# 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:** 9
**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, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/161 "2003-02-14T21:51:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by super\_head \* > \*\*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. \*\* Very well. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/162 "2003-02-14T23:16:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Reverend Mykeru \* > 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. \*\* I don’t think anyone is saying that Pat Robertson is not a bad person who deserves to be punished in a suitable manner for his bad behavior. But establishing a causal link between his bad behavior and something as random and as potentially fatal as cancer is to step onto a very slippery slope. If bad things happen to bad people because of God’s justice, where does that leave all the “less bad” people to whom equally bad (or worse) things happen? And if we rejoice in bad things happening to people we don’t like, how does that make us different from other people who similarly rejoice in the suffering of people they don’t like? ---
**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, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/163 "2003-02-14T23:35:26Z")
"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 so you can be cluster humped by Munch and iampunha. Even if they have to make up crap to do it." Even when you make shit up you still can’t muster an attack on any of us. And it’s not like we planned it or anything … I happened to be taking a break from gaming. WL and Munch were on the board for whatever reason. But really. Calling us Robertson apologists or fans is about as far-fetched as saying I’m a fan of the Dallas Cowboys merely because I respect Emmitt Smith (I’m a skins fan. By law I’m not allowed to like the cowbys;)). The thing of it, and what we’ve been saying for several pages over three threads now, is not that we feel Robertson is totally free of guilt but that other people who aren’t on the obnoxious religious train he’s been on so long … those people are getting hurt. And quite frankly, IMO it’s more valuable to have him alive and preaching the good of actual scientific medicine (among other things) than for him to die and people to think “Oh, God chose not to save him” or “we must not have prayed hard enough. Hey, here’s a diabetes patient. Let’s pray _really_ hard for her and maybe she’ll live without medicine.” ---
**Author:** ![Tygr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@Tygr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tygr)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/164 "2003-02-15T03:01:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tygr \* > \*\*Hmm. > > :: Bookmarks thread as potential answer to “What is soooo evil about being a liberal?” thread…:: > > Thanks, Spiff! \*\* Apologies. I was suffering a momentary recto-cranial inversion — I read “Pat Robertson” and thought “Pat Buchanan”. (not the first time this has happened…) [sub](Not that it should make any difference, but I am both a conservative and a Christian and agree with very little EITHER these two men ever say in their respective public fora.)[/sub] However, comma, I DO believe that reveling in and celebrating the suffering of someone you dislike, whether it because of his political OR his religious convictions, is evil. Nevertheless, allow me to backpedal away from my own reactionary response to a reactionary OP. I should not have implied that calling onesself a liberal makes one evil; I know that it doesn’t, any more than calling onesself Christian makes one good. Apologies for the implication. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Ace of Swords \* > **…so it’s ALL SCHADENFREUDE. That’s OK, right?** No. SCHADENFREUDE means “pleasure or satisfaction at the misfortune of others”. It is petty, mean-spirited and one of the hallmarks of a small mind. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ace_of_Swords)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/165 "2003-02-15T05:24:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tygr \* > \*\*No. > > SCHADENFREUDE means “pleasure or satisfaction at the misfortune of others”. It is petty, mean-spirited and one of the hallmarks of a small mind. \*\* And ubiquitous, except of course, for the saintly conservative contingent who never ever stomped their feet and rubbed their hands nearly exploding with glee whenever some new crisis afflicted Bill Clinton to the detriment of the nation except maybe once in an all the fucking time. ---
**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 15, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/166 "2003-02-15T21:33:35Z")
At the risk of repeating myself again, which seems to annoy some people, especially those deploying strawmen, my “glee” (actually, a lack of sympathy) is not from something generic such as “Pat Robertson’s behavior”, which could encompass his public statements and political religious actions. That is not the case. What bothers me, which some people have been perceptive enough to pick up on, is that Robertson, after a career of doing untold damage through siphoning off money from the old, sick and desperate for a bogus cure from Jesus, when similarly afflicted, buys himself the best secular medicine money he could buy. Money, incidentally, gained through telling people they are cured of cancer or having diabetics throw away their medication. I’m terribly sorry if my lack of sympathy, and my being appalled by Robertson’s hypocrisy offends some people. Too bad. I didn’t shed a tear when Angelo Buono (one of the Hillside Stranglers) died of heart diesease in prison in 2002. And hey, he had family too. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/167 "2003-02-15T22:32:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ivylass \* > **I can understand celebrating if Jeffrey Dalmer had cancer, or Hitler, or Osama bin Laden. Those people did evil things. Robertson’s done nothing but spout off. He’s a narrowminded prig, I will grant you that. But he hasn’t killed anyone.** I’ll probably get the ever-loving fuck flamed out of me, like last time, but I have to ask for the sake of accuracy: How many people did OBL and Hitler actually kill? Not people who died as a result of them ‘spouting off’, but actually shot/knifed/whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Craneop2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Craneop2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Craneop2)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/168 "2003-02-16T06:37:05Z")
I’m kinda lost here. I have always seemed to hear the gay community address themselves as loving, caring, and enlightened members of the community we call humanity. I am NOT a follower of Pat Robertson or ANY other religious group. In fact I would be classified as an agnostic. HOWEVER this hatred spewing has really made me take a second thought at the loving, and caring attitude that you folks seem to espouse. BTW I agree with Coldfire… untill you watch someone die a long hard battle with cancer IT is not to be taken half heartedly or with wishing it upon another person! ---
**Author:** ![nothingnobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c2a13f/32.png) [@nothingnobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nothingnobody)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/169 "2003-02-16T14:51:09Z")
eh… Mr. Robertson is a dork. i won’t rejoice in his painful death because it’s not like he’s an irreplacable commodity in the world of TV evangelism… there must be millions of other fanatic religious assholes eager to spread the gospel, In The Name Of God, all over the airwaves. still, i personally don’t consider myself morally superior to him… that’s his job… i don’t believe in morality. i will indeed be glad when he is gone, no matter what kills him. my empathy is reserved for people i feel more deserving of it… ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/170 "2003-02-16T16:07:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NurseCarmen \* > \*\*Count me in as giddy as a dung beetle at the circus had Mr. Robertson contracted a flesh eating virus via an unfortunate incident involving a two headed goat, a dominatrix, and the baritone section of the Brisbane gay and Lesbian choir. If it had been caught on tape I’d be happy as a struggling fabric merchant on seeing the taliban women’s club enter my store. > > But cancer? Nnnaaah. There’s no irony in it. No revenge. Just another sad example of the human condition. \*\* Sure there’s irony in it. The same irony as when Jesse Helms got it a few years ago. back then there were stories published about studies linking prostate massage to lower risk of prostate cancer and noting that gay men had lower rates of prostate cancer possibly as a result of anal sex massaging their prostate. So yeah, the irony is that guys who yammer the loudest against getting fucked in the ass get a disease that strikes people less who get fucked in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![nothingnobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c2a13f/32.png) [@nothingnobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nothingnobody)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/171 "2003-02-16T17:07:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Otto \* > \*\*Sure there’s irony in it. The same irony as when Jesse Helms got it a few years ago. back then there were stories published about studies linking prostate massage to lower risk of prostate cancer and noting that gay men had lower rates of prostate cancer possibly as a result of anal sex massaging their prostate. So yeah, the irony is that guys who yammer the loudest against getting fucked in the ass get a disease that strikes people less who get fucked in the ass. \*\* perfect! i think we all have license laugh maniacally at Mr. Robertson’s misfortune. unless of course your worried about not sinking to his level… if so, let me tell you, you are missing out… ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/172 "2003-02-16T19:02:33Z")
I dunno, **nothingnobody** , I get some strange sense of feeling human by _not_ sinking to the level of celebrating possible death. Considering that my pipedream for his future does not include death… ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/173 "2003-02-16T19:07:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Craneop2 \* > \*\*I’m kinda lost here. > I have always seemed to hear the gay community address themselves as loving, caring, and enlightened members of the community we call humanity. > > I am NOT a follower of Pat Robertson or ANY other religious group. In fact I would be classified as an agnostic. > > HOWEVER this hatred spewing has really made me take a second thought at the loving, and caring attitude that you folks seem to espouse. > > BTW I agree with Coldfire… untill you watch someone die a long hard battle with cancer IT is not to be taken half heartedly or with wishing it upon another person! \*\* You stupid piece of shit. First of all, of those who have stated the don’t feel sorry for Robertson I don’t think any of them have publically stated their sexual orientation. More to the fucking point, Robertson has given people **reason** to hate his worthless fucking guts. Hating those who would gladly see you made a second class citizen is simply a human reaction- hating people who have done nothing to harm you is **sub** human. There is a huge fucking difference between respecting others and being a doormat, and i am getting really fucking sick of the bigots and their appologists thinking they are being clever by saying this shit. ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/174 "2003-02-16T19:28:57Z")
Ok, that was a bit over the top. I am disgusted by the attitude that unless we are doormats we are “just as bad” as those who hate us. That is complete and utter bullshit, and I think everyone who uses that line knows it. ---
**Author:** ![nothingnobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c2a13f/32.png) [@nothingnobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nothingnobody)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/175 "2003-02-16T19:35:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by iampunha \* > \*\*I dunno, **nothingnobody** , I get some strange sense of feeling human by _not_ sinking to the level of celebrating possible death. Considering that my pipedream for his future does not include death… \*\* the dude is so fake i can’t even dredge up a single empathetic feeling for him. [http://www.cbn.com/communitypublic/antioxidants.asp](http://www.cbn.com/communitypublic/antioxidants.asp) [http://www.cbn.com/communitypublic/shake.asp](http://www.cbn.com/communitypublic/shake.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/176 "2003-02-16T23:16:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nothingnobody \* > \*\*perfect! i think we all have license laugh maniacally at Mr. Robertson’s misfortune. unless of course your worried about not sinking to his level… if so, let me tell you, you are missing out… \*\* I urge you to learn the difference between “ironic” and “funny.” ---
**Author:** ![nothingnobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c2a13f/32.png) [@nothingnobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nothingnobody)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/177 "2003-02-16T23:53:18Z")
why when i can laugh maniacally? 😃 ---
**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 17, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/178 "2003-02-17T18:32:24Z")
Originally posted by ivylass > [@](#): > > I can understand celebrating if Jeffrey Dalmer had cancer, or Hitler, or Osama bin Laden. Those people did evil things. Robertson’s done nothing but spout off. He’s a narrowminded prig, I will grant you that. But he hasn’t killed anyone. I’m sorry, is someone not paying attention here? Of course faith healers kill people. What do you think happens when some cynical con man like Robertson, or Roberts or Grant or Popoff tell someone with cancer that Jesus cured them? What do you think happens when someone interested in siphoning the savings of the old and the sick tell a diabetic to throw away their medication? What do you think happens when some Bible thumpers tells a person with a heart condition that God has given them the power to cure them and they can now run up and down the aisles? Damn, I think I can figure out how some people are able to be such doormats: By ignoring relevant information. Sorry for risking some asshole bringing up Godwin’s Law yet again, but if one is a Holocaust revisionist it’s easy to make Hilter out to be not so bad: You just ignore a lot of relevant information. Similarly, it’s easy to make Robertson out to be not so bad, not responsible for deaths and suffering and not a hypocrite for resorting to modern medicine after a career in faith healing: Just ignore the relevant information. Ignorance by sheer force of will is much, much worse than the garden variety style of being a dense fuckwit. I will post the link again just so the Robertson apologists can ignore it again and pretend Robertson is just a guy who talks about Jesus: [The Faith Healers](http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/faithheal.html) ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/179 "2003-02-17T18:49:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Reverend Mykeru \* > Sorry for risking some asshole bringing up Godwin’s Law yet again, but if one is a Holocaust revisionist it’s easy to make Hilter out to be not so bad: Actually, you’re the “some asshole” on this case, because (as we explored in the other thread, which IIRC resulted in a 3-1 vote that did not go your way) the one who starts in about Hitler/Nazis is the one who invokes it. > [@](#): > > Ignorance by sheer force of will is much, much worse than the garden variety style of being a dense fuckwit. So what, then, is it like to be both? Do enlighten us. ---
**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 17, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921/180 "2003-02-17T21:25:36Z")
**iampunha** If you don’t mind I am just going to separate signal from noise. Guess which category you fit in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-robertson-has-prostate-cancer-and-im-glad/154921.md?page=10)