I love debate, but often fear that in today's world, the skills of satire, sarcasm and wit are disappearing. Extremists on the left and right aren't subtle, don't lay out a well thought out and logical argument, they just shout back and forth with innaccurate insults, swearing, and other ridiculousness. Are Americans to stupid to understand and laugh at satire these days? It indeed does seem so. Take the internet rumors that popped up recently about conservative talking head Glenn Beck. I don't expect everyone to know who Beck is, I don't think I heard of him until the last few months, but these days he seems to be everywhere. The media seems to love covering their dullest knife, their darkest star. Beck's specialty, beyond lying and falsely labeling people as things they are not, seems to be putting forth a negative, and then asking people to disprove it. It's a familiar tactic of Right Wingers, remember when they singled out actors and writers as communist and asked them to defend themselves from the accusations? Beck does this shit all the time.
Anyone remember The Flying Spaghetti Monster? It was a great satirical campaign against the Kansas City School Board that decided the theory of Intelligent Design should be taught alongside Evolution in schools. Some parents of students in Kansas came up with a satirical campaign to mock the ridiculous ruling of the school board to support teaching a wacko religious belief in school, by similarly requesting their alternative belief in a Flying Spaghetti Monster be taught. It got a lot more press and debate going about the ridiculous school board decision catering towards religon than a regular protest ever would have. And it was a great example of how powerful satire can be.
Which brings us to glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com and a growing grass roots web movement across Twitter, Facebook, blogs and news websites to bring up rumors that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990. Using Beck's exact tactics against him, hundreds of people are mentioning how they've heard this awful rumor and Beck must stand up, address it, and disprove it. Sounds a little like The Birthers and the debate over Obama's birth certificate, doesn't it? You bet it does! Now, the rumors about Beck may seem a little over the top, but that's exactly what you need to do to execute good satire. If it was too subtle, the joke wouldn't be obvious enough (and it's apparently not obvious enough to a bunch of moronic Conservative bloggers who don't get that it's satire). Plus, Beck has a record of falsely accusing people of some pretty horrible things, including calling our President a racist. In this case, you reap what you sow. Beck's approach is being used against him, only more brilliantly in my opinion, satire of bad behavior is always better than the bad behavior it mocks. And it's working! The rumors are spreading, and sadly many slow-minded Conservatives just aren't getting that it's satire... which makes it all that more funny.
I can't wait to see if Glenn Beck addresses the allegations. All Beck has to do to put these blatant lies to rest is to show us his criminal record, but he continues to hide behind and army of lawyers, even 19 years later :)
The local twist? The city of Mount Vernon is giving Beck the key to the city. He's from there originally and sorta famous all of a sudden, so the Mayor of Mount Vernon wants to capitalize on that fame and get some media attention for Mount Vernon. It seems, however, the people of Mount Vernon aren't too happy with the Mayor's decision. There will be a counter-protest on September 26th when the ceremony is slated to take place. It would be heeeelarious if people showed up with signs mimicking the Birther's signs about Obama needing to prove he was born in the US saying Beck needs to prove he isn't a murderer. I would totally encourage that show of disrespect for Beck!
