After a creditable BBQ dinner last night (with excellent potato salad, beans, and sweet tea), my hosts asked me if I wanted to see the posters of my talks that had been defaced by Murray State students.
Of course I said yes, so we went to one of the large lecture halls to see the damage. Many of the posters had been removed as well, and one building refused to allow them to be put up at all!
So much for freedom of speech on this campus. Anyway, here’s some of the damage. Note that you cannot fob this off on “students taking bits of poster to make laundry lists.”
I’m told that once someone puts up a sign like the one below, the damage stops. “WWJD” stands, of course, for “What would Jesus do?”—a common trope among the Christian faithful. The implication is that Jesus wouldn’t deface posters, because he loves even secular Jewish atheists.
But I wonder what Jesus would do? After all, he wreaked havoc among the money changers in the Temple.
~
Rare is the establishment that serves up a potato salad that can be called excellent.
They don’t like your nose.
I thought someone was just trying to take his glasses off.
Yes, take off your glasses so that you can see “the light”…
but … … but … bu … bu … b …
Dudn’t wwjd stand, at the least amongst us any – gender / any – ethnicity freethinkers: W H A T W O U L D J E R R Y D O ? !
Blue
Heh. Once I worked with Iowa Public Television, taping a concert by a regional symphony orchestra. The TV crew were all superbly competent, and also lots of fun to work with. The producer was named Jerry Grady, and at one point someone handed out little lapel pins bearing the letters “WWJD”, in rainbow colors with blinking LEDs, no less. I think I still have mine, and I plan to wear it if I ever get a chance to attend one of our esteemed website host’s lectures.
I always took that as an objection to the Jews using their holy temple as a place of business, not the evilness of moneychangers per se.
So, in modern parlance, I think Jesus would be perfectly fine with you presenting at a Uni auditorium…but not a megachurch charging admission for a hosted inspirational speaker.
The mega-church’s Jesus wouldn’t see it that way!
(And I have no idea what comment #3 is about.)
I think the larger point is that Jesus was willing to destroy private property and assault law-abiding citizens in order to further his agenda.
That’s part of the beauty of being a Christian – the power of rationalization! Anything you do to defend God or Jesus is justified. Just ask Martin Luther.
Well at least you’re attracting attention. Hopefully it will inspire people to wonder what all the fuss is about and to go hear something sensible at your talk.
I was disappointed with the damage. There were no smart ass comments. Make your vandalism count. Funny how Jesus shame stops it.
I think this explains the religious projection of immoral behavior they attach to atheists. They didn’t understand that vandalizing the posters was wrong until a higher authority told them to stop. Without that authority, they think people will run amuck, and they did. I don’t see a lot of that behavior from atheists.
sub
It’s not even all that effective — if the vandals were really smart, they would have obliterated the talk location information
Personally, I would’ve gone with changing, “evolution” to “evilution”. 🙂
Might have worked. Printing up some formal-looking labels saying something like “rescheduled to 8:30pm”, or to a different day would likely have been more effective.
We used to have that sort of shit happen with the Animal Rights Group all the time. We had to keep a very close eye on the posters.
But how do you explain the poor innocent fig trees getting smited? The dude had serios anger management issues, to say nothing of bizarre acts of random weirdness.
Yeah, I’ve always been puzzled by that.
Its passed down in his genes. His father, god, is not a very nice dude.
It’s metaphorical, not literal
Sorry, it’s literal. It’s in your “Being an Omnipotent Divine Being – For Dummies” book – I forget the old name, something about bovine sales?
It’s your religion ; you chose it ; you explain it.
How unimaginative and uncreative – in my days, students would draw mustaches and sometimes include a goatee!
And even a pair of horns!
Everyone is on a hurry. No time for proper defacing these days. 🙂
🙂 you’re spot on!
Drats
What would the fictitious Jesus do? Would he turn the other cheek? Smite them? Tell children to hate their parents?
Since he never existed, people can just make up anything that pleases them. Some people did this around the year 150 and called it Christianity (not to be confused with the made up stories in the 800s or those made up in the 1800s or 1900s of other religious dogmas).
Given the current state of Christianity, is what would Paul do? more appropriate?
You’d think that a more “Intelligent” sign of opposition would be to remove the poster entirely or deface the date and location on it. However, we’re not dealing with “Intelligence”, here- this is a far more primitive emotional response, where the mind is unable to differentiate between a mere image and the actual person or thing: “An injury to Jerry’s image is perceived as an injury to Jerry” -this phenomenon is also observed in the use of voodoo dolls, the kissing of crucifixes and veneration of statues or relics, etc.
More evidence that the philosophy of Wyld Stallyns is better than Christianity. WWB&TD? Be excellent to everyone, and party on, dude!
Your posters need more ‘boots’ in them… obviously.
Maybe you need a protective symbol on your posters – the eye of Catus or some such thing – to ward off evil-doers, Dr. C.
…or acrylic.
Off topic but, what in hell is a “Freed Curd?” Wisconsinites? Did it escape the cheese vat or was it pardoned?
It’s fries & gravy. You know, not poutine because no curds.
“and one building refused to allow them to be put up at all!”
How do building managers have a authority reject a posting publicizing and approved campus event?
Surely this is a policy that invites arbitrary and biased exclusions such as this one.
WWJD? I saw the answer today on a bumper sticker: “Jesus would slap the shit out of you.”
Only in play.
Tell that to the fig tree.
Don’t know whether to hope some of the defacers attend the lecture–or not.
Well, I’m sure I don’t have to worry about that.
I’d like to think Jezus would take up a great conversation where fertile. Thats what any decent god channeling flesh should do. (I like the idea of Jesus channeling, like. Crazy-eyes)
I greatly enjoyed your talk tonight and I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s even more. I apologize for your posters getting defaced. I tried to keep an eye on the ones near my lab but I’ll be sure to put a WWDD (what would Darwin do) note up on the board just to keep keep people thinking positive. Love your work!
J. Guetersloh
How dare they deface the picture of such a handsome fellow?!
Seriously though, this small mindedness stems from fear – they are inadequate & incapable of thinking they might be wrong, because then the world would collapse.
They will not accept evidence – they will accept nonsense. As Cromwell said (& at the risk of setting off Ben!), “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken.”
What Would Jesus Do?
He would go to the Vatican, grab the Pope by the scruff of the neck and yell “What the f**k have you f*****s been f*****g doing for the last 2000 years?!?!?”
Or, just to sow some seeds of doubt in the fertile soil that is the christian mind, the Danilov Monastery (headquarters of the Russian Orthodox church) …
Patriarch
Oh, I do hope that he’s learned some more imaginative cursing in the last couple of millennia. Didn’t, ummm, Bawwabus and Wodewewick teach him some choice words while they hung out together. No, they were the ones who got off. Some thieving scrotes anyway.
Or “You’re not a Hebrew, what’s all this about?”
@ Dominic “…they are…incapable of thinking they might be wrong, because then the world would collapse.”
I think this is exactly the crux of the standoff between American-style
fundamentalism & the viewpoint it opposes, one which is secular & is informed by scientific discoveries. The person who defaced the poster
has a model of the universe in his head which is simply incompatible with the one which I hold in mine, & I think the evidence is on my side.
“creationism is like an inflatable roly-poly clown” – Coyne, 2009 p. xi
I think the defacers would love to attend a talk, if only for the self agrandising joy of storming out in righteous indignation about 12 minutes in.
Youts these days are in such a hurry. Time was when they spent time defacing portraits. (NB: the page is a poe.)