In any event, the entire clip is standard gauge Beck -- chalkboard, photos of administration officials hastily slapped up next to portraits of dictators, silences by turns reverential and mournful, the fake tears and the rest of it -- but by far the weirdest part comes about three and a half minutes in, as he uses Coke's old Mean Joe Greene spot along with one of Kodak's "Times of Your Life" ads to remind his (apparently middle-aged) viewers of a "simpler time" in the nation's history. Which is obviously a multiple tiers of bat-shit, given (a) the implied assumption that television advertising's generic nostalgia was somehow more sociologically accurate way back when, and (b) the fact that, in this case, "way back when" happened to be 1979 and 1975, respectively. I realize that Beck spends most of his time dreaming about kissing George Washington on the mouth, so more recent historical reference points might have veered away from true North, but seriously -- 1979? The annus horribilis of the Carter era? And 1975? The year that witnessed the collapse of South Vietnam and the beginnings of the Cambodian genocide? The year the Weather Underground bombed the State Department?
Zing! What fairy tale land does Beck think he grew up in? And how much of an indelible impact did advertising leave on young Glenn-boy? It's almost as if he wants to go back to having no real responsibility in life ... as if he were 12 or 13 years old eating ice cream on his adoring Gram-Gram's couch in the Summer heat as Gram-Gram shielded him from the "unpleasantries" and realities of the world. She filled his head with this yearning-for-simpler-times mindset. The odd resentment and paranoid insecurity of this hate-mongering set make me believe they feel left out for some reason. Especially now that the president's black and they're positive the Mexican illegal immigrants are coming for their jobs, women and political power.
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