Glenn Beck takes legal action against the internets

[Commissar MercZ]

I was stumbling across the internet and this article came up

Glenn Beck Didn't Rape And Murder Anyone... But He Doesn't Want Websites Discussing It | Techdirt

One of the popular tactics of such shows, is to use the ever popular "report on a rumor" setup, which lets them insinuate something, without ever officially stepping up and saying it themselves. The simplest form is the "some are saying..." lead in that lets these folks spend plenty of time discussing things without ever actually investigating if they're true. But, at times it goes much deeper into finding some random conspiracy theorist, and building them up into a "movement." It seems to happen pretty regularly, and it's rather silly.

In the last couple of weeks, a random internet meme apparently sprung up to highlight this sort of reporting, initiated in a comment on the ever-excellent Fark, it involved a commenter questioning: "Why haven't we had an official response to the rumor that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990?" The idea, which seems plain to many involved, is not to actually suggest that Glenn Beck did such a thing -- but to highlight this tactic of making a totally bogus rumor into "news" by stating it, and wondering why there hasn't been a denial. A bunch of folks have picked up on this claim and run with it (apparently greatly upsetting some loyal Beck fans), turning it into one of those internet memes with legs.

Someone -- quite anonymous -- then set up a website to chronicle all of this, called (appropriately, given the meme): GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com. The site itself is clear that it's a parody, attempting to highlight this sort of "news" tactic, and the fact that it's often employed by Beck:

This site is parody/satire. We assume Glenn Beck did not rape and murder a young girl in 1990, although we haven't yet seen proof that he didn't. But we think Glenn Beck definitely uses tactics like this to spread lies and misinformation.

It turns out that Glenn Beck isn't happy about this either. He's filed a domain name dispute over the domain name, claiming that it violates his trademark...

Now, you might see some sort of claim over defamation (but, even that seems iffy, given that it's clearly a parody), but a trademark claim seems really iffy -- and not particularly smart. First, the site in question doesn't have any commerce. It does link to another site that sells stuff, which is how Beck tries to claim that it's a commercial site. For a trademark violation to occur, the name needs to be used in commerce. It's also supposed to be confusing -- but as plenty of "gripes sites" have shown, it's perfectly reasonable to use a trademarked term in a domain name (and, hell, Beck's name isn't even fully registered yet) as a part of a gripe/protest/parody, when it's clearly not run by the actual mark holder.

As for why it's not particularly smart -- whether he wins or loses -- is because he just called a whole bunch of attention to some silly internet meme that clearly wants attention. Beck would have been better off just ignoring it. Instead, in legitimizing it by trying to take it down, many more people become aware of the meme -- and may start calling attention to situations where Beck (and others) make use of such tactics.

As everyone knows, the internet tends to do thinks reflecting stuff that occurs in real-life or on the scene in the internet. One of the things that they make fun of on many accounts is the media (Onion), and the tactics they often use, as this one meme highlights. That is, starting a rumor and letting it spread from there, and later it picking it up as legitimate journalism.

This one meme insinuates that "Glenn Beck raped and killed a girl in 1990". This is modeled after another certain meme that is around on the internet originating from Gilbet Gottfried during the roast of Bob Saget, saying that "Bob Saget who raped and killed a girl in 1990" (00:34 in the following vid).

Gilbert Gottfried Pt. 1 | The Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget | Comedy Central

And true to human nature, the little meme spread around so much that some people (primarily Glenn Beck fans) took it as a serious claim and saw it as libel against Glenn Beck.

Glenn Beck himself, the supposed champion of free speech as he sees it, has now opened up legal action against one site,

DidGlennBeckRapeAndMurderAYoungGirlIn1990.com

But under the guise of it violating trademark laws, and rather flimsy ones as the article points out.

What I wonder is this meme is only known to people who spend too much time on the internet, is Glenn Beck doing himself a disfavor by giving a meme more exposure and thrusting into greater awareness? It's only a matter of time until his opponents catch wind of this thing since it's escalated into the legal realm.

[BadHairDẵy]

He never denied that he didn't rape and murder a young girl in 1990.

The facts stand.

There was women in 1990.
There was murder in 1990.
There was rape in 1990.
Glenn Beck was alive in 1990.

Now, I'm not saying that Glenn Beck raped and murdered that girl in 1990, but Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990.

[Phoenix_22]

Wait, so Beck doesn't like it when people make baseless accusations and use generalized statements about him?

Karma can be a bitch.

[Commissar MercZ]

Originally Posted by Phoenix_22

Wait, so Beck doesn't like it when people make baseless accusations and use generalized statements about him?

Karma can be a bitch.

This is what is so good about this story. While he is technically shielding it as a copyright problem, his PR people are involved as a result of a period of time where these things came up on the first page when people googled his name.

[Phoenix_22]

^ Exactly. And considering Beck makes millions to do it to others, it makes it all the more entertaining that he is actually trying to sue them.

For example, I will highlight this earlier post:

Originally Posted by BadHairDẵy

He never denied that he didn't rape and murder a young girl in 1990.

The facts stand.

There was women in 1990.
There was murder in 1990.
There was rape in 1990.
Glenn Beck was alive in 1990.

Now, I'm not saying that Glenn Beck raped and murdered that girl in 1990, but Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990.

This is the exact method Beck follows to allude that someone did something. Van Jones said he was a communist, the Soviet Union was full of commies, the Soviet Union hated America.

By making these three points, Beck will say that Van Jones (or insert name here) might not hate America, but he alludes to it, and it is the most brilliant way I have ever seen someone go on such a path of political destruction.

btw, you can't trademark a common name (How many people are named "Glenn Beck" ?) and I fully expect a judge to throw this case out.

[Commissar MercZ]

Originally Posted by Phoenix_22

^ Exactly. And considering Beck makes millions to do it to others, it makes it all the more entertaining that he is actually trying to sue them.

Yup. Here he was lampooning and making fun of people who do similar things against hearsay on the internet.

This is the exact method Beck follows to allude that someone did something. Van Jones said he was a communist, the Soviet Union was full of commies, the Soviet Union hated America.

By making these three points, Beck will say that Van Jones (or insert name here) might not hate America, but he alludes to it, and it is the most brilliant way I have ever seen someone go on such a path of political destruction.

Yea, and BHD's draws this out well as you said. By loosely connecting some points and pre-existing biases in minds, he can bend things the way they want. The thing you pointed out with Van Jones is another good example of these techniques that he uses.

Lots of double speak and other nonsense, like this bit where he was talking to Keith Ellison (a black muslim)-

"Prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.... And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way. ”

btw, you can't trademark a common name (How many people are named "Glenn Beck" ?) and I fully expect a judge to throw this case out.

I don't know, much less bring up trademark issues with not-for-profit places. Just a poorly piece of attempt to use a legal loophole to avoid directly addressing this issue.

Now that I think of it though, would this thread be better addressed for the Pub?

[NiteStryker]

TL: DR

Who the fuck is Glenn Beck?

[computernerd]

A guy who steals material from Michael Savage, but he has his moments.

[NiteStryker]

Originally Posted by computernerd

A guy who steals material from Michael Savage, but he has his moments.

So hes a republican commentator? And people are wondering why he is taking so crazy like?

[computernerd]

It's not like most Democrats are any smarter.