Beck's Show a Practical Joke?

A reporter for The Scotsman and The Daily Telegraph says he can't tell whether Glenn Beck's show is a practical joke. I've thought that before. Perhaps, Beck's really just mocking the left and making fools of the fringe on the right. There are those on the right who sincerely believe Glenn Beck is telling the pre-story to the apocalypse.
Anyway, Alex Massie points out that Glenn Beck's show is now global, courtesy of Sky Television, which carries the Fox News Channel in the UK and around the world. Now, viewers around the world will get a look at our fringe and they'll be able to decide for themselves. Massie appears to have taken Beck seriously:

In the end, I wonder if Beck even wants to win. Like most cult leaders, he is happiest playing the role of the Great Misunderstood Prophet, whose people are forever consigned to roam the wilderness. Occasionally, they may glimpse the Promised Land, but they can never make it their home—for if they did, they might realize that they need a new leader. In a curious way, then, Beck’s status depends on Obama’s success. Nothing else can advance his agenda as effectively as the president achieving his goals. Whether Beck’s audience appreciates this apparent paradox is a different matter. But viewed from Britain, it’s dispiriting to see quite so many decent Americans in thrall to such charlatanry, no matter how entertaining or comical its salesman might be. Daily Beast

Americans aren't the only ones to fall for charlatans but there seems to be a trend in this country toward "believing" in something as opposed to making up our minds based on facts and evidence. I'd say the dying craft of journalism is a symptom of that problem.
I'd bet you'd find a Glenn Beck supporter in this crowd of geniuses who are holding a Halloween book burning that will include books by Mother Teresa and bibles that aren't the King James version!