Poe's law - Fundamentalism is impossible to parody

[Hermes]

Poe's Law states:

“Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor,
it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism
that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing”

Poe's Law relates to fundamentalism, and the difficulty of identifying actual parodies of it. It suggests that, in general, it is hard to tell fake fundamentalism from the real thing, since they both sound equally ridiculous. The law also works in reverse: real fundamentalism can also be indistinguishable from parody fundamentalism. For example, some conservatives consider noted homophobe Fred Phelps to be so over-the-top that they think he's a "deep cover liberal" trying to discredit more mainstream homophobes.

http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Poe's_Law

Example;

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAgLVFx_yh8[/youtube]

[bahramthered]

*shudders for several minutes*

Never heard of Poes Law. Definatly seems to work.


Remind me to stay away from that freak in the video.

[siggy1]

The guy is absolutely nuts,and not even remotely christian.(and I'm an agnostic).This is like the "Landover Baptist Church" from long ago.I don't care for the fundies myself but this guy's too nutty even for them!!

[Hermes]

The guy in the video ... wants to start a Christian army to force non-believers to convert.  He's one of the dominionists who wants to set up a theocracy.

[JTW]

Thing is, there ARE fundamentalists with a sense of humour guys.

This guy is a riot for sure. But he's one of the main reasons I avoid fundamentalist churches.

[Hermes]

Thing is, there ARE fundamentalists with a sense of humour guys.

Yeah, and at the same time he was serious about knocking a tooth out of one man, and kicking a lady in the face with his boot.  Who can say he isn't just an a$$ who found a way to beat people and getting them to like it?  Who can tell the difference between a scammer and someone who is honest (and whacked)?



(Side note: Part of the reason why fundamentalists can be funny is that they are cock sure about what they say.  Confidence backed by a friendly smile exudes warmth, making it easier to be funny and not to be taken seriously when you act in a bigoted manner or say something beyond the pale.  'Sure Bob's a jerk, but he's my kind of jerk.  Stop picking on him for calling your sister a cun%.')

[jedweber]

The guy is absolutely nuts,and not even remotely christian.(and I'm an agnostic).This is like the "Landover Baptist Church" from long ago.I don't care for the fundies myself but this guy's too nutty even for them!!

Landover Baptist Church is a parody site. The fact that anyone takes it seriously is a perfect illustration of Poe's Law at work.

[bahramthered]

That is scary. The $%^&* paradoy site is less extreme than the real ones!

[Deus ex Machina]

That is scary. The $%^&* paradoy site is less extreme than the real ones!

I think there's a corollary to Poe's Law: it's impossible to create a parody that's not mirrored by the beliefs of some fundamentalist somewhere in reality.

[Hermes]

I think there's a corollary to Poe's Law: it's impossible to create a parody that's not mirrored by the beliefs of some fundamentalist somewhere in reality.

Agreed; “Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive”.

[gonegolfing]

This Bently f*ckwadian is toast. He was caught having and unhealthy emotional relationship(giving the bone to ?) with one of his female staff members and has since seperated from his wife.

see here:  http://www.freshfire.ca/index.php

Looks good on the gluttonous charlatan asswipe.

[Hermes]

These scumbags always morph into some other disaster.  I doubt that he'll be out of the loop for very long.

[jedweber]

If he ever makes a comeback from his current scandal, we can remind people that he's a child molester.
He was convicted of sexually abusing a 7-year-old boy when he was a teenager in Vancouver:

http://religiouschildabuse.blogspot.com/2008/08/todd-bentley-i-was-involved-in-sexual.html

[Vynn]

Remind me to stay away from that freak in the video.

The question then becomes, would HE stay away from YOU if he had the power to affect your life through governmental authority.

[Hermes]

If he ever makes a comeback from his current scandal, we can remind people that he's a child molester.

He was convicted of sexually abusing a 7-year-old boy when he was a teenager in Vancouver:

Well, that's part of the reason for this thread;

He was 'forgiven' the last time, as shown in the video brags about knocking teeth out of people, kicking them in the face, and they *STILL* support him.

As the RCC and many other churches know, what's the big deal about a little child rape?

[Introsis]

"Your honor hear me out! I only shoved that blind man in front of the bus because God told me it would heal him!"

This man has inspired me.

[bahramthered]

Remind me to stay away from that freak in the video.

The question then becomes, would HE stay away from YOU if he had the power to affect your life through governmental authority.

When people like that run I get involved. I'm donating my vacation (volunteering) for stopping McCain/Palin and they don't scare me near as bad as that guy.

Thankfully "goverment authority" has limits assuming congress does it's job. If not well there's either Canada or being a hero.

[Hermes]

Concerned Women For America Make The Case For Theocracy
http://www.thoughttheater.com/2008/09/concerned_women_for_america_make_the_case_for_theo.php

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bd3dPhOAsU[/youtube]

Never let it be said that the religious right minces its words...instead they prefer the tactic of charging their words with fear and casting all others as the enemy. In the following video, Wendy Wright, the president of Concerned Women for America, makes the case for evangelicals to get out and vote. Note how Wright uses the Christians are victims meme to scare her viewers into voting.

Look at some of the other verbiage she includes to push the message that Christians are in danger and non-believers are out to get them - Liberals who mock Christians...Prefer America be weak...Devastating for America...Keep this a country worth living and dying for...People ruling over us...Continue the slaughter of unborn babies...Silence those who love God...People who govern righteously...People who don't believe will achieve an ironclad majority.

Yes, the big bad liberals want to ruin America and send all Christians into concentration camps where they will be forced to worship the devil, burn Bibles, and deny their allegiance to the United States of America.

Hence, the CWA offers their own "reasonable" alternative...to win the election so that Christians can establish a theocracy, install a litmus test for all judicial appointments, prohibit non-believers from participating in government, and install Biblical law so gays and those who favor a woman's right to choose can be punished accordingly.

Ahh, yes...that would make America so much better...you know...the one nation, under God kind of America. After all, who can be bothered by that silly thing we call the Constitution?!

I agree with her on one thing; vote.

[john]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAgLVFx_yh8[/youtube]

 

[madame_zora]

Ah, Poe's Law, meet Joel's Army, or The Third Wave:



My favorite line, "[pastor to kid] You're not just a piece of protoplasm, whatever that is!"

From their own site:



Please people, we have to do better than to let a f&cking Dominionist into the Whitehouse.

[Goodkat]

Since I was banned from Theology Online for "intentional blasphemy", I think I will return there as an ultra fundamentalist psycho, to test Poe's law. PM me if you want my handle(but only if your not a Christian, I can't trust them).

EDIT: They recognized my IP and re-banned me.

[Hermes]

When (if) you get bored and stop at some point, post links!

[Trademark]

Wait a minute, that guy in the first video is just making fun of it isn´t he? It´s hard to say, but this seems to be a way to much to be taken seriously even by a zealous psycho:)

As I see it the problem of America is that there are only 2 parties. It´s good to have a majority system (otherwise the politicians form unstable coalitions and can´t really do anything...like in most European countries) but with 2 parties (with a real chance to win) you gotta choose between leftists and people who include their religious believes in their decisions...though cal, at least for me.

[Hermes]

The guy in the first video is either;

1. Entirely serious.

2. Is a scam artist who likes kicking people and then getting them to like it.

At this point, I have to lean toward #1.

[madame_zora]

He is a testimony to the fact that if you speak with enough conviction, someone will listen to you. The more conviction, the larger the following. You learn this quickly enough in sales- you can utter complete nonsense, but if you furrow your brow and look serious, people will treat you as if you've just said something important. It's really almost frightening. Barnum said there's one born every minute, but I think he underestimated by a goodly margin.

He probably believes his own schtick, I think most of them do. You only have to hear something seven or eight times to believe it's fact, and I'm sure he's told the story enough to have established it in his own mind thusly. It is my humble opinion that storing information in the brain is easier to accomplish than maintaining a filing system based on pertinent criteria- discernment. I think I could make a credible argument for that if pressed from my experiences in sales, people just aren't that hard to convince of something, and sometimes it seems that the more opposed they are, the easier they are to convert. At least they're engaged in the argument, the ones everyone dreads are the dead fish who have no opinions about anything, don't love anyone, don't have a strong will to live.

This guy is too full of himself not to have a strong will to live, weaker people are always drawn to someone who offers a sense of protection from their ambiguous fear. In a sick way, a violent person offers a kind of psychological comfort.

Now for the fun part- what if jeebus really WAS real, and got caught up in believing he had a "special anointing" much like this guy? That would certainly explain a lot, to me. He was the anti-violent anti-hero. He came from out of nowhere to tell the rich and powerful that their entire system of government was subordinate to himself, because he was the son of god himself. Yeah, right pal, and I'm the Jolly Green Giant.

When we look under the dresses of these powerful personality cults, how often do we see literally insane levels of self-adulation? Of course if jesus is fictitious, I think we can pretty well drop this turd on paul.