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Recently, In Fundie Land…

March 23rd, 2014

Creationists are demanding equal time on TV to refute Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos episodes which discuss evolution.

I find it fascinating that people like this make demands of this sort. It highlights a common conservative shortcoming: they rail and scream about how bad something is, then they try to do the thing they railed against but even more so, and then they freak out when they meet any resistance to it.

You see, these are the same kind of people who detest the very idea of “equal time,” especially in the context of the Fairness Doctrine. They spend a great amount of time decrying the very concept, acting like it is some kind of socialist fascism, and just an excuse for liberals to take over Fox News and conservative radio. (This is interesting on another level, because it shows up how they know that the media is in fact conservative, else the Fairness Doctrine would benefit them!)

But when they see some documentary or news report that says something they don’t like, their knee-jerk reaction is—naturally—to demand equal time.

They don’t call it the “Fairness Doctrine,” which they hate, but that is exactly what they are asking for. What we call the “equal time rule” is limited to political candidates in a campaign (not to mention, documentaries were exempt from the rule). The Fairness Doctrine is about allowing equal time in the media for opposing views on important issues—which is exactly what is being called for now. Neither the rule nor the doctrine is still in force, though; equal time was done away with not too long ago, and the Fairness Doctrine was scrapped in 1987.

Another aspect to the creationist demand is the idea that somehow, creationists aren’t getting equal time in the media. Which, of course, is laughable—there are all kinds of fundamentalist religious TV shows and even whole networks running 24-7; should scientists be able to demand equal time on their channels? Again, the hypocrisy and double-standard are thick and deep.


The Westboro Baptist Church remains clueless after the death of their former pastor, Fred Phelps. As the church members protested a music concert, a group of people across the street held up a banner that read, “Sorry for Your Loss.” Poignant, and to the point—it expressed sorrow for anyone’s death, sympathy for those in grieving, and served as an example of how one reacts properly to those who have lost a loved one.

A member of the Westboro group responded, “I don’t even know what they’re saying.”

That response speaks volumes.


And, for the really low-hanging fruit, let’s just note that Sarah Palin recently chastised women who wear a “symbol of death around their neck.” She was referring to women who wear a necklace with a tiny coat hanger in protest of the campaign to criminalize abortion. As usual, she did not think two inches beyond her immediate words, or else she would have realized that she herself has worn a symbol of death around her neck all of her adult life.

How about chastising anyone who wears the cross as a symbol for the love of Jesus and yet consistently campaigns against that which Jesus actually stood for?

  1. Troy
    March 24th, 2014 at 14:00 | #1

    http://www.pewforum.org/2013/12/30/publics-views-on-human-evolution/

    says 33% of this country are certifiable and only 32% actually have a fully functional brain.

    “White evangelical Protestants are particularly likely to believe that humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time. Roughly two-thirds (64%) express this view”

    White evangelicals are 20-25% of the population . . .

    “Today, 43% of Republicans and 67% of Democrats say humans have evolved”

    (Independents come in at 65%.)

    Part of Japan’s problem leading up to WW2 was, I gather, the widespread belief in Japan’s mystic origin and therefore divine destiny.

    Magical thinking leads people to take extremely stupid decisions, like invading Iraq.

    http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy/179-10.gif

    from:

    http://www.people-press.org/2003/04/03/war-concerns-grow-but-support-remains-steadfast/

    shows 80% of evangelicals supported invading Iraq, rising to 90% once we were in.

    Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative. — John Stuart Mill

    “In a poll a year ago by LifeWay Research, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, 43 percent of U.S. pastors said they agreed with the statement that global warming is real and man-made. About half of Republican pastors and only 5 percent of Democratic pastors strongly disagreed with the statement.”

    what a f’in mess the collective American Conservative worldview is.

    Old South racists, Midwest rural conservatism, end-timer Christian fundamentalism, anti-government ‘prepper’ nutballs, Eisenhower’s ‘Texas Oil Millionaires’, Old Wealth Establishment, Neocon lunatics (the recent Crimean thing has them reemerging already, just like cicadas!), the old Bircher holdouts . . .

    these people run the House, control the Senate, block the President, and have (albeit tenuous) control of the Judiciary, too.

    Oh, they own the media and 80% of equity, too.

    http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

    Japan is also slip-sliding away now apparently.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-23/japan-risks-housing-recovery-in-temporary-worker-push-mortgages.html

    I was hoping depopulation would start lowering home prices there, but I forgot how rigged things are there, sigh.

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