Beck's Egypt Narrative Riddled With Contradictions And Imagined Connections

Tuesday's episode of Glenn Beck built on Beck's theory that the protests in Egypt are being "orchestrated by the Marxist communists" and the Muslim Brotherhood. It veered into the territory of New World Order conspiracy theories and stopped along the way to take a nonsensical swipe at President Obama, but as usual, his story rested on a series of contradictions and poorly supported accusations.

For instance, Beck claimed that connections exist between the Muslim Brotherhood and over two dozen Muslim organizations in the United States, calling them "organizations and friends" of the Muslim Brotherhood. 

Beck did not, however, draw any explicit connections between these groups and the Muslim Brotherhood or offer any reason to believe they support it.

Beck's list mimics one found on DiscoverTheNetworks, a dubious source Beck has plugged in the past. DiscoverTheNetwork's case for connecting these groups relied on a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document. DiscoverTheNetworks says that the document "listed some 29 likeminded 'organizations of our friends' seeking to realize the same goal."

To suggest that these groups are allied with the Muslim Brotherhood, absent any evidence of their own opinion of the Muslim Brotherhood, solely because one 20-year-old document described them as "likeminded" is the weakest sort of evidence for such a charge.

Second, Beck made much of a pamphlet distributed by Egyptian protest organizers in a bizarre attempt to conflate Egyptian protesters with the American "radical left."

Of course, the translated pamphlet cites such goals as the end of the Mubarak regime, cessation of emergency law, freedom, justice, and the formation of a non-military Egyptian government.

Since Beck is treating the pamphlet as genuine, it makes his statement that the protests are "not about freedom" or democracy, but rather about "an Islamic state," look foolish.

The completely local nature of the goals also undercuts Beck's theory that Islamicists and the "uber-left" are "plotting together" to achieve a "new world order."

Perhaps Beck's strangest assertion was that Wade Rathke, an ACORN co-founder, was somehow sowing the seeds of Egyptian unrest.

Beck's evidence seems to hinge entirely on a blog post in which Rathke seemingly voices support for the protesters and the fact that Rathke is part of an organization planning a conference in Egypt.

The truth is that when you try to weed through Tuesday's edition of Glenn Beck, you find yourself so bogged down in a collection of misrepresentations and fearmongering that it all just starts to lose meaning.