Captured by the Buffalo Beast

How is this for an intro?

The "magnificent P-Zed Myers," as he's known by Richard Dawkins, is a fearless heathen. The tagline of his blog Pharyngula reads: "Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal." He's publicly desecrated the Eucharist and been chastised by the Catholic League's Bill Donohue, bucked down libel suits, received countless death threats from religious kooks and he can kick God's old, white ass with nothing but his mind. Myers teaches biology at the University of Minnesota, Morris. We decided to give him a call.

The rest of the interview may not live up to that level of hype, but then, I was being interviewed by the infamous Dougie, and I was concerned about not overwhelming his special needs.

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Over the last couple of days, I've considered posting something on the controversy that's been sparked by PZ Myers' comments about the eucharist, and the reaction of Bill Donohue and the Catholic League to those comments. I've been putting it off because it's not an easy post for me to write. The…
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Ah... fist at last

By myaparmnt (not verified) on 22 Sep 2008 #permalink

he can kick God's old, white ass with nothing but his mind

Wow, that is fantastic! You should be very proud of yourself, P-Zed.

The guy seemed rather friendly towards you PZ lol...

And,"fearless heathen"sounds so medieval...

God's ass -- if he has an ass (in man's image) -- has to be really, really old. But does it also have to be white?

Off topic: My blog is due to receive its 200,000th hit sometime today. I'm not sure how to celebrate this completely insignificant base-10 milestone. Perhaps I'll turns some of these student math quizzes I have here into confetti (with virtually no impact on the grades of the students involved), but then how would I dump it on my 200,000th visitor. It's a problem! [/blogwhore]

Chuck Norris, move over...

So, what does PZ Myers have behind his beard?

A chin? No! He hase another argument against religion behind his beard!

I'm thinking if I get enough crackers and terminate them, I'll kill Jesus eventually. There's got to be a vital organ in some kind of cracker somewhere, right?

that made me snort. :D

Zeno, at His age, it should be green, and wrinkly, like an olive that's been left out in the sun too long but with less actual power.

God's ass... I just wonder what happens when the omnipotent one farts. It seems like a terribly unpleasant idea.

Anyway, that was just a thought.

Ha, love it! The photo of the dinosaur and Ken Hambone at the Deranged Museum has to be specific in noting that the moron is at right! It should have been captioned: "Pick the real dinosaur; Hint: one has a brain the size of a walnut, the other has religion!

Thanks for the link to Dougie's site - reading about crashing the creation museum opening had me crying, I was laughing so hard.

By Epinephrine (not verified) on 22 Sep 2008 #permalink

Fantastic interview, I found it really entertaining. =)

If you want to find more stupid things the media do, we have a newspaper here in Canada called "Le Journal de Montréal" that has the horoscope of every party leader. (We're in election too...)

They literally gave an astrologer the power to switch the voting intentions of people. That is more than stupid.

By Simon Coude (not verified) on 22 Sep 2008 #permalink

Am I allowed to be laughing that hard at work? Dougie (and his super-special website) is my hero.

That site is blocked at my work for "pornographic content".

Now i'm DYING to see what occurred!

:D

My sides hurt. I had never seen that interview with Ham I Am, and the Creation Museum. I'm crying over here. That has to be the funniest thing I've seen, besides Palin, in at least 100 days. Now I know why I hang around this place.

Which came first, the chicken or the chicken egg?

The egg came first.
It was laid by something that was almost but not quite a chicken. The differences were minor enough that biologists could spend decades and dozens of conferences debating whether the parent would be classified as a chicken or a proto-chicken.

The opening line of that made me think of nothing so much as Terence Stamp posing, saying "KNEEL BEFORE P-ZED!"

By Morejello (not verified) on 22 Sep 2008 #permalink

PZ explains how to debate a creationist:

You can take an entirely reasonable point of view, which is that they're morons, and you just make that clear.

Good advice in my opinion.

God's ass... I just wonder what happens when the omnipotent one farts.

You mean like this?

It's called Christian Rock.

Good ansuh!

By themadlolscien… (not verified) on 22 Sep 2008 #permalink

Loved this interview. My personal favorite question:

"Have you ever been caught ridin' dirty?"

LMAO.

By Pharma Girl (not verified) on 22 Sep 2008 #permalink

Mr. Murphy is responsible for multiple hilarious and biting hijinks aside from the great "Dougie goes to the Creation Museum" epic. These include an infiltration of the Church of Scientology, an amazing pair of Mayoral pranks (which culminated in getting the Mayor of Ottawa to negotiate rigging the NHL playoffs on tape), and canoeing across Lake Erie into Canada and back to prove that the millions being spent on border security there are wasted. The guy is a nut, but his work is delightful.

Oh yeah, this prank phone call to the 700 Club's dial-a-prayer hotline was pretty great too.

By heathenish (not verified) on 22 Sep 2008 #permalink

Far be it from me to poor cold water on the celebrations</lie>, but the point is that Life is chiral, not racemic.

Zeno | September 22, 2008 9:37 AM:
God's ass -- if he has an ass (in man's image) -- has to be really, really old. But does it also have to be white?

I thought that was just a reference to Bill Donohue...or maybe Pat Robertson. Both white. Both asses.

For someone who claims to want this issue to be over, you sure like to bring it up over and over again. Then again, self promotion is what you are really all about. As to your "atheism"... it is obvious that you believe that God does exist and that fact pisses you off. Your own language on this site and your radio appearances give that away. You, sir, are a fraud.

If McCain wins, I for one will welcome the coming of our mathifying canine overlords.

He he!

Brilliant, P.Z.!

Just what I needed :D.

If you were interviewed and had a blog, wouldn't you mention it?

Regarding the more ridiculous claims, I should remind you that you have fallen among the scientists. You can't just say "it's obvious". You have to show that it's actually the case. Go ahead, we'll wait.

By David Marjanović, OM (not verified) on 22 Sep 2008 #permalink

The Beast

I've come to find out that clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites. Could you, uh, maybe explain what that is, and what kind of message do you think this sends to our children?

Reminded me of this...
"Transgendered Sea Anemone Denounced As 'Abomination' By Clergy"

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/transgendered_sea_anemone

By Sauceress (not verified) on 22 Sep 2008 #permalink

That intro is awesome. Really awesome.

He's publicly desecrated the Eucharist and been chastised by the Catholic League's Bill Donohue, bucked down libel suits, received countless death threats from religious kooks and he can kick God's old, white ass with nothing but his mind.

That would make for an awesome epitaph.

Like your mom said, if your friends jump of a cliff, would you do it too? No you don't have to. If a fish turns into a hermaphrodite it doesn't mean you have to be a hermaphrodite either.

Kids just don't get that message enough these days.

"If a fish turns into a hermaphrodite it doesn't mean you have to be a hermaphrodite either."
Whew, that's a load off my mind.

By DangerAardvark (not verified) on 22 Sep 2008 #permalink

I too have been featured in the Buffalo Beast several times.

Well, if the letters section can be considered "featured."

Oh and also, super smart dogs are NOT a scary idea, as dogs are pretty reliably more moral than humans. Dogs is good people.

"Satan was in this phase where he was really into caviar, or something"
Strange but true... as I read that my inner voice modulated it so that it sounded like George Carlin... I'm still laughing.
Thank you PZ...

Actually, God didn't have a white ass, he deliberately had his henchmen disciples go steal him one.