to glenn beck

Just in case any of you missed what my dear colleague has done here, I’d like to reiterate the point.

glenn beck (glen-bek) v. glenn-beck•ed, glenn-beck•ing. 1. To popularize a  meme by fighting it judicially under the guise of copyright/patent/trademark infringement.  2. To call attention to a minor issue by means of its attempted squelching.  3. To make a fool of one’s self by publicly sparring a strawman which was purposefully presented as a parody. —n. 1. The act of glenn becking. 2. The act of turning a meme into a supermeme, which evolves into an object lesson in 1st Amendment principles.  –glenn-beck•ish adj. –glenn-beck•ly adv.

Usage: Did Glenn Beck glenn beck Glenn Beck?

Synonyms: to Dr. Laura, to Sylvia Browne, to Jerry Falwell

Related: The Streisand Effect

On August 31, 2009 08:32:26PM on Fark.com, user “oldweevil” birthed the Glenn Beck 1990 meme when he asked, “Why haven’t we had an official response to the rumor that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990?” (source: pg 7)

This prompted one reader to register the domain name “glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com” which has since been relocated to “didglennbeckrapeandmurderayounggirlin1990.com” and “gb1990.com”

This strange query by oldweevil is actually a combination of Beck’s own rhetorical style (e.g. Interview with Congressman Ellison) with The Gottfried Technique. (e.g. Comedy Central’s Roast of Bob Saget).

The cartoon South Park immortalized this rhetorical favoring of Beck’s, and illustrates that the only way to combat it is with satire and humor:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

In September of 2009, the registrant of the domain name glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com received a Notification of Complaint, and learned that Glenn Beck had sought rights to the disputed domain through an International Panel.

The Panel rejected Beck’s complaint, for reasons too numerous to contain herein (click to download the full WIPO Decision), and he did not win the disputed domain.

However, having proven his point, the registrant handed over the user/pass of disputed domain to Beck in a scathing open letter.

The “glenn beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990” meme has morphed into the “glenn beck 1990” or GB1990 meme, which has now been consolidated nicely into the “glenn beck” meme, which is here defined.

Did Glenn Beck “glenn beck” Glenn Beck?

The internet is a vast and lonely place. Websites come into existence, pour out their information, then wink out, sources forever lost. But the internet, like the universe, is a large place.

So it was with shock and horror that I noticed “glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com” had gone down. The link was broken (and still is).

Thankfully, I only had to ask myself “DID Glenn Beck rape and murder a young girl in 1990?”, and my shocked horror was quickly replaced, by mellow relief (also because you can just use GB1990.com instead). But the reason for the minor change in url, even better.

It seems that despite having no case, appealing to an international court, and what could have been some furious crying, Glenn Beck could not “glenn beck” the meme (by way of website) which had him deploying his lawyers en mass. After winning the case, domain owner Issac Eiland-Hall sent Beck a letter with a delicious finishing move: he gave him the user/pass to the site which he fought so hard to get taken down with his silly lawsuit.

Well done, Issac (and his awesome lawyer Marc Randazza). Satire superslam complete, first amendment defended, intenet meme now dipped in gold. The actual website domain? Not really all that important. I think “didglennbeckrapeandmurderayounggirlin1990.com” is just as funny as “glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com” was, (though GB1990.com is better still) and even more on point, too. ‘Cause we don’t know if he, in fact, did do that. I’m not saying he did it, but he certainly hasn’t denied doing it.

But the point isn’t about the actual domain, its that Glenn Beck can’t cry defamation for searing satire, just because he doesn’t like it.

2009’s Misinformer of the Year leans on the 1st Amendment almost every time he opens his mouth on TV. *I* don’t like him, but *I* don’t own a media network, so on he goes, spreading his own particular brand of weird right-wing lunacy. Such is free speech in this country. Its a wonderful thing, even if we have to live with people like Beck being allowed on TV as a consequence.

But for Beck to try to reach around the first amendment, while standing behind it shows just how much we really do need to hear him deny that he raped and murdered that young girl in 1990. You can do it at any time, Beck.

1990. Rape and Murder. Glenn Beck. And Free Speech

In a shocking move, Glenn Beck continues refusing to deny that in 1990, he raped and murdered a young girl. I mean, I don’t think that Glenn Beck is the kind of person who would rape OR murder anyone, especially not a young girl in 1990. But a lot of Americans want to know, why are you trying to get around the US court system? I’m not trying to call Glenn Beck unpatriotic, or even a shallow exploiter of tragedy.

It’s just that, as someone who spends at least as much time as Glenn Beck reading the Constitution aloud, wrapped in a giant authentic civil war flag as the battle hymm of the republic plays, I want him to prove to me that he’s not trying to sidestep the first amendment to silence criticism. I mean, I don’t think anyone who heavily depends on the right of free speech to do their job as a pompous talking head would try to reach around the first amendment to jack off a critic.

I think though, that a lot of Americans are asking about you Beck. They see that you’re a pro-American kind of guy. But then you turn to an international body to try to kill a website, because you know our American 1st amendment would throw it out. And what they want you to prove to them, Beck, and I’m not accusing you of this, is that you’re not a traitor to this country’s laws. Turncoat is not the way I’d describe you Beck, but I think you need to prove to me that your skirting the US court system isn’t the work of a thin-skinned coward. I don’t think you’re a traitor, Beck, but it would make a lot of people sleep easier at night if you could explain this to us. All you need to do is stop refusing to deny that you’re a traitor.