Last weekend Glenn Beck revealed that he has been diagnosed with a serious eye disease which may cause him to go blind. According to Beck he has had trouble seeing in recent months which caused him to go the Lenscrafters. There a technician told him he may be going blind. At that point Beck went to the best eye doctor he could find where he was diagnosed with a condition called macular dystrophy. A detailed description of macular dystrophy can be read here. Beck also slipped in a political jab toward health care reform in the speech, hinting he may not be able to go to the best doctor in the future.
Beck’s doctor evidently told him he may go blind within in a year, or not go blind at all. Beck is now having his eyes continually tested, but if he begins to rapidly lose his sight there is little doctors can do to prevent the degeneration.
In the speech Beck gets very emotional, at times laughing and at other times sobbing uncontrollably. Beck goes on to relate his illness to the overall message of his speech dealing with atonement and restoration from God.
The reaction to Beck’s revelation has generated the expected mix of reactions from supporters and detractors. The same pattern could be seen when Rush Limbaugh revealed he was going deaf with some expressing sympathy and others noting the irony of Limbaugh losing his sense of hearing (and still others blaming his past drug use). Many have expressed sympathy for Beck and taken the emotion in the video clip as real. Some of Beck’s harsher critics are once again doubting the sincerity of his emotion and, like Limbaugh, remarking on the alleged irony of Beck possibly going blind (since they have alleged he was blind to the truth all along). The Huffington Post was quick to release a video clip of Beck making fun of Braille readers in a 2006 show on CNN.
I sincerely hope Beck continues to see until he dies, especially so he can witness the long-term benefits of President Obama’s policies in the coming years.