Originally posted by supervike
Originally posted by No Such Agency
Originally posted by supervike
I don\'t think it is \'hate mongering trash\'. That seems a trite strong for some political rhetoric.
The trouble is, a lot of political rhetoric these days IS \"hate-mongering\". I\'m sure it was not posted here with that intent, but if it is circulated as being factual, that IS being done to smear (in this case) atheists, the ACLU, and probably by implication, political left-wingers - in the form of an imaginary straw man: the \"professor who was an avowed atheist and a member of the ACLU\". It is quite reminiscent of
another e-mail urban legend documented at Snopes.com - also concerning a confrontation between soldiers and an insufficiently patriotic university professor... I\'m disturbed that human beings with IQ\'s over 50 would actually believe this kind of obvious nonsense. But the human mind has an amazing ability to cast aside critical thinking when it is hearing things it already agrees with.
I think you are reading way too much into it.
An organized effort to smear athiests? As if they are such a powerful group now as to be a threat.
Its a \'feel good\' story most likely for conservative, God-believing Americans. It is just one of those self affirming things that make \'their side\' right.
There are smearing e-mails the \'other side\' puts out as well. With the same sort of \'hate\' rhetoric against \'Bible Toting Politicians\'.
But, its just so much words. At the end of the day it really amounts to a big fuss over nothing.
Jim,
Is it just possible that you are yourself being unfair here. Whether the letter is trivial or not, within that trivial context I think the message is pretty clearly one demeaning to others. And it\'s important to remember, the story is NOT presented as fiction. It is presented as a fact which the author wants others to pass along. That at least merits a response, and a strong one at that. I and others have already pointed out the unfair portrayal of college professors and atheists in the story, and it isn\'t clear to me that you are denying that, just saying it\'s not that important.
You are right that other circles produce their share of hate-mongering rhetoric as well, but I wouldn\'t fault anyone for correcting it when they see such things. Frankly though, I think casual beilevers are at least as likely to complain about \"Bible Thumpers\" as outright unbelievers. As for \"Bible Toting Politicians,\" well frankly I think there are a few out there that merit the skepticism they get on this one, and that skepticism is as likely to come from the devout as anyone else. In any case, I certainly wouldn\'t expect Christians to take it lying down when they are mischaracterized, or even when they are subjected to responsible criticism. When smeared, I would expect anyone to come back swinging, and when faced with reasonable criticism, I would expect them to come back with a hopefully responsible counter-argument. In this case, it\'s the former.
The email probably isn\'t part of an organized effort, but it is in itself a very dishonest story. And I do think the actual point of the story is to malign atheists and college professors. I think that\'s far more the central theme of the story than any faith-affirming qualities it might have for believers. It\'s a chuckle, yes, but it\'s not a chuckle at someone else\'s expense. It may not be a hanging matter, but then again neither are the words posted in this thread. It\'s an online smear met with an online response calling it for what it is. That seems rather appropriate to me.
Edited to add the following:
I have been thinking about it, and there is an interesting question in Jim\'s post, namely what comparably unfair things are unbelievers doing. I actually don\'t think unbelievers have produced a comparable genre of email campain, at least not one that I am aware of. I do recall a wonderfully ironic chain letter which ended with a threat that one had better foreword the email to 10 friends at once or Nothing whatsoever would happen if they didn\'t. I wouldn\'t class that as the same. There is an organization called The Rational Response Squad that has been trying to amass online responses to Christian rhetoric, and I shudder to think at what they are likely to come up with. ...Could very well include material quite comparable to that in the OP. I\'m not a fan of American Atheists, and it wouldn\'t exactly surprise me if that group ever circulated erroneous information about Christians in their official materials. I expect it would take a different form, but it wouldn\'t surprise me if it happened.
No, I think the closest I can come to unfair rhetoric like this would probably be the Landover Baptist Church and related websites. One could fairly argue that a lot of the points made through that parody site spread false impressions of Christians. Some of their spoofs are on target, I think, and some are well off target. I suppose if I was to be on the lookout for material I might find harmlessly funny but others would find mean-spirited and bigoted, that might be the sort of thing to pay attention to. If sappy morality plays are a bit of a vice in Christian circles, biting sarcastic humor is one for unbelievers. Either than get out of hand, I suppose.
BTW, thank you Torn Blue Sky for posting this here. I\'m obviously opposed to the message, but I rather like seeing these things brought out in the open, just my personal preference.
Go Brimshack!
