the killer of puppies
Many years ago, Buck Henry did a routine on Saturday Night Live in which he played an absurdly meek radio talk-show host who’s not getting any calls. Nervousness sets in, intensifies. (The only call he gets is from his mom.) He stutters that he doesn’t see anything wrong with forced busing — in fact, he’s in favor of it! Silence. So, almost squeaking now, he declares his support for Communism! Still nothing. So, in desperation, he squarely affirms: “Dead puppies. I like ‘em.” When even that fails to get a response, he panics and starts screaming — as people come into the studio to carry him away — “I’m in favor of forcibly busing known Communists into YOUR HOMES to KILL YOUR PUPPIES!”
I don’t know what this character’s name was, but from now on I’ll always think of him as P. Z. Myers.
I believe he was responding to some provocation of some kind from the Catholic League.
Nevertheless, I can only nod along with Meyers when he writes in a follow up post:
“Twenty-five of them have told me to desecrate a copy of the Koran, instead, or in some similar way offend Muslims, because — in a multiplicity of ironic cluelessness — apparently only some religious icons must be protected, and I would only offend Catholics because they are all so nice that none of them would wish me harm.”
— talboito · Jul 12, 09:29 PM · #
I believe he was responding to some provocation of some kind from the Catholic League.
Actually, no, in this case the Catholic League was responding to Myers. Myers has demonstrated conclusively that if you taunt Catholics and mock their beliefs on the internet, some Catholics will respond in your comments with vitriol. Good thing only Catholics are such angry nutjobs, or we’d all be in danger!
— Alan Jacobs · Jul 12, 10:04 PM · #
I think the point of the 25 letter-writers was that Myers was being selective in whom he offends, much the point that Dreher made in the post Jacobs links to. That point may or may not be unfair (I am ignorant of Myers’ oeuvre, though not his reputation), but it’s the opposite of saying that Muslims deserve offense when Catholics do not, and it is disingenuous to suggest it.
I also find it really shoddy to use one death threat to extrapolate a pre-modern madness among Catholics in general. I’m sure Bill Donahue gets death threats all the time as well, but that doesn’t mean all secularists or people who dislike Bill Donahue are nutters.
— Blar · Jul 12, 10:13 PM · #
Reminds me of one of my favorite passages:
Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil provided such evil is also visited upon the Muslims: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him and demand that he smite a Muslim’s right cheek also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, pray him feign to have thy Muslim companion’s coat taken away as well. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, ask him to compel a Muslim to join you. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away so long as he asketh and borroweth of a Muslim as well. Otherwise, call him a coward.
Matthew 5:38-42, I think. Do I have it right?
— southpaw · Jul 13, 12:32 AM · #
Clever! I had forgotten that the Gospel of Matthew commands that Christians mustn’t criticize those who insult them.
— Blar · Jul 13, 01:40 AM · #
Myers was responding to the myriad death threats Webster Cook has received for not consuming a communion wafer and instead showing it to a friend who wanted to learn more about the Eucharist.
— James F. Elliott · Jul 14, 10:47 PM · #
No. Myers was inventing the claims of death threats so far as anybody can tell. John Farrell repeatedly asked for evidence that Cook received any death threats. Myers provided none. Ultimately (oh the delicious irony) the only evidence we have that Cook received the death threat Myers claims is unquestioning faith in Myer’s word. Cook may now (after the fact) claim he got death threats. But in the original piece that provoked Myers wrath there is zero evidence to show that he did. But Myers’ minions have an astounding amount of faith for people who claim to be skeptics. Nobody ever stopped to check and see if Myers was telling the truth.
— Mark P. Shea · Jul 15, 03:06 AM · #
Thanks, Mark — I raised this question in a comment on my second post on this topic.
— Alan Jacobs · Jul 15, 03:41 AM · #
Mark,
The Cook death threats were reported in the news, where PZ and everyone else read about them. Why should PZ be expected to produce death threats that were sent to someone else, a person he never met?
It’s not hard to find, if you were willing to look yourself.
— Chris Bell · Jul 15, 03:07 PM · #
Chris, the only story Myers quotes in his original post makes no mention of death threats, though he strongly suggests that it does. If he was getting that information from somewhere else, it would have been helpful if he had linked to the source.
— Alan Jacobs · Jul 15, 03:20 PM · #
Dreher’s attempt to find hypocrisy in Myers’ post about the Muslim cartoons works only insofar as you don’t actually read the post itself. If you do, you find Myers defending the idea of mocking religious beliefs, and that the quotes Dreher and Sullivan have quote-mined actually refer to his opinion that the cartoons push racial stereotypes.
I don’t think Myers successful attempt at trolling Donahue is a very productive way to criticize or satirize something, but as usual, when it comes to being over-the-top about something, he can’t hold a candle to Donahue or Shea.
— Bad · Jul 15, 03:34 PM · #
Well, Mark claimed that PZ is apparently “inventing” the claim. A google search would have been enough to kill that idea.
— Chris Bell · Jul 15, 03:39 PM · #