Glenn Beck's legal action against site that parodies, um, Glenn Beck
I have a theory about folks who appear on TV. Those who seem very nice are probably not so nice in real life.
And those who seem like those mindless, destructive winds that blow through small towns and make a lot of people miserable and destitute are probably rather charming when the red light isn't on.
On this basis, I would like to invite Fox News' Glenn Beck to dinner.
One of the things I hope he will chat with me about over a fine glass of Miner Family viognier is why he reportedly is continuing with legal action against a site that, some feel, rather parodies Beck's own inimitably ineffable style.
It seems that the genesis of the site was a roast of the comedian Bob Saget. In it, fellow comedian Gilbert Gottfried suggests that Saget eliminated another human being in an inordinately unpleasant manner sometime around 1990.
This was funny because it was not true. And its funniness spread to the forums of Fark, where it was attached to the alleged insinuations of Glenn Beck.
Then, in early September, a chap called Isaac Eiland-Hall decided to create a site that essentially repeated this joke in its URL and continued to make Beck the object of the joke.
Eiland-Hall didn't actually suggest on the site's pages that Beck had performed those grievous misdeeds, which essentially seem to have embraced the areas of murder and rape.
But now, according to Jackson New Jersey Online, Beck's legal beagles intend to continue fox-hunting Eiland-Hall.
Beck originally filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization, an agency of the United Nations that enjoys the charming tag: "Encouraging Creativity and Innovation."
Beck rather wanted it to discourage Eiland-Hall, arguing that the site is an entity of bad faith, is libelous, and would confuse real human beings.
And the legal documents, which you can find here, do offer fine insight into the human mind and all of its vicissitudes.
You will discover arguments referencing Hitler hating Santa and finding out the truth about Kanye West. You will find serious and pained reference to the concept that "every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten".
Richard Gere also makes an appearance. Yes, in reference to the wonderfully mythical gerbil tale.
For those of you with a purely legal bent, the papers offer some interesting trademark and First Amendment issues too.
The latter revolve around the idea that given this dispute is between two Americans, it should be handled with respect to the First Amendment. As for the former, is Glenn Beck's trademark merely Glenn Beck? Or is it anything that includes the words Glenn and Beck?
Oh, perhaps I might not have mentioned it until now, but the site's URL is GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com.
Not an easy one to remember or type. And, interestingly, this now has a home page that turns the assertion of its URL into a question.
Eiland-Hall denies he is suggesting that Beck committed heinous acts. Well, not those in the URL, anyway. And he insists it is clear that it's a parody.
However he declares on the site: "We are definitely accusing Glenn Beck of using questionable tactics in order to spread his message and garner higher ratings. You see, we believe Beck uses tactics like the top part of this site (...) and he uses them with no disclaimers, with all apparent seriousness."
I know some of you might feel that one of these questionable tactics might include suggesting that the president is a racist. (I embed a video with the evidence here, in case, well, someone might believe I was offering a parody.)
However, I really would prefer to pop down to my local Sushi Ran with Beck. We can get a table in the wine bar and chat this one out in a fair and balanced way. Isn't that the best way to sort these things out?
I mean, trying to get an agency of the United Nations to resolve anything is surely an excessively hopeful tactic.
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
Hey I thought "Free Speech" covered EVERYONE including sites about Obama? How about you and Isaac Eiland-Hall put together a website: Obama-raped-and-murdered-a-young-girl-in-1990.com
See how long your "Free Speech" rights are honored!
And about all that information in the suit, of course Glenn Beck would have had that on hand. He's using it himself!
Oh that's right... your school-yard name calling antics are disconnected from the TRUTH: Glenn Beck uses videos, quotes, writtings, and other EVIDENCE against members of this administration.
I guess when you're left with nothing to argue - you libs just attack the guys character. LMAO
See, look at how his listeners jump to his defense, regurgitating the sound bites. That's money in the bank.
Fair enough.
How about: He is a parody of a human being?
"Oh that's right... your school-yard name calling antics are disconnected from the TRUTH: Glenn Beck uses videos, quotes, writtings, and other EVIDENCE against members of this administration."
LOL
You nutbags are funny. Beck is a hate monger, nothing more.
Stop it, you trailer trash nutbags are hilarious. Beck is dangerous, he would love nothing more to see another terrorist attack, and a new great depression, as long as a dem is in the white house.
He is scum.
Yes, Glenn Beck uses quotes and video when attacking the current administration; but, you are not mentioning the fact that he (or the production staff at Fox) are deliberately editing the quotes and video to make his point.
Did you see the 34 second video of a former union leader talking at a conference of Wall Street bigwigs? That guy is now in the Obama Administration, and is being attacked, using that 34 seconds of video, for saying that the President Obama is practicing Mao's philosophy of "all power comes from the barrel of a gun".
What you *didnt* see was the context of that quote. That guy was making a "Top Ten List" style of joke at the presentation he was making to those Wall Street bigwigs a year before Obama was even elected.
So, with the exception of ACORN, everything thing you see Glenn Beck reporting has been highly edited to support whatever Glenn is complaining about.
If I had Glenn Becks money, I could show you a video of Glenn Beck doing exactly what that website parody guy is
saying Glenn did. And it would look authentic, with metadata and everything.
So grow up, start using the brain God gave you, and dont believe everything you see on TV. Especially on Fox.
http://hasglennbeckdeniedrapingandmurderingayounggirlin1990.com/
The world has waited with bated breath for nearly two months to hear him deny these horrible rumours. I even have a hotline set up - and I set mine up before he set his up - the phone number is on the site, but in case a reader doesn't want to visit to find it: 215.556.3516.
But of course, nobody is actually trying to get people to think he's guilty of rape or murder. The point is that the site *is* labeled as parody, and the point is that we're trying to raise attention to the types of attacks he uses. I added a couple of youtube videos yesterday to the bottom of the main page so visitors can see for themselves what he does.
Glen beck is a racist and a liar.
Get over it.
Sincerely, your friend,
terminalblue
{CNET editor's note: Offensive language deleted.]
You are not my friend.
Keep your idiocy to yourself.
At least I used facts and logic to post my opinion,
instead of just calling someone a bunch of names.
[CNET editor's note: Personal attack deleted.]
Raping and murdering young girls!! Right Isaac Eiland-Hall??
Seems like there are lots of stories about Glenn Beck. My favorite is that he wears women's underwear.
While the GB1990.com and etc web sites say they are a parody, other web sites have posted that Glenn Beck murdered and raped a young girl as a "fact". It was a joke, and now it has turned into a rumor and a web smear against Beck.
What if someone did a Keith Olberman raped and murdered a young girl in 1990? He seems to use the same tactics as Beck does, but against Conservatives instead of Liberals. Note that the Anti-Beck people here have used profanity and CNET had to edit their comments like terminalblue.
This very Internet MEME is a personal attack against Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck has publicly denied raping and murdering a young girl in 1990 and answered the question, and the web site still runs. He said if Beck answered the charges he would drop the web site. He appears to be a liar about that.
Dunno, 'mano... it's your mortgage (and a huge chunk of your future income) to lose. I'm very sure that Beck can afford a lot more legal effort than you can, and judging by the site, the EFF likely wouldn't touch you with a 12' barge pole.
Even if you win the case, you're going to lose a ton of cash, and 6 months from now your site will be mere flotsam in the vast sea of forgotten Internet memes.
You're down to 8-1/2 minutes out of your 15. Use 'em wisely, because you picked one hell of an expensive way to get them...
Bummer.
[CNET editor's note: Personal attack deleted.]
You're proving to everyone just how badly he uses opinion as fact. You actually think his opinion is fact and keep spouting it over and over and over.
He is a dangerous man. He's allowed to say whatever he wants. I just wish people would think while watching him though. Of course, then his viewership will probably drop because folks would realize he's a manipulative liar. I mean, come on, he first calls Obama a racist and then a few minutes later says that's not what he's saying? That was just an example of him getting caught up in his own rhetoric.
Glad I'm not the only one who noticed that.
Instead of a discussion on libel and the digital age, we find a big mud-fest of left vs. right.
Strange, that.
Also, its clearly parody as it clearly states it as so and it clearly states that the statement being made is not genuine. Soo... I guess I disagree with you in that I also like to read things to understand them.
Though, I do agree his show is disingenuous (which is what the site parodies ironicaly enough), it is *extremely* biased, and absolutely poor taste. Is the URL in poor taste, some may think so.
(and to think that he was not even bright enough to have some AdSense set up on his site - at least he could make a bit of scratch to help put a dent in the bills he;s going to face...)
If the "cost" of a visit was an indictment of a person's character... then Obama (trip to Copenhage, date-night in NYC, valentine dinner in Chicago, Salsa parties at the WH, etc, etc, etc) would be the equivalent to Octo-mom's used ****** bag.
As an example, remember the birth certificate fiasco? Were you one of the folks who thought he should provide it? What happened to having to prove guilt instead of innocence? Glenn Beck called for him to provide it.
I see you have fallen for the same fallacy as Jon in CA above: Glenn (or his production staff) highly edits his video, even resorting to splicing different segments of the same speech, in order to prove his point. See my reference to the 34 second Obama czar Mao speech I mentioned.
Remember, dont believe everything you hear, or see. If all you are shown is a few seconds of what looks like a much longer speech, you are being lied to.
Start using the brain God gave you. It is there for a purpose. You were not given a thinking brain so that you could use it to become nothing more than bleating sheep in human clothing.
Glenn Beck is an recovering alcoholic and drug addict, he talks about, probably not going to a wine bar.
People who claim Beck is an entertainer and not a news person lend creadiance to the charge that FNC isn't news.
The Secrect Service has show great restraint when people with automatic weapons were outside of the building where The President was speaking. Is it any wonder they are spending a lot more money protecting him.
Oh - and the whole "weapons" issue... why exactly was no one arrested??? OH WAIT - that pesky 2nd Amendment and the FACT those individuals were complying with State laws.
Keep shoveling your liberal crapola - the rest of America is finally seeing you for what you really are... 4th grade r-tards.
Should have read
Glenn Beck is an recovering alcoholic and drug addict, he talks about "it".
The point wasn't to criticize Beck for it, but rather to say he won't be going to a wine bar, something I suspect the author knew all along and was just waiting to see if anyone actually noticed.
If Bush and Obama could both not become addicted to blow it's a giant so what? Much more concerned with the results then any perceived person failings. Sorry if that offends your delicate sensibilities.
The weapons issue was is in response to huntera3 post about the Secret Service pulling down a website with Obama instead of Beck in the url. The Secret Service has shown great restraint in the face of serious provocation and has done an outstanding job. So if they allow someone to exercise their second amendment rights, which you would have to be an idiot not to see the potential problem, then it seems highly unlikely they would not allow someone to exercise their first amendment rights.
I often get accused of being a liberal by far right wing nuts. The truth is, as is often the case, it's much more complex. I'm a registered independent with no use for any of the Republicrates! I used to call myself a fiscal conservative, until that term was hijacked by the borrow and spend crowd. I now call my self fiscally responsible, you know, running surpluses in good years, saving for a rainy day, that sort of thing.
On foreign policy I used to call myself conservative, until the pre-emptive war crowd hijacked that term as well. Now I describe myself as being for a strong defence as described by Sun Tzu in the Art of War. A little book that happens to be taught in every major military academy in the world. It a short read, I highly recommend it. The single most important quote from the book IMHO, is "the supreme ultimate is not winning 100 battles but winning without every having to fight a battle". This is done by strengthening your alliances while weakening your enemies. I'll let you judge pass administrations on that basis.
On the subject of social issues I have a similar policy to the military's don't ask, don't tell. I call it don't know, don't care. I find it odd and more then a little disturbing that some people seem to be obsessed with what goes on in other peoples bedrooms.
It's just remarkable that anyone who disagrees with you has to be liberal. Particularly since I was merely pointing out the same thing you did, Beck is a self confessed recovering drug addict. Not news.
BTW, nice touch to criticize Obama for no other reason then you can. No wonder the health care debate is about death panels and die quick.
I don't care for Glenn Beck. But the man has a right to believe and say what he wants. Some of you seem to forget that this is (or was) a free country.
As for the URL, joke or not, it's inappropriate, especially considering how many young girls actually are raped and murdered in this country. A day doesn't go by that there isn't some news item about such a thing happening. To make a "joke" about it is sickening and does a disservice to everyone on both ends of the political spectrum.
As for the post about starting a website about Obama, well, as the one person stated, if a "credible threat" to Obama was discovered, the Secret Service would indeed swoop in. That's their job. They did it when Bush was in office, and Clinton, and Bush, and Reagan, and... well, you get the picture. Replacing Beck with Obama in that URL would not constitute a threat. Oh sure, they might review the site in case there were an actually threat, but if none were found, I seriously doubt they'd do very much.
I hate politics. Politics does nothing but create divisiveness. There's no respect for anyone anymore and that is sad and disappointing. Alleged adults acting like 5th grade playground bullies when someone disagrees with them; resorting to name calling and petty attacks when there should be respectful disagreement and let it go.
Glenn Beck deserves the respect he's entitled to by our Constitution - let him have his say. You get to have yours, he gets to have his. If you don't like him, don't watch him. 1500 channels on the TV and he appears on one or two. Go read a book, play with the kids, walk the dog.
As for Obama... no one said you have to like him. No one says you have to agree with him or his policies. Just like no one said we had to do those things for Bush or Clinton or anyone else.
That "pimple on the butt of humanity" took down Van Jones, Yoshi Sargent, helpd defund ACORN, and has put so much pressure on this Administration they (Obama & Co) are taking unprecedented MIS-steps by waging a public war against Fox News.
Seems like that "pimple" is popping lots of zits in DC.
- by ferretboy88 October 24, 2009 10:19 PM PDT
- Why are we talking about politics on a site that tells about electronics? CBS is lame. I bet you don't have one single worker who is a right leaning person. All liberals.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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- by Vurk October 26, 2009 11:50 AM PDT
- Ferrettboy:
- Like this
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (82 Comments)CNET used to be a successful technology website; people came here for the tech and industry news, not politics.
After CBS bought them and wanted to monetize their success. they were turned into a general news and opinion site, though still mostly tech-related.
As long as they are talking about technology and industry happenings, their politics is not relevant. You are only complaining about political affiliation because a) you disagree with their opinion, and b) because you cant come up with any other reason to attack the author or the website.
This is what happens when you allow your brain to turn to mush. Try turning that mush into something worthwhile.