I’m about to fly away, and I got word last night that the Dean of the Chapel at Rollins is suddenly getting quite irate about my visit. Finally, someone is reacting to me as if I were the antichrist! Maybe we’ll get some controversy Saturday night, although more likely they’ll discover I’m this terribly mild-mannered academic teddy bear and it will all blow over.
There are days I wish I were 6’6″ with tattoos and leather and a voice that was all iron and fury…but it’s just not my thing.
Maybe you need to work on a Darth Vaderish voice to make you more menacing. But you would still look like a mild mannered professor.
…or maybe, PZ, you could act like a fundy such as billo or Rush and lie and deceive and rant and rave and spew venom….
oh, wait…we atheists don’t do that. Sorry.
I have a pretty deep and raspy voice (not sure about furry). Maybe we should record some sound bits for you to use when needing to portray Mr. big mean nasty evil atheist puppy eater.
You could always do the tattoos, PZ. Just think of all the wonderful, colorful cephalopod inks you could get, and how they might cleverly wind their tentacles about your various body parts!
Controversy is good! Please wish him a Happy Squidmas when you meet him!
And how much easier it would be for your foes to debate you,if you were…
I didnt know you until 2 years ago or so,but you are indeed a mild-mannered teddybear,and the raving religious loons trying to get to you are just that,raving loons…..
I might get a tat or 2 myself,btw….
Oh, you mean like Henry Rollins!
Now that would be a tour I’d go to see! Henry Rollins and Pee-Zed together!
6’6.6″ would be the right height.
“Beware, for the Evil One shall beguile the unwary, denying the LORD and His Creation with soft voice and mild countenance.” (Revelation 23:17)
Grow your beard longer, wear chainmail, carry an axe, and claim you are a dwarf.
Remember to quaff twice your weight in beer (that is, drink the beer in such a wet fashion that you only actually consume the amount of beer you would normally drink) and be eternally angry and it should convince them.
You could always get some temporary tattoos and fake scary… here’s one of a squid
From the provided link:
I guess that policy doesn’t apply to visitors.
Trivia: Mr. Rogers was a music major at Rollins.
I had some awesome temporary octopus tattoos that I bought in FL when visiting my nieces… in fact, I think there’s one left still in their house. Maybe my sister would let you come get it?
Of course, it would be dangerous… the house is full of my brother-in-law’s Sixpack Chopra, FenShui and Reikki books and crystals and triangle portals and such… you might burst into flames upon setting foot in the door.
” There are days I wish I were 6’6″ ”
Not if you’re flying, you don’t… (I’m 6’7″)
There are days I wish I were 6’6″ with tattoos and leather and a voice that was all iron and fury
The voice can be pulled off easily enough. You just need some hexaflouride for it.
Sorry he’s getting bent out of shape over it – I think that’ll be the talk I can make it to, so hopefully i’ll get to see some fireworks.
Or maybe we can just prove to him that there are *lots* of teddy bears that don’t particularly care for sky fairies.
How many anti-christs can be sustained at one time? It seems the field has become awfully crowded recently with the addition of Obama to the list. Hope you don’t get squeezed out, PZ.
PZ, I think this tattoo would be perfect.
Just imagine the mischief you could raise with a pair of red tinted contact lenses.
raving loons….. ……all around
How exactly does a loon become raving?
What a silly post. You don’t need to be six foot six with tattoos and leather, and voice of iron and fury. That is a wholly false myth. It’s as stupid as picturing and regarding Arnold Schwarzenegger made up in his absurd “Commando” movie suit as a real war hero; when the truth is the sub-stature and child-like in appearance Audie Murphy was the real life war hero. You should reflect on the words of C. S. Lewis: “The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid dens of crime that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, and carried) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.” Of course some images do not fit (like the smooth-shaven cheeks, and possibly the cut fingernails), but the meaning is clear.
Doesn’t get sarcasm and quotes C.S.Lewis.
Awesome.
PZ. Just let one of your tentacles slip out from under your coat.
That should stir things up a bit.
While the hygiene observations are still true, it seems to me the contemporary picture of behaviour is somewhat more varied. The worst among us do indeed like to raise their voices, depending on the occasion. When wishing to appear sobre and serious and ever so concerned for the state of their flock’s (and everyone else’s) souls, they may well speak softly, if nauseatingly patronizingly. When wishing to polarize and enrage their bought followers, they may well scream and shriek–and there may be hardly a break to take a breath between these modes. Demagoguery requires a certain artistic range. Smoothly oiled charm where appropriate, a faux-bureaucratic concern for tradition where appropriate, and yes, rabies where appropriate. The practiced power-monger, whether he relies directly upon a religious tradition or not (though so many do), does well to master all three.
Ah, C.S. Lewis- the authority on all things inane.
Let me guess…
hmmm he’s a fundie Christian who only sees black and white?
I dunno where my head was at, but I clicked on the link to the page for the Dean of Rollins and saw the link there at the bottom left entitled “The Great Organ” and the first thing that came to mind was “Wow, this guy sure has delusions of grandeur.”
You should just call Hitchens and see if he’s busy this weekend.
Errr, make the the link for the Dean *of the Chapel* at Rollins…
It’s very useful when commenters quote or cite C.S. Lewis – you know immediately you’re dealing with a religidiot.
Academic teddy-bears for rational investigation!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7767376.stm
Don’t doubt the religious folk in Orlando/Winter Park. I went to a debate between Michael Ruse and some other guy I cant remember who, but the ignorant were out in numbers. I didnt help that it was at Valencia community college which was across the street from a christian school. When someone asks how did plants get so dispersed, you know there are morons in the wings.
You promise not to jump up in the middle of a service to present a lecture on transitional forms and he promises not to froth and rage in the middle of your presentation. I’m confident you have the self-control to hold up your end of such a bargain; does he?
Maybe the Dean of the Chapel is annoyed because you’re speaking at the same time he’s presiding over Christmas Vespers, and he thinks you’re going to steal his audience? ;-)
Dear PZ, may I suggest you simply pray for increased height and indelible skin ink? This, if it happened, would surely settle this religion thing once and for all (and no cheating mind – stacked shoes and transfers don’t count. I for one would believe if this happened to you. And think how your new image would impress christians and athiests alike!
I await with bated breath god’s final triumph over reason.
ennui @29…
That would work. Maybe bring along that Blake Stacey monster, too.
Teh Ebil Triumvirate.
thank you for clarifying your manner…
i was having trouble interpreting your smile in your picture… teddy bear vs. cheshire cat
Who does this story piss off…
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97537385&ps=bb3
?
Doesn’t piss me off at all.
Makes me snicker.
Sort of a Muttley style of snickering.
Well I guess veggie tales is far worse.
It’s very useful when commenters quote or cite C.S. Lewis – you know immediately you’re dealing with a religidiot.
Well, bits of the Screwtape Letters are realy funny if read the *wrong* way.
I just HAD to make the Henry Rollins joke. than I saw that someone had been quicker. Pharyngulists are really difficult to outwit…
Graculus @ #42:
I actually like “Screwtape Proposes a Toast”. In everything but religion he makes good arguments.
#39 : Actually I’m all for promotion of the Bible. The more people read it thoroughly, the more they’ll understand how horrible it is, and how hopeless it is to try and derive moral rules from it.
I suggest a variant of “The Green Bible”. Instead of printing in green the passages related to the environment (or thought to be so), we should print in red the ones with the blood and guts.
Of course an ad exec would try to make it more appealing by changing the packaging rather than addressing the content.
Although, seeing that he at least claims to be secular, Christophe @45 may have a good point: maybe he’s trying to get more people to see what a load of crap it is.
It’s very useful when commenters quote or cite C.S. Lewis – you know immediately you’re dealing with a religidiot.
Doesn’t get sarcasm and quotes C.S.Lewis.
Let me guess…
hmmm he’s a fundie Christian who only sees black and white?
So I look back and try to figure out what happened that deserves such a strong reaction (poor CS Lewis), and I find a post by Barry that seems pretty innocuous to me. Even a bit informative. (Perhaps it didn’t come across as sufficiently subordinate to PZ to some).
It’s a shame that people do this, but behaving like it’s more important to separate the in-group and the out-group (like these posters are doing with their name-calling) instead of reading people’s posts respectfully for their meaning and intent (though no doubt some posts do deserve ridicule, but this isn’t one) is something I really hate to see in the atheist community.
#39 Good News for Modern Man or The Way again??
Gee, I wish hadn’t tossed that other pop New Testament written in late sixties and early seventies slang. It would have been a riot if not a rot to read today.
I see you’ve quoted me.
I don’t think you read Barry’s post for meaning or intent.
And you obviously then did not read my in the same vein.
yawn. No one here is subordinate to PZ. If there are any they need to get a life. If you spent any time reading posts you’ll see people here frequently disagreeing with PZ. That comment shows you to be ill informed.
And, your concern is noted.
And he said unto them, far out man.
Hey PZ, you’re in Minnesota, how ’bout hiring pro wrestler Ric Steiner or his brother to show up first, claiming to be you?
Also, if you’re up to antichrist status, how long until you get to be Santa?
“There are days I wish I were 6’6″ with tattoos and leather and a voice that was all iron and fury…but it’s just not my thing.”
I wouldn’t worry about it. If you just keeping doing your thing, you’ll single-handedly transform the mild-mannered teddy-bear-look into something TERRIFYING!!!
(Or you could just show up in your Hawaiian shirt, Bermudas and flip-flops.)
With a quick skim, I read “Bible Illuminated” as “Bible Illuminati” and though how interesting it would have been id Robert Anton Wilson and Bob Shea rewrote the bible. Discordia and Jehovah. Adam and Eve and the Golden Apple stamped with a “K.
Surely you can scrounge up a white lab coat and a beaker of bubbly green Evil ChemicalsTM ?
Yikes.
Of all the things I didn’t expect to happen before lunch today, the two which have impressed me most have been my induction into the Hitchens league and my receiving the comment, “Is this testing whether I’m a replicant or a Muslim, Mr. Deckard?” Truly, the world is a strange place to visit.
Somehow “atheist” just isn’t a very scary term. Sort of conjures up, well, PZ Myers and the like. Over-the-head arguments are perhaps their scariest weapons.
You really have to go for the supernatural to start frightening folk, since even if they don’t believe it’s real, the warped minds that do can be damned scary.
The fear atheists provoke mainly involves tedium (not for intellectuals, but those are rare enough). You’re going to have to go for the supernatural (unconventional works best, although it gets harder and harder to really be unconventional) if you really want to scare someone. An irate chaplain or two just isn’t good enough.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
All PZ needs is this to convince the goods folks that is is not to be messed with.
the dean of the chapel? is that a joke?
Google “Bob Bitchin”, ex-biker, publisher of Latitudes & Attitudes magazine.
One evening in Annapolis, a group of us marine professionals were dining with Bob and Jody. As I walked to our table trailing Bob, it came to me that I could be naked and most people would still be staring at him. Maybe only 6’5″, but has the beard and definitely has the tattoos.
If I remember correctly Thinkgeek used to sell a ‘Dr Evil’ labcoat you could wear.
Rev BDC @ #3 –
Maybe we should record some sound bits for you to use when needing to portray Mr. big mean nasty evil atheist puppy eater.
But where do you find the big mean nasty evil puppies and why would he eat them? ;^p
Tep@47,
What did you take to be the point of Barry’s comment? It just looked like a standard content-free troll’s sneer to me. C.S. Lewis is dead, by the way, so unlikely to be affected by my comment; I simply find it surprising and amusing how many Christians believe he’s some kind of significant thinker.
Ok, so am I the only pervert here who put together bear, leather and tattoo and imagined PZ giving a talk in a gay bar?
Do you mean the post that interpreted literally something spoken figuratively in an effort to refute it and then quoted a vapid statement by a man most known for starting with a conclusion and inventing arguments to defend it rather than letting the arguments lead to the conclusion? That was informative?
Do I sense some projection here?
Yawn. Your concern is noted.
you could tattoo a small “666” thats not easily visible but convenient enough to flaunt among believers!!
Stupid grammar.
/fist shake
You should have Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead appearing instead of you (at least long enough to get the religious morons crapping their pants). He has the gravelly voice, the generally fearsome appearance, and with a little added incentive, he’ll sing one of his anti-religion songs like God is not on your side.
Um, so what did the dean have to say about your visit? I can’t find any comments.
Take a box of Triscuits as a peace offering?
O/T :
Can’t pay your debt because of the economic recession ?
Why not do the same as Donald Trump: claim it’s an act of God ?
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/trump-sees-act-of-god-in-recession/
pfffffffft
That’s ridiculous because everyone knows that Lemmy is God.
Alright! Stop it! I now have images of PZ dress up in black leather, tattooed and pierced and singing Orgasmatron.
sniff
It is true, atheist are evil!
Yikes!
Johnny Vector @ #7:
It’d be just like talk.origins: Rollins could tell the creationists they’re fucking morons, and PZ can supply the “…and here’s why” part.
I learned an awful lot from people at t.o going stompy-stompy on creationists. It’s like a cross between a science lecture and the Jerry Springer show.
PZ is probably on the plane to FL already, so he won’t see most of these comments for a bit.
I’d like to echo the question about what information was imparted unto PZ, and by what means (friendy phone call?) about this dean. There is no info on the link provided.
The dean probably didn’t make any official statements, but I imagine anything he said would get around quickly, we have people everywhere, ya know…. >:-)
You could show them what militant atheist really means.
I’m about to fly away, and I got word last night that the Dean of the Chapel at Rollins is suddenly getting quite irate about my visit.
The Dean of the Chapel must know he’s a waste of money who should be fired. PZ is a threat to his worthless career.
Actually, the mild mannered approach is far more effective.
Using th eword “actually” quit eoften also helps.
(or ummm…)
Posted by: Tep | December 5, 2008 10:27 AM
“So I look back and try to figure out what happened that deserves such a strong reaction (poor CS Lewis), and I find a post by Barry that seems pretty innocuous to me. Even a bit informative.”
– Let’s see here… Barry starts off by saying “What a silly post.” He then gets to “It’s as stupid as picturing…” and then quotes C.S. Lewis to make an irrelevant point that had nothing to with PZ’s. Oh how informative and not worthy of a reaction…
“I really hate to see in the atheist community.”
-Classic concern troll line. Definitely an “atheist” too…
“(though no doubt some posts do deserve ridicule…)”
–
#80 should have ended with:
“(though no doubt some posts do deserve ridicule…)”
– (cough, cough… snicker)
Well, i’ll be there tomorrow. I am only 6’2″ and 255. I don’t have any tattoos though :( So, firefighter t-shirt or atheist/Darwin t-shirt? That tis the question?
Maybe I can come of as the brutish/militant-atheist. Yeah, I like the sound of that!
I can’t help it but the more I see the title of this post the more I think of this song.
Militant atheist
http://plaza.ufl.edu/cschmidt/Militant.jpg
Whatever people, the CS Lewis post managed to call PZ the greatest evil in funny way, and then there were a bunch of responses that just called the poster names. Just hit me as being very in-group sounding.
And also, are there people who really think everything CS Lewis said is automatically garbage? That’s rather narrow thinking, IMO. I found the quote reasonably true (and I don’t mean how it was applied to PZ).
are there people who really think everything CS Lewis said is automatically garbage Tep
“Well, I don’t know the context of Barry’s quote:
“The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid dens of crime that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, and carried) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.”
However I can’t say I’m impressed. The parenthesized phrase is an unnecessary and clumsy addition: “moved”, “seconded” and “carried” are terms specific to debate, generally political debate – but how often are formal debates important in bringing about concentration and labour camps? I simply made a teasing – but true – observation: those who quote C.S. Lewis are almost invariably Christians who consider him an important thinker – a view I find laughable.
Since C.S. Lewis claimed he was an atheist that converted to Christianity it makes sense that Christians would post his writings here. I guess they think that we have some high esteem for C.S. Lewis and if he had a reason to do something we should too. Ineffective, but predictable.
I don’t think everything he wrote was garbage, I just have no respect for his apologetics after reading the trilemma.
Well, I have two tattoos (Anubis and a barn owl), but I’m a girl and I’m only 5’2″, so I don’t think I’ll be much help. But I’ll be at Rollins with my fearsome snarl all the same.
Hello from seat 113 (center section, far rear right (from your perspective)).
Because people agree?
So when people happen to agree on something it’s group-think?
estraven @ 63 wrote –
Well, when I read the post I was thinking “Hm, surely I have a friend or two who can do ‘Bear Eye for the Straight Atheist Professor Guy.'” Why, just a pair of leather chaps and a quick hanky code lesson would do wonders! And, come to think of it, wouldn’t a leather bear be even more likely to scare a bunch of creationists?
I just got home from meeting PZ, and I must say, he is even more cute and docile looking than I had imagined. Kawaii!
“Of course, it would be dangerous… the house is full of my brother-in-law’s Sixpack Chopra, FenShui and Reikki books and crystals and triangle portals and such… you might burst into flames upon setting foot in the door.”-craig#13
Actually wouldn’t he turn into the Incredable Hulk? you know, rage and destruction, the whole bit.
“It’s very useful when commenters quote or cite C.S. Lewis – you know immediately you’re dealing with a religidiot.”- Gotts #31
“Doesn’t get sarcasm and quotes C.S.Lewis.
Let me guess…
hmmm he’s a fundie Christian who only sees black and white?”- mayhempix#27
That’s absurd. Charles Ludgwig Dodson had a lolita complex. And he was far from a reasoned person as far as religion goes. Alices Adventures Underground (and all subsequent versions) was the first real children’s tale that didn’t espouse any sort of moral to it at all.
Ironically, all this mess over Harry Potter, The Golden Compass, Eragon (unusually little discusion there- the elves are Atheists HA HA HA) all stem from this fisrst story about a little girl [read Alice Liddel] who discovered an inchanted world, quite by accident. From athieism, back to Christ, then a return to our roots.
The only real kind of curse seems to be my gratuitous spelling errors here. HEY-OH!
RickrOll (#94):
Um, how do we get from C.S. Lewis to Lewis Carroll? Other than by free associating, that is.
Tep,
That you find it “reasonably true” doesn’t mean much, it’s a cop-out. Who do you think C.S.Lewis was refering to as the people who are responsible for the greatest evil ? Do you think, like Barry, that PZ belongs there ?
Hi PZ, welcome to Orlando!
I can’t make it tonight, unless there is a gathering after 9.00.
Don’t let the dumb down here stick to ya.
Dan
You want to be careful of that Dean. He has a Great Organ and he’s probably prepared to use it in you.
On you.
Sorry. Sorry. Use it ON you. Fat finger error. I and O next to each other on keyboard. It’s how Jupiter’s moon got named, although how the hell you get Ganymede when trying to hit an I or O, O din’t kniw.
so, is there a gathering of pharyngelicals tonight? i live two hours away and need some extra lead time, but would like to go if there is one. (see, i’m even willing to give up watching football today for this (well, it’ll be recorded), but, you know, not live and with probable spoilers.)
#43 I just HAD to make the Henry Rollins joke. than I saw that someone had been quicker.
Henry has the tats, and the tude, but he’s actually shorter than PZ, who is around 6 foot as I remember, Henry is in the high fives.
Sastra with a Taser might be an interesting bodyguard.
And PZ can also inhale Nitrous Oxide to obtain a Hulk Hogan voice, that would also make the speech REALLY INTERESTING as well.
I am sooo sad. I’ve been planning on going to see PZ for weeks (and my friend firemancarl) and now I can’t.
Carl – PLEASE take a pic with PZ and send it to me OK??
(oh – and say “Hi” to PZ for me too!)
Stacy
First I note that PZ only heard that the Dean of the Chapel is irate. He doesn’t apparently know first hand and so the information may be garbled.
Second, assuming he is indeed irate, we don’t know why. It could be as small as someone didn’t do the proper paperwork to being upset with what PZ stands for (or what he has been told PZ stands for). Or perhaps he would like to go but is required to be at Vespers.
The Dean appears to be Patrick Powers, Dean of the Knowles Memorial Chapel and Chaplain to the College; M.A., Augustinian College; M.A., Villanova University; Ph.D., Duquesne University, with degrees in theology and philosophy. He also teaches a variety of courses at Rollins. Judging by the courses he is probably a fairly liberal Christian (his required readings in some courses include Crossan and Ehrman). He did sign the clergy letter in support of the teaching of Evolution and opposed to the teaching of creationism and intelligent design as science.
Actually, I have seen the emails now. He objects because I am blasphemous and committing religious terror. He doesn’t sound at all liberal in his letters.
I don’t think going to Vespers is a problem. A bigger issue is that I’m speaking at the same time as the Alabama/Florida football game.
You know, what you (PZ) did could be considered “terrorism”.
They see that we’re slipping from under their thumbs, and they’re terrified.
Football is a religion in some parts of this country. How dare you have an event at the same time (how dare the chaplain schedule Vespers at the same time).
My assumption is he is referring to the communion wafer incident. How much has he heard about it, does he have the full story or only a distorted story? And is he personally upset (and I suspect any Catholic [I think he is Catholic though he doesn’t appear to be ordained] probably would be) or upset on behalf of others but not taking it any further beyond expressing his upsetness or is he trying to take it further and how far?
“liberal Christian” refers to his stance on Christianity not to his general liberalism. Given what he is teaching he does not take the Bible literally and probably would have Donohue denounce him for what and how he does teach (e.g., use scholars of the Bible who aren’t Christian and some who are even atheists). Liberal Christians tend to be accepting of other religions, sometimes seeing them as alternative ways of getting to the ‘truth’. I couldn’t find anything on his views on atheists and none of his courses seem to cover atheism or atheists. Couldn’t find any sermons, articles, or books by him either.
I really don’t think having a concern makes one a “concern troll.” There are plenty of behaviors that I wouldn’t like to see infiltrating the “atheist community,” and I think it’s important for people to call foul when they see something they perceive as a problem. Dismissing it as “concern trolling” could lead to groupthink, which I haven’t seen too much of here (y’all squabble plenty) but we should always be on the lookout for it.
And while I realize that C. S. Lewis wasn’t a hugely important thinker and that he made bad religious arguments, I do think he wrote very nicely and sometimes had interesting things to say.
And … I don’t think that Tep was saying people agreeing made them hiveminded or something – it was more that immediately discounting anyone who ever quoted C. S. Lewis seemed like kind of an arbitrary not-one-of-us distinction, which seems narrow-minded to me too.
Ugh. I realize I’m too new to be saying this and I hope people don’t think I’m a concern troll and hate me from now on :(
I’ve just had a look at their site; lovely picture of the Dean’s Great Organ.
It amazes me how you self-righteous jacklegs keep perpetuating the stupidity of the evolutionist religion. The blogger may have a degree, but he sounds like he has only a degree of indoctrination and can only repeat from the atheist humanist fools. Anyone who continues to ignore the fallacies of the bone readers and ludicrous claims of their followers to justify the fairy tale deserves to be chastised.
——————————————————————————–
“The fundamental reason why a lot of paleontologists don’t care much for gradualism is because the fossil record doesn’t show gradual change and every paleontologist has know that ever since Cuvier. If you want to get around that you have to invoke the imperfection of the fossil record. Every paleontologist knows that most species, most species, don’t change. That’s bothersome if you are trained to believe that evolution ought to be gradual. In fact it virtually precludes your studying the very process you went into the school to study. Again, because you don’t see it, that brings terrible distress.” (Dr. Stephen Jay Gould) …………just one of many admissions that these fools will say anything to obliterate rael science from their own religion SCIENTISM
——————————————————————————–
“To postulate that the development and survival of the fittest is entirely a consequence of chance mutations seems to me a hypothesis based on no evidence and irreconcilable with the facts. These classical evolutionary theories are a gross over-simplification of an immensely complex and intricate mass of facts, and it amazes me that they are swallowed so uncritically and readily, and for such a long time, by so many scientists without murmur of protest.” (Sir Ernest Chain, Nobel Prize winner……………..Blogger…….you haven’t the sense to humble yourself!