STUFF OVEREDUCATED WHITE PEOPLE COUNTERINTUITIVELY LIKE

Oh, this is embarrassing:

Glenn Beck's The Blaze is being awarded the Charles Darwin Prize by the Tribeca Film Festival for being one of the most disruptive innovations....

Along with The Blaze, others being honored are South Korean singer Psy's "Gangnam Style" video, the book "I F*cking Love Science," and the innovative city planning of Manchester, England....

This is the world of Davos, TED Talks, the Aspen Ideas Festival, etc., etc. Here are the culprits in this decision to give an award to the half-mad has-been:

The Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), in association with the Disruptor Foundation and Harvard Business School Professor Clay Christensen, father of Disruptive Innovation Theory, is pleased to announce the innovative honorees from various disciplines and domains that will be recognized at the 2013 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards. The event will be hosted by NYU Stern School of Business and will take place on April 26.

Co-sponsored by Accenture with media support from The Economist....

OK, enough, enough. I got it -- this is an award from The People Who Run Everything, operating in "We're not plutocrat vultures -- we're deep thinkers" mode.

So why is Beck an honoree?

Radio and television impresario Glenn Beck has led a fascinating yet controversial career. What is not controversial is the highly disruptive innovation he has launched with The Blaze, a new and all-encompassing media source focusing on the internet and television, that may disrupt the traditional media business model. With majority ownership and accountable to his viewers and himself The Blaze is being closely watched by the media industry for its groundbreaking innovation.

You know what? The Blaze is not "highly disruptive." It's a Free Republic/Lucianne.com/Fox Nation wannabe site. It was an online-only TV channel that couldn't make it as an online-only TV channel and is now a cable channel that's probably not even offered by your provider.

So what the hell is "disruptive innovation," Professor Christensen?

Disruptive innovation, a term of art coined by Clayton Christensen, describes a process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitors.

No. Sorry. Glenn Beck, when he was let go by Fox relentlessly moved down market, and he's barely recovered since. The Blaze is imitation Free Republic crossed with warmed-over Fox, run by a guy who crosses Limbaugh-style radio and Alex Jones-style radio with "morning zoo"-style radio. Calling Beck a media innovator is like calling Pat Boone a rock and roll innovator.

The hipster savants involved in this award clearly have no knowledge whatsoever of the right-wing media landscape, or they'd know how derivative everything Beck is. But why did they get the idea to give the award to Beck in the first place.

Let me venture a guess. Beck's manager is, oddly, a New York-based former Democratic operative named Matt Hiltzik. One of Hiltzik's other clients is the rather hip Miramax Films. So I assume Beck's people are responsible for putting in a good word with the hip film community. Which doesn't make this ward any less ridiculous.

(And having your agent drum up an award for you when your career is floundering? Wow, that's so innovative.)