September 04, 2010

Beck:  Indian mounds are Egyptian

In Analyzing 8/28 Rallies and Marches Part I:  Restoring Honor and Reflections on the Native, Adair Hill covers Glenn Beck's "Restore Honor" rally. To understand why Beck chose a Native pastor to speak, she posted this video from Beck's TV show:



Beck veers into Chariots of the Gods territory, implying the Indians came from Egypt or the Middle East. Many of these von Däniken-style theories are based on the similarity of Mesoamerican and Egyptian pyramids. We know the subtext of these claims: that Indians weren't smart enough to invent civilization or build pyramids on their own. But one man has shown how Indians could've raised monuments without help.

Beck got most of his "information" from a DVD called The Lost Civilizations of North America. I haven't seen it, but I'm sure it's the usual mishmash of speculative theories presented uncritically. Clearly that's Beck's approach also. He admits he doesn't know anything about Indians, but he presents the DVD's claims uncritically.

Adair's take on this:It's wacky, I don't know what else to say. He says a couple of times that "mainstream archaeologist say they debunked this" and then goes on like it's fact, and covered up by some conspiracy. It's total hogwash is what it is...but anyway, he clearly believes that Native Americans are special. Thanks, we are.Beck's views seem consistent with those of other Mormons. According to them, Indians are probably descended from a lost tribe of Israelites who helped build the pyramids. When these people came to America, they lost their holy connection, but God guided Columbus to "help" them. Most ignored the Gospel and continued their depraved and degenerate ways. Now they care only about booze and gambling. But a few have embraced the "correct" path of Christian fundamentalism.

For more on the "lost civilization," see Lost Tribe Settled Around Great Lakes? For more on Mormons, see The Indian-Mormon Connection. For more on Beck, see Beck's Stupidity About Tribal Summit.

Below:  Wow, they look just like Indian mounds!

3 comments:

Chief Tut said...

It should be against the law for Glenn Beck to use charts and graphs on TV. It is interesting how the FCC condones and protects some of the most religiously ridiculous and stupid television, yet legitimate and intelligent programming is challenged.

Glenn Beck is the Deep Throat of FOX Network, nobody else has the talents he does.

Burt said...

Since Americas inception, the academia has never fully grasped the concept that MesoAmerica held active and legitimate civilizations where tribes and nations held commerce, inventive technologies, trade routes and social structures.
Like Beck, most Americans have IQ's that can only hold a few hundred years of knowledge and intelligence, beyond that, there is a risk of spontaneous combustion!

dmarks said...

And a white-wing racist, like left-winger Shirley MacLaine (whom I mentioned a few days ago) trots out the idea that Natives were too inferior to have made great achievements in human civilization.

Mormonism is itself based on the idea that Natives were mere savage brutes and could not have built burial mounds, so Caucasians from the Old World had to have done it.


Now, I do completely disagree with Chief's first sentence. We DO have a first amendment. The last thing we want to do is make Beck into a victim, and by seeking to censor him, that is what you are doing. If you don't like his TV shows, ignore them. I happen to avoid watching him.