I’ve posted seven pieces on this site so far, and this will be my eighth. Unfortunately it will also be my second in a row that calls Glenn Beck’s use of numbers into question. Before I do so, let me pull an “Obama” and say: Let me be clear… I am (for the most part) a fan of Glenn Beck. By fan, I mean that I record his show daily and eventually watch most all of them. It just so happens that at times, he really grinds my gears. And his most recent offense is one that I do not take lightly.
As a veteran of the US Army, my ears perked up when he started discussing the pay of our service members. (9:50-11:40 of the video below) But just like my piece on the Chevy Volt, I smelled Uncle Beck’s deception within mere seconds of him broaching the topic. Beck emphasizes that a Private in the Army with “six years of experience” makes only a $19,000 salary while a member of Congress makes $175,000. The average viewer would assume that Glenn is emphasizing the part about a Private making so little money after six years of experience as purely a means to illustrate the disparity in pay between two groups of government workers. But it’s deeper than that.
As a veteran viewer (both of the Army and Mr. Beck’s show), red flags went off when he made a point to say that a Private makes only $19,000 after six years. See… If you’re still a Private after six years of service, something has gone horribly wrong with your career. Mr. Beck actually quotes what an E-2 would make at the six year mark. The problem with that is: after 24 months you’re automatically promoted to E-4. And an E-4 actually makes $27,525 annually at the six year mark. And that’s just the base pay. For you to be an E-2 after six years, you would have to have been stripped of your rank at some time. And regardless of what you’ve seen on TV, your rank (therefore your money) is not taken away from you without warrant. It would have been more honest to quote the E-4′s salary instead. And it still would have illustrated the disparity between $27,000 and $175,000. But I suspect Mr. Beck chose the E-2′s pay, because a figure south of $20,000 makes for better television.
On a more cynical note, I actually believe that Glenn is creating a straw man argument, so he can attack Congress. When he tells you that a Soldier who is willing to die in the line of duty makes less than $20,000 annually, he is trying to gain your sympathy for the Soldier. He then piggy backs off of that sympathy and tells you what a Congress member makes. The hope is that you will be outraged. Now that you are outraged at the Congress (which already has about a 70% disapproval rating), he is hoping that his attacks against them will carry more sting.
The truth is though, that we already dislike Congress. (did you miss the elections?) We already know that our service members carry a heavy load for a low wage. And Glenn Beck could have successfully attacked Congress without dragging the military into this. Even more cynically, once he gains a consensus that congressmen are overpaid, I believe he will start targeting the rest of our government employees. All the while using the “Private with six years of experience” to tug at your heart strings.
My hope is that in the future, Mr. Beck can restrain himself from fudging with numbers to make his case. In both instances that I’ve pointed out, he was attacking a target that nobody really had sympathy for anyway. You don’t have to mislead people to get them to think that Soldiers are underpaid, while members of Congress are overpaid. And what’s the difference between $19,000 and $27,000 when you’re comparing the figure to $175,000? Is it really worth sacrificing your show’s integrity for that added shock value?
At the end of the day, I still pretty much like Glenn Beck’s show for what it is. I haven’t 100% been on board with it for the last few months (a can of worms I shall not open right now), but I still appreciate a lot of what he does. It just so happens that when he has an axe to grind, he doesn’t always use the most honest of tools to grind it. Whether that’s a result of his quest for showmanship or something more nefarious, I really don’t know. All I know is that I didn’t sign up to be Glenn’s watch dog. So please, Mr. Beck, stop fudging with numbers. This is the second post I’ve written to deal with it, and I’m not looking forward to writing a third.
Photo Credit: The Rocketeer
*Disclaimer: Views are those of the author and not The Rocketeer.
