There is a very satirical site about the radio talk show host Glenn Beck. The name of the site is
http://glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com/
At the bottom of the site, the owners of the site make it quite clear, indeed, that they do not think that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990. Alas, one has to get to the very bottom of the site; and there is no reason to think that most people will do that.
The aim of the site is have Glenn Beck experience the kind of smearing that he does to others—subliminal smearing, as I shall refer to it. This is when a question is raised in a way that strongly implies that one is guilty of some egregious wrongdoing although no straightforward declarative claim to that effect is made and, moreover, it not easy to offer a satisfactory rebuttal to the insinuation.
Consider, for instance, the following assertion on the site:
PC LOAD LETTER: Skleenar: If Glenn Beck didn’t rape and murder a girl in 1990, wouldn’t it be the prudent thing for him to simply release his legal records proving that he didn’t rape and murder a girl in 1990. It is very interesting that he has not taken this simple step. Instead he hides it behind an army of lawyers. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO HIDE, GLENN?
Notice that typically we do not have legal records which prove that we have not committed a crime. I have no legal records to prove that I did not commit the burglary that took place in Syracuse a few nights ago. Neither do you.
Now, the challenge to prove that I did not commit a crime flips the American judicial process around: Instead of being innocent until proven guilty, it is the other way around: One is guilty until one proves that one is innocent. That is the satirical move of PC Load Letter with respect to the charge that Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990.
Two questions readily present themselves: (1) Has the site gone too far? (2) Is Glenn Beck guilty of subliminal smearing?
At the outset, we might want to distinguish between (a) subliminal smearing with respect to person-to-person heinous immoral behavior and (b) subliminal smearing with respect to non-heinous criminal behavior that is person-to-person. Surely, subliminal smearing with respect to person-to-person heinous immoral behavior is entirely out of order and bespeaks a maliciousness that can only be characterized as abject cruelty.
In particular, subliminal smearing with respect to person-to-person heinous immoral behavior is unacceptable even if the target of such smearing is someone who is unequivocally guilty of subliminal smearing with respect to person-to-person heinous immoral behavior.
Surely, Smith is not justified in murdering the members of Lee’s family just because Lee is murdering the members of Jones’s family. Nor would Smith be justifying in subliminally smearing Lee’s family with the person-to-person heinous immoral behavior of child sexual abuse.
So, the owners of the site
http://glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com/
are doing what is terribly wrong in their subliminal smearing of Glenn Beck with person-to-person heinous immoral behavior. So it is even if Beck himself is guilty of such smearing others with person-to-person heinous immoral behavior. This is a particularly clear instance in which two wrongs do not make a right.
Two wrongs do not make a right. Quite the contrary, two wrongs tend to lead to a further escalation of immorality which, in turn, fosters a moral climate of greater meanness and viciousness. Thus, we lose in virtue of winning.
On the Glenn Beck show, Beck strongly criticizes both Democrats and Republicans. And certainly Barack Obama has of late been one of Beck’s primary targets. He thinks that Obama is a socialist or even a communist. Not surprisingly, then, Beck also thinks that Obama is destroying America. As far as I can tell, this kind of nastiness is part and parcel of politics nowadays. Both sides are equally nasty to one another.
Although I find this kind of nastiness disgusting, I do not see that it is on the order of the subliminal smearing of another with a person-to-person heinous immoral act. I should like to distinguish further between subliminal smearing with respect to a competing political ideology and subliminal smearing with respect to personal criminal behavior.
Glenn Beck has surely said some outlandish things about Obama. However, I do not think that he has accused Obama of anything remotely close to child sexual abuse or rape or murder.
Beck most certainly does think that Obama is hypocritical and a masterful liar; and Beck thinks that Obama’s association with Acorn reveals these traits. Again, accusations of this sort seem to be grist for the mill in politics. What is more, accusations of this sort fall considerably short of subliminally smearing another with person-to-person heinous immoral behavior.
Lest it be thought that I am really biased here, consider Representative Alan Grayson’s charge that in rejecting Obama’s health care plan the Republicans are imposing a Holocaust upon America. Here we have a Democrat striking out at Republicans with a very malicious claim. Still, the charge stops short of accusing any Republican with person-to-person heinous immoral behavior. And a Republican might just as easily accuse Democrats of being Nazis.
Glenn Beck is a public figure. Accordingly, the rules of defamation of character are different for him. But even that which is permissible can be abused. Indeed, with free speech we can do that which is evil all the while doing what we have a perfect legal right to do.
I hold that we have an unequivocal abuse of free speech when an individual engages in the subliminal smearing of public figures with person-to-person heinous immoral behavior. The accusation of rape and/or murder should never under any circumstances be acceptable forms of subliminal smearing.
I have no qualms whatsoever with people attacking Glenn Beck and doing so ever so vociferously for that matter. The same holds for Rush Limbaugh. Indeed, I am sure that both would agree that being publicly criticized about just about anything and everything, and even being misunderstood, comes with the territory. In fact, there can be no doubt that President Barack Obama would say the same thing.
This leaves critics with plenty of room to say all sorts of mean and malicious things and yet stop considerably short of ever subliminally smearing a public figure with a person-to-person heinous crime.
If we do not have the will to draw the line here, then what we thereby portend is that we lack the will to be a nation of morally decent citizens.
http://glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com/
most certainly think that they are getting even. Well, they are getting even by being evil. And that modus operandi is necessarily none other than a Pyrrhic victory.
Did Larry Flynt go too far when he published a fake Campari advertisement in which Jerry Falwell was represented as discussing losing his virginity to his mother in an outhouse? Satire must be over-the-top to be effective.
1) The website is listed as a parody at the top of the page. Twice.
2) Do you really think anyone believes the rumour itself? Seriously?
3) Did you see the Gilbert Gottfriend roast of Bob Saget where this came from?
The goal is to point out techniques Beck himself uses. I’m sorry you completely missed the point — but come on, just taking the first point where you say one has to scroll down to the bottom of the page… You’re simply completely wrong. And I think much of the rest of what you’ve said is based on misunderstanding the entire thing.
That being said, you have every right to your opinion, as do I, and everyone else, including Beck.
But something you doubtlessly missed that’s *not* so obvious, because it’s part of the discussion on the site’s forum: This is just the start. We plan to go after others who use these sorts of dishonest tactics, and I don’t care if they’re Republican, Democrat, or independent. I’m tired of seeing our country torn apart by people who only care about ratings and money.
Judging by the huge outpouring of support (and relatively few complaints/disagreements), I’d say a LOT of people “get” it, and support what we’re doing.
Maybe you could take another look at the site with this in mind. It might not change your opinion – and if not, hey, I’m okay with that. Diversity makes our nation strong, for the most part.
Take care,
-Name Withheld
It’s at the TOP of the website too. Why won’t Glenn Beck come right out and deny these allegations?
YOU SIR ARE A IDIOT!!!! GLENN BECK IS THE ONLY ONE MAKEING SENSE THESE DAYS! WHY DONT YOU GET YOUR HEAD OUT OBAMAS ASS! AND SMELL THE ROSES! YOU KNOW THE ROSES OF A PLAN TO BANKRUPT AMERICA!