Backing and Filling, Waffling and Noodling

Those who are interested can find a funny instance of academic hypocrisy here. Nick Gier is one of our intoleristas, and has been trying to rally forces against us by banging the plagiarism drum until the stick breaks. He is quiet for a little bit until he finds another stick, and then he starts up …

Little Geneva

It turns out that the folks at Little Geneva don’t like the fact that I tell redneck jokes. And as a result of me acquiring this information, here are a couple more! What do a tornado and a redneck divorce have in common? I dunno, what? In both cases, somebody loses a mobile home! And …

Velveeta Evidence

The president of the University of Idaho has, in a maladroit attempt to avoid controversy, created a controversy. He put out a statement the other day that in the scientific departments of the university, the teaching of Intelligent Design was verboten-idea-kind-of-thing. Science is based on evidence, he said, and then issued a decree from on …

Got My Fingers Crossed!

A few days ago, I recorded here the news that the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression had included Southern Slavery As It Was on their list of banned books. There was an article about this in the UI student newspaper, and today William Ramsey, one of our our intolerista professors here, wrote to the …

Their Punishment Is Their Life

I just finished a fascinating book on the disintegration of French culture and national life, but one of the most striking things about the book was a comment the author (Denis Boyles) made in passing on the last page. “I was once a college teacher, and as those who teach know, the politics of the …

More Out of the Nail Can

As we sort through the propriety of using satiric speech, there is first the doctrinal or theological aspect of it (what does the Bible require of us?), and after this is the practical or pastoral aspect. I would like to key off several important comments posted under my recent post on The Nail Can of …

Outstanding!

As a result of a reporter setting up an interview with me, I found out that The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, as part of their sponsorship of banned books week, has listed Southern Slavery As It Was as one of the books that was “challenged” by the censorious this last year. Their little …

The Nail Can of Bitterness

Once a British politician was running for office, and he was confronted by a heckler who shouted out that he would not vote for him if he were the archangel Gabriel. “Ah,” the politician replied. “But if I were the archangel Gabriel, you would not be in my constituency.” Now they were both speaking “negatively” …