Thursday, March 6, 2008

Recent happenings

Sorry I haven't been around much, but things have been pretty busy. But I have tried to keep up on things. Of course the news from Florida is good, and even some of the news from Texas is good. One of the things I have been doing is responding to articles and comments in a few places, like Topix. Topix is an online reporting and comments place for many newspapers and periodicals in the country. Of course the whole political debate over Evolution is very popular there. Pretty much it's been run of the mill stuff, but I need to tell you about this one . . .person -- and I use that phrase loosely.

First a little background. Among the articles people were discussing was a very interesting one "Should Evolution be taught at high school?" Interesting article, but not what you might think. It is not an article supporting any alternative to evolution, not even any of the religious-based concepts. But a simple article that maybe evolution is too advanced for high schoolers. I disagree, but that is neither here nor there to this discussion.

The article was posted in a blog on 24 Feb, and here it is, just a week and a half later and it's generated over 4200 comments on Topix. Here is link to the beginning of the comment chain. One issue I has was that many people who posted never bothered to read the original article. As you might guess, it quickly 'evolved' into a pro-science and pro-religion debate with many of the usual suspects. I mean some of the ones who refuse to think, others who are pretty dogmatic . . . and then there is someone who calls himself "EvolutionDead". I bet you can guess which side he's on.

Well he started of the usual dogmatic anti-science rhetoric. Nothing new, but rather than respond to people who disagreed with them on at least a courteous level, he immediately started labeling them as "morons", "idiots", and other assorted pejoratives. Now that is kinda normal. There is another one called "Wallie-x" who has no patience at all the people who disagree with him. But ED here took it to new levels.

His ranting and abusive language got even worse. But then he started in on the political. Liberalism was the cause of all the problems in the world and evolution causes liberalism. So he wass not only dumping on anyone who disagreed with him, but anyone who appeared to him to be even a tiny bit Liberal. The funny part was that he numbered most Christians in that liberal list of his. You see, I and a few others reminded him of the Clergy Letter Project, and how three Popes supported evolution, and how most scientists who support evolution are religious and many are Christians. How the International Society for Science and Religion support evolution . .and he seemed to come unhinged! He started ranting and raving about something he called 'true' Christians and only 'true' Christians were Christians at all and that any one else, which apparently included the entire Catholic Church are fakers, liars, non-believers, and . . .your guessed it morons, idiots, and other terms to vile to mention here.

Then he start in on homosexuality, which certainly seems to be a pet peeve of his and referred to one of his disagree-rs as a . . .and please pardon the language here, but I was so surprised by his comment "a cum receptacle". The level of abuse was amazing and also his defensiveness. Of course, you can imagine lots of folks responded to his abuse, and some in kind. So in one post he would be whining about having been the victim of other nasty postings, and then right away accuse another person of causing the Holocaust. The whipping back and forth was amazing.

So according to ED, he is the only true Christian in the world, and he gets to decide who is and who is not an actual Christian. Everyone who disagrees with him is "pick your pejorative, the worst the better". Evolution is not only bad science, but it is the cause of everything that ails the world, including liberalism. Personally I think he has several issues. Not only a poor education, horrible grammar, and a complete lack of personal relation skills, but a serious lack of confidence and a need for any form of validation in his beliefs. Plus he is so homophobic, that I believe he has doubt about his sexual orientation and it scares the hell out of himself!

It was pretty funny, but it changed to really pitiful after a short time. But he's still in their posting the same garbage over and over again! Pardon, me I think I'll go tug on his chain a few more times :-)