The appeal of Glenn Beck

Rod Dreher:

So Beck is onto something real, though he takes it in crazy directions (Rockefeller, the Soviets, the UN, etc.). It's the leap from a serious critique of corporate oligarchy to presenting a wacky scenario in which it's all linked together in bizarre and totalist ways that unhinges Beck's vision from reality -- but it's what makes Beck Beck.

This is why conspiracy theories are so attractive: they not only focus and channel the fear and anger people understandably feel in times of great stress, but they also return the illusion of control. After all, it's less frightening to believe that somebody is in control, even if it's a sinister cabal, than it is to believe that nobody's really in control. Think about it: is it scarier to believe that a conspiracy killed JFK, or that all it takes to change national, even world, history is a lone gunman with an evil thought sitting in a window in downtown Dallas?