First, thank you to all of you for your encouraging comments. I deeply appreciate them.
A most painful thing happened to me today: I had a thought. Oh, I know, you might be thinking, "Oh, it's probably just gas," but I've had gas before and I'm fairly certain this was a thought. One thing I know is that it hurt like hel.
Y'see, I read a followup story in today's paper about Paul Mirecki, a Religious Studies professor at the University of Kansas. Dr. Mirecki had developed a course for the school for the coming semester titled "“Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and Other Religious Mythologies.” Well, this course drew the ire of members of Kansas' Religious Reich, who objected to Dr. Mirecki's use of the word "mythologies" to describe a course that would describe its sacred cow, Intelligent Design. Seems that's just trompling on sacred ground there, and must not be allowed.
Oh, yeah, Dr. Mirecki also wrote a few emails -- private emails, at that -- to a web-based discussion board for stuent atheists and other free-thinkers, KU Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics. Some Reich members saw the emails and went berserk.
Now, Dr Mirecki isn't just your run-of-the-mill koledge teechr. Nope, he's a bona-fide Doctor of Theology and a Harvard graduate. And he's not just any old RS teacher. He's the head of KU's Religious Studies Department, and has been teaching at KU since 1989.
As I said, he pissed off the Religious Reich with the course's title in the first place, and his emailed -- and private -- opinions about Intelligent Design, the latest nonsense foisted on the folk of Kansas by the Christian fundies. They, of course, raised a ruckus that resulted in Dr. Mirecki's apologizing and removing the M word from his course's title.
That not being enough to salve the wounded egos of Reich members, he then pulled the course entirely, no doubt frustrating and disappointing the 25 or so students who had already signed up for the course.
Well, that still wasn't good enough. In the true spirit of the Burning Times, the good folk of the Religious Reich are now demanding that every course offered by the university -- that's right, the entire curriculum -- be investigated so as to root out anything of which they don't approve.
Ya know, I thought the First Amendment was universal, that it applies to all points of view and not just those of which we agree. I mean, the meanest, most bigoted redneck has every bit as much right to voice his opinions as the rest of us, regardless of how repugnant, stupid, evil, or just plain absurd others of us may think. Yes, the rest of us have the right to refute said redneck's ideas, but not -- NEVER -- to prevent him from spouting his vitriole.
I guess I was wrong. It seems the Amendment really means we all have a right to speak our opinions so long as some particular group approves of that opinion. It's not just the religious fundies who seem to think this way either. Just look at our beloved preznit, ol' Dubya his own self -- if you say anything to disagree with him, why you, sir, simply aren't a "real Amurican." Y'see, that's what the Christian fundies and their cohorts really want -- to censor the rest of us and ensure we think just like they. Oh, they'll yammer about only wanting to save our immortal souls and just spread their god's word, but their base agenda is total control, just like their brethren in the Middle East. My soul, at least, doesn't need saving; it's in no trouble at all, thank you very much, and I just don't believe in their god -- I'm perfectly content with my own.
I lost a lot of close friends and brothers in the Vietnamese jungles and I can assure you not a one of them fought and died so these fruitcakes could destroy the most fundamental Amendment to our Constitution. Not a one, and I doubt that any of the over 43,000 young people who died there did either.
Well, folks, that's my rant for today. If the fundies have their way, this will also be my last. My next address will no doubt be Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or some nameless prison in eastern Europe.
Protect the First!
5 comments:
This is one of those times when one just has to say: "Toto, thank GOD we're not in Kansas anymore!"
My first thought when reading this is how lucky for the student body to have such a learned person teaching at that school.
My second thought was that i'm so sick of the individuals who live to find things to scream about that, to my way of thinking, don't really change or affect daily life. And once they start screaming, they continue on until they've not only gotten attention but have also managed to wreak havoc in areas that could better do without them.
To update yo on Prof. Myrick. First, he issued a formal apology for his emails. This was followed by threats to him from various (and, of course) unknown sources. Two days or so ago, he was beaten and bludgeoned by oneof his "fans,\." He's physically okay, suffering only what was described as a "minor concussion" as well as various cuts and bruises. Today, he resigned as head of the RS Department at KU, although he remains a tenured professor. And the fun and games of the religious right just keeps on coming.
TW
Now that is just completely messed up TW.
So, what good did it do for him to resign as head of the department? It wasn't enough that he apologized for a class that the university had already approved - or so I assume since there's some governing body that approves such things. He had to get beaten up for having an opinion...it really pisses me off that there are so many in the frickin' gene pool who don't understand that intelligent design wouldn't have allowed them to exist!
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