In an excessive burst of TMI, Hovindicators will follow that up with the revelation that Kent Hovind was a virgin when he got married.
At any rate, much like a stopped clock that is right twice a day, Kent Hovind is more right about alcohol than the message that is sent out on Saint Patrick's Day.
You could get into a debate about whether ethnic stereotypes can ever be benign. You can also get into a debate about whether this or that ethnic stereotype might have some statistical justification. There might be some unfortunate trait that afflicts 1% of the population. For Group A, though it is 3%. So when you see a group of people with the unfortunate trait, a high percentage of them will be from Group A, thereby giving you an argument that the stereotype has foundation. Still 97% of Group A does not have the trait.
An ethnic stereotype can be harmful because of the way it causes others to treat members of the group. In a free diverse society, that harm will have limits. The real harm comes when members of the group embrace the stereotype.
The two most harmful stereotypes that I grew up with are the association of Americans of Italian descent with organized crime and the connection of Americans of Irish descent with excessive alcohol consumption. The latter probably does a lot more harm, because it is not that hard to act on. Worse it actually has a holiday associated with it.
I've written about the issue on forbes.com with some other alternatives here and here.
This Saint Patrick's Day my call out is restricted to Irish descent graduates of Jesuit colleges.
Do you really want to have a day in the year when you are being stupider than Kent Hovind?
If not, then don't drink to excess and don't support a holiday tradition that is tied into alcohol abuse.
Talking about being a virgin on his wedding day, Kent used to speak about how he and his best mate would vie with each other to see who could bring the most girls to church. Kent claimed that over a period of about a couple of years his friend managed 180 girls but Kent claimed victory because his figure approached 300. I may have the numbers wrong but it was clear that the two of them must have combed not just the local area but adjoining counties as well to obtain that number of eligible females of the appropriate age group.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know what inducements (beyond the obvious possibility of eternal life) the two pups offered the girls to get them into church but they must have been rather dismayed to find themselves dropped the following week for yet another bunch of angelic neophytes. These days a chap might get himself arrested for such ungentlemanly behaviour. As for the marriage lottery, I cannot imagine what terrible sins Jo must have committed in an earlier existence to have landed herself with the winning ticket. On the plus side, there are nearly 300 girls spread throughout America gratefully rejoicing at their own early disappointment..
yea... nobody cares about you peter... everyone knows you and your friends are retarded idiots....
ReplyDeletepublic opinion knows kent is innocent....
the frog usually hops out of the boiling water at some point...
That's silly, Anon. Hovind the tax felon isn't exactly fooling all that many people in court. Whine as much as he and his supporters whine about persecution.
ReplyDelete