You gotta hand it to this cretin - when he loses it, he loses it big. Matt Young puts up a perfectly reasonable post at the Panda's Thumb about a teacher in Colorado who was suspended for showing a 12 minute sock puppet animation of the opera Faust and the absolutely ridiculous response that followed (parents in the community accusing her of being a lesbian and a Satanist - over an animated opera, for crying out loud?). And DaveScot responds by railing at Matt Young like a lunatic:
Then over at Panda's Thumb Matt Young and the usual suspects are whining about this teacher being disciplined over it. Incredible. These are the people we are up against. I have absolutely had it with people like Matt Young and their concerted effort to censor traditional American culture and values and replace it with their own new age crap. Get out of my country, Young. Right now. Pack your trash and g-e-t o-u-t.
He's mad because the same teacher had decided not to include Christmas songs in their winter concert (she's the music teacher, obviously) and that appears to be the main motivation for why some of the people in the community lost their minds over it too. But notice that Matt actually doesn't say anything about whether that's good or bad in his post. He doesn't take any position on whether Christmas songs should be performed in public schools at all, he just mentions it as background to why people may be mad at her. Personally, I have no problem at all with Christmas songs being performed in public schools.
But that wasn't the issue of his post and it isn't the issue over which the teacher has been disciplined. So for defending this teacher who has been absurdly suspended, DaveScot tells Matt to leave his country (how's that for arrogant and presumptuous?). And remember, these are the same folks screaming about "academic freedom" to teach ID, but the moment you defend a teacher for something they don't like, you're a traitor and you should leave the country. I didn't think it was possible for DaveScot to become any more of a buffoon than he already was; i was obviously wrong.
- Log in to post comments
I thought the same thing when I read that. YOUR country? I hope to high heaven that we never live in DaveScot's country.
And really... you just knew that there was no other way he would write it. If he was going to tell him to leave the country, he was going to call it "my" country. Saw it a mile away. Good old Dave.
As to more lunacy from these types, see: http://www.stthomas.edu/law/studentlife/journal/vol_2_num_2_articles/Gr…
Their country would include a state ban on all forms of contraception. No I am not kidding. They ~are~ losing their minds.
Ed you might want to elevate this to another topic. My original source was the ADF alert site. You won't believe the extent to which these people want to control how we think and live, as well as the bad argument htey are willing to forward in order to take control.
What mind? I don't think this guy ever had a brain to begin with, perhaps a small lump of cells perched on top of his brain stem otherwise, his skull houses an empty, vacuous, void, best I can tell.
"As to more lunacy from these types, see: http://www.stthomas.edu/law/studentlife/journal/vol_2_num_2_articles/Gr…
Their country would include a state ban on all forms of contraception. No I am not kidding. They ~are~ losing their minds."
Uh.. Yeah... And to think someone actually wasted paper, disk space, and oxygen creating this steaming pile. Sigh... [walks away shaking head in dismay]
Maybe they're mad because the teacher showed them an opera based on a story involving a man whoes life revolves around the search for knowledge.
I assume this is the opera by Gounod. I really love that opera.
And since when is Gounod NOT part of traditional western culture that these guys pretend they want to protect? Besides, isn't Faust a morality tale about the bad stuff that happens when you sell your soul to the devil? Nothing is worse than ignorance combined with self-righteousness.
Because she recognized that actors played characters of the opposite sex, Teresa must be a lesbian. Because Faust mentions the devil, she must be promoting Satanism. Because she did not use religious music in the Christmas production, she must be anti-Christian.
I see we need to ban Shakespeare, the Bible, and Frank Sinatra.
Faust is New Age? What?
From memory about this story, I think that the initial parent response was because of selling souls to Satan [Hey, catchy title!]. Again from memory, the idiots [they're parents, guys, and swing influence] failed to understand that the story took a negative position on the subject.
However, this is reality. I'm not sanguine about this. For example, SharonB's amazement about seeking to outlaw all contraception. First, they've been after this for decades.. Second, this was virtually the reality not too long ago in the U.S.. Third, Ed will check me on this I hope, Kansas just made all sex between minors illegal!! [As a lawyer friend said, "Good luck on enforcing that one."] Lots of damage is possible.
I'm not concerned about the ability of these morons to make serious trouble. But don't focus on them, they're just footsoldiers and junior officers. They're also voters. Their generals, the far right psychomarketers, right now have a monoply on applying science to mass communication and mass decision-making in the U.S.
Those are the people we should be paying attention to. Currently they are running circles around the strategists of the left. All three branches of the federal government are controlled by a political group that, 40 years ago, was a tiny, ineffectual part of the Republican party. Now these people control the entire party and have nearly completed purging it of internal opposition. These people also now have control of most of the state governments. Their entire success is founded on long-term psychosocial manipulation of the U.S. population. In other words, founded on using their brains.
It's quite an achievement, no?
I blogged on the Colorado Faust case myself on my site. The parents raising a stink numbered all of six, according to the Rocky Mountain News. The teacher in question had the support of the majority of parents in her tiny town. The school admins were, however, chickenshit and the board was packed (in the Supreme Court sense), so she was not reinstated.
The teacher resigned just last week. The mayor of the town also quit, saying the flap about Faust was the last straw.
The teacher told her bosses that she would pray for them for their unjust decision. Contrast that attitude with DaveScot's, and you can judge for yourself which is the "better" Christian.
What a sad day we live in.
Just remember that as crazy as DaveScot shows that he is, Dembski is tacitly endorsing him.
"From memory about this story, I think that the initial parent response was because of selling souls to Satan [Hey, catchy title!]. Again from memory, the idiots [they're parents, guys, and swing influence] failed to understand that the story took a negative position on the subject."
To be honest, I'm not sure they care. Look at Capalert's film reviews - no matter what the context, if a film mentions something they disapprove of, it's bad. Of course, they made an exception for Passion of the Christ. These people seem to believe that if they shield their children from hearing about "evil" at all, then they will never get "evil" urges (which is seriously screwed up theology, never mind child rearing).
Dembski really stuck his foot in cowpie this time. If he had any hope of credibility, putting a nutjob in charge of his blog pretty much axed that chance. From now on, anytime Dembski speaks, people can bring up DaveScot's totally asinine rantings. And Dembski can hardly disown them.
He's a mean little sucker too. Take a look at some of his responses to criticisms. He got especially "testy" with a couple of my responses. This guy is your classic, hot-headed, fundy whack job. Kind of reminds me of some of the screaming banshees I hear on conservative talk radio.
These guys are extremely useful to those who desire power. That's why they scare me. Their anger is easily set off by certain key sets of words, phrases, and by certain ways of "framing" issues, and so they are essentially a weapon that can be triggered at will provided you control some media outlet that can reach them.
I like how they compare Faust to porno and practically equate the ACLU with the anti-christ. I could tell few of them took the time to check the original news stories about Waggoner. Some sincerely think Faust is about devil-worship, or so it seems, and that Waggoner showed the entire opera to the kiddies. Telling them otherwise does no good. Thick skulls, small minds. I wonder why I bother commenting on sites like that one ...
Adam
Once again I agree with your analysis and think it useful.
Would have this teacher been disciplined for having the class read *The Devil and Daniel Webster*? Or for performing any one of dozens of traditional American folk songs featuring the Devil as a character? And what about "The Devil Went Down To Georgia"? I don't see Charlie Daniels being called satanic over this song.
The religious extremists are not just protesting against modernism, but want to re-interpret America's history wholecloth. Sorry, but their obsession over the Devil is rather new, un-Biblical, and hideously myopic.