Glenn beck ate my metafilter

September 2, 2009 1:36 PM

Can we just get off glenn beck please

fffffuck that site is tiresome already, stop it please just stop it. You know your post ain't gonna last, it's just making metafilter stupid.

posted by boo_radley to Etiquette/Policy at 1:36 PM (225 comments total)

And to what post are we supposed to direct our ire?
posted by marxchivist at 1:37 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm guessing this post is referring to this recently deleted thread.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:37 PM on September 2, 2009

Yeah, he is pretty hot. I could see how it would be hard for some people.... Oh. Wait, what?
posted by carsonb at 1:39 PM on September 2, 2009

Yeah, we've removed a few 20-second hate posts about Glenn Beck in the past few days. It's really getting into the Fred Phelps category. The guy's ridiculous, he's barely credible to anyone, and this sort of stunty stuff isn't that intersting. Someone wants to make a well-written "Who is Glenn Beck and why should I care?" post, that might go okay, but this sort of cheapshot stuff is really not that awesome.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:41 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

I had to Google him, and yep - that's not someone I need to see more about here.
posted by fish tick at 1:44 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Glenn Beck is a horrible human being that only horrible human beings take seriously. Exposure to him is like sipping plutonium - best avoided at all costs. I'd love a Beck-free MeFi.

How about this - when you feel a Glenn Beck joke coming on, make a Rob Liefeld joke instead. Those have a much more generous expiration date.
posted by EatTheWeak at 1:44 PM on September 2, 2009 [3 favorites]

how is this metatalk thread going to do anything but keep us talking about glenn beck?
posted by nadawi at 1:46 PM on September 2, 2009

I hate politics in general but that site made me laugh out loud.
To be fair I would have also lol'd at the same joke about Al Sharpton, and 2x as loudly if was about, say, US Congressman Ben Nelson (D-NE).
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:46 PM on September 2, 2009

"Can we just get off glenn beck please "

Don't get on him in the first place.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 1:47 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'd love a Beck-free MeFi.

Great. Now what the hell am I supposed to do with these chain smoke Kansas flash dance ass pants?
posted by solipsophistocracy at 1:48 PM on September 2, 2009 [8 favorites]

He's a prophet, he's a pusher.
posted by porn in the woods at 1:48 PM on September 2, 2009

I think what really bugs me is that people are posting it in a sort of retributive "How does Glenn Beck/ Beck's followers' like it?" sort of sense, and it just strikes me as a race to be as illogical and stupid as possible. Maybe someone could use it as an example for a persuasive argument, but just tossing the site up and encouraging people to link to it and like it is frankly pretty degrading to the process of debate, plus I don't think it's gonna work on crazy-ass birthers because, well, they're crazy-ass birthers.

Let's not turn metafilter into a stupid race to the bottom, I guess is what I'm saying.
posted by boo_radley at 1:48 PM on September 2, 2009

I think it's pretty crazy how far the Beck-haters are going. It's like if the US started gassing Germans in WWII - not exactly the moral high ground.
posted by GuyZero at 1:49 PM on September 2, 2009

nadawi: "how is this metatalk thread going to do anything but keep us talking about glenn beck?"

Hopefully it'll keep us talking about metafilter, if you see what I mean.
posted by boo_radley at 1:49 PM on September 2, 2009

No, actually, it's not like that at all.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:50 PM on September 2, 2009

oops, down low, too slow.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:51 PM on September 2, 2009

I'm sorry, but I need to ride my Glenn Beck to the store for some gorceries, and if you people in cars don't like it, you can just go suck and egg.

And, yes, I will be blowing through stoplights. It's just safer when you're riding a Glenn Beck.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:51 PM on September 2, 2009 [7 favorites]

It's like if the US started gassing Germans in WWII - not exactly the moral high ground.

I am confused by this both as an interpretation of history and as a strategy of argument.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:52 PM on September 2, 2009 [3 favorites]

boo_radley - i see your point. i guess my point is, opening a metatalk thread to talk about a couple deletions that only a small fraction of the site even saw seems like posting the topic in a backdoor sort of way (not that it was your goal). now everyone who clicks over to metatalk will see this and if they don't know what it's all about, they're going to seek it out - it's as if the deletions are negated by this.
posted by nadawi at 1:52 PM on September 2, 2009

Who is Glenn Beck? Seriously.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 1:53 PM on September 2, 2009 [3 favorites]

Now what the hell am I supposed to do with these chain smoke Kansas flash dance ass pants?

Shakeshake that-a-way ⇒ AskMe
posted by carsonb at 1:54 PM on September 2, 2009

Who is Glenn Beck? Seriously.
Lost your internet access, then?
posted by fish tick at 1:55 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

(Why no, I DON'T have cable. How can you tell?)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 1:55 PM on September 2, 2009

he's barely credible to anyone

I had to Google him, and yep - that's not someone I need to see more about here.

I agree that FPP was stupid and rightly deleted, but it's just not true to suggest that nobody much takes any notice of what Glenn Beck says. He matters, sadly, and the fact that some Mefites need to Google him doesn't really change that. I appreciate that newsworthiness is not the key criterion for a good Mefi post, but it's a weird way to engage with the world to try to demand that the obnoxious bits of it not be mentioned here.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 1:55 PM on September 2, 2009 [4 favorites]

Who is Glenn Beck? Seriously.
Lost your internet access, then?

If I have to Google them, how can they be famous? ;-)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 1:55 PM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

It's like if the US started gassing Germans in WWII - not exactly the moral high ground.

I am confused by this both as an interpretation of history and as a strategy of argument.

it's saying that just because the goose did it, the gander doesn't need to follow. and if he does, then he has little high ground in chastising the goose. it's lowering the argument to it's base just because you can. if the americans had gassed the germans than the americans wouldn't have had the high ground to condemn the actions of the germans. it's clumsy and inflammatory, no doubt, but i think that's the main point.
posted by nadawi at 1:56 PM on September 2, 2009

Can we just get off glenn beck please

Mefi: You like lies? You are a person who likes the crazy lies that we are currently telling?
Glenn Beck: Yes! I am! I like lies!
Mefi: You like lies! In fact, you are a person who likes lies as much as ACORN likes stealing elections!
Glen Beck: YES I LIKE LIARY LIES AS IF IT WERE MY PROFESSION!! TELL ME MORE ABOUT IT
Mefi: YOU ENJOY THIS LIE YOU BATSHITINSANE PERSON etc.

--source material
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:57 PM on September 2, 2009 [26 favorites]

Who is Glenn Beck? Seriously.

Yup, I had to Google him. I want my 5 seconds back, please.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 1:59 PM on September 2, 2009

posted by EatTheWeak I'd love a Beck-free MeFi.

Well, shave your face with some mace in the dark.
posted by mattdidthat at 2:00 PM on September 2, 2009 [8 favorites]

Who is Glenn Beck and why should I care?

by Billy

Glenn Beck is an American radio and television right-wing demagogue mouthpiece, faux-Libertarian political hack, collector of royalties from ghost-written books, and kitten swallower. He hosts The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that is broadcast in a frequency too low for the modern human ear to hear. Beck also hosts a television show on the Fox News Network, titled, The Glenn Beck: What I'm Shitting My Pants About Now, Hour.

In addition to broadcasting, Beck has attached his name to three New York Times-bestselling books, and is the publisher of Delusion Magazine. He also stars in a one-man stage show of Cats that tours the US twice a year.

Or at least, that's what I heard.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:00 PM on September 2, 2009 [9 favorites]

I kinda like that chalkboard thing he uses. It seems to have a special shade of grey. Reminds me of...
posted by buzzman at 2:00 PM on September 2, 2009

Seems like as good a place as any to put this:

I actually used to listen to Beck about 4-5 years ago. He was a lot like our local guy, Denny Schaffer (who has even filled in for Beck in the past). He wasn't like he is now. He was more like a morning show host who happened to have some conservative viewpoints that didn't actually come up all that often.

It reminds me of the transformation of Bill O'Riley. I actually watched him some about ten years ago, when he first started out on Fox. He didn't shout people down. He'd listen to someone explain how taxes needed to be raised for something and he answered, "I don't think I agree with you right now, but you've given me something to think about."

As both became popular, I think they began to buy their own hype (or at least realized which way the majority of their followers leaned). Now we have the monsters they have become. The original, not-so-self-confident broadcasters they may have once been are now long gone.
posted by cimbrog at 2:02 PM on September 2, 2009 [4 favorites]

The chalkboard brings back nostalgic memories of the mid-80s when the only thing on broadcast TV in the dead of night was Dr. Gene Scott.
posted by Joe Beese at 2:05 PM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

Who is Glenn Beck, you ask?

Of all his great douchebag moments, this is the most humiliatingly bad. And hilarious.
posted by fourcheesemac at 2:06 PM on September 2, 2009

if we're talking about pastor scott, may i suggest we talk about mrs pastor scott
posted by nadawi at 2:07 PM on September 2, 2009

I'll say what I said in the thread last week about Glenn Beck: making a post about Glenn Beck is nothing but hate porn.

A thread about Glenn Beck is never going to be anything substantive about what he said. It's not going to be a critical look at some position he has taken or anything of the sort. The thread will be about how much the guy sucks and is batshitinsane and how Fox News sucks and how wingers are all dumb lemmings, etc.

Posting about Glenn Beck is just posting Emmanuel Goldstein.

In other words, it will be just a pretext to air hatred, and usually in the vilest and shrillest terms. And why should that be here? What value does it add to the site?
posted by dios at 2:07 PM on September 2, 2009 [4 favorites]

There's an interesting meme happening, in which a certain vile, lying scumbag is hoist on his own petard. If anyone deserves it, he does. I hate this sort of political mud slingage, but can't help enjoying it more than is seemly.
posted by theora55 at 2:08 PM on September 2, 2009

Who is Glenn Beck? Seriously. (Why no, I DON'T have cable. How can you tell?)

Flagged as asinine.
posted by joe lisboa at 2:09 PM on September 2, 2009 [7 favorites]

I can no longer talk to a family member about current events. She married a follower of Beck (they have all the books & watch him religiusly on TV) and they believe he is spreading truth & combatting liberal media lies. These are college educated, otherwise sane people. It makes me sad.
posted by pointystick at 2:09 PM on September 2, 2009

Yeah, when Glenn Beck first got his own TV show, it was understood that he was conservative but not flamingly so.

Now, he does stuff like post lists of "12 Values that Every American Should Agree On", 8 of which I don't agree with.

Checks passport. Yep, still American.

Incidentally, the minute a libertarian or Libertarian starts talking about "values" in a social or cultural sense, they should lose their card.
posted by muddgirl at 2:10 PM on September 2, 2009

The moral high ground is no good unless you can hurl things down from it. Dresden, motherfuckers!
posted by fleacircus at 2:14 PM on September 2, 2009 [4 favorites]

These are college educated . . . people.

They should get their tuition money back.
posted by fourcheesemac at 2:15 PM on September 2, 2009

Is this something I'd have to be American to understand?
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:17 PM on September 2, 2009

I wish I lived in a world like fish tick, where I did not know who Glenn Beck was, or a world like exogenous, where ignorance of Nancy Grace is known. It saddens me their innocence has been lost.
posted by cjorgensen at 2:19 PM on September 2, 2009

The guy's ridiculous, he's barely credible to anyone


If only that were true.

He has better ratings than Mad Men, FYI.
posted by CunningLinguist at 2:19 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Glenn Beck should be discussed if only because knowing out how his speech is hateful helps us understand how his hate speech makes our nation worse, in the same way that the adults here discuss many issues related to modern journalism and its processes, qualities and foibles. Ignoring the brownshirts and their propagandists didn't work for Weimar Germany and I'm not sure it's not a good idea to follow in their footsteps, whether here on Metafilter or anywhere else. As a bonus, pointing out his hate speech also makes conservatives shrill and whiny.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:20 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

We need an "I'm not an American" flag. I think it would free up a lot of time for some posters.
posted by fleacircus at 2:20 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

We need an "I'm not an American" flag. I think it would free up a lot of time for some posters.

But what else are we going to do with our time, lying on the beach all day as we are?
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:26 PM on September 2, 2009

Please don't get off him. I need you to keep holding him down while I go a shovel.

This is going to be better than Arbor Day. It's not every day you get to plant a bitchass motherfucker.
posted by loquacious at 2:28 PM on September 2, 2009 [3 favorites]

"go a shovel"?

Get fail.
posted by loquacious at 2:29 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Glenn Beck should be discussed if only because knowing out how his speech is hateful helps us understand how his hate speech makes our nation worse, in the same way that the adults here discuss many issues related to modern journalism and its processes, qualities and foibles.

Generally speaking BP, I agree with you. I think it's useful to understand the people that other people turn to for advice or analysis that many of us think is batshit insane. However, those discussions have to be framed in a way that's a little more balanced than this "raped and murdered a young girl" nonsense talk. I mean, I take their point, but it's hardly furthering an understanding of hate speech, merely seemingly implying that it's okay to take on the hate talkers at their own game, a topic that I think is a little more nuanced and not as much a slam dunk as "Glenn Beck, he is conservative and crazy sounding and many people think he's credible, what's that about?"

And this is still MetaFilter, a site where we recently deleted a "Dick Cheney Sucks AMIRITE" sort of post and suffered an emailstorm of abuse for being "Just like Fox News" and all the other related insults that I'm sure you're all familiar with.

So, yeah, I'd like to have this discussion about hate speech, and I think there are ways to do it. And while I'm not really idly saying "gee I wish someone would make a good Glenn Beck post", I really do wish people would stop making such shitty Glenn Beck posts because they're low-hanging fruit and at the same time don't really add anything to the larger understanding of hate speech and all of his other really tiresome posturing techniques.

I literally would not know who the guy was except for MetaFilter, so I guess that's something.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:31 PM on September 2, 2009 [6 favorites]

nadawi, who is that in the image you posted? (No t.v. at all, sorries!)
posted by Lynsey at 2:31 PM on September 2, 2009

I’m all for hating on Glenn as much as the next guy. But, the thing is, a post on the Blue is to a relatively narrow group of people that are (NOT ALL) sort of left leaning, and internet literate. Internet literate and left leaning people do not need to learn and discuss how much we hat glenn beck.
The wider world, on the other hand, could benefit from people exposing him for the nutswab that he really is. However, the wider world does not read mefi. Only we read mefi. WE ALREADY KNOW HE’S CRAZY.
posted by Think_Long at 2:32 PM on September 2, 2009

In other words, it will be just a pretext to air hatred, and usually in the vilest and shrillest terms. And why should that be here? What value does it add to the site?

H-value is the measure of post-mortem thermal resistance. Under uniform conditions, it is the ratio of the temperature difference between a living being and a dead body, over the potential heat flux of eternal damnation. The bigger the number, the less likely that you are Hitler. H-value is the reciprocal of FU-value.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:32 PM on September 2, 2009

This reminds me of when I saw a Family Guy episode, and they kept saying "Laura Bush killed a man". So it turns out...she actually did. It was a car accident...but it was also an ex...and the circumstances were kinda odd.
posted by hal_c_on at 2:32 PM on September 2, 2009

Loquatious: get fail
use fail on Glenn Beck
posted by idiopath at 2:35 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

got shovel?
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:36 PM on September 2, 2009

A thread about Glenn Beck is never going to be anything substantive about what he said.

Yes. And although part of that is because Glenn Beck is a favorite piñata, part of it is because it is literally impossible to have a substantive discussion about anything Glenn Beck says, because he doesn't offer substantive commentary in the first place.

I'm sure there are lots of other people on all sides of the political icosahedron whose statements are equally pointless to discuss.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:38 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

I too would like to listen to some Beck.

GOT A DEVIL'S HAIRCUT IN MY MIND

CUZ I'M A LOSER BABY
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 2:38 PM on September 2, 2009

B I L L H I C K S
S B I L L H I C K
S = G       B = L
      I = E
L = N       H = B
G L E N N B E C K

posted by Sys Rq at 2:39 PM on September 2, 2009 [12 favorites]

Lynsey - melissa scott (autoplaying video) is the widow of dr. gene scott.
posted by nadawi at 2:39 PM on September 2, 2009

I actually find Glenn Beck fairly compelling to watch, even when he's obviously spouting complete nonsense. He does it with such CONVICTION. It's mesmerizing.
posted by empath at 2:40 PM on September 2, 2009

Can we just get off glenn beck please

Cause I just got offa yours! BURN!
posted by infinitewindow at 2:40 PM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

oh, and while i'm linking things that aren't related to glenn beck and beck's lyrics have just been posted -

have we discussed beck's record club or irreverent topics (scroll down, he started with tom waits)? good stuff.
posted by nadawi at 2:42 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

A thread about Glenn Beck is never going to be anything substantive about what he said.

Seriously? That's where you stand on Glenn Beck?
posted by empath at 2:43 PM on September 2, 2009

Who is Glenn Beck? Seriously.
Lost your internet access, then?

I've not heard of him either. Is this something you'd need an american to understand?
posted by timeistight at 2:43 PM on September 2, 2009

Yes, unfortunately that is the case. He is my countryman.
posted by Mister_A at 2:45 PM on September 2, 2009

I think it's pretty crazy how far the Beck-haters are going. It's like if the US started gassing Germans in WWII - not exactly the moral high ground.
posted by GuyZero at 1:49 PM on September 2

yeah we'd have no credibility and i guess we'd be the same as the nazis basically

ps we dropped a nuclear bomb on japanese civilians in that same war
posted by Optimus Chyme at 2:46 PM on September 2, 2009

timeistight: "Is this something you'd need an american to understand?"

If not an American, then an Iraqi or Afghani could explain it to you. Most Britons could too, having had to unexpectedly defend the NHS against his insane ramblings.

You have options; you don't have to reach for an American.
posted by boo_radley at 2:47 PM on September 2, 2009

Seriously? That's where you stand on Glenn Beck?

I'll just be over here on the trachea.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:47 PM on September 2, 2009 [6 favorites]

There were two nuclear bombs, if I'm not mistaken.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:48 PM on September 2, 2009

We can't just ignore the ugly parts of life and pretend they don't exist and create a magical world of peace and harmony that has no relation to the shit storm going on right outside our windows and just be like "La la who is Glenn Beck? My TV just plays The Wire over and over again repeatedly. And I read books." We have to be of the world or we might as well give up and become hippies. Get your hands dirty motherfuckers. No real life ain't pretty but it's the only game in town.
posted by ND¢ at 2:49 PM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

Is it your assertion that hippies are not part of the world? I can assure you my world is pretty and my hands are quite dirty.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:51 PM on September 2, 2009 [10 favorites]

Thankee, nadawi! I feel I have learned... something, anyway! :D
posted by Lynsey at 2:52 PM on September 2, 2009

yeah we'd have no credibility and i guess we'd be the same as the nazis basically

ps we dropped a nuclear bomb on japanese civilians in that same war

*adjusts line for the comments over/under to 300*
posted by Bookhouse at 2:52 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

ND¢: "We can't just ignore the ugly parts of life and pretend they don't exist"
hm yass post that shit site to metafilter now my work is done whew time for a coffee i am so involved
posted by boo_radley at 2:54 PM on September 2, 2009

Glenn Beck Glenn Beck GLENN BECK!
posted by infinitywaltz at 2:54 PM on September 2, 2009

I have noticed that people talk about Nazis in these contentious threads. There should be a name for this phenomenon. However, I am here to say something sexually suggestive:

Hey! You got your Glenn Beck in my Michelle Malkin!
posted by Mister_A at 2:55 PM on September 2, 2009

posted by ND¢ We can't just ignore the ugly parts of life and pretend they don't exist and create a magical world of peace and harmony that has no relation to the shit storm going on right outside our windows and just be like "La la who is Glenn Beck?

I'm all for not ignoring the ugly parts of life, but I don't want goatse, tubgirl, or Glenn Beck FPPs on MetaFilter.
posted by mattdidthat at 2:55 PM on September 2, 2009

Remember: once we mention the Hitler or Nazis in an argument to make your point valid somehow, you have lost the argument.
posted by Askiba at 2:57 PM on September 2, 2009

Can you believe Michelle Malkin is related to this guy?
posted by Mister_A at 2:57 PM on September 2, 2009

Two Glenns, one coup.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:58 PM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

ps we dropped a nuclear bomb on japanese civilians in that same war

Two, actually.

Dear America,
Education is important. Budget for it.
Your pal,
posted by Sys Rq at 2:58 PM on September 2, 2009 [3 favorites]

THE NEW HOT THING:
MEFITE GLENN BECK REACTION VIDEOS
posted by idiopath at 2:59 PM on September 2, 2009

I actually used to listen to Beck about 4-5 years ago. He was a lot like our local guy, Denny Schaffer (who has even filled in for Beck in the past).

Heck, I used to listen to his show every morning. A top-40 radio show in New Haven. Long, long ago.
posted by smackfu at 2:59 PM on September 2, 2009

Go watch a Werner Herzog movie Metafilter. I guess that's what you're best at isn't it?
posted by ND¢ at 3:00 PM on September 2, 2009 [4 favorites]

My world is quite dirty when my hands are on a pretty hippie.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:00 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

You know who else went away when everyone stopped paying attention to him?
posted by DU at 3:02 PM on September 2, 2009

My last comment is like Ulysses. If you can figure out the reference and understand who I am and who you are and why you are him and why I am the other guy and what I am doing and what you are doing and why you are doing it then I won't have to spell it all out for you. Gives me more time for the struggle!
posted by ND¢ at 3:02 PM on September 2, 2009

I had him confused with Jeff Beck on first mention and was disappointed at the lack of guitar solo. Similar anger management issues though, apparently.
posted by Abiezer at 3:02 PM on September 2, 2009

People sure overestimate the seriousness of my crappy analogies. You'd think people would just look the other way if I'm dry-humping Godwin's leg here.
posted by GuyZero at 3:03 PM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

Herzog?

Werner Herzog?

What kinds of kids eat Werner Herzog?
posted by Sys Rq at 3:04 PM on September 2, 2009 [4 favorites]

It's not every day you get to plant a bitchass motherfucker.

What kind of fruit do you get from a bitchass motherfucker tree?
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:04 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

That deleted thread had some excellent advice on how to cook potatoes.
posted by kiwi-epitome at 3:04 PM on September 2, 2009

posted by ND¢ If you can figure out the reference and understand who I am and who you are and why you are him and why I am the other guy and what I am doing and what you are doing and why you are doing it then I won't have to spell it all out for you.

May the Plate of Beans be with you.
posted by mattdidthat at 3:05 PM on September 2, 2009

Wouldn't Glen Beck have to do something interesting in order to have a decent post about him? It's gonna be a while.

20 second hate? Sounds like someone has a premature abomination problem.
posted by InfidelZombie at 3:06 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

ps we dropped a nuclear bomb on japanese civilians in that same war

Two, actually.

Three if you could when the Beastie Boys played the Budokan in '92.
posted by GuyZero at 3:09 PM on September 2, 2009

We have to be of the world or we might as well give up and become hippies. Get your hands dirty motherfuckers. No real life ain't pretty but it's the only game in town.

Fox News is Real Life? How about you take a nice walk outside.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 3:12 PM on September 2, 2009

I had him confused with Jeff Beck on first mention and was disappointed at the lack of guitar solo. Similar anger management issues though, apparently.

I had the same reaction when John Adams met John Paul Jones in this book. I was all, "Yeah JPJ! Totally gonna jam with the future president!" But all they did was sail around and fight some British ships :(
posted by muddgirl at 3:13 PM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

it is literally impossible to have a substantive discussion about anything Glenn Beck says, because he doesn't offer substantive commentary in the first place.
posted by Sidhedevil at 4:38 PM on September 2

Given that there is nothing substantive to discuss, then there is no need to be a post, yes?

That was pretty much my point. Glenn Beck cannot and is not the basis for any substantive discussion that has any value. He is just the Emmanel Goldstein du jour. The discussion will be nothing but how much the guy sucks. Metafilter can do better.

We can't just ignore the ugly parts of life and pretend they don't exist and create a magical world of peace and harmony that has no relation to the shit storm going on right outside our windows
posted by ND¢ at 4:49 PM on September 2

Even assuming you are correct that These Things Are Important And Must Be Discussed, it does not follow that it must be discussed here on Metafilter. There are plenty of places for you to have that discussion. There are plenty of playgrounds for you to do your battle for the cause of the good and the just; Metafilter was not created to be that place. Metafilter exists for a purpose. It was not created to be a clearinghouse for every discussion that can be had on the internet.
posted by dios at 3:18 PM on September 2, 2009

A thread about Glenn Beck is never going to be anything substantive about what he said.

I posit that he would have to first say something substantive in order for said discussion to take place, so yes, we are in utter agreement.
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:25 PM on September 2, 2009

I think there is a place for "lolglennbeck" on metafilter (like the oligarh thing? Come on, that's funny). But I'm not a fan of agenda posts, and that's all that fpp was...
posted by empath at 3:25 PM on September 2, 2009

Metafilter exists for a purpose.

I'm not sure about that.

It was not created to be a clearinghouse for every discussion that can be had on the internet.

Yes. Very much yes.
posted by GuyZero at 3:25 PM on September 2, 2009

I do, btw, think it's worthwhile to engage Glenn Beck on the substance. His rhetorical technique is fascinating to me. He's good at what he does.
posted by empath at 3:26 PM on September 2, 2009

I think it's useful to understand the people that other people turn to for advice or analysis that many of us think is batshit insane. However, those discussions have to be framed in a way that's a little more balanced than this "raped and murdered a young girl" nonsense talk.

I don't disagree that it was a bad post. I have no problems with its deletion. I feel like I know what makes a good post to the extent that I agree this was not one of them. No question about it.

But having eyes and ears open to extremist propaganda is fairly critical in an age when the right-wing and its voices in mainstream media use a constant barrage of manipulation, fear and lies to hijack discussions, whether it is from them calling the President a racist who will drag grandma off to die, or by accusing their critics of being pornographers or unpatriotic.

Using a crap post to categorically deny a topic of conversation outright is probably not the best solution for dealing with these hateful acts. Mandated silence lends hate speech a legitimacy it doesn't deserve. Bad posts should get culled because they are bad, certainly, but any others should stand and fall on their merits.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:27 PM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

I'd love a Beck-free MeFi.

I agree totally. Everything after Odelay sucked. Everything before Odelay sucked, too.

Also, Odelay sucked.
posted by jbickers at 3:27 PM on September 2, 2009 [7 favorites]

Glenn Beck isn't even fun to hate on. O'Reilly and Limbaugh are like those guys who have Corvettes at the country club you caddied at when you were a kid. You know the types who would chomp on cigars, tell vaguely offensive racial jokes, complain about taxes, tip like shit and always use their wives as 'the wife' like she's a water heater. The smug small business owner type, you know you have 30 people on your payroll and suddenly everything can be solved with a decree from above and everything must be as simple as running a small business, how much more complex could things get? The kind that talks about the importance of hard work for 14 out of 18 holes and then gives you a $5 tip, like ahhh I can't buy weed for $5 you shit heads and that stupid Clinton novelty golf ball isn't even funny, Bubba why do they call him Bubba? I don't get it!
posted by geoff. at 3:33 PM on September 2, 2009 [10 favorites]

"Can we just get off glenn beck please "
You have to stay on for eight seconds or you do not get a score.
posted by Iron Rat at 3:34 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

His rhetorical technique is fascinating to me.

Ah yes, that classic rhetorical device: Lying to the gullible.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:35 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Oh, hello, Dios & Sidhedevil. I hear they've almost got the new preview feature ready to roll out.
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:35 PM on September 2, 2009

posted by empath He's good at what he does.

Yes, he's good at spewing lies, hatred, and crazy right-wing bigotry. However, like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, and many others, his talents aren't interesting or noteworthy enough for us to acknowledge on the front page of MetaFilter. Metafilter is a place for posting links to the cool stuff we find on the web. Glenn Beck is neither cool, nor interesting, nor worthy of any time spent in debating him.
posted by mattdidthat at 3:37 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Can we just get off glenn beck please Cause I just got offa yours! BURN!

Alright, Glenn Beck is out. He's out.

...

What time you want me to bring the bitch back?
posted by drjimmy11 at 3:38 PM on September 2, 2009

Thanks for this. I've missed all the Sarah Palin posts.
posted by Elmore at 3:47 PM on September 2, 2009

I have no idea who he is though.
posted by Elmore at 3:47 PM on September 2, 2009

posted by geoff. O'Reilly and Limbaugh are like those guys who have Corvettes at the country club you caddied at when you were a kid. You know the types who would chomp on cigars, tell vaguely offensive racial jokes, complain about taxes, tip like shit and always use their wives as 'the wife' like she's a water heater. The smug small business owner type, you know you have 30 people on your payroll and suddenly everything can be solved with a decree from above and everything must be as simple as running a small business, how much more complex could things get? The kind that talks about the importance of hard work for 14 out of 18 holes and then gives you a $5 tip

I used to pee in the trunks of their cars.

/dondraper
posted by mattdidthat at 3:48 PM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

Two, actually.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:58 PM on September 2

no shit, guys, thanks for the heads up: but the point being that it's a goofy comparison because we did something worse than gassing germans in ww2
posted by Optimus Chyme at 3:50 PM on September 2, 2009

hm. like cimbrog said:
I actually used to listen to Beck about 4-5 years ago. He was a lot like our local guy, Denny Schaffer (who has even filled in for Beck in the past). He wasn't like he is now. He was more like a morning show host who happened to have some conservative viewpoints that didn't actually come up all that often.

I used to listen to him years ago and while I could definitely see the right-wing bias, he was a lot of fun to listen to, up until he crossed "the line". At that point, I'd just shake my head solemnly, mutter "Aw, Glenn, you just had to ruin a good discussion...", then change the station to avoid listening to the partisan crap.

He's like that eccentric uncle who you love to talk to, has some interesting stories and points of view, but 45 minutes into the conversation always drifts into conspiracy land where you have to nod uncomfortably until you can find a graceful way to leave.

The other day though, a (very liberal) coworker mentioned Beck and I casually mentioned the above. He looked at me like I was crazy, since to him, Beck's always been an insane right-wing conservative mouthpiece that could never possibly say anything intelligent and must be a Republican flunky spewing the party BS. I get the same vibe here. The only thing I can figure is that his random radio-host jaunts into 'crazy-rantville' have become more of a permanent residency over the years as he moved from radio to cable news.

It's too bad though, since like cimbrog said, he was an interesting person to listen to as long as he wasn't standing on a soapbox and preaching polarized talking points (which seems to be the status-quo in politics these days, all sides included).

.
posted by johnstein at 3:51 PM on September 2, 2009

p.s. Disclosure:
I haven't watched his tv shows except for 5 minutes of an episode a year or two back. He was in the middle of a rant, so I just assumed I'd missed the interesting part and skipped.
...But apparently that's the whole show these days....
posted by johnstein at 3:55 PM on September 2, 2009

I'm still unclear on whether Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990.
posted by brain_drain at 4:18 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Don Draper wouldn't do that. He'd pull you aside and light a cigarette and give an engaging and mysterious anecdote about his past. And then the way he looks at your mom as she picks you up, you know he's fucking her and its fuck you Don Draper all over again.
posted by geoff. at 4:39 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Who is Glenn Beck? Seriously
and
I have no idea who he is though.

Invariably when a post on MeFi references a minor, or even major celebrity (Heath Ledger's obit thread comes to mind), people feel the need to chime in that they don't know who the person is. Which is strange, stupid really, when you consider that most browsers these days have that little search box on the upper right that will let you type in that celebrity's name and then bring up a list of web sites with information about the person in question. There's a site called Wikipedia which, while not always 100% accurate, can give you a detailed enough sketch of a person to provide context to the thread. This method will not make you an instant expert on the subject, but a five minute search of Glenn Beck using Google will give you relevant video clips and a detailed Wikipedia entry, arming you with enough information to understand the post. These videos and this user contributed encyclopedia are also available to many users who don't reside in America. This is especially helpful if you aren't familiar with an American television personality.

I'm not embarrassed to say I use this method of quick research to familiarize myself with threads that discuss persons, events or places that I am not intimately familiar with. That way I can read a thread and possibly participate.

Feel free to bookmark this tip for future use. If you need help on bookmarks, consult your browser's help file!

(Why no, I DON'T have cable. How can you tell?)

NOTE:This information is also helpful if you don't own a television or don't have cable.
posted by eyeballkid at 4:40 PM on September 2, 2009 [26 favorites]

People are saying that Lou Dobbs hires Mexican day laborers at Home Depot to choke him while he masturbates. Now, I don't believe these rumors are true, but I find it odd that he hasn't addressed them on his show. What is he trying to hide?
posted by stavrogin at 4:44 PM on September 2, 2009 [4 favorites]

If you need help on bookmarks, consult your browser's help file!

What's a browser...





going for in town, these days?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:47 PM on September 2, 2009

Glenn Beck is an American radio and television right-wing demagogue mouthpiece, faux-Libertarian political hack, collector of royalties from ghost-written books, and kitten swallower.

EXCUSE ME BILLY BUT SOME OF US HAVE REPUTATIONS TO UPHOLD AND WOULD RATHER NOT BE ASSOCIATED WITH THAT MAN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:53 PM on September 2, 2009 [5 favorites]

I'm still unclear on whether Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990.

That's what the oligarhs want you to think.
posted by Sidhedevil at 4:59 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Why I Should Get a Bike for My Birthday

by Billy

Glenn Beck never swallows kittens before noon.

Or so I am told.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:01 PM on September 2, 2009

There are plenty of playgrounds for you to do your battle for the cause of the good and the just

I prefer to think of myself as a crusader for truth, justice and go fuck yourself.
posted by ND¢ at 5:20 PM on September 2, 2009 [3 favorites]

Mom always said you eat a peck of Beck before you die.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 5:26 PM on September 2, 2009

Beck is Brazilian slang for "joint" (as in marijuana)
posted by qvantamon at 5:44 PM on September 2, 2009

most browsers these days have that little search box on the upper right that will let you type in that celebrity's name and then bring up a list of web sites with information about the person in question.

That's fine in theory, but some of us don't want potentially dodgy people showing up in our search histories. I've read all those relationshipfilter questions about snooping partners.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:48 PM on September 2, 2009

I just wish my baby-boomer friends would realize that guys like this ARE JUST TV CHARACTERS and NOT JOURNALISTS!

While I'm at it, screw YOU baby boomers!


That is all.
posted by snsranch at 5:53 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter: screw YOU baby
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:59 PM on September 2, 2009

most browsers these days have that little search box on the upper right that will let you type in that celebrity's name and then bring up a list of web sites with information about the person in question.

I suspect a lot of the "who the heck is so-and-so" comments might be partly (however unconsciously) aimed at suggesting "this person isn't as influential/worrysome/popular as you appear to think". Yes, one can Google, or one could bite the bullet and watch the telly. But sometimes it's more fun to observe the outrage caused by proclaiming one's ignorance.
posted by fish tick at 6:00 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Disclaimer: I had to ask who Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears were when a photo of them appeared on Monkeyfilter once.
posted by fish tick at 6:02 PM on September 2, 2009

Using a crap post to categorically deny a topic of conversation outright is probably not the best solution for dealing with these hateful acts.

The comment you were responding to contained an explicit reference to us not categorically denying the topic of conversation outright, which is consistent with a long history of refusing to ban even highly contentious, near-guaranteed-trainwreck topics.

The expectation that posts on those topics be done with care and caution isn't a new idea, either, and that is important in a community context to a not just equal but greater degree than is the strength of a given poster or post-wanter's feelings about how bad something or someone is.

The phrase is "metafilter doesn't do x well", not "metafilter doesn't do x". If someone can find a way to make a genuinely worthwhile post about Glenn Beck, fine. Like Jessamyn, I'm not exactly rarin' to see this because I have a hard time seeing the thread not be kind of ugly even under the best of circumstances and I worry that someone is going to be inclined to make a Good Post and end up just making an Okay Post and we'll have to go through the no-win pain of deciding what to do with the thing at that point.

But so far we've had some not very good posts and some really terrible posts, none of which were worth keeping. There is no generic entitlement to talk about given unlikeable subject x that trumps not having this place explode, so it's on the potential poster to live up to the outlier GRRR-ARRG minefield challenge of producing something worth all the trouble if we're gonna go there. It's not enough to just be angry; there are plenty of places with explicitly political/ideological focus where people can go and be angry and loud about this stuff if they really need to.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:03 PM on September 2, 2009

He's a doucher, baby, so why dontcha muzzle him
posted by porn in the woods at 6:22 PM on September 2, 2009

While I'm at it, screw YOU baby boomers!

Screw you back, you pissant little dweeb.
posted by timeistight at 6:26 PM on September 2, 2009

Hey, ND¢, yr disingenuous self-righteous bullshit is showing. You might want to cover it up, you're embarrassing yourself.

I think that this dude's very much worth talking about. He's the most popular shit on TV at the moment. However, single link articles to ironic lowest common denominator self-perpetuating internet memes is not the way to kick start that conversation. And to that end, it's not that he's even done anything worth noting since calling Obama a cracker-hater. Any post about him right now is just grousing.
posted by orville sash at 6:26 PM on September 2, 2009

Beck before you die

Gonna send me up to the spirit in the sky
That's where I'm gonna go when I die
When I die and they lay me to rest
Goin up to the spirit in the sky
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 6:47 PM on September 2, 2009

Glen Beck is a shit-kicking', speed-taking' truck-driving' neighbor downstairs.
posted by Sailormom at 6:49 PM on September 2, 2009

You know what's hot, I mean really fucking hot, like HAWT hot?

A stove, turned on, and cooking bacon.

Fucking sexy as hell.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:55 PM on September 2, 2009

Ooh, man, all that sexy stove 'n' bacon talk is givin' me the vapors.
posted by Mister_A at 7:04 PM on September 2, 2009

I really wish you had said "Can we please keep Glenn Beck out of this?"

So I could say "And I'll keep this out of Glenn Beck."

Or something.
posted by kosem at 7:15 PM on September 2, 2009

It's pretty much the Coulter-filter debate all over again.

Sure, the modern-day GOP is led by a bunch of racist clowns. But guess what? Those racist clowns sell millions of books and make tons of money pushing their hate.

So this post was pretty bad, but you can't dismiss an FPP about them out of hand. 1/5 of America actually believes what these fucktards have to say. Ignore them at your own risk.
posted by bardic at 7:16 PM on September 2, 2009 [3 favorites]

While we're not talking about Glenn Beck: TV's Glenn Beck is the Glenn Beck who has quit drinking since he was morning radio's Glenn Beck. True fact.
posted by longsleeves at 7:19 PM on September 2, 2009

Screw you back, you pissant little dweeb.
posted by timeistight 37 minutes ago [+]

So, you DO watch Glenn Beck! I knew it! In your face!!!!!!


(J/K please don't punch me in the eye like my dad does when I ridicule his Glenn Beck watching.)
posted by snsranch at 7:23 PM on September 2, 2009

When Bill O'Reilly was my local 5:00 news anchor (KATU, Portland, 1980s), he was just a normal guy talking about police chiefs and Rose Festival parades and throwing it over to genial weatherman Jim Bosley. I met him a few times and liked him; I was horrified when he turned up as Bill O'Reilly Protects YOU From Hippies!

Kinda like a friend who worked with Rush Limbaugh pre-talk radio and described him as "boring and stared at my breasts a lot".

I think it makes me more sad to know that, at one point, guys like Beck and O'Reilly and Limbaugh made the conscious decision to go the way of demagoguery.
posted by catlet at 7:36 PM on September 2, 2009

Invariably when a post on MeFi references a minor, or even major celebrity (Heath Ledger's obit thread comes to mind), people feel the need to chime in that they don't know who the person is. Which is strange, stupid really, when you consider that most browsers these days have that little search box on the upper right that will let you type in that celebrity's name and then bring up a list of web sites with information about the person in question.

I also didn't know who the Shamwow guy was. And this Beck fellow is about as relevant. I think the main reason that I wanted to point out my ignorance of this person is that I find it extremely annoying for myself and others that people just assume that flash-in-the-pan yahoos like this guy should be a household name. I thoroughly reject the idea that I need to be steeped in Fox news asshattery so that I can generate a counter argument to people who are nuts enough to believe the guy in the first place. One of the benefits of having fingers is that I can change the channel. The fact that this guy could even possibly rate a Wikipedia entry is utterly depressing.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 7:41 PM on September 2, 2009

GET OFF MY MEFI YOU LITTLE PINHEAD

GET OFF MY MEFI
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:44 PM on September 2, 2009 [2 favorites]

I also didn't know who the Shamwow guy was. And this Beck fellow is about as relevant

When people believe what the ShamWow guy says they waste a few bucks of their own cash. When people believe what Glenn Beck says they show up at town hall meetings with loaded firearms.
posted by youarenothere at 7:50 PM on September 2, 2009 [7 favorites]

What kind of fruit do you get from a bitchass motherfucker tree?

Sour grapes?
posted by educatedslacker at 8:12 PM on September 2, 2009 [3 favorites]

I hate Glenn Beck. He says stupid things and I hate Glenn Beck because he is always talking and he is ruining my family and I hate Glenn Beck he was a kid who was always beaten up because he was stupid and I hate Glenn Beck.

Also I hate Glenn Beck because he is a stupid and he is more stupid than my family that listens to his stupid show and he his more stupid than my chickens when they won't lay eggs and he is ruining my family and I hate his eggs and I hate Glenn Beck!!!!!1YUIOij;oiu!!!!!


(His existence drives me insane. Also, that should be read in Fillipina voice...got the rant from a neighbor.)
posted by snsranch at 8:14 PM on September 2, 2009

Write me in as someone who only heard of Beck via MeFi. Still wouldn't know the guy to look at him, but I gather he's some shithead FOX commenter.
Rupert Murdoch should probably cut some of you guys a cheque.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:44 PM on September 2, 2009

I feel sympathy for UK readers (and the rest of the non-US world) when I see a post about Glenn Beck or Nancy Grace. I imagine it's like when I read about "Torchwood" or Stephen Fry.

No idea what you Brits are talking about. The first has Spike from Buffy, but he's a gay ghost now? And the second got stuck in an elevator, but you people call it a "lift?"

Seriously?

Still, I come away feeling cheated. Please, we'll trade you for the gay ghost and the dude on the elevator if you'll take Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace. We'll even trow in Dennis Miller from back when he was a drunk liberal.
posted by cjorgensen at 9:10 PM on September 2, 2009

I'd love to get off Glenn Beck, but it troubles me that he doesn't deny raping and murdering a girl in 1990. It seems like if he didn't do it he'd of at least denied the allegations.
posted by 31d1 at 9:24 PM on September 2, 2009

Let me point out that the sham wow guy got part of his tongue bitten off by a hooker. Even if you had no idea who the slap chop man is, the fact that he gets to keep his job is beyond me. So, weirdly enough, I feel about the same way about him as I do Nancy Grace or Glenn Beck.

Same world, different planets.
posted by cjorgensen at 9:32 PM on September 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Now if Glenn Beck could get his tongue bitten off........
posted by The Light Fantastic at 9:44 PM on September 2, 2009

if Glenn Beck didn't exist it would be necessary to invent him
posted by philip-random at 9:59 PM on September 2, 2009

I'd love to continue this parody, but it troubles me that it isn't more heavy-handed and confrontational. It seems like I'm missing out on an even bigger chance of irritating everybody left and right with a fairly horrific joke premise that's never paid off.
posted by shadytrees at 10:01 PM on September 2, 2009

I'm not even going to google him because whoa.
posted by trip and a half at 10:09 PM on September 2, 2009

Beautiful Gleann Beag; but who can say what monstrous horrors may have occurred there in 1990?
posted by Abiezer at 11:08 PM on September 2, 2009

cjorgensen - he also sells the slap chop. i was at target the other day and in the check out line there was a slap chop package with his face on it and exclamations of "SLAP IT!" "CHOP IT!".
posted by nadawi at 11:38 PM on September 2, 2009

and. ha! now i realize you called him the slap chop guy. so, yeah. um, i'll be over here.
posted by nadawi at 11:39 PM on September 2, 2009

also he is responsible for the slap chop just fyi
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:05 AM on September 3, 2009 [2 favorites]

This probably stems from someone getting Glenn Beck mixed up with Ann Althouse - wasn't she alleged to have killed a hobo some years back?
posted by jtron at 12:10 AM on September 3, 2009

Rockefeller was a Communist?

Now that's so fucking crazy that I think it belongs.
posted by bardic at 12:18 AM on September 3, 2009

Gah!
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:18 AM on September 3, 2009

I didn't notice this thread when I posted Glenn Beck proves that Rockefeller is a communist. But c'mon... that's a new level of batshitinsane, even for Beck.
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:26 AM on September 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

I feel you, on a personal level. But that doesn't make it a good post for mefi. But I feel you.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:31 AM on September 3, 2009

Let's refrain from Glenn Beck posts until he dies in a car wreck or a fire. Or, a firey car wreck. Then we can have a big, screaming, contentious obit thread where I go back on everything I've ever said about respect for the dead and refraining from grave-dancing in one massive, spectacular blaze of hypocrisy. That will be a good day. A day for SONGS.

Barring that, I don't think it's possible to describe anything, anything, anything that Glenn Beck has touched as "the Best of the Web."
posted by EatTheWeak at 12:42 AM on September 3, 2009

I feel you, on a personal level. But that doesn't make it a good post for mefi. But I feel you.

The Daily Show and the Colbert Report are on hiatus this week. Otherwise I would have waited until tomorrow to enjoy the ridicule this particular "logic" so richly deserves.

Oh, and yes... I'm a progressive. When a nutjob with a huge audience equates progressives with communists and fascists because of the artwork at Rockefeller Center I feel compelled - really compelled - to seek refuge among saner minds. Good post or not. Sorry about that.
posted by twoleftfeet at 1:06 AM on September 3, 2009

Who is Glenn Beck? Seriously.

I had to google him too. And then when I saw his picture I realized it's that crier that they always make fun of on The Daily Show.
posted by like_neon at 1:32 AM on September 3, 2009

I feel sympathy for UK readers (and the rest of the non-US world) when I see a post about Glenn Beck or Nancy Grace. I imagine it's like when I read about "Torchwood" or Stephen Fry.

Hell, that's how I feel when I see a post about Doctor Who. Doctor who?

But I suppose this will be my one chance to say this on MeFi: Glenn Beck is a lying sack of shit. If he died tomorrow of an infected anal fistula I'd do a happy dance.

I suspect he probably does have some particularly ugly personal vice we'll eventually learn about, probably involving kinky sex with biker gangs.
posted by fourcheesemac at 3:14 AM on September 3, 2009

....So Glenn Beck is a no, got it. Sarah Palin's okay still, though, right?


(Kidding.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:26 AM on September 3, 2009

Glenn Beck invented the Slap Chop in 1990.
posted by SpiffyRob at 4:38 AM on September 3, 2009

I just love my Metafilter. And I fear for it. *sniff*
posted by anthom at 5:27 AM on September 3, 2009

Twoleftfeet, there's a problem with your logic. If all of Beck's viewers rose up to slay the rest of us, they'd be outnumbered 100 to 1, and about fifteen minutes into their great revolution, they'd start outing one another as communists or God knows what else before they even had a chance to realize that the myth that they were the ones with all the guns was a myth.

I've previously said I'd like to see the objectivist version of Burning Man, theorizing that it wouldn't be long before they turned to cannibalism out of desperation. Maybe someone needs to organize a Fox News version of Burning Man.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 5:28 AM on September 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

Say what you like about him, but those Chronicles of the Black Company books are some good reading.
posted by taz at 6:04 AM on September 3, 2009

I think you'll find that was Glenn Frey, taz.

(yes, I know, that's the joke)
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 6:09 AM on September 3, 2009

Who is Glenn Beck? Seriously.

I don't think you should be proud to be ignorant of one of the driving forces behind some of the mass hysteria opposing any number of policies put forth by the current Administration of your country.

I am not American, nor do I have a TV (and even if I did, I don't think Fox News is broadcast here) -- but you'd have to be living under a rock with absolutely no interest in the governance of YOUR OWN country to not be aware of who he is. Discussions of the effect of his program have featured in any number of media outlets online and on the radio, from the NY Times to the BBC to CNN to a million different blogs, including MeFi.

Either you're pretending to not know who he is in a misguided effort to seem "cool", or you are genuinely ignorant about some pretty crucial stuff going on in your country right now.
posted by modernnomad at 6:20 AM on September 3, 2009 [8 favorites]

He is just the Emmanel Goldstein du jour.

More like O'Brien, actually.

Who is Glenn Beck? Seriously.

Given Beck's appearances on your buddy Limbaugh's show, his own radio show, his domination of the FOX News channel, and his star-power on the Republican stage, I can't tell if this remark is evidence of your breathtaking ignorance or disingenuity. But either way, it's remarkable.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:11 AM on September 3, 2009 [2 favorites]

Let me point out that the sham wow guy got part of his tongue bitten off by a hooker. Even if you had no idea who the slap chop man is, the fact that he gets to keep his job is beyond me.

He owns the company. He's in business for himself. It's actually an interesting story. There was a post about him on the blue, but I'm too lazy to dig it up.
posted by nooneyouknow at 7:15 AM on September 3, 2009

We should be focusing on the nutbags that have power. Remove the emperor's clothes. Maybe we're preaching to the choir mostly, but maybe by making these people's evil more widely exposed, we can de-throne them.

Speaking of that, my face almost turned inside out when I heard Sean Hannity say something to the effect of: "how dare these Acorn people try to disrupt these town meetings with their propaganda!" while simultaneously encouraging his troops to disrupt town hall meetings with his propaganda...

Further, a neat trick I've heard them do is the ol' switcheroo. They start a segment with the position that [evil democrat guy] is a bad person. Then, as evidence of this, they tell stories of how other democrats have done evil things, summing up with "and that's why [evil democrat guy] can't be trusted!" Not one shred of evidence about the actual target, but the result is that their audience believes they just heard a pile of evidence that agrees with their hate.
posted by gjc at 7:18 AM on September 3, 2009

Thank you modernnomad. Well said.

On a lighter note, I didn't think this was real until I saw the link on amazon: Glen Beck's upcoming book cover.
posted by CunningLinguist at 7:22 AM on September 3, 2009

I do, btw, think it's worthwhile to engage Glenn Beck on the substance. His rhetorical technique is fascinating to me. He's good at what he does.
posted by empath at 6:26 PM on September 2 [+] [!]

You know, I posted this in one of the deleted Glenn Beck threads, but it's really interesting to see some of the stuff he says and compare it to some early-mid century American agitators.

For example:

We are going to take this government out of the hands of these city-slickers and give it back to the people that still believe that 2 and 2 is 4, that God is in his heaven and the Bible is the Word. Down must come those who live in luxury, the laws that have protected the favored few, and those politicians who are disloyal to the voters!

Glenn Beck?

Or ...

Prophets of Deceit, A Study of the Techniques of the American Agitator ... from 1949
posted by Comrade_robot at 7:32 AM on September 3, 2009 [2 favorites]

But having eyes and ears open to extremist propaganda is fairly critical in an age when the right-wing and its voices in mainstream media use a constant barrage of manipulation, fear and lies to hijack discussions, whether it is from them calling the President a racist who will drag grandma off to die, or by accusing their critics of being pornographers or unpatriotic.

Using a crap post to categorically deny a topic of conversation outright is probably not the best solution for dealing with these hateful acts. Mandated silence lends hate speech a legitimacy it doesn't deserve. Bad posts should get culled because they are bad, certainly, but any others should stand and fall on their merits.

Entirely agree. There could be great threads about this and those who are not interested and do not find them interesting (and by that I mean the links make up an interesting post) can go shit in another thread.

It's not Glenn Beck, it's the particular posts themselves that were bad. Bad posts are bad posts regardless of their focus.
posted by juiceCake at 7:53 AM on September 3, 2009

mattdidthat : Glenn Beck is neither cool, nor interesting, nor worthy of any time spent in debating him.

I agree, and when confronted with someone who wants me to take anything he says seriously, I still use this tactic and respond "Glenn Beck? Why would I give a shit what that sobbing coward thinks? I'm certainly not going to take advice from some crybaby who is afraid of his own shadow..."

It's so not the reaction people expect when they go on about how great his message is.
posted by quin at 7:55 AM on September 3, 2009

Whoa, thanks for that link, comrade_robot! Now I guess I can hold off on looking for a used copy...
posted by jtron at 8:09 AM on September 3, 2009

I would welcome a front page discussion on the tactics used by Beck and his compadres to mislead and confuse the public without ever quite crossing the line into libel. I think it's pretty fascinating that so many people seem to enjoy watching him. In the very few clips I have seen of his show (I have never tuned my television to watch him, but have seen a few YouTube moments and what The Daily Show plays), I find myself feeling shocked and dismayed at how blatant the manipulation and lies seem. To me, anyway. And I always find myself curious why others watch and believe what he presents.

I don't exactly know how to formulate such a post which doesn't end up being a "here's your chance to trash Glenn Beck" thread, however.

The closest thing I have seen lately to a thought-provoking incident involving Beck and his strategies HAS been the "did Glenn Beck rape and murder a young girl in 1990" concept, because it directly applies the exact words and phrases he has been using toward a proposition as ludicrous and personally damaging as anything Beck himself has said about Obama. By standing the rhetoric on its head, albeit in a very Junior High kind of way, it underscores the built-in traps and pitfalls that are being used to enflame the right against the current adminstration.

I do wonder why he isn't speaking out to clear his name, if it isn't true. What does he have to hide?
posted by hippybear at 8:12 AM on September 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

modernnomad and hippybear F. T. W.

Seriously:
(1) Glenn Beck has made himself an Important Figure in the American mediascape today. This is true, and sad.
(2) There have been a handful of really, really crappy FPPs--all quickly deleted--about him over the past week. This is not a good omen.
posted by kittyprecious at 8:24 AM on September 3, 2009

Dear America,
Education is important. Budget for it.
Your pal,
Sys Rq

Sadly, just yesterday while I was peddling to infinity at the gym I saw a screaming headline on Fox News which averred that we should never have created the Department of Education.

Look for this debate to show up across the country soon!
posted by winna at 8:27 AM on September 3, 2009

Hell, that's how I feel when I see a post about Doctor Who. Doctor who?

I was in a class in college with a professor who loved nothing more than to grandstand. He got into a tiff with the registrar about classrooms, and the registrar responded by moving him around a couple times in the first couple weeks of the class. We got used to getting a daily rant about "Mr. Black" and his cretinous inability to understand the professor's need for projectors or whatnot.

The last straw for the professor was when he was told a Dr. Hu needed his most recent classroom for something. That day's rant culminated in, "They told me this Dr. Hu was a post-doc, but I looked him up, and he isn't even that! There is no Dr. Hu!"

I turned to my friend in horror and whispered, "What about the Tardis?"
posted by Copronymus at 8:31 AM on September 3, 2009

Glenn Beck doesn't know much about art, but he knows what he thinks is communist/fascist.
posted by octobersurprise at 8:52 AM on September 3, 2009

This is a serious question - is Glenn Beck real? I'm not American, I don't get Fox, and I've only seen clips of him online. I have a hard time believing he's not some Chris Morris style character. What is he and what is he for and is he a parody that people are taking seriously or an actual real news presenter?
posted by mippy at 9:13 AM on September 3, 2009

Well, I'd be hard pressed to suggest that he's an "actual real news presenter" considering how much of his material is wholly fabricated, spun, and designed to mislead, but no, I don't think he's a parody (and least in the sense, that I don't think that he believes he's a parody)

And his fan base certainly believes that he is speaking the gospel truth.

From a distance, it's pretty easy to see the seams of his arguments, but for some of his viewers who's whole news experience comes from Fox news and Freeper style web sites, they are all getting the same messages, so consistently, that it becomes "truth" no matter how absurd it may seem when critically analyzed.

That's why he and his so ilk are loathsome, not only are they spreading blatant lies and mischaracterizations, they are doing so in such a way that makes any kind of substantive debate on these subjects nearly impossible.
posted by quin at 9:55 AM on September 3, 2009

Glenn Beck? Why would I give a shit what that sobbing coward thinks?

The fascinating thing about the crying thing is that it's actually pretty common among pundits of a certain stripe of batshit. I spent a week listening to Alex Jones once, and he did a very similar segment to Beck's where he cried like a baby over what was happening in this country. I did a similar thing with Michael Savage and he trotted out the man-tears within two days of me listening. Both rather undercut the effect by totally bouncing back in their next segments.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 9:56 AM on September 3, 2009

I think you'll find that was Glenn Frey, taz.


Does that mean Glenn Cook wrote "Smugglers' Blues"?
posted by Bookhouse at 10:07 AM on September 3, 2009

Who is Glenn Beck? Seriously.
I literally would not know who the guy was except for MetaFilter.
Glenn Beck? Why would I give a shit what that sobbing coward thinks?

Before moving to Fox in October 2008, he was on CNN starting in January 2006, three times a night, five times a week. Despite abysmally low ratings CNN kept him on literally until Obama's election.

That's why you should know who he is, and care what he thinks.
posted by psyche7 at 10:59 AM on September 3, 2009

"I'm a rodeo clown who happens to have a radio and TV show," Beck recently announced. Beck uses the rodeo clown shtick relentlessly (it's listed under "occupation" on his MySpace page)

That's interesting. The job of a rodeo clown is to divert attention while the cowboy gets away.
posted by Sys Rq at 12:58 PM on September 3, 2009 [5 favorites]

Sometimes a rodeo clown has to take a bull's horn up the keister.

Here's hoping.
posted by fourcheesemac at 1:26 PM on September 3, 2009

This is a serious question - is Glenn Beck real?

Just my perspective. He's as real as Santa Claus. Which is to say that there is a group of (mostly) Americans who have a strong shared cultural experience that is TV/media-based in which he and his viewers are of formidable size. As psyche7 says above, this is important because it's important to a lot of other people. That is important because since we're a democracy all of these people can run for office, petition their elected officials and basically have the same voice as any of us, but at the same time the fact that they are

- angry
- crazy-talking
- against things that we like [for a general sense of we, my apologies if I'm overgeneralizing]
- stirring up shit

means that we ignore it at our peril. I live in a Santa-free world personally and like I said, I had to do some background reading on Glenn Beck even to know enough to delete his threads. That doesn't mean I can go around saying "There is NO SANTA" in big department store settings without breaking some serious cultural norms, whatever the actual version of reality may say about my perspective.

So, to draw a ham-fisted analogy, the fact that I think Glenn Beck, after further reading, is batshit crazy doesn't mean I get a free pass to ignore him, but I do think that it's okay to not want to participate in the bad craziness and have a more removed analytical approach to what his deal is and why he is so popular.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:49 PM on September 3, 2009

jessamyn, I don't know what you've been told, but Santa Claus is nothing like Glenn Beck.

Santa brings toys down the chimney, not shit through the television.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:55 PM on September 3, 2009 [1 favorite]

Also, no one over the age of seven believes in Santa Claus.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:57 PM on September 3, 2009

Is there any Glenn Beck/Hannity/O'Reily slash fic? 'cause there really should be.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:03 PM on September 3, 2009

DO NOT WANT.
posted by kittyprecious at 2:30 PM on September 3, 2009

Very interesting analysis jessamyn. Especially since it is exactly what I said yesterday! Except, you know, reasonable and expressed clearly and without the overwroughtness and self righteousness and gratuitous fighty hippie bating. But other than that. Whoa. Is there an echo in here? Named you!
posted by ND¢ at 2:47 PM on September 3, 2009

Glenn Beck is popular mostly with people who feel disenfranchised for the first time since Clinton shot his wad all over that girl's dress and got in trouble for it. These same people are struggling hard to NOT express their sudden pushed-to-the-side status as racism, even though a good number of them think it's horrid that a black man is in charge of arguably the most powerful country in the world. They will fight tooth and nail to keep those "others" from accomplishing anything, whether that's health care reform or closing Guantanimo or even educating children. They would rather see the entire enterprise we call The U.S. of A. disintegrate than have it succeed under these circumstances. (See the recent speechmaking in TX about secession.)

Beck has a national platform from which to spew his vitriol. He's uneducated, alcoholic, and afraid. Very very afraid. And, unfortunately, he's learned that if he can work himself up to tears and create some form of schtick wherein he says horrible things couched as mere "just sayin'" statements, his audience will grow and he will be talked about on all kinds of news programs.

It would be lovely to think that if we just ignore him, he will go away, but sadly it is largely through his prodding via the country-wide microphone he's been granted which has led to a large breakdown in the democratic process, as we witnessed nearly nightly during the August congressional recess.

The only way to directly counter someone such as him is with a patient explanation of facts instead of chalkboard antics and histrionics. Sadly, one makes better television than the other, and so we find our country being poisoned by an uneducated, conservative, religious mouth who calls for insurrection and jokes about assassination of political leaders during prime time.

I fear this will not end well.
posted by hippybear at 4:12 PM on September 3, 2009

Glenn Beck, et al, are now suggesting that parents of schoolkids boycott schools and have their kids stay home on September 8th because President Obama is going to make a speech praising the values of education.

I wish I were kidding.
posted by misha at 5:30 PM on September 3, 2009

I have a theory that Glenn Beck started this meme. Now when he begins his murder spree, everyone will assume that the panicked witnesses claiming they just saw Glenn Beck stab six people to death with a salad fork are just playing along.
posted by EarBucket at 5:50 AM on September 4, 2009

If you can't wait for Jon Stewart to comment on Beck's "Rockefeller was a communist" theory, right now you can at least enjoy Keith Olbermann's take on Beck's elaborate connections between art, Rockefeller, communists, fascists, progressives, the U.N., Obama, and little children.
posted by twoleftfeet at 6:41 PM on September 4, 2009

Goddamn, do I love conspiracy theory stuff. Stop being a pussy, Glenn... blow the lid off the whole thing...don't stop at the communists, let's get into the Knights Templar, Illuminati, Freemasons and Rosicrucians.
posted by empath at 7:06 PM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Holy christ these people are crazy.
posted by empath at 7:08 PM on September 4, 2009

Holy christ these people are crazy.

"I’m on the Survival Yahoo Group."

Good luck with that during the apocalypse.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:16 PM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

If you watch Glenn Beck for a few days and then tune in to the rest of the Fox News lineup you end up thinking that Bill O'Reilly is sane, moderate even. That's the scariest thing about Beck; he sets the crazy bar so far out there that ordinary nutcases are hard to see.
posted by twoleftfeet at 9:32 PM on September 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

WHAT.
THE.
FUCK.
GLENN.
BECK.
posted by EarBucket at 11:16 AM on September 6, 2009

From his own (either garbled or just incoherent) website:

GLENN: Can I tell you something? Once you see the cover of this book, you don't have to we are about the name.......(snip) ...... they will show that cover on every TV station and magazine and everything.
posted by CunningLinguist at 11:43 AM on September 6, 2009

In the thread Empath links to above: they're talking about Beck talking about "artwork in New York." Anyone know what that's about?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:31 AM on September 9, 2009

EmpressCallipygos, they're referring to this clip, in which Beck analyzes the architecture of Rockefeller Center and comes up with damning evidence that John D. Rockefeller was a secret Communist.

Seriously.
posted by EarBucket at 10:07 AM on September 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

*reads your comment*

*stares*

Right. I'm getting an idea for a demonstration.

Flooding Glenn Beck's email with copies of encyclopedia articles telling the story of Rockefeller's destruction of Diego Rivera's MAN AT THE CROSSROADS mural.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:41 AM on September 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Beck’s Character Assassination Campaign Against Van Jones Was Fueled By AFP’s Efforts To Kill Green Jobs
posted by homunculus at 8:12 PM on September 9, 2009

He couldn't go all the way and just accuse Rockefeller of "Luciferianism"?
posted by anthom at 12:32 PM on September 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

Can a mere domain name be defamation? Glenn Beck says yes
posted by homunculus at 6:00 PM on September 10, 2009

Oh, Glenn.

People who live in defamatory houses shouldn't throw defamation lawsuits.

Especially not in 1990.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:54 PM on September 10, 2009

Right? It's really weird that he'd go the lawsuit route when all he needs to do is produce some simple evidence that proved, without a doubt, that he didn't kill or rape anyone in 1990.

You'd think that would be an easier thing to do, and yet, here he is getting all litigious.

It's almost as if he has something to hide...
posted by quin at 8:34 PM on September 10, 2009

David Frum: GOP Surrenders to Beck’s Mob Rule
posted by homunculus at 6:40 PM on September 11, 2009