Stupid Statements (Part XVI)

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Commissioner Julian Fantino said on January 21, 2010 “Being charged with a criminal offence related to the Caledonia native protest is something I've incurred for standing up and doing what's right.” The Commissioner said this after he was served with summons to face a charge of influencing or attempting to influence a municipal official. The charge relates to a 2007 email he sent to the Mayor of Caledonia, Ontario responding to complaints from municipal politicians about so-called two-tiered policing during the standoff with native protesters at the disputed Douglas Creek Estates and specifically about the community leaders supporting a rights activist. In the email, the Commissioner threatened to recommend that the OPP not renew its policing contract with the community if they didn’t stop doing what they were doing. Last fall, a Caledonia couple sued the force and the Ontario government for $7-million, claiming the police failed to protect them and their home from rampaging native protesters. In December, the couple agreed to an out-of-court settlement.

The stupidity of televangelist Pat Robinson

Marion Gordon ‘Pat’ Robertson (born March 22, 1930) is an influential Christian televangelist, entrepreneur, and political activist. He is the founder of numerous organizations and corporations including: the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), the Christian Coalition, International Family Entertainment, Operation Blessing International, and Regent University. He is the host of The 700 Club, a TV program which airs on many channels in the United States and on CBN affiliates worldwide.

He is also one of the stupidest persons that has ever opened his mouth to speak. Here are some examples of his stupidity.

This is his simple explanation as to why Haiti has suffered for two centuries and why that suffering has now reached catastrophic proportions, such as the recent earthquake of January 13, 2010. "It may be a blessing in disguise. ... Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. Haitians were originally under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon the third, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said; we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal. Ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other." The more pragmatic explanation for the deaths of course, is that the lack of building codes made the earthquake far more deadly because the roofs over people's heads became lethal weapons. The San Francisco earthquake of 1989 was just as strong and yet only 70 people died, not tens of thousands. Why do bad things happen is not a meaningful question. I would rather ask how did we create a world in which bad things happen to good people and then ask how we can change that.

"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with." Robertson was calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Robertson's strong views have often provoked controversy, especially his condemnation of groups and individuals he believes to be in a state of sin. I find it obscene that a man who professes to be a Christian actually advocates the murder of a political leader even if the leader he wants assassinated is an undesirable person.

"Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up" He was suggesting nuking the State Department of the United States. It’s bad enough that terrorists plan to destroy federal buildings in the US, now we have a so-called Christian leader advocating the same thing.

"God considers this land to be his. You read the Bible and he says 'This is my land,' and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, 'No, this is mine.' He was dividing God's land. And I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations, or the United States of America.' God says, 'This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.'" Pat Robertson made this statement as an attempt to explain why Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke by attributing it to God's punishment, but it is a notion I totally reject. Robertson's increasingly shrill descriptions of how God is punishing people around the world, whether heads of state or ordinary citizens, begs an explanation and response. It is clear that Robertson sees events like the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, hurricane Katrina, and Prime Minister Sharon's stroke, as acts of an angry and punishing God. In this he blames both God and the victims of such retribution in one voice. Quite a feat for one who professes to worship a God who is both just and loving!

"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected him from your city. And don't wonder why he hasn't helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I'm not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that's the case, don't ask for his help because he might not be there." This religious twit said this statement after the city of Dover in Pennsylvania voted to boot the current school board, which instituted an intelligent design policy that led to a federal trial. If there is a god, then God by nature is love and does not perpetuate evil. God didn't do it but he will show up in the midst of that tragedy. But there's always going to be some ambiguity. All the question marks are not answered. And that's life. But many people are confident God is not a perpetrator of evil or disasters.

"I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period." I wouldn’t dare say something as stupid as that to my loving wife and certainly not if I didn’t want her to leave me.

"The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." Wow! Is this guy nuts? Well, actually, that question is rather academic.

"I would warn Orlando that you're right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don't think I'd be waving those flags in God's face if I were you, this is not a message of hate. This is a message of redemption. But a condition like this will bring about the destruction of your nation. It'll bring about terrorist bombs; it'll bring earthquakes, tornadoes, and possibly a meteor." This is what this guy had to say about ‘gay days’ at Disneyworld. During the Nigerian civil war, Fr. James Okoye, a Catholic priest from Nigeria was driving a van when a teenage boy asked for a lift. Two miles down the road the vehicle was strafed and the boy was killed. He later said, "That was the closest I've ever been to such a thing. I thought about the conjunction of events: that if I didn't give him a ride. But I didn't blame it on God. It was an act of war. Even the parents never questioned God's presence in all this. In the end, what can anyone do?

"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history." It is beyond all understanding as to how he can state that the evangelical Christians are being murdered by the millions like the Jews were during the Second World War. His statement is pure hyperbole. Actually, it’s pure gibberish.

"Lord, give us righteous judges who will not try to legislate and dominate this society. Take control, Lord! We ask for additional vacancies on the court." He was actually praying that some of the judges would die in office.

It seems to me that Robertson's habit of invoking the wrath of God wherever and whenever tragedy occurs or his feelings towards certain political leaders has become more pronounced in recent years. Is it addiction perhaps? Or, could this be a sign of dementia? And if he is slipping, inexorably, toward senility, could that be an indication of God's anger against Robertson's own false prophecies and ridiculous statements? Or are his fading mental powers simply a sign of advancing age, one of the characteristics of the aging process that has evolved over time according the processes of natural selection?

Conducting the research for this article was not unlike swinging at a piñata at a Mexican birthday party. Even though you are blindfolded when swinging the bat, you know that you will eventually strike it and when you do, all the goodies will fall out.