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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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The people with the best reason to attack Pat Robertson are devout Christians who care about the credibility of their faith. They object to the partisan uses he has sought to make of the passion of Christ. But not one of them worthy of respect, and especially not the Pentecostal faith where Robertson began, would trivialize the agony and suffering of its redemptive God into campaign slogans for politicians. Faith, to be blunt, is irrelevant to many of the political causes that Robertson has forcefully championed. Not to all of them, and we shall come to those issues. What needs emphasis now is the fact that Robertson's self-declared war to save the soul of America is not with secular humanists, as he says. It is with other Christians.
Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore, The Godless Constitution: The Case Against Religious Correctness (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996), p. 155. (italics added)
« Collins v. Dawkins | Main | The Octopus Throne … exposed to infidel eyes! »
Category: Kooks • Media • Stupidity
Posted on: September 19, 2007 10:47 AM, by PZ Myers
The Great Wasteland is done. It's hit bottom. I suspect everyone has heard about Sherri Shepherd, a new co-host on a talk show for stupid women, who doesn't accept the theory of evolution and, by the way, isn't so sure about the shape of the earth, either.
Way to go. Way to reinforce the idea that women are incurious airheads. Way to inform and educate and encourage thinking — hire an idiot to help anchor your program in idiocy.
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Comments
Posted by: Bryson Brown | September 19, 2007 10:54 AM
At least Whoopi gave her a hard time about it.
Posted by: Moses | September 19, 2007 10:55 AM
I saw that this morning. I was going to send you a link, but I was too busy. Glad you found it.
Posted by: Dahan | September 19, 2007 10:55 AM
Well I for one will NOT throw away my TV. I use it to watch NOVA occasionally and...OK, I guess that's all it's been used for in the past year or two, but still. NOVA!
Posted by: Cat's Staff | September 19, 2007 10:56 AM
So she can quickly and definitively reject the theory of evolution, but she hasn't thought about whether or not the Earth is flat...hmmm.
Posted by: HPLC_Sean | September 19, 2007 10:56 AM
I gave my TV away two months ago. Since that time, my guitar-playing has improved substantially, I've read two books (non-fiction, of course), my song book is filling up, my bike gets used a lot more and I sleep like a baby.
Chuck your TV and rejoin reality!
Posted by: Reginald Selkirk | September 19, 2007 10:58 AM
TV? What TV?
Posted by: Johnnie Blevins | September 19, 2007 10:59 AM
You're an optimist. There's always farther for it to fall.
Posted by: EMR | September 19, 2007 11:01 AM
I wouldn't have believed it possible, but this is actually a step down from Rosie "9/11 Was An Inside Job" O'Donnel. :-(
Posted by: Gregg | September 19, 2007 11:14 AM
I thought the world was basin-shaped with a big hole at the bottom. I don't want to imagine where that leads us.
Posted by: Gridman | September 19, 2007 11:17 AM
Score one for Team Whoopi, though!
Posted by: dcwp | September 19, 2007 11:23 AM
I'd like to present her with evidence that the human body is over 70% water. How could she possibly reconcile this with the Genesis account of God making Man from clay and breathing life into him. Surely using this as our guide, the human body should be a majority clay with some quantity of air.
Perhaps our fair hostess has not stopped to think about this either or just thinks that red stuff that pours out of her when she is cut is a runny red clay?
Incurious doesn't even begin to describe this waste of airwaves.
Posted by: Jan Andrea | September 19, 2007 11:36 AM
Oh my godlessness, I saw that yesterday morning! I am *so* not a daytime TV person, but I turned it on while I was having my lunch, and just about brought lunch back up again while she was talking. It was just f-ing unreal. "I haven't really thought about whether the world is round/flat." Honest to goodness, my jaw dropped and I went "Buh buh buh buh..." before I started swearing at the TV. WTF!?!?!
Whoopi was great (is she an atheist/agnostic? she was fair but didn't seem to have much patience for the God nonsense), but this woman (and the skinny white chick sitting next to her) made me go "WHAAAAA??" Skinny white chick because she was all "The ACLU is evil because they defend *everyone's* rights, not just the ones I think they should defend!" and this other woman because, honestly, how can you be so jaw-droppingly stupid and still live from day to day?
I'm glad I'm not the only one. I was practically foaming at the mouth yesterday. And then I turned off the TV and turned on Diane Rehm.
Posted by: valhar2000 | September 19, 2007 11:37 AM
Can't say that was hard; I didn't have to look at my Godless Evolutionists Conspiracy Manual at all to figure out what to answer!
Posted by: MartinC | September 19, 2007 11:42 AM
Wait a second, I've just checked out her biography on the abc website.
"The Chicago native is mother to two-year-old Jeffrey, Jr., and two retrievers, Angel and Shatzi."
She's mother to two retrievers? Isn't this the sort of evidence creationists say would prove evolution?
Posted by: TomS | September 19, 2007 11:59 AM
This makes me think of the TV programming in the film version of Farenheit 451 - an escape for the bored and intellectually incurious where the TV characters become your "friends" and replace real interaction.
Posted by: ZacharySmith | September 19, 2007 12:02 PM
Cat's Staff (#4) brings up a great point - the dumb shit on TV doesn't even know what the shape of the Earth is, yet feels confident in dismissing evolution.
I've experienced similar conversations when arguing with creationist nitwits in the online comments section of my local newspaper.
The less they know, the more strongly they argue against evolution. Creationism is truly the refuge of the proudly ignorant.
Posted by: Rey Fox | September 19, 2007 12:08 PM
"She's mother to two retrievers? Isn't this the sort of evidence creationists say would prove evolution?"
Ba-dum-CRASH!
Posted by: Kristine | September 19, 2007 12:17 PM
"I never thought about is the world flat, but I thought about how to feed my son." Well, maybe if people got educated, they wouldn't be worrying, in supposedly the richest country in the world, how to feed their children!
Bet she didn't think about that, either! But whatever, she's got hers. For a while. Until her act falls flat, and she goes the way of that rounded former View hostess.
Posted by: Interrobang | September 19, 2007 12:22 PM
From where I'm sitting, the worst part about Sherri Shepherd's blathering is that when you're a member of a non-dominant group, people, particularly members of the dominant group tend to judge all members of your group by the actions of the standouts. (For another quick, ready-to-hand example, crime committed by darker-skinned people is always an issue for "the black community," but is there collective guilt for white guys who rob, rape, and kill? Not so much.)
PZed hints at this phenomenon when he says, "Way to reinforce the idea that women are incurious airheads," but I'm going to make it explicit, because it's worse than it looks: Every misogynistic asshole from here to Larry Summers is going to take her pronouncements as proof that women just shouldn't bother their pretty little heads about science.
I'm not even a scientist, and I'm getting that feeling like I'm Orac and I just ran across another creationist surgeon...
Posted by: Raynfala | September 19, 2007 12:24 PM
Oh man! Stop the world; I wanna get off!
--Raynfala
Posted by: k | September 19, 2007 12:38 PM
I saw that yesterday on Jezebel (http://jezebel.com/gossip/enjoy-the-view/-300966.php) and tried to watch the actual video clip but it was so horrible I never made it to her confession of stupidity. Either that or the levels of ignorance killed a few brain cells and I totally blacked out for a few moments. Wait, did I watch it or did I wander off in a fugue state? Hmmmm...
Posted by: Salt | September 19, 2007 12:40 PM
Sherri is right up there with Miss. South Carolina.
Posted by: Lily | September 19, 2007 12:41 PM
To #18 (Kristine):
I doubt she even needs to worry about how to feed her son - she's presumably a well-paid actress (especially now that she has this job on "The View"). She is unfortunately perpetuating the stereotype that others have mentioned - that women don't need to (or aren't capable of) learning anything beyond how to pop out babies and raise a family. There is no excuse for her stupidity - even if she was never formally "taught" that the earth is spherical, she's at least seen a globe at some point in her life.
I would say that ABC should remove her from the show, but given the amount of publicity her statement has received there is little chance of that happening anytime soon.
Posted by: raven | September 19, 2007 12:44 PM
Twenty percent of the US population still thinks the sun goes around the earth. This is 400 years after Copernicus and decades after the US sent space probes everywhere including past Pluto. This women lives in a deep, dark, cave of her own making.
Didn't watch the clip but the comments indicate she has a kid and 2 dogs. No word on a husband. He probably ran out the door screaming, "NO! NO! You are way too dumb to deal with."
TV just reflects our culture. 50% of the US population have IQs below the median of 100. Lots of dumb people out there and Sherri is one.
Posted by: SteveM | September 19, 2007 12:44 PM
I am so hoping this clip makes it onto The Daily Show
Posted by: Craig | September 19, 2007 12:46 PM
I would also be worried about how she's going to feed her son. I hope she knows which hole the food goes into.
Posted by: Sonja | September 19, 2007 12:54 PM
OK, Sherri Shepherd was asked directly about the shape of the earth and we learned that she doesn't think about it.
How many talking heads on TV have ever been asked that question? I don't think there would be enough outrage to go around if we actually knew how every person appearing on TV would answer that question.
Just like dealing with your extended family, sometimes it's better not to know...
Posted by: ElJay | September 19, 2007 12:55 PM
#24: half the population ANYWHERE, not just the USA, is below IQ 100.
Posted by: Lars | September 19, 2007 12:59 PM
Here's a longer clip, if you haven't seen it .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ACobXN7_p8
I'm sure the last few seconds of it will be highly illuminating. It features sex and violence. Well, not much violence. And no sex either. But you'll learn a lot you didn't know about sperm! ;)
Posted by: tony | September 19, 2007 1:00 PM
This reinforces my (non-scientific) survay of people I meet...
There does seem to be a median IQ of around 100 -- but the distribution is NOT a bell curve! More like a camel with a truly HUGE hump at the bottom end, and a longer shallow hump at the top. I seem to meet more 'really stupid' people than 'really smart', but the stupid -v- smart seems to average out.
I'm an HR consultant so perhaps my sample is biased? ;)
Anyway -- I find it appalling that so many 'media' people are so truly dumb ass.
Posted by: Ken Cope | September 19, 2007 1:04 PM
Consider the person of average intelligence. Now, think about the fact that the other half of the planet is even stupider than that guy! Don't forget to underestimate the average intelligence of the American public...
Posted by: Siamang | September 19, 2007 1:08 PM
She saw the cover of a bestselling book that told her that the world was flat.
Posted by: MAJeff | September 19, 2007 1:13 PM
The skinny white chick is Elizabeth Hasselbeck, whose claim to fame is being married to an NFL quarterback (and formerly hosting a useless fashoin TV show). Boston College is sooooooo proud of her. Another reason to hate where I'm going to school...it turns out people like the Hasselbecks.
Posted by: Inoculated Mind | September 19, 2007 1:30 PM
Did anyone count her chromosomes? My guess is she's weighing in at 48.
Posted by: sailor | September 19, 2007 1:33 PM
"Twenty percent of the US population still thinks the sun goes around the earth.'
Yes but only about 15% actually think the world if flat.
Posted by: Anthony | September 19, 2007 1:39 PM
I love the point she made about going to the library to find out if the Earth is flat. I think we all know she would end up looking for some Flat Earth book to prove her point.
I think it's about time they book a female astronaut to appear on the show.
Posted by: CalGeorge | September 19, 2007 1:47 PM
Here you go, Sherri, the Flat Earth Society, with lots of info that will help you answer your detractors, e.g.,
Q: "Why are other celestial bodies round but not the Earth?"
A: The Earth is not one of the other planets. The Earth is special and unlike the other bodies in numerous ways.
Good luck!
Posted by: Bad Albert | September 19, 2007 1:47 PM
"She saw the cover of a bestselling book that told her that the world was flat."
Actually she saw a map on the wall and amazingly enough, it was flat.
Posted by: JimFiore | September 19, 2007 1:53 PM
Flat Earth, round Earth...
Folks, have you learned nothing? The Earth, like the Internet, is really more like a series of tubes. Just ask Ted Stevens!
Posted by: NonyNony | September 19, 2007 2:06 PM
I'd like to present her with evidence that the human body is over 70% water. How could she possibly reconcile this with the Genesis account of God making Man from clay and breathing life into him.
Dude, she's willing to admit on television that she "doesn't know" if the earth is flat or round - somehow I doubt that presenting her with the fact that the human body is over 70% water and asking her to resolve the contradiction would get you very far - she'd probably just say that you're wrong, or god is magic, or something.
If you don't have the pesky prerequisite that the things you believe to be true actually be true, you can get away with believing some really weird stuff.
Posted by: jpf | September 19, 2007 2:15 PM
I googled her website to see who she was. The announcement on the front page is completely unsurprising:
God answred her prayers. The answer was "No, put your foot in your mouth."
Posted by: inkadu | September 19, 2007 2:17 PM
Is the world carried on the back of a turtle moving through space? I think it is, 'cuz i read it in a book from a libary.
Posted by: Craig | September 19, 2007 2:22 PM
What was worse was the attitude. She wasn't just saying she didn't know, she was implying that she was RIGHT not to know, because she's been too busy with important stuff to bother with that. She was essentially implying that Whoopie's question was a stupid one, but NOT for the same reason it would be a stupid one to ask the average ten year old.
Posted by: Brain Hertz | September 19, 2007 2:24 PM
Seriously? Do you have a cite for this?
Posted by: Doc Jones | September 19, 2007 2:29 PM
As many of the previous posts have suggested, we are faced with several startling and sobering realities stemming from Ms. Shepherd's statement regarding her evolutionary beliefs, or lack thereof.
1. She is not in the minority in this country with respect to her faith in the theory of evolution.
2. By virtue of her artificially-elevated status as a TV host, her influence will quickly outstrip that of all but the most persuasive evolutionary proponents, if it hasn't already.
At the risk of sounding pedantic - oops, too late - might I suggest we spend more time scheming to correct the educational whirlpool in this country and less time riffing on the limited intellect of a hapless few.
Posted by: Rey Fox | September 19, 2007 2:34 PM
I suppose it would be too much to ask for that she get booted off the show, but if she did, then I'd love to e-mail her and say, "I prayed for that."
Posted by: Kausik Datta | September 19, 2007 2:34 PM
Inkadu, don't forget the elephants...
Posted by: Stephen Burrows | September 19, 2007 2:36 PM
I can't believe that any of you actually lasted the 8 minutes of that clip. I was going to puke about 2.5 minutes into it. Horrible! Not like I would ever watch that show anyway. But my respect for anyone who does has just gone down.
Mr. B.
High School Math Teacher
Posted by: Umilik | September 19, 2007 2:38 PM
"Did anyone count her chromosomes? My guess is she's weighing in at 48".
You really think she's got the intelligence of a chimp ?
Posted by: kellbelle1020 | September 19, 2007 2:38 PM
Throw my TV away? But I'm watching a History Channel show about pirates! PIRATES!
Can we just throw The View away instead? I think that would be a much better arrangement.
Posted by: firemancarl | September 19, 2007 2:41 PM
So, I post this tidbit on the Packer Report and I get asked if its another one of my anti relgious posts. It's actually not, I canna believe that someone in the US wouldn't know that...
here's the thread link...check it out. I'm "firemancheesehead"
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=61&f=1808&t=1055629&sto=pagestart
Posted by: Melissa | September 19, 2007 2:47 PM
Every misogynistic asshole from here to Larry Summers is going to take her pronouncements as proof that women just shouldn't bother their pretty little heads about science.
Hear, Hear! It's nearly as irresponsible and stupid of the blogger to generalize in such a way. Granted, The View isn't the most informative, brain-building show.. but not every host is a complete dimwit. From Star Jones to Elizabeth Hassleback to Sherri Whatsherface.. there has been a strong conservative (and yes, idiotic) voice. Counter that with more liberal and outspoken women who actually exercise their Grey matter.
Posted by: inkadu | September 19, 2007 2:59 PM
Kausik -- Of course. The elephants. How could I forget about the elephants? I'll tell you how: I was too busy figuring out how to put food into my mouth! Do I use my hands to do it, or my feet, or my elbows? Where is my mouth, exactly? If I eat with it, how come i can talk with it too? If I kiss someone, will I accidentally eat them? What I inhale them by accident?
These are the questions that are worth answering.
Hmph. Scientists. Next thing you know they'll be saying the turtle moves.
Posted by: Hank Roberts | September 19, 2007 3:00 PM
Deductive logic at work:
> the human body is over 70% water. How could she
> possibly reconcile this with the Genesis account
> of God making Man from clay
God breathes water.
God breathed water into the clay.
Probably through a siphon, while holding the clay in her tentacles, but that's just speculation.
Q.E.D.
Posted by: Patrick Quigley | September 19, 2007 3:04 PM
Posted by: Brain Hertz #44
Here you go.
The data is from the 2006 General Social Survey.
Question:
Now, does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth?
Answers:
Earth around sun 73.6%
Sun around earth 18.3%
Don't Know 8.0%
Refused 0.1%
Posted by: Gerry L | September 19, 2007 3:06 PM
Here's another scary thought for you: This Sherri person is probably registered to vote.
Posted by: MLH | September 19, 2007 3:15 PM
Well, yeah - the View is, as you observed, a talk show for stupid women, so it should come as no surprise that the network found an extraordinarily stupid woman to host it. Who cares? You didn't watch it before, you don't watch it now, and if you're anything like me, you had never heard of it until it became impossible (literally) to ignore Rosie O'Donnell publicly losing such marbles as she has on the show. In other words, it could be hosted by Charles Manson, Derek Jeter, or the Secretary of Agriculture and it wouldn't make the slightest difference to you, me, or anyone else who has something better to do.
The View is certainly an insult to peoples' intelligence, but it's pretty unimportant in the grand scheme of such things.
Posted by: raven | September 19, 2007 3:21 PM
Yes, this is a real number. Gallup GSS poll, 2004 or 2006. Run a search engine and find it.
Not surprisingly, among fundies it is even higher, 26% IIRC.
Posted by: Denis Loubet | September 19, 2007 3:30 PM
With the bar set down to this new low, how will we parody stupid people now?
Posted by: Brain Hertz | September 19, 2007 3:41 PM
Owwwwwwwwww.
There's some seriously scary stuff in there - thanks for the link (I think... :-o). I'm not sure what's scarier, the 20% who think the Sun goes round the Earth, or the 8% that don't know. Oddly enough, the combined 26-28% or so figure seems to crop up fairly frequently: it's the same percentage range as responded that lasers work by focusing sound waves, that electrons are larger than atoms, that astrology is "sort of scientific" (yes, that was one of the real options) and that George W Bush is doing a good job as President.
Coincidence? I think not...
Posted by: ail | September 19, 2007 3:48 PM
Ms. Sheppard obviously has not bothered her pretty head about science, and they can see the result. To say women should not bother about science, they would have to approve of that result. On the contrary, her statements offer a compelling illustration of exactly why women ought to learn science.
I suppose there is always the possibility of rebuttal from the misogynists' camp that they do approve of Sheppard's naivety and find it sexy.
Posted by: Ronnie Pudding | September 19, 2007 4:06 PM
Regarding the Sun-around-the-Earth poll in #55, I think there's a difference between people who actively believe the Earth is the center of the universe (Bible sez so!), and the incurious lot who just don't remember anything they learned in school. Neither is defensible. But I'd be curious at how these would break out.
Posted by: Arnosium Upinarum | September 19, 2007 4:13 PM
We all know in this (crazed and demented) society that a "fair and balanced" operative in broadcasts for public consumption is to be respected as a given: for every intelligent opinion aired, we must perservere to give equal time to stupidity.
By now the standard bar has been lowered far enough so that broadcasters are wallowing out the delicately subtle shades of grey between "stupid" and "even stupider".
Oh what an acute sense of right we all have.
Posted by: Chris | September 19, 2007 4:38 PM
But they can only do that by counting the misses and forgetting the hits, because Goldberg is just as female (and just as black, if you want to make invalid generalizations about that too) and clearly had her head in working order.It's regrettable that *anyone* is that ignorant, but I saw at least three out of the five panelists having some connection to reality.
Posted by: noncarborundum | September 19, 2007 4:46 PM
I understand Lisa Nowak needs a new gig.
Posted by: J Daley | September 19, 2007 4:47 PM
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Posted by: noncarborundum | September 19, 2007 4:49 PM
I understand Lisa Nowak needs a new gig.
Posted by: Barn Owl | September 19, 2007 4:51 PM
Throw away your TVs....
OK, I guess I can always watch the David Attenborough CDs on my Mac.
Sherri Shepherd....
Errrrr...who???
a new co-host on a talk show for stupid women....
Errrrr...what's a talk show, preciousssss?? Is it crunchable?
Is the world carried on the back of a turtle moving through space?
I was very much hoping that Earth was like Terry Pratchett's Discworld, and now y'all are telling me it's not. My day is ruined, and I shall return to Ankh-Morpork to sulk. >:-(
Posted by: AnthonyH | September 19, 2007 4:56 PM
Sure it's fun, if a bit cruel, to make fun of a profoundly ignorant person, especially someone who is willfully ignorant. However, if people like us sit around snarkily waiting for the education system to improve itself, or for the ignorant masses to educate themselves, the true realization of enlightenment values will be a long time coming.
Outreach, people, outreach!
Posted by: fardels bear | September 19, 2007 4:59 PM
When Doctor Watson first meets Sherlock Holmes, he discovers that Holmes doesn't know that the sun is the center of the solar system and the earth moves about it. When so informed, Holmes does a shrug of his shoulders and says he'll do his best to forget that information because it is useless to his work.
At first I thought that Shepard was pulling a Holmes here, that we should focus our energy and time on problems here on earth, blah, blah, blah. Then it became apparent that I was giving her WAY too much credit and she's just a cretin.
I suggest we all go read Watson meeting Holmes to get the stoopid out of our heads:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext95/study10.txt
Posted by: noncarborundum | September 19, 2007 5:18 PM
Moriarty, on the other hand, is quite well versed in celestial dynamics, as witness his publication The Dynamics of an Asteroid. More proof of the evil fruits of scientific study.
By the way, this is OT, but I found this wonderful t-shirt. I wanted one, until I found out the seller is (apparently) serious. Now I'm not so sure. Should I be contributing to the coffers of a Creationist? Somehow I doubt it. Yet the design is so wonderfully self-parodying that I'm strangely drawn to it . . . .
Posted by: bernarda | September 19, 2007 5:43 PM
Presumably she went to American schools. In all her time in primary and secondary school she had never encountered any mention of the fact that the earth is a sphere turning around the sun in a galaxy turning around?
If that is the case, there must be millions like her.
Posted by: Monado | September 19, 2007 6:32 PM
Au contraire, I am planning to get a high-density TV or whatever they're called and watch National Geographic specials, Canadian Discovery Channel (Daily Planet's DAILY Science News), and the like.
Posted by: ngong | September 19, 2007 6:42 PM
How many times did they use the word "believe"? 2 times per sentence?
Posted by: Watt de Fawke | September 19, 2007 6:52 PM
When Columbia incinerated during reentry, Dan Rather was on TV and took calls -- live -- from viewers. His first call was a prankster pretending he witnessed debris falling from the sky, and Rather did not know he was being put on. The caller made it to his gag line -- "They think it's Baba Booie's foot!" -- and not only Rather kept going, but his support staff kept the call going. The prankster laughed and hung up, and Rather still didn't get it.
This was Dan Rather, of "What are the frequencies, Kenneth?" fame.
Dumb as a stump.
I fear they all are, and, really, that's as it should be. Corporate sponsors stand to make more money the stupider the audience gets, so every bit of stupidizing (because 'stupefy' is already a word with a different meaning) helps sell soap. And cars, face paint, stinkum, the Purple Pill, diet pills, and fatburgers.
Posted by: Rich | September 19, 2007 7:52 PM
Silly girl. Of course the Earth is round. If it was flat it couldn't be hollow. Pffft. It's so obvious.
Posted by: Geral | September 19, 2007 8:51 PM
I liked Whoopi's and Walter's comments on the subject. I didn't agree with all they said but I like how they found a fairly neutral ground in seeing evolution and a.. well, round earth.. with God too. Not bad, and it sure beats 6000 literal years.
I laughed out loud when she said she never thought about a round/flat earth. Then when pressed if her son asks, she said she'll "Go to the library to look it up". Okay. So look up books about the evolution of species see what you can learn from that too.
I give her a week. I wish I was on that episode.
Posted by: Brandon P. | September 19, 2007 10:32 PM
What kind of school did this moronic Oprah ripoff go to? Come to think of it, where the hell did she grow up?
Posted by: MAJeff | September 19, 2007 10:36 PM
"But TV gives so much and asks so little."
Posted by: Frank S. Kim | September 20, 2007 4:25 AM
From always excellent Kung Fu Monkey:
Posted by: ben | September 20, 2007 5:17 AM
I wonder if she might have more time to ponder deep questions like the shape of the earth if she wasn't overestimating the magnitude of the other task task. I mean, she's obviously already grossly overestimated the food needs of at least one other family member.Posted by: David Marjanović | September 20, 2007 10:26 AM
Please don't tell me the average 10-year-old in the USA still doesn't know the Earth is round. Please. <tremble>
People enter school without already knowing...? <tremble some more>
Sherlock Holmes also takes codeine...
Posted by: jane hay | September 20, 2007 12:20 PM
Sherri's a Jehovah's Witless. End of story.
Posted by: Laser Potato | September 20, 2007 3:00 PM
To be honest, I stopped watching TV around the time Cartoon Network stopped airing Bob Clampett cartoons. At this point it was pretty much nothing but Scooby Doo 24/7, so no big loss.
Posted by: Carlie | September 20, 2007 7:29 PM
And you know who's standing up against stupidity on The View? Barry Manilow, that's who. He was booked, but refused to go on the show when he couldn't get them to promise he wouldn't have to deal with Elizabeth (the former queen of stupid before the new hire, and a fundie evangelical type).
From Barry:
Hey guys,
I wanted to let you know that I will no longer be on The View tomorrow as scheduled. I had made a request that I be interviewed by Joy, Barbara or Whoopi, but not Elisabeth Hasselback. Unfortunately, the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request so I bowed out.
It's really too bad because I've always been a big supporter of the show, but I cannot compromise my beliefs. The good news is that I will be on a whole slew of other shows promoting the new album so I hope you can catch me on those.
Love,
Barry"
Posted by: BlueIndependent | December 5, 2007 12:36 AM
For lack of a better exclamation, CHRIST is she dumb. I'm actually glad she made herself into the world's biggest dunce on TV. Yet another glimpse into how mentally detached these people are not only from real society, but apparently their own beliefs. Now she's made herself look like the world's biggest robot. She doesn't seem to have questioned anything in her entire life.