A weblog by Knot O'Reilly

“Americans were afraid of the communists for good reason, in light of the atrocities committed by Josef Stalin and Mao Tse Tung. Through American spies, the Commies had gotten the recipe for the Atom Bomb, a truly terrifying prospect. To be suspected of being a communist was worse than being a murderer or rapist. Just being suspected meant one was a traitor, cutting the throats of American babies. Anyone who refused to take the pledge was blacklisted and found it impossible to get work, and was harassed constantly by ‘agents’ for names of other ’sympathizers’.”

“A brief history of McCarthyism“

There have been questions swirling around the internets since the beginning of September, concerning Glenn Beck and his alleged rape and murder of a young girl in 1990.

These questions started on fark.com and have been discussed  by legal scholars, journalists,  journalists that blog, observers, bloggers,  rappers, Keith Olbermann, Hitler, Gawker, Anonymous and too many other people for anyone except a search engine to keep track of.

As Beck says, "connections, people, we must make the connections."

Some people have taken this as a serious accusation, even spending hours debating whether the ‘police report’ is real or not. Others, including Beck’s lawyers, claim that is goes too far and infringes on his trademark. Still others, think that rape and murder are somehow too serious to be made light of, and an accusation of this nature is a crime itself.

The point that seems to have been missed by many is that it was not an accusation. It was not a rumor meant to smear, or an attack meant to dilute a brand’s selling power.

It was comedy, comment, satire, parody and good old-fashioned turning the tables on a villain.

It had to go that far to be funny, or accurate, considering how far Beck goes in his accusations. Obviously, the joke would not of been funny if it was ‘Glenn Beck shoplifted and drove drunk in 1990′

Glenn Beck has a catch-phrase he uses when he is trying to exert political influence and has decided to lie to achieve his ends. That phrase is ‘ I am only asking questions, people.’

Here are some examples:

• Is he a communist, I don’t know, I am only asking questions

• Are they building concentration camps for white republicans, I don’t know, I am only asking questions

• Did I rape and murder a young girl in 1990, I don’t know, I am only asking questions

[edit- quotation marks removed from above]
The most tangible benefit I see from this internet meme, other than the laughter it has generated, is that when people are confronted with others spreading Beck’s lies and unprovable allegations and using them as political talking points, the conversation can easily slip into the surreal and absurd.  Which is where all conversations about Beck belong.

Here is a direct quote from him to demonstrate my point:

“Or we could have a self-proclaimed communist create jobs. It’s that fantastical. Will Van Jones sprinkle pixie dust on giant windmills to make up the difference? I mean that’s what they’ll have to do because we’re nowhere near being able to convert our wind and solar power.Will progressive pigs fly right out of Van Jones’ butt and pedal bicycles to power turbines attached to our power grid? I don’t know. For the most part, the turbines, pigs can’t fly out of his butt, and pedal the turbines, because there is NOTHING attached to the power grid.” Glenn Beck Sept. 1 2009