Saturday, December 03, 2005
When the Pot Calls the Kettle Black
Fellow Kansas blogger, Josh Rosenau, the proprietor over at Thoughts from Kansas, has got his hands on an e-mail written by conservative columnist, John Altevogt. Altevogt is widely rumored to be behind the public release of a private e-mail posted to a Yahoo listserve written by religious studies professor Paul Mirecki that has been front page news in the Kansas City Star the past two days.
Altevogt's e-mail contains the usual mixture of self-righteousness and self-pity that characterizes the radical right. First, let's dip in for a heapin' helpin' of self-pity:
Mirecki opened himself to attack by writing what he did and RSR would probably not have commented on Altevogt's e-mail if he had confined himself to Mirecki, but he does not.
Altevogt goes on to say this story is about "a bigot who is not being adequately disciplined because the man who heads KU is as bigoted and hateful as his employee... "
One thing you won't find in Altevogt's e-mail, or anywhere else for that matter, is any evidence that Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway is bigoted, hateful, or incompetent.
We guess it's okay for Christian fundamentalists to make any wild, unsubstantiated charge they want. To slander anyone they want. To ruin the reputation of anyone they want.
The radical right can dish it out, it seems, but they sure can't take it.
Looks to us like there's plenty of bigotry to go around in this case.
Altevogt's e-mail contains the usual mixture of self-righteousness and self-pity that characterizes the radical right. First, let's dip in for a heapin' helpin' of self-pity:
Ironically, this will not be as well received in the media and I suspect there will be much gnashing of teeth and attempts to suppress this story until they can figure some means of giving a positive spin for their side.Now, for the second course:
This story is about a bigot and the crypto-Nazi hate group he advises.Altevogt is incensed, or pretends to be, because Mirecki said nasty things about fundamentalists like himself. But, notice, that Altevogt is pretty handy at saying nasty things himself. Self-restraint and sweet reason aren't -- judging from this e-mail -- in the Altevogt playbook.
Mirecki opened himself to attack by writing what he did and RSR would probably not have commented on Altevogt's e-mail if he had confined himself to Mirecki, but he does not.
Altevogt goes on to say this story is about "a bigot who is not being adequately disciplined because the man who heads KU is as bigoted and hateful as his employee... "
This is about bigotry, this is about an incompetent, bigoted chancellor (who incidentally buddies up with Bond and his pals, providing that cushy job for Adkins at the Med center) and this is about hijacking an institution so that they can silence Christians and live like kings on the proceeds.
One thing you won't find in Altevogt's e-mail, or anywhere else for that matter, is any evidence that Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway is bigoted, hateful, or incompetent.
We guess it's okay for Christian fundamentalists to make any wild, unsubstantiated charge they want. To slander anyone they want. To ruin the reputation of anyone they want.
The radical right can dish it out, it seems, but they sure can't take it.
Looks to us like there's plenty of bigotry to go around in this case.
