# Pat Robertson has prostate cancer ... and I'm glad! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 13, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921 "2003-02-13T21:28:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/141 "2003-02-14T18:10:02Z")
Ask your wife how she would feel if you got cancer, and I ran around Straight Dope rejoicing about how you had it coming. If you can understand that, that is what you’re doing here to Robertson’s family. If you can’t understand it, then you should go find a l33t board somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![BURNER](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@BURNER](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BURNER)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/142 "2003-02-14T18:26:41Z")
Ask the families of the people who died in the pentagon and the world trade center how they feel about Robertson blameing their deaths on Gay people. Ask them how they felt about it being spread accross every available medium accross the country. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/143 "2003-02-14T18:27:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tygr \* > \*\*Hmm. > > :: Bookmarks thread as potential answer to “What is soooo evil about being a liberal?” thread…:: > > Thanks, Spiff! \*\* Is there a “Why are conservatives soooo obnoxious?” thread? You know, so I could link to your post? What a putz. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/144 "2003-02-14T18:29:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BURNER \* > \*\*Ask the families of the people who died in the pentagon and the world trade center how they feel about Robertson blameing their deaths on Gay people. Ask them how they felt about it being spread accross every available medium accross the country. \*\* Then why are being just like him!? ---
**Author:** ![Heloise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e36b37/32.png) [@Heloise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heloise)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/145 "2003-02-14T18:39:23Z")
Hey, **Spiff** , good on you. I’m glad you retracted your original statement. Just a thought, though. Considering that your thread has been hijacked by burner and others, and is going down in flames, you may want to consider asking the mods to close it. Just a thought. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/146 "2003-02-14T19:02:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by super\_head \* > Still waiting for you to show me how referring to him as a bacterium and indicating a means of his death isn’t hateful. How long have you been waiting for that? It’s the first time you’ve asked for such a proof, relevant or not. Furthermore, prescribing a method of death does not necessitate hatred at all, unless you’d like to explain how poultry farmers can stand to be around animals they hate so fervently, to raise their birds every year and kill them every year. You’ll want to look for petard in the P section of the White Pages. If you ask nice, I bet the librarian will help you find a toll-free number to call for assistance. > [@](#): > > We seem to be at an impasse. _yawn_ And yet, you could show me where I said **BURNER** should be killed. Or you could retract the statement. We’re not _actually_ at an impasse, you see. You simply have no argument, so you’re trying to build one out of straw and soap bubbles. > [@](#): > > And, no, you’re still not getting names. Enjoy the mystery! 🙂 Oh yeah? Well I was talking to someone who told me, under strictest confidence, that you’re an asinine git. Who? Oh, I can’t tell you that. Enjoy the mystery, though! :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > You may now return to being disingenuous in this thread or others of your choosing, as I’m sure you will! And you may feel free to go to the logic class of your choosing and learn how to fucking debate. Here are a few hints: 1. It’s not done by poking people and then running away. 2. Nor by saying “why haven’t you done this thing I never asked you to do? Huh? I thought so!” 3. _Deus ex machina_ “insults” are really a pathetic means of _ad hominem_ attack. That you have chosen to reveal the message but not the messenger only indicates the intestinal fortitude of both you and your (supposed) “informant”. ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/147 "2003-02-14T19:15:12Z")
At the risk of putting more gasoline on this thread, let me see if I have this straight. If Pat Robertson had been run over by a church bus, or struck by lightining or carried off by a tornado then that would be FUNNY, right? But he contracts a disease and suddenly we can’t make jokes about him (Robertson, not the disease)? Fuck that. Is cancer funny? Hell no! I don’t think ANYONE here is making THAT claim. But when a self appointed faith healer with a long history of self-serving bigoted ranting suddenly appears to get a Holy Smiting from Heaven, is that funny? You betcha. Despite being a minister and a supposedly educated man, Pat is apparently not interested in advancing the stated aims of his religion: tolerance, compassion, you know, the sort of stuff that Christ might do. He has taken pleasure in the suffering of people that he has never even met and used his television show to salivate over the prospect of global armageddon for decades. He shamelessly exploits peoples fears of the supernatural for profit and when bad things happen to people he personally disagrees with, he has no trouble explaining their misfortunes as the judgement of a vengeful Almighty. So the moral of the story is this: Pat Robertson is an asshole and the time he has wasted here on Earth could have been better spent. If I were a religious man, I just might claim claim that Pat Robertson has been inflicted with Divine Retribution for a lifetime of assholery. But then I’m not. And he is. And he should know better. ---
**Author:** ![Clint\_in\_Wichita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Clint\_in\_Wichita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clint_in_Wichita)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/148 "2003-02-14T19:24:31Z")
Not only did he blame Americans for the WTC attack, but he’s taken countless millions from his weak-minded sheep…err…followers over the years. God is punishing him for his actions by causing a tumor to grow behind his taint. There_is_ justice in this world, after all. ---
**Author:** ![super\_head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@super\_head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/super_head)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/149 "2003-02-14T19:38:47Z")
Sigh, **iampunha** , this game grows tiresome for both of us. If you’re happy being disingenuous (yes, I’m getting much mileage from that word), so be it - I won’t belabor the point with you any further. And if people want to call me names, so be it - I’m not bothered by it, while you apparently are. I’ll make a note of that button in my “Iampunha Notebook.” As for what I’ve asked for since the beginning, I said that “the approach of comparing BURNER to bacteria that should be eradicated” was hateful. You’ve not responded to any part of it, except to say that you didn’t say he should be killed - as I indicated, however, it was rather pointless to introduce a mechanism of death into the insinuation that he is bacteria if you weren’t even mockingly in favor of it. You could have simply said “You are human bacteria.” Still hateful, without any insinuation of wishing someone’s kind were not present. Perhaps you disagree that it was pointless - so be it. I feel it was - and that your statement was hateful, the same crime of which you accused **BURNER**. ---
**Author:** ![SojournerSamson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SojournerSamson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SojournerSamson)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/150 "2003-02-14T19:41:51Z")
Conspiracy Primer Page 227: If a Democratic candidate suffers an illness and gets a bit of sympathy make certain a respected compadre and fellow traveler on our side gets plenty of press for an illness,match the illness or tragedy as close as possible in scope , but emphasis the brave and noble personal devotion and sacrifice of the sufferer. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/151 "2003-02-14T19:55:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by super\_head \* > Sigh, **iampunha** , this game grows tiresome for both of us. If you’re happy being disingenuous (yes, I’m getting much mileage from that word), so be it - I won’t belabor the point with you any further. Though I suspect this thread will get closed soon, let’s see how much more we can all do in educating you. Firstly, I’m not being disingenuous. You inferred something from a comment I made and refuse to either prove your assertation or retract the comment. Further dodging of this has not gone unnoticed. Why don’t you, instead of collecting all your smoke and mirrors to make it look like you have a roaring fire, go get some matches and try and start one? > [@](#): > > And if people want to call me names, so be it - I’m not bothered by it, while you apparently are. I’ll make a note of that button in my “Iampunha Notebook.” I’m bothered by the bullshit inherent in “ha ha, someone called you a name and I’m going to tell you what it is … but NO! You don’t get to find out WHO it was!” If this person who called me a smarmy twit doesn’t have the strength to speak up or allow you to do the same, then it’s a worthless comment and shouldn’t even have been mentioned. However, in my mind the fact that there is absolutely nobody to whom to attribute the comment means that it effectively is meaningless. > [@](#): > > As for what I’ve asked for since the beginning, I said that “the approach of comparing BURNER to bacteria that should be eradicated” was hateful. What is this, Inferring Friday? Here is my comment, in full: “The only thing we need to eradicate your kind is antibacterial soap.” NOWHERE in that did I say anyone should be eradicated. I mentioned a method of permanent cessation of life of bacteria. I don’t think you could read into that any more with a twelve-inch wood-boring bit and a microscope. But you’ll try, I’m sure:) As such, your comment that something is hateful is completely meaningless, since **I didn’t say what you claim I said**. > [@](#): > > You’ve not responded to any part of it, except to say that you didn’t say he should be killed - as I indicated, however, it was rather pointless to introduce a mechanism of death into the insinuation that he is bacteria if you weren’t even mockingly in favor of it. Okay, and? I haven’t responded to a question that relies on a false premise? What are you going to ask me next, if I’ve stopped beating my wife? > [@](#): > > Perhaps you disagree that it was pointless - so be it. I feel it was - and that your statement was hateful, the same crime of which you accused **BURNER**. Good for you. When you can differentiate between what I _actually_ said and what I said in **super\_head** world, give me a call. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/152 "2003-02-14T19:58:32Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by super\_head_ > Perhaps you disagree that it was pointless - so be it. I feel it was - and that your statement was hateful, the same crime of which you accused BURNER. That’s just not the same. Likening one another to various low life forms that are fragile against antibacterial soap is one thing _entirely._ It’s par for the pit. Grow a tougher skin. Celebrating existing illness is very different. Not the same at all. > [@](#): > > _NutWrench says:_ > But when a self appointed faith healer with a long history of self-serving bigoted ranting suddenly appears to get a Holy Smiting from Heaven, is that funny? You betcha. No, it is not funny. It is sad just as his questionable actions are. ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/153 "2003-02-14T20:08:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joe K \* > **That’s just not the same. Likening one another to various low life forms that are fragile against antibacterial soap is one thing _entirely._ It’s par for the pit. Grow a tougher skin.** You mean kind of like how hating a disgusting bigot who would blame the American victims of September 11th for the attack is **much less disgusting** than hating large groups of people who have done you no harm. ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/154 "2003-02-14T20:12:17Z")
This pile on is a perfect example of the worst kind of moral relativism, claiming that feeling a normal human reaction to hateful bigotry is **just as bad** as the hateful bigotry is to begin with. Bullshit! It is nothing to be proud of, but is nowhere near the magnitude of evil of hating people who have done nothing to harm you. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/155 "2003-02-14T20:40:21Z")
I think it’s a perfect example of the worst kind of reckless judgmentalism. Innocent people are punished by self-righteous moralists on a mission. ---
**Author:** ![super\_head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@super\_head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/super_head)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/156 "2003-02-14T21:06:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joe K \* > That’s just not the same. Likening one another to various low life forms that are fragile against antibacterial soap is one thing _entirely._ It’s par for the pit. Grow a tougher skin. My skin’s fine, thanks. Anyone who actually gets unsettled by things they read on a message board (short of “I know where you live and I’m going to kill you”) should probably get their head examined. > [@](#): > > Celebrating existing illness is very different. Not the same at all. A very wise man once said “hate is hate is hate.” I was just following that line of thought and applying it to the very wise man. Ah well. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/157 "2003-02-14T21:27:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Anyone who actually gets unsettled by things they read on a message board (short of “I know where you live and I’m going to kill you”) should probably get their head examined. This does not translate to “Right. A very wise man once said, ‘Don’t shit where you eat’; I don’t eat here, so I’ll shit here.” If you choose to harbor such bad feelings and pawn them off onto what you see as a throwaway medium (according to the above quote), that’s shitting where _I_ eat, and where anyone else who disagrees with the original premise of “Pat Robertson having cancer is good” “eats”. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/158 "2003-02-14T21:28:58Z")
You know, last night I actually watched part of The 700 Club, and I thought that Robertson very cleverly tied his announcement of prostate cancer to a lengthy segment of letter testimonials about faith-based healing–and donations to The 700 Club. But I wasn’t certain, so I tried to look it up. I had to give up in disgust. There was plenty of healing-through-corporate-prayer stuff in the [episode of 02/13](http://www.cbn.org/video/videowindow.asp?Media=Windows&vsrc=archive/021303&prgm=700club), so much of it that I couldn’t stand to watch it all. Know what tonight’s lead story is, by the way? How the liberal media supported the communists in the Cold War. My conclusion is that Pat Robertson is fucking scum, a sociopathic shaman who is also pushing a political agenda which directly accuses relatively honest, hard working Americans like me of being an enemy of the state which I love and strive to protect. You know what I fervently hope? I hope Robertson takes this latest struggle against evil and _fucks it up royally_. I don’t wish death on him, I wish him failure, embarassment, and discredit–not only among those of us who already recognize him for the self-serving charlatan that he is, but also among the ignorant droves upon which he preys. If he has to die to accomplish that goal of mine, then too bad, so sad, Mister Hurricanes-are-retribution-from-God-but-my-prostate-cancer-is-a-revenue-generator. He’s threatening my rights and my very existence, and therefore I wish him the very worst in that endeavor alone. I care fuck-all about the rest of his life. ---
**Author:** ![super\_head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@super\_head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/super_head)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/159 "2003-02-14T21:41:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joe K \* > If you choose to harbor such bad feelings and pawn them off onto what you see as a throwaway medium (according to the above quote), that’s shitting where _I_ eat, and where anyone else who disagrees with the original premise of “Pat Robertson having cancer is good” “eats”. Uh, you said grow a thicker skin - I explained why mine was fine. I like message boards - but I don’t sign off at night upset that someone here thinks ill of me. That’s all I was saying. And I never said that Pat having cancer was a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Reverend\_Mykeru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc79bd/32.png) [@Reverend\_Mykeru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reverend_Mykeru)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/160 "2003-02-14T21:44:28Z")
\*\*NutWrench \*\* > [@](#): > > At the risk of putting more gasoline on this thread, let me see if I have this straight. If Pat Robertson had been run over by a church bus, or struck by lightining or carried off by a tornado then that would be FUNNY, right? But he contracts a disease and suddenly we can’t make jokes about him (Robertson, not the disease)? Fuck that. Is cancer funny? Hell no! I don’t think ANYONE here is making THAT claim. But when a self appointed faith healer with a long history of self-serving bigoted ranting suddenly appears to get a Holy Smiting from Heaven, is that funny? You betcha. **Clint in Wichita** > [@](#): > > Not only did he blame Americans for the WTC attack, but he’s taken countless millions from his weak-minded sheep…err…followers over the years. > > God is punishing him for his actions by causing a tumor to grow behind his taint. **grendel72** > [@](#): > > This pile on is a perfect example of the worst kind of moral relativism, claiming that feeling a normal human reaction to hateful bigotry is just as bad as the hateful bigotry is to begin with. Bullshit! > It is nothing to be proud of, but is nowhere near the magnitude of evil of hating people who have done nothing to harm you. Guys, guys, be careful. If you keep talking smack about Pat Robertson who did nothing all his career but take money from the old and sick so they could get right with Jesus before they die anyway, and folks like **White Lightening** with give you [your own thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=163185) so you can be cluster humped by **Munch** and **iampunha**. Even if they have to make up crap to do it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921.md?page=9)