Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
"It's not about necessarily about the Bible . . ."
Via PZ, news of an incident in Janesville WI a couple of weeks ago, in which a student stood up for his First Amendment rights - and so frightened the school administrators they had to take unspecified disciplinary actions. One of his classmates was so terrified that she has refused to return to the school, and her sister has likewise transferred. What horror did this student perform to cause such a ruckus?
From the news report:
"He took the Bible and he said, 'I'm going to do this because I can. I'm going to do something that your stupid, little minds aren't going to be able to comprehend and he took the Bible and started ripping out pages."
School officials said that they know about the incident.
"We take this extremely seriously," said Dr. Karen Schulte, Janesville School District safety and security coordinator.
There more, and video of the report, which makes it a little more clear that while everyone is paying lip service to the notion that this unnamed kid was within his Constitutional rights to do this, the fact that he tore up a Bible! is what has everyone freaking out. The header of this post comes from a quote from the father of the girl who has refused to go back to school:
"The school worries about his right to privacy and to free speech that to teachers' rights or the students' right to safety," said Paul Jacobson, Elle’s father.
He said that he's pulling his two high school daughters out of Parker High.
"It's not about free speech. It's not about necessarily about the Bible although that was disgusting, too. This is about the vicious, vile manner in the way this kid went about this and tried to make some kind of point," he said.
Right to safety? Give me a break. Are students and schools district administrators now so afraid of their own shadows that they lose bowel control when confronted with someone ripping up paper?
No, this was undoubtedly due to the fact that the kid, whether some alienated adolescent, budding atheist, or just a smart student trying to drive his point about free speech home, decided to abuse the holy book of the prevailing culture. Don't think so? Consider what the reaction would have been had it been a Koran, or even Origin of Species.
Jim Downey
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One thing I hate about
One thing I hate about stories like these is that the context is so often left out...
For instance, the student's actions in tearing up the Bible would fit perfectly into a free speech presentation or if he'd been asked, say, to give a book review of the Bible. But what if he suddenly jumped up from his desk in the middle of a Math lecture to take the same actions? Would we be applauding his support of free speech, or should we then have questions about his anger control? The facts given are insufficient to make a reasoned conclusion.
What did the kid say motivated his behavior? There were no quotes from him in this "well-balenced" news piece that read more like a "See What That Bad Atheist Did to My Precious Little Girl's Fragile Mind" diatribe.
"It's not about necessarily about the Bible . . ."
In what way does tearing up the Bible constitute a threat or a school safety issue? Why does this girl feel physically threatened?
It doesn't sound like the kid even *mentioned* people. There's no mention of any threat - he simply destroyed a book.
fear.
honestly? some of the more... shall we say "simple" religious do feel physically threatened by non-christians. because non-christian means pro-satan. and satan is out to devour your soul. which means, of course, a bible ripper is out to destroy you.
sounds retarded, of course. and yet, quite true.
if you ask this simpleton father to explain how it's "threatening" without any reference to a bible at all (since he said it's not about the bible) i guarantee he can't do it.
or at least, if he does just by referring to the defacement of a symbol of something people hold dear, when faced with the other options already presented (koran, science book, etc.) he wouldn't be so emphatic.
sadly, these people will never get it. just like the bible rippin' kid said. their level of critical thinking is so low to nonexistant that they will never understand how they fall directly into what is described in the constitution as things of which to be wary.
which is why i gleefully advocate the execution of the stupid.
:-D
Threat
I've met people who felt that if you didn't agree with them, especially in terms of religion, you were committing an active assault against them.
That same mindset probably extends to cover things like this.
interestingly enough...
Apparently the school mascot is some kind of Viking. The school yearbook is called the "Vallhalla" and the school newspaper is "The Odin."
Don't you think the Jesus freaks would be upset about that?
Don't give them ideas,
Anon.
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
The xian persecution complex rears its ugly head again
It amuses me when xians freak out over an incident like this. If they were at all secure in their faith, they would laugh it off.
- No More Mr. Nice Guy!
Actually . . .
. . . I think that a lot of the backlash we see against "militant atheists" is exactly due to that, NMMNG - they are *not* really secure in their faith, and they just hate to have that pointed out to them, if even subconsciously.
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
limits
I'm sorry but there are limits on all of our freedoms. The freedom of speech does not extend to riping apart Origin of Species.
"He took the Bible and he
heh. Boy was he right about that!
Jefferson's Bible
Jim gets right to the heart of the matter when he wonders:
We all know the kid would have been applauded if he tore up a Koran or a science book. Because that's free speech, right?
I wonder if anyone in that school district remembers that one of our founding fathers cut up the bible pretty good (figuratively cut up, that is).
From Evil Wiki-
What's that? Remove the "supernatural aspects" of Jesus' teachings? Isn't that blasphemy? Thomas Jefferson would have been drawn and quartered by the religious right today.
But don't you know . . .
But don't you know that *all* the founding fathers intended the US to be a Christian nation, Dirk? Just ask the fundies, they'll tell you so.
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
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