In continuing my critique of the anti-Islamic narrative in American conservative media, I have come to the television personality Glenn Beck. As an avid Tea Party supporter and proponent on television, Becks programming is the most absurdly malicious and deceitful ‘news program’ on television. Can his show even be called news as he contaminates the airwaves with conspiracy theories, opinion and lectures on what it means to be an American?

One video in particular caught my attention regarding a conspiracy theory involving President Obama, his Muslim Kenyan heritage, and colonialism. The basis of the argument comes from a book written by Dinesh D'Souza who has been called one of America's most influential conservative thinkers and one of the nation's 500 leading authorities on international issues. His book is titled “The Roots of Obama’s Rage”. Sound familiar? The title draws from Bernard Lewis’ essay “The Roots of Muslim Rage” a fellow former policy advisor to the Bush Administration who was the first proponent in the idea of the ‘clash of civilizations’ between the US and Islamic forces.

The titles are exactly the same except that change from Muslim to Obama. Implicit in the changing Muslim to Obama is the suggestion that in fact Obama is a Muslim. This equation groups Obama into the conservative media stereotype of the uncontrollable, infuriated blind rage of the ‘dangerous’ Muslim who is against the United States. This is exactly the narrative that Glen Beck is attempting to construct by having D’Souza on the show.

D’Souza’s theory is that Obama is a threat to national security because he is an anti-colonialist who wants to pull out of the Afghan war, reduce our energy consumption so other countries have more, and tax the rich because the obscene money they make comes from American colonial exploitation. How is it that Obama’s promotion peaceful solutions to Global problems be turned into an obscure political conspiracy based purely off opinionated statements of two conservative policy makers?

Well for Glen Beck and D’Souza to be anti-colonial is to be anti-American as America is still an oppressor— made explicitly clear in Beck’s large red ‘Fact’ dot next to America as a colonizing entity. Thus, Glen Beck seems to be saying that to be an American the people need to be neo-colonialists who destroy and oppress the lands of others. It is disturbing that these dated narratives still fester in the minds of our political leaders and disseminate to the American people through trivial talks shows under the guise of legitimate ‘news programs’. Although Beck and D’Souza make explicitly clear that their statements are opinions, they are drawing the dots for people to make a particular connects between Obama, Muslims and an anti-American political agenda.