever happens. However, the media does provide a target for their bigotry, especially when some people go to lengths to stir the flames.
It's even worse on right-wing websites. I've even seen people calling for outright genocide in no uncertain terms.
or were any of you mesmerized by this guys double chin in the video. It had a hypnotic effect on me.
for comedy in racial differences. It's just really, really hard to do well - as Beck keeps on proving.
I could think of something that had been funnier: making up their names and calling everyone "Mohammed Mohammed", then at the end one of them would be "Chris Johnson" or something.
But that wouldn't necessarily be as hostile to people with non-American names, so it wouldn't make the cut at Beck's show.
it is just a funny SNL skit. If SNL ran something like this, would ya ll find it equally offensive?
However, the act of these students should not at all go dissmissed... It needs to be taken very seriously.
but mostly because I'm offended at how unfunny it is (like most SNL skits these days). In fact, one of Beck's jokes - the one about Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Abou El Ela changing his name to Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Mohamed Abou El Ela - was ripped off from an ancient "Weekend Update" in which they reported that assassin Sirhan Sirhan was changing his name to Sirhan Sirhan Sirhan.
...if SNL were running skits with bigoted or racist messages. I don't watch SNL on a regular basis anymore, but I'm willing to bet that they do not.
The problem was that the reason for this was not to make a joke, but to cloak a racist opinion in the guise of a joke. They couldn't even bother to really make it funny - it wasn't the point anyway, so why try?
These are missing students. I find it sickening that he/they would ridicule them. I’m blocking CNN.
Thank you Blueblood; very appropriate.
I am just trying to demonstrate that making fun of Arabs/Muslims does not happen in a vacuum and those who do so are either indifferent or ignorant to the fact that many American Muslims are going through tough times nowadays, due in no small part to the rantings of Savage, Coulter, O'Reilly, Limbuagh, and Beck.
most of the hate crimes torwards Muslims come from young men/teenagers. Punk rockers, skinheads, jocks, millitary jar heads..... you know?? Oh, maybe you don't, but just ask me.....
Man, I listen to Savage every day, and I dont go around with glarring eyes. You people LOVEEEEEE to steroetype!
to infer that one can acquie a hatred of Muslims by listening to the racist rants o Savage, Coulter, beck, etc., etc. Just because you personally do not feel antipathy towards Arab/Muslims does not mean others will possess a similar perspective. Racism and xenophobia are as American as applie pie and baseball.
The poll that USA Today reports on surely covers a wide swath of the American populace, which indicates that unfounded disdain towards Arabs/Muslims is not specific to any demographic or subculture.
I'm guessing that Beck came up with this bit. His producer and others knew it was unfunny and stupid, but either didn't want to tell him or Beck forced it through.
You don't shoot the conductor when you're on the gravy train.
...Hannity, O'Reilly, Coulter or even Limbaugh racists.
Now this guy? Every time he makes this web site, he's uttering stupid little racist things. Wasn't it only a couple of weeks ago he did his little race baiting number about how different races were afraid to hang out with each other? The other night he did what every closet racist does when they try to sound friendly to a black person - but only in public. He tried to both insult and patronize Al Sharpton in the same sentences. Glenn Beck is pathetic!
Although I understand the point regarding the use of the word "Cracker" as being a racist slur, I would have to ultimately disagree with that view point. I would be more inclined to call it discriminatory. This is because I feel that racism implies a level of power and oppression, thus the racism of Caucasian Americans towards both African-Americans and Latino Americans. Their is no such relationship of oppression coming from the point of an Africa-American or a Latino American towards Caucasian Americans. Thus it is not racist in nature, but it is a nature of discriminating. Discrimination does not imply power or oppression, just difference.
The word "cracker" has been used to describe a certain culture in Florida for years. (Google florida cracker culture.) In my opinion as a native white Floridian who grew up hearing the word, it is derogatory but carries nowhere near the racist charge that the n-word does.
While you are technically right that racism has a power aspect to it, I think it is not a point worth bringing up. Derrogatory words are bad plain and simple. I have no problem saying there are racist minorities. It is unfair for us minorities to hide behind the technical definitions. Several times people have gotten into trouble for using the word "niggardly" although it is not defined as an offensive word. Let's not argue of the dictionary definitions of some of the terms we use. We all know the connotation of a word is much more important than the denotation.
What's so hard to pronounce about those names? If he thinks *Arabic* is hard to pronounce, he should try pronouncing Chinese.
Ken Jautz, the president of CNN Headline News, hired talk show host Glenn Beck to put his own prime-time show on TV. Jautz called Beck "cordial," added that his show was, quote, "conversational, not confrontational".
I guess this is what is known as "cordial" in some circles.
Let's see...we have college students of Arab dissent suddenly "disappear" and the only "News" her is Glenn jonking aobut names. Glad to see you're staying on top of things!
Sorry!!! How bad was that typing??!! Please look past the typo's to the actual meaning (if you can!)
until the mid-19th century was a slaveowner. The Voting Rights Act didn't happen for another hundred years. White Israelis are slaughtering brown Arabs. White conservative commentators are verbally slaughtering brown Arabs. Americans of color taste the bottom of the shoe. Israel builds its wall and the US builds its own wall along the Mexican border. Beck should really travel more.
"White Israelis are slaughtering brown Arabs."
Wow, last time I checked, "brown" Arabs were kidnapping Israeli soldiers, therefore I'd callit "self defense. Let's not even mention the whole call for complete annihilation of Israel thing. (Just when I thought the whole Nazi thing was out)
"White conservative commentators are verbally slaughtering brown Arabs. "
When? Where?
"Americans of color taste the bottom of the shoe. Israel builds its wall and the US builds its own wall along the Mexican border. Beck should really travel more"
Wow, what can you say to that!!
Israel was kidnapping Palestinian CIVILIANS, does that mean you would support the right of Palestinians to bomb Tel Aviv? I think I am on solid ground when I say there isnt a snowballs chance in Saudi Arabia that you would call THAT self defense
I know this has nothing to do with the Glen Beck story, and I assume you were speaking facetiously however for the clarification of all John Adams and John Quincey Adams were never slave holders. In fact JQA was a major opponent in later life to "slave power", and represented the Amistad africans in the supreme court. However aside from the Adams, Millard Fillmore was the first since JQA and he took office in 1950. So I recognize your point.
Obviously Millard Fillmore took office in 1850, in 1950 Truman was president and although he never attained a college diploma he never owned any slaves. =)
see the world and empathise with all of its inhabitants instead of mimicking Karl Rove. Did I just dis your soulmate?
on the horrible Fox radio show "Brian and the Judge," the hosts said that they were looking at the photographs of the eight missing Egyptian men. They described each man as "rough looking," "dont look like students at all," "battle-hardened," etc. How you get all this from still photos is beyond me..
Oh wait, no its not. You just have to assume that anyone with skin darker than yours, who has a religion different from yours, and who comes from a non-European nation, is automatically "rough-looking, battle-hardened, and uneducated."
And that's not hard for a lot of people. Even Bruce Williams- gentle, kindly Bruce Williams, who has been giving financial advice on the radio for more than twenty years, last night shifted his attention to "these Muslim Fascists..." at which point I sadly tuned him out, permanently.