Glenn Beck apologizes for being a 'catastrophist

Conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Wednesday apologized to his audience for being what he called a "catastrophist" and for creating what he described as an environment in which people have no hope. Beck started his segment by noting that he still believes that the things he has been warning about will come to pass, but he apologized for the manner in which he delivered the information:

And I want to tell you that, A, yes, I have changed. I have changed. And I'm going to explain exactly how. And I want to apologize for the mistake I made. It was unintentional. I didn't see it.

But here's what it is. And I want to ask everyone to do soul-searching themselves on this.

I believe what I believe. And I've told you I'm a catastrophist. And that's not necessarily healthy for a country to have somebody broadcasting as a catastrophist all the time. But I believe what I believe.

Beck stated that he believed that he was guilty of causing people to believe that they should not have hope, which led to the rise of a "burn it down" mentality that has been harmful:

So I want to apologize for being a catastrophist. I'm not apologizing for saying that these things are coming, because they are. What I am sorry for is giving you the impression that there's no way to survive. Because there is.

The world has faced these times before. And every time, the people choose to be — choose to live their faith — they survive. When they choose to move without the action that faith motivates, they are destroyed.

But a remnant goes on. We are acting without faith. We are — and in those days, says II Timothy, people will talk about their faith, they will say that they have great faith, but they will not assign the power of that faith to it.

Because they're not living it. So those under — those over 40, those my age and above, we have to do one thing: Stop scaring the kids. Because that's what we're doing. We're scaring the hell out of the children.

My poor kids — oh, my gosh — we're scaring the hell out of the children. And more importantly, we are doing what Common Core is doing. What Common Core does is a group of elites have all got together and they have designed the future, and they say, "These are the things that your kid is going to do." And they're going to design your child from third grade to fit the job that they see in the future.

Well, that's not their job. That's not their right. What education is is to give them the eternal truths so they can design their future. What we're doing is we are allowing people up at the top to design a future for our children, that our children most likely will not want, would not design it that way. The future is being designed by people who are 70 years old for children who are 20 years old or younger, 30 years old. Adults that would never design that world.

But they're being trapped in that design. That's immoral. But it shows we don't have faith in the future, and we don't have faith in millennials. I do. I do.

I refuse to not have faith in the future. Now, anybody under 40, here's what you need to do: You don't believe — first of all — don't believe in people. Don't believe in me. Don't believe in Barack Obama. Don't believe in Hillary Clinton. Don't believe in Donald Trump.

Believe in yourself and believe in God. And when you two are partnered, unbelievable things can happen. But beyond not believing in a man, don't believe my words or anyone else that tells you it's all going to burn down and there's nothing you can do. There's no hope. Because that is a lie.

Beck closed his segment by noting that alarmism is the reason the conservative movement has struggled to attract millennials:

They have to have hope. We have to have hope. We cannot create a pattern for them. They're going to take our cue from us. And if we have depressed them — that's why nobody is flocking to us: because we're depressing the snot out of them.

Who wants to hear, at 20 years old, "It's all screwed up, and it's not going — it's all going to be over." Nobody wants to hear that at 20. We cannot take away their hope because that is their fight. We have to enforce them — reinforce them.

We have to inspire them. And we have to tell them eternal truths. Because, quite honestly, they don't believe in any of the other stuff. Nor should they. They're not buying the lies that we, after being so worn down over a lifetime, have just grown to accept. That whatever Washington says we have to do — whatever the party says we have to do, whatever the crowd says we have to do. They want to be different. Let's encourage them.