(no subject)

[amredthelector]

Today was... an interesting day. Or at least one part of it was.

I go to school on an open campus. Anyone can come on campus and do stuff there. We get a lot of people registering students to vote; people will try to get students to sign petitions; and every so often, religious people will come on campus and either a) hand out pocket bibles or pamphlets or b) shout at students. Today we had one of the shouty people.

I passed by this guy three times during the day. Once on my way to public speaking, once on my way into the student union building to kill some time between classes, and again on my way back to my lab class. The first time I went past him, he was screaming about how pre-marital sex is a sin. No one was really paying attention to him, as is usually the case with these nutjobs. The second time, he'd drawn a crowd of about 20 people who were all there to heckle him. He was ranting about how smoking marijuana was a sin, and he had a sign that said 'YOU ALL DESERVE TO GO TO HELL'. At this point, people were just playfully egging him on. One stoner was talking about how he 'sees God when [he's] high', so Shouty McPious should shove off and let him practice his faith. Another guy started making fun of him by preaching the "Gospel of Harry Potter", talking about how Dumbledore died for our sins. That guy was made of win. Third time I walked past him, things had gotten tense. He was ranting about how all the students at the school would burn in hell, and that we were Satan's children and whatnot. A group of students were holding a big hand-made sign that read 'FUCK THIS GUY' and had an arrow pointing to him. A lot of people were shouting at him, and a few were verbally ripping him apart, quoting the bible and pointing out how this guy was a bad Christian. There were some campus security members hanging near by, and honestly? It felt like a riot was going to happen soon. I'd estimate by that point (it was 4, he'd gotten started around noon) there were about 50 students watching and jeering.

It was interesting, to say the least. And I saw some people taking photos of the crowd with really nice cameras, so I'm wondering if they were staff from the school newspaper.

Day 14: A non-fictional book

Bad Astronomy by Phil Plait.

This is a great read. This book is a sound debunking of various astronomical conspiracy theories, from the Moon Landing to the face on Mars. Plait keeps things simple, and doesn't bog everything down with scientific jargon. He's also very professional in his writing, never personally attacking the people behind these theories. (Which is really amazing, since you can read transcripts of radio shows he's appeared on with these people on his website, and they are always launching personal attacks against him) It's an interesting read, and I encourage it to everyone, since there really are a lot of misconceptions about astronomy.

Comments

[mixmastercereal.livejournal.com]

yeah, we had the random religious crazies as well, and they were usually the shouty types. it made me angry, because they'd let them on campus, and all they do is antagonize people, even calling women who committed the horrible sin of wearing pants whores and whatnot. one student got hauled off because they threw water at the nutjob.

[amredthelector.livejournal.com]

I kind of look on them as IRL trolls. They have the right to speak in an open forum (such as an open or community college campus) but it's really for the best that they're ignored.

Though, I don't really feel sympathy for the person that got hauled off for throwing water. That can be viewed as assault. If you really have to talk to these assholes, either give them a verbal beat down by pointing out their faulty logic, or make fun of them.

[mixmastercereal.livejournal.com]

That was exactly what it is was viewed as, though I think the charges were dropped. It just seems unnecessary for a university to invite that kind of disruption. Trolls get banned from forums, but they just keep letting these morons back.

And I wish verbal beat downs would work, but I somehow doubt that anything contrary penetrates their "shield of faith".

[umi-mikazuki.livejournal.com]

...my campus had some dude on campus today, too. I only passed by twice, though, and it looked like people were just ignoring him.

Really, dude? You expected us to listen to your hate speech?

[amredthelector.livejournal.com]

Maybe it was official crazy religious whackjob day?

Well, freedom of speech and yadda yadda yadda. I just walk by and shake my head when I see them. I was very impressed by the students that were heckling him, though. They were either ripping apart his logic or just making fun of him, at least until later in the day when things started getting kind of tense.

[umi-mikazuki.livejournal.com]

Maybe. :O

Yeah, that's what I do. There's no point in talking with them, because they aren't going to change their narrow little minds.

[grimmerlove.livejournal.com]

Our campus was having an Alliance-sponsored rainbow rave and of course the shouty religious crazies had decided that they were going to come and protest. It's kind of hilarious how for a school without a religion in the name, ours is one of the most religious and conservative schools in Wisconsin, which drives me crazy but oh well.

There was this one guy who was standing outside of the criminal justice building while I passed and he handed me a piece of paper and said "God loves you!" I still don't know what to think of that guy, but I much prefer him over the Crazy McShouties. We get two in cahoots every year, apparently, a younger one who will actually debate with people and an older one who likes to condemn us all to hell.