Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Stephen Baldwin Loses His Mind

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Ed Brayton is a freelance writer and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media.(static)

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« ID and Astrology Again | Main | ACLU Defending Christians »

Stephen Baldwin Loses His Mind

Category: Pop Culture
Posted on: January 16, 2006 9:02 AM, by Ed Brayton

Stephen Baldwin, who owns the apparent distinction of being the dumbest of the Baldwin brothers (and imagine the competition for that designation), has now become a born again Christian and is showing his faith by harrassing the crap out of people going in and out of an adult book store. Never mind that what they're doing is perfectly legal and has nothing whatsoever to do with him, he's standing out front on the sidewalk taking pictures of workers who are remodeling a building to make room for an adult establishment:

Baldwin, the youngest of the acting clan that includes older brothers Alec, Billy and Daniel, has planted himself on the sidewalk outside a new adult entertainment business located about one mile from his home and is photographing workers and their vehicles as they prepare the store for opening.
The actor says he plans to stand outside the store every day and photograph license plates of its patrons until the business closes. He will, he threatens, identify the store's customers and pay for a one-page newspaper ad each month to publish their names.

"I won't stop until it shuts down," Baldwin told the Westchester Journal News. "I don't want it this close to my house. I'm personally not OK with pornography. I definitely think that it adds to the moral decay or our culture."

Yes, that's right. The same guy who brought us the mind-numbing idiocy of Bio-Dome is now worried about the decay of our culture. Well, when your career is dead and you can't even get arrested in Hollywood, you gotta do something to keep your name in the papers. And this year's academy award for has-been actor proving himself to be a total moron goes to....

Comments

Speaking of Bio-Dome, at least it's not Pauly Shore who has turned Born-Again Christian Crusader outside that shop. That would be too wierd.

Posted by: oolong | January 16, 2006 10:05 AM

Well,

Baldwin would remind you that he was also in that movie with Kevin Spacey.

Baldwin is one a number of folks -- like Chuck Norris, John Tesh -- who are friends and frequent guests on shows like the 700 Club and the Trinity Broadcasting and The Howard Stern Show.

Baldwin still calls in and every time Stern makes fun of his kookiness.

But you have to ask why he'd still be friends with the show if he's out protesting porn.

Posted by: Jon Rowe | January 16, 2006 10:16 AM

Well, Jon, Bill Dembksi is employed by one of the most right-wing, anti-pornography denominations in the country, but he still finds time to visit the Playboy Mansion to visit with his old pal Hef.

Maybe Bill sees no conflict there, but with all the talk about "character", "family values", and "rightousness" coming from the Southern Baptist president Albert Mohler, it's nice to see he can turn a blind eye for one of his star employees once in a while... :)

Posted by: tacitus | January 16, 2006 11:03 AM

Imagine if Baldwin, Tom Cruise, Shirley Maclaine, and other Hollywood nitwits established a think tank [sic] and crusaded against, oh, say, the theory of evolution.

Posted by: mark | January 16, 2006 11:20 AM

tacitus-

Dembski hangs out at the Playboy mansion? I've never heard this before. Is there evidence for it?

Posted by: Ed Brayton | January 16, 2006 11:29 AM

Ed, unless he's being sarcastic, here's the post where Dembski gives them impression he hangs out with Hef.

http://www.uncommondescent.com/index.php/archives/638

Posted by: Ocellated.com | January 16, 2006 1:55 PM

Imagine if Baldwin, Tom Cruise, Shirley Maclaine, and other Hollywood nitwits established a think tank

I laughed so hard at this that I couldn't finish the sentence.

Posted by: Ereshkigal | January 16, 2006 2:02 PM

Dembski has made reference to it before, but I always thought he was joking. He WAS joking, right?

Posted by: FishyFred | January 16, 2006 2:34 PM

I know Dembski made some comments on ID-critic Michael Ruse, who apparently did an interview for Playboy.

I don't know the details...I didn't even know that magazine had interviews. :)

Posted by: Dave S. | January 16, 2006 2:50 PM

I tried leaving this earlier, but I think the blog ate it since it had a link.

I'm not quite sure if Dembski's being serious here, but he made a post on Jan. 10th about the issue.

http://www.uncommondescent.com/index.php/archives/638

If he's joking, which he certainly could be, he sure didn't make it obvious.

Posted by: Ocellated.com | January 16, 2006 3:13 PM

I suspect he was joking there, since he had earlier said that he got the check from Ruse himself. The earlier explanation makes more sence, as they are friends despite their obvious disagreements. Hef doesn't even run Playboy anymore, so it's highly unlikely that he would even be aware of what was paid to Ruse to write his article, much less that he actually had the check and still less that he would have then thought to give it to Dembski. Sounds like sarcasm to me.

Posted by: Ed Brayton | January 16, 2006 3:51 PM

I'm sure that's the more likely explanation.

Has everyone else seen the latest and greatest of cannibalism going on over at Uncommon Descent?

Seems DaveScot woke up on the wrong side of the bed again this morning, and has been turning on his own. Josh Bozeman (one of UDs big supporters before he was banned) has vowed to not go down without a fight.

Grab a coke and some popcorn and head on over.

http://www.uncommondescent.com/index.php/archives/665

(Sorry Ed if I'm straying too far the topic...)

Posted by: Ocellated.com | January 16, 2006 5:14 PM

He's not the first washed-up actor to suddenly turn rabidly fundamentalist. Remember Kirk Cameron? He starred in a Left Behind movie, and he's helping Ray Comfort popularize the "Argument from Bananas."

A Hollywood thinktank, with those actors? Scary!

Posted by: Heathen Dan | January 16, 2006 5:58 PM

Ooh, that was fun to read. I said it this morning and now I'm sure - Dembski will pull the plug on his little project soon. DaveScot obviously has morphed into a bad Will Farrell character ("I drive a Dodge Stratus! People fear me!") and started throwing his imaginary weight around. Bombadill is busy saying things so ignorant that even Dembski must be cringing at being associated with them. And Crandaddy is posting quotes from Indian swamis and occult mavens. I predict Dembski pulls the plug soon and then tries to erase the whole sordid history. In the meantime, though, this is like the car accident you can't stop staring at.

Posted by: Ed Brayton | January 16, 2006 6:08 PM

I think we have the makings of this thinktank - Mel Gibson, Stephen Baldwin, Kirk Cameron. Hell, let's throw in a few pseudo-kabbalah followers like Madonna and Demi Moore.

Posted by: Ed Brayton | January 16, 2006 6:10 PM

I predict Dembski pulls the plug soon and then tries to erase the whole sordid history. In the meantime, though, this is like the car accident you can't stop staring at.

I agree. This is too much crap for even Bill to handle, and since his name is still on the blog, he'll have to step in and either take control back or shut it down altogether. No doubt with some nice sounding reason having little to do with the truth.

I like the part where DaveScot keeps saying that the purpose of the blog to advance the design ideas of Bill Dembski...oddly I've yet to see him post any threads on that topic. His ham-handed approach to his "power" as blogczar his hilarious.

I will miss it when he's booted.

Posted by: Dave S. | January 17, 2006 8:31 AM

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