GLENN BECK DOES THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS: Lots of bloggers are getting very excited over Mr. Beck's recent foray into Qumranology. For those who haven't heard it yet, here is the audio file (via MediaMatters):
You can read the transcript over at Robert Cargill's blog. (The Fox News transcript seems to have left most of Mr. Beck's comments out - either that or this is a second mention of the Dead Sea Scrolls, making what I take to be the same point.) As Robert suggests, it looks as though Mr. Beck has confused the Nag Hammadi library with the Dead Sea Scrolls. He also, incidentally, has confused the Nicene Creed with the Apostles' Creed.
Many bloggers seem to have a visceral reaction to Glenn Beck himself, one that I suppose I might share if I had ever listened to him before this. I'd seen him invoked or excoriated by political bloggers from time to time but I actually wasn't quite sure who he was until I saw this story. Whoever he is, he provides another example of the fact that when journalists, pundits, or politicians try to talk about something I know about, they frequently get it seriously garbled. But you've noticed that too about whatever it is you know about, right? The obvious inference is that when journalists, pundits, or politicians talk about anything, there's a good chance it is seriously garbled in their minds. A cheery thought for a Monday morning.
UPDATE (7 June): More here.