As the Divine Mrs. M.Z. Hemingway has been demonstrating, the mainstream press has shown quite a bit of interest in the religious roots of the anti-ACORN video reporter Hannah Giles and, in particular, the social and political views of her minister father and, to a lesser degree by inference, their home Clash Church.
Strangely enough, less ink has been poured out on the background of the video mastermind himself, James E. O’Keefe III. He has, by the way, grown from being a “filmmaker” in to video provocateur (no quotation marks). At least, that is what he’s called in a interesting New York Times piece with the headline, “A Political Gadfly Lampoons the Left via YouTube.”
Readers find out all kinds of information about how O’Keefe broke into the world of conservative newsmaking, in part through his college escapes mocking political correctness. The “Lucky Charms” video anecdotal lede is a classic. And you may recall his gotcha job on Planned Parenthood?
When he called a Planned Parenthood office in Columbus, Ohio, and said he wanted to finance abortions for minorities, saying “there’s way too many black people in Ohio,” the administrative assistant on the phone laughed and agreed to his terms. When he called an Idaho branch, a helpful development official told him he “absolutely” could restrict his donation to abortions of African-American babies, raising no objection even after he explained that his goal was to shield his son from future competition for college admission under affirmative action.
But what you want to know, of course, is the answer to a simple question: Where did this guy come from? Why is he doing this? The story does contain some interesting information, such as:
Three years ago, Mr. O’Keefe said, he read “Rules for Radicals” by the left-wing icon Saul Alinsky, the Bible for many community organizers, including those at Acorn, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. He absorbed in particular Rule 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” …
Gregory Walker Levitsky, a friend at Rutgers, said “what disturbed James as a student was the double standard applied to conservative groups and conservative causes.”
Critics get their say, of course, as they should. We also find out that he majored in philosophy — interesting course of action at Rutgers University — and did some training at the conservative Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C., and, thus, started a conservative campus newspaper.
And his religious views? They do not appear to interest the Times, even though there is this one fascinating hint:
Mr. O’Keefe said he considers the British writer G. K. Chesterton his “intellectual backbone” and called himself a “progressive radical,” not a conservative, because he wants to change things, “not conserve them.” But his pro-market, anti-government views, as he described them, sounded like mainstream conservatism.
Once again, what about his religious and moral views? And that writer? This is, of course, THIS guy — G.K. Chesterton. He is, by all means, a “British writer.” Then again, he is also one of the most important Christian intellectuals, apologists and journalists of the last century or two. Reading G.K. Chesterton was one of the things that helped lead that C.S. Lewis guy — another British writer — to faith.
Now, does Chesterton fit into your image of this YouTube activist with a degree in philosophy? Just asking. Do you think the Times would have made a bigger deal out of this religious hook if O’Keefe had said he was inspired by, oh, the “Left Behind” duo?
My guess is “yes.”
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Comments (16) |
September 21, 2009, at 12:47 pm
A ranking of philosophy departments placed Rutgers third behind New York University and Oxford in the English-speaking world.
It may “interesting” — it’s also smart.
September 21, 2009, at 1:13 pm
Finding out that he has been inspired by Chesterton adds a new layer of depth to his activism. Along with the Chesterton angle, I wonder how much his “pro-market, anti-government views” really are in line with mainstream conservatism. Chesterton had a pretty specific position on this question.
September 21, 2009, at 1:14 pm
Sorry - meant to include a link to Chesterton’s market views, which are hardly “mainstream.”
September 21, 2009, at 1:41 pm
There has been a recent push for Chesterton to be declared “Blessed” by the Catholic Church. There’s religious “ghost” for you.
The Zenit news agency has a July 2009 article on the subject.
The Chesterston Society is promoting his cause. Quoting an Italian author:
And the reasons for seeking such a designation:
Source: http://www.zenit.org/article-26454?l=english
September 21, 2009, at 4:13 pm
Sounds more like the boy majored in Ayn Rand rather than philosophy proper (or is that “proper philosophy”? I don’t know.)
It’s extremely odd that they’d casually mention him without diving into the theological angle.
Perhaps they thought he meant A.K. Chesterton, G.K.’s cousin, a far right-wing reporter and politician?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._K._Chesterton
September 21, 2009, at 4:28 pm
Stephen A.,
Do you mean to imply that there’s anything incongruous about opposing ACORN and also being influenced by G. K. Chesterton? Do you mean to imply that being influenced by G. K. Chesterton ought to incline one toward supporting ACORN instead? If so, I don’t think you understand ACORN or G. K. Chesterton especially well. ACORN and most of the contemporary left is even less Chestertonian than most of the contemporary right. And friend-of-ACORN Barack Obama is probably the least Chestertonian President we’ve ever had — which is saying alot.
September 21, 2009, at 6:34 pm
No implications intended at all, Bram. I just detected a bit of Randism and libertarian radicalism in his actions, which are both plausible motivators, and suggested (half seriously) that perhaps the media didn’t explore the religious influences of Chesterton because they either didn’t know of them or (possibly) confused him with his Rightist, activist cousin.
FWIW, I’m not at all a fan of ACORN’s politics, and if I was, I wouldn’t be a fan of its tactics now that they’ve been repeatedly revealed over the past year. And if I was a reporter, I’d dispassionately report both the politics and the tactics and let the readers/listeners decide on their own.
September 21, 2009, at 6:46 pm
Acorn is probably one of the most corrupt federally funded programs in modern times. They are under George Soros’s financial tutelage. They are being investigated for illegal election practices in 20 states. There have already been 30 convictions.
And the MSM—except for Fox and Beck— have shown little or no interest. Only Stephanopolus asked even a mild question about Acorn this Obama media blitz week-end and Obama (a virtual original legal godfather of Acorn) laughed it off.
Moral issues are religious issue and considering the already established public facts about Acorn one can only wonder how many liberals and how many Democrats in office are immorally in office courtesy of Acorn and a complicit MSM.
Even worse—the media seems more interested in finding anything at all negative (or that they can spin negative) about those who bare Acorn’s sins and making them the story and not Acorn. (From reading our local Boston Globe, the coverage has been so miniscule it is not surprising to find many people who say “Acorn what?????”)
September 21, 2009, at 6:55 pm
Chesterton had skills as a journalist. Mr. O’Keefe seems more like a Alan Funt knock-off.
September 22, 2009, at 1:06 am
BOB:
So you are saying that the story itself — the responses of the Acorn staffers — is not important?
ROBERTO:
Hast thou a URL for that info on the philosophy department rankings? That’s amazing.
September 22, 2009, at 7:33 am
With a surname like O’Keeffe, and Chesterton being an influence, would it be too much of a stretch to imagine he could be Catholic?
Of course, as you point out, he could be Church of Rao for all the article tells us
September 22, 2009, at 10:19 am
This Rutgers alum can do more than that. First the link:
Rutgers Rank
And an excerpt
September 22, 2009, at 11:03 am
Deacon, this guy’s stings are so deadly and so effective that there’s no way he doesn’t become the story after a while. One small person making big waves is always a story.
As for negativity, the Cleveland Plain Dealer ran the instant story and I didn’t find negativity. It’s deficient in the terms that GetReligion studies but that, alas, is far from rare.
September 22, 2009, at 1:20 pm
[…] was time to do something about this and these affirmative action programs needed to be stopped. Your average Chesterton fan – getreligion.org 09/21/2009 As the Divine Mrs. M.Z. Hemingway has been demonstrating, the […]
September 22, 2009, at 2:18 pm
Bob Smietana wrote:
This Reason.com piece says the duo are, in fact, ‘Mike Wallace meets Alan Funt’. Interesting reading on the future of investigative journalism.
September 23, 2009, at 12:43 pm
I love, love, love GK Chesterton.