Glenn Beck 1990: Waging War Against Irresponsible Punditry

Has everyone seen Glenn Beck 1990? Haven't heard of Glenn Beck 1990? Well, Glenn Beck 1990 is a website set up, according to TheStranger.com, as a spoof of Glenn Beck's outrageous assertions and obfuscations. Some think it goes a bit too far, because Glenn Beck 1990 is an abbreviation for glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com. The site was set up to supposedly get Glenn Beck to step up and admit that he did not rape and murder a young girl in 1990. The creator of the site uses the same tactics as Glenn Beck and others of his ilk: Toss out a negative premise about an individual, policy, piece of legislation, etc., and bet the viewer, user, or audience that they cannot prove the contrary, thereby suggesting that the premise is true and irrefutable.

Only it isn't. But you cannot disprove a negative. Logic dictates that proof could always turn up somewhere, sometime. Glenn Beck 1990 is that negative for Glenn Beck.

Glenn Beck has been taking some heat lately, and deservedly so. When one fires from the hip without pause for control or accuracy, there sometimes occurs some unintended consequences. And sometimes those unintended consequences occur to the person who set everything in motion to begin with. Like Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck has been shooting off his mouth about President Barack Obama being a racist, a socialist, and an un-American (whatever that is, but he tip-toes around the "birther" issue, insinuating). He's talked about secession. And he's constantly talking about President Obama destroying America.

And he has that right. The First Amendment of the Constitution gives him the right to say anything he likes as long as it does no injury to another. And listening to Glenn Beck is optional as well. One does not have to agree with the emotional pundit to watch or listen to his various programs and his conspiracy theories, just the same as one does not have to disagree with the hyperbolic histrionics to watch or listen to him. One can be informed and entertained both negatively and positively by what Glenn Beck offers in written, visual, and aural formats.

But lately, Glenn Beck's brand of rabble-rousing rhetoric and baseless inflammatory theories have begun to be aggressively met and countered. Like when Color of Change went after him for labeling President Obama a racist on the Fox News show "Fox and Friends." After getting thousands of signatures on an online petition, Color of Change lobbied for corporate sponsors to drop their endorsements of his Fox News show, "The Glenn Beck Program." To date, 36 sponsors, including Verizon, Clorox, and Wal-Mart, have stopped sponsoring his television show.

And then Glenn Beck became the latest in celebrity death trends on the internet. "Glenn Beck dead" was a hot search topic Tuesday.

And the day after he supposedly died, someone went after him with a vengeance. Glenn Beck 1990 offers a $200 reward for proof that Glenn Beck, radio and television talk show host and pundit, did not rape a young girl in 1990.

But the website's creator has made his/her point. Glenn Beck's style of irresponsible punditry, shared with the likes of Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and others, is misleading and detrimental. Just as the Glenn Beck 1990 website could potentially be to Glenn Beck's reputation. The insinuation without proof that Glenn Beck might be a rapist is repugnant. But the direct accusation that President Obama is a racist was as well.

Judging from the comments thus far, some are having a bit of fun with the website. But there are others who find it over the line, tasteless, and offensive. One commenter states that they hope the site creator gets sued.

And Glenn Beck just might. One never knows in this great land of litigation.

But one thing is certain: Glenn Beck is under fire. It isn't nice. But, then, calling someone a racist on national television without substantiation isn't nice, either.

Shooting from the hip might result in a ricochet and have the shooter ducking and running for cover. Perhaps Glenn Beck should be careful where he points his mouth...

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Sources:

glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.wordpress.com
TheStranger.com