On Fox News today, Glenn Beck decided that the entire religion of Islam would be a good target of mockery.
White discussing President Obama's August 13 iftar dinner, Beck commented, “I didn't even know Ramadan was happening,” adding that had he known he would have gotten presents and put up a “Ramadan tree.” The condescension in Beck's tone of voice was palpable.
Why does Beck think this is okay? It's reminiscent of the derogotary comments he made about India, attacking Indian medical schools, insinuating that they didn't have flush toilets and claiming that the name of the Ganges river sounded like a disease (he later said that he “didn't mean to offend anyone”).
This sort of derogatory talk might not raise eyebrows at a network like Fox News, but why does he keep doing this?
At the same time Beck has been wearing his Christianity on his sleeve, often engaging in the rhetoric of a prophet with a supposed direct line to God. Beck would most likely be justifiably angry if someone chose to mock his Christian faith, yet seems to have no problem with doing the same to Muslims.