The Education of Limbaugh, Beck, and Hannity

Glenn Beck gave away the game on his television show when he kept insisting that Nazism was “Nationalist Socialism” or “Nationalized Socialism.” There are no such terms in the dictionary. As every well-educated person knows, the term for the Nazi Party is “National Socialism.” When I heard it, I wondered how Beck could make this glaring mistake, so I looked-up his educational background and found that he had never attended college. He considers himself “self-educated,” but Beck’s mistake indicates that whatever self-education he experienced, it did not make him an educated man.

Discovery of Beck’s lack of education made me look-up the educational accomplishments of two other right-wing media commentators, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Both of them claim to speak with great authority about political matters. Well, it seems that Limbaugh enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University but dropped out after two semesters and one summer. He never went back or graduated from college. According to his mother, Rush “flunked everything," even a modern ballroom dancing class. Now there’s a shocker!

Sean Hannity of Fox News dropped out of New York University and Adelphi University and never graduated from college. He described himself as an “indifferent student.” He looks pretty good on television, but his commentary often gives-away his lack of education.

There is no shame in failing to attend or complete college or in being self-educated. I have met many people who never attended college and were far better educated than most college graduates. Some brilliant people I have known attended but never graduated from college. Instead, they spent the remainder of their lives educating themselves.

Education, whether in college or by one’s self, is not the highest virtue, not even close; but it is a necessity for those who would speak with authority about the pressing issues of our day. The problem with Limbaugh, Beck, and Hannity is that they offer opinions on all kinds of political and social matters which require some knowledge. They are all good talkers, but they are neither college educated nor self-educated. They are profoundly uneducated and ignorant men. They give away their ignorance every time they accuse the Obama Administration of being “socialist.” Listening to them is like listening to the guy at the end of the bar who makes stupid statements with firm conviction. To educated people, their ignorance is easy to spot.

The lack of educational achievement by Limbaugh, Beck, and Hannity should be compared with the educational attainments of some leading liberal television and radio commentators. Anderson Cooper of CNN graduated from Yale. Keith Olberman of CNBC and Bill Maher of HBO both graduated from Cornell. Rachel Maddow of CNBC graduated from Stanford, was a Rhodes Scholar, and earned a PhD from Oxford. Former TV and radio personality, and now elected U.S. Senator, Al Franken, graduated from Harvard. Stand-up comedian, actress, and former radio personality Janeane Garofalo graduated in 1986 from Providence College with a bachelor's degree in American studies and history.

Compare the meager educational achievements of people in the Bush Administration with the dazzling educational accomplishments of the people in the Obama Administration. Bush got into Yale through family connections, graduated with a C average, and was denied admission to the University of Texas Law School. President Obama graduated from Columbia University and from Harvard Law School magna cum laude. Dick Chaney flunked-out of Yale and later graduated from the University of Wyoming. Vice President Joe Biden graduated from the University of Delaware and Syracuse Law School. Carl Rove dropped out of the University of Utah after two years. David Axelrod graduated from the University of Chicago. Rahm Emmanuel obtained a masters degree from Northwestern University.

There is a pattern here. I am not saying that all conservatives are uneducated, but it seems that on average, liberal media types and political leaders are far better educated than their conservative counterparts. Does that tell you anything?