[apology in process]Sorry I got the purpose of thread wrong, APB. You were just the closest thing to an appropriate thread when I talked to my freaky boss this morn![/apology complete]
On with the fun!
I’d lobby to keep Dubya on the list. As Jim Hightower has pointed out, Texas has been at or near the top of the list of states with citizens who have a hunger problem. Dubya’s strategy has been to say that nobody goes hungry in Texas, and to interpret the more recent studies as attacks on him and his presidential campaign. That’s well beyond a faux pas.
NPR, manwhile, doesn’t belong anywhere close to this list. Have they gotten an occasional story wrong? Perhaps. But their reporting is far more in-depth, detailed, and comprehensive than that produced by any commercial TV or radio source, and by most newspapers, for that matter. And they frequently cover issues that are overlooked entirely by commercial TV, radio, and newspapers. So take NPR off, and put on ABC, NBC, CBS, Gannett, and all those other newspaper chains that look on news as just another commodity.
Sorry I’m late on this. I see you removed Jesse Ventura from the list. From what I’ve been hearing about his latest Playboy interview, he apparently remarked that if he could be reincarnated, he would like to come back as a bra. Since I can’t actually back this quote up, then you are justified in removing his name, but only temporarily. I’m sure with some research, I could find many quotes from the man who likes to speak exactly what is on his mind.
I mostly mentioned his name because I just don’t like the man, which I know is not a good enough reason to be added to our enemies list.
Shadowfox
“Distinguished” Sexy assistant to Head Honcho,
Self-Righteous Clique
To Revtim: I probably misworded that posting; you probably remember the subject of a behavior experiment, locked in a prison cell with all that dry food and no milk (“Fascinating!” said the sadists gawking at him on the monitor).
And there was the Santa Claus who burglarized the house after finding no milk in the refrigerator. This is funny??? Like hell it is! 
I would also like to nominate the psychotic anarchist protestors at the WTO rally whose ignorance caused everyone watching and listening to not hear the protestors who were there with an actual message that should have been heard. Thanks to them for singlehandedly ruining a chance to accomplish some good both on the side of the WTO and the reasonable, educated protestors.
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” --Whitman
What? No Martha Stewart? How about Suzanne Somers for subjecting us to those ubiquitous infomercials?
APB, Ron Unz is, as I mentioned, a Silicon Valley multimillionaire, who tried to run for office a few years ago and did pretty poorly. He next surfaced as the backer of a statewide initiative to ban bilingual education in public schools.
Now, I know a lot of people have strong feelings about bilingual education. Personally, I think the jury’s still out. But one thing I do feel strongly about is that decisions about the best way to educate children ought to be made by people with some background in child education, and by the parents of the children, not by rich bachelors with absolutely no expertise in the field, and not by the electorate.
I mean, imagine putting a decision to ban phonics in favor of the whole language method on the ballot. Especially imagine if the person behind this initiative didn’t even have any kids, or any training in child education.
If Unz had done that, he’d be laughed out of the state. Instead he tried to advance his political career by putting his name on an issue that (a) affects other people’s children, (b) arouses more passion than informed opinion, and © comes at a time when the state was still reeling from the anti-immigrant fervor aroused by Prop 187. I just find it despicable.
The list is right there. Martha Stewart is on it, as is Dr. Laura Schlesinger. I even made a comment about being unable to spell it, too!
RTR, I used to feel the same way about NPR, but over the years they have occassionally reported on something I personally or professionally knew more about than they apparently did; this is not so bad in itself, but the reporting they DID give on those stories wasn’t just shallow or even mistaken - it was clearly out-and-out biased, seemingly to meet a political agenda (like implying that one person won a debate they covered when the crowd clearly felt the other speaker did, when the former held liberal views and the latter conservative). As you aptly point out, we have enough of that crap from the other networks. I put NPR down on the list, I guess, because I still listen to it and want it to be better, while the others never enter my mind. Now that you have named them, though, ABC, NBC, and CBS are OTL. Gannett is a newspaper parent corp., right? can you remind us who they own, and what specifically they have done to promote nebulous thought (more than any newspaper does, I mean)?
I’m going to break my own rule about specific quotes or acts long enough to put the Klan and the NeoNazis OTL. Both groups have a history that more than meets the requirements just as a matter of course. For GreenPeace, I’ll put them down provisionally -I’d like to hear a specific, though.
Puff Daddy, IIRC, is the rapper who, along with Jennifer Lopez had that run-in with the cops over a gun that was/wasn’t his while he was/wasn’t out shoot/not shooting somebody/nobody. Yeah, okay, I guess we can include include him as a minor demon in our hellish pantheon.
The Miss America organization has a specific instance of stupidity every year, so they’re OTL. Al Sharpton, Donald Trump, OTL. I think Rev. Jackson’s politics are often questionable, but again he is popular enough with enough otherwise-rational people that I feel we need a specific. I don’t know who Suge Knight is. Is this the “Whatshisface Knight” from earlier?
Dubya and Quayle, and their clay tongues, are just too much fun. They have to stay.
Jesse Ventura is back on, pending shadowfox’s research.
Suzanne Somers, OTL.
The Rioting Anarchists at the WTO rally, OTL.
Monsanto. Of course, they did provide subject matter for at least 2 Cecil articles.
Andrew Weil sounds like Phaedrus, who should also be on the list as a Doper who tried to spread ignorance.
No Dopers on the list, or they’ll take it over.
And God, yes! If anyone deserves to be on there for spreading lies, it’s Monsanto. Second only to the aforementioned tobacco companies. GE, too. They have this little problem with PCBs they’re in denial about.
I’m also adding The Taliban, for denying women education.
And Bill Gates for promoting the use of the insensible, ridiculous, DOS for so long.
Did anyone mention Ted Turner? Colorization…Grrr! Those old time DPs went to a lot of trouble to create a look using light and shadow. Those movies don’t need color!
Remember, I’m pulling for you; we’re all in this together.
—Red Green
Objection here: not to the nomination, but to calling them anarchists. The group wore black uniforms, sporting the circle-a symbol. This looks too convenient: how many anarchists voluntarily wear uniforms? Especially uniforms that would make them such easy targets. Their vandalism gave the police an excuse to club, mace, and arrest the peaceful protesters. Yet, none of the so-called anarchists were arrested. Curious, isn’t it? It’s possible that the vandals were acting out of earnest frustration, but it’s just as possible that this was some type of COINTELPRO operation. I propose that they instead be called organized vandals, or something similar.
Before adding Jesse Ventura for a quote that was probably made in jest, let’s hear what the people in Minnesota think of him. Those Minnesotans I’ve communicated with have said that, while he has this irritating habit of shooting his mouth off, he’s done an excellent job as governor. He refused to recognize the National Day of Prayer because many of his constituents are atheists. And let’s not forget this quote: “Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.”
I’d like to nominate self-proclaimed faith healers like Peter Popoff and Kathryn Kuhlman (sp?). And William Jennings Bryan for defending creationism in the Scopes trial.
Yes, he said this. So being a heterosexual male who makes a bad sex-related joke constitues ignorance? If so, I’d like to nominate roughly 120 million people…
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who
have lost the power of reasoning.
–Voltaire
For those who are blind like me, I’ve alphabetized the list using my handy-dandy sorter in MS Word (thanks, Bill):
Allred, Gloria
Baker, Jim&Tammy Faye
Barr, Bob
Bell, Art
Buchanan, Pat
Bush, George
Bush, George W.
Case, Steve
Chick, Jack Chick
CIA
Cliff of Cliff’s Notes
Daley, Richard
Democratic Party
Derida
DoD
Duke, David
Durst, Fred
Dworkin, Andrea
EPA (same story as FDA)
Falwell, Jerry
Farrakhan, Louis
FBI
FDA (well-intentioned, but overly PACed)
Gabler, Mel&Norma
Gates, Bill
Geller, Uri
General Electric
Gifford, Kathie Lee
Gore, Al
Harvey, Paul
Hasselhof , David
Hovind, Kent
Hubbard, L.Ron
Hyatt, Michael
Irving, David
Judge Judy
Kansas State Board of Education
Khomeini, Ayatollah
Knight initiative (we’re not all from CA!)
Landers, Ann
Larouche, Lyndon
Learning Channel
Leuchter, Fred
Limbaugh, Rush
MacKinnon, Catherine
MacLaine, Shirley
McMahon , Ed and Publisher’s Clearinghouse
Monsanto
MTV (Good One!)
NPR
NRA
O’Neill, Shaquille
PACs
Phelps, Fred
Philbin, Regis
Povich, Maury
Quayle, Dan
Republican Party
Reynolds, RJ Tobacco Company
Rivera, Geraldo (good call!)
Roberts, Oral
Rollins, L.A.
Ross, Natalie-fucking
Schlafly, Phyllis
Schlessinger, Dr. Laura, or however you spell it
Shore, Pauly
Slim Fast
Somers, Suzanne
Spelling, Aaron
Springer, Jerry Springer
Stern, Howard
Stewart, Martha
Swaggart, Jimmy
Taliban
Turner, Ted
Tyson, Mike
U.S. Congress
Unknown who dreamed up the “infomercial”
Unknown who dreamed up the term “infomercial”
Unz, Ron
VanBuren, Abby (Dear Abby)
Various State Lottery Commissions
vos Savant, Marilyn (for heresy)
Warwick, Dionne and the Psychic Friends Network
Wildmon (Wildemon)
I’d also like to mention the other assorted sins of the Taliban, in case anyone questions their inclusion:
- Denying women medical care
- Denying women freedom of expression, freedom of movement (like being able to go where they want).
- Beating and stoning them for minor infractions of dubious laws
- Not allowing them to hold any kind of job or work outside the home even if they have no family to support them.
The Taliban is a vomitous, rank expression of small minds in power.
You need proof of GreenPeace’s ignorance? GreenPeace for years has been THE world leader in stupidity born from rash and radical reactions. http://www.sirc.org/articles/tide_against_greenpeace.html http://www.iea.org.uk/env/roger.htm
As for Suge Knight, he’s the west-coast version of Puff Daddy. He’s in jail now, for drug dealing or assault or some other hooliganism. He’s even worse than Puff, because at least Mr. Combs has enough sense to keep his company alive.
As for Jesse Jackson, if you want an example of his ignorance you need look no further than his recent outburst over the firing of Ray Rhodes, deeming it “racist.” He took a team that was consistently dominant in its division, a team that had no major losses to free agency or retirement, a team with arguably the best quarterback in the league, and drove them into the ground. And when he gets fired, the Reverand immediately chalks it up to racism. And before that, he was getting himself arrested in Decatur in defense of a bunch of teenage rioters. Just like with Rhodes, he jumped into the Decatur fight without knowing all the details. He simply heard that the person being punished was black, and he came in with his fists flying. He is truly a bastion of ignorance in America today.
I have some new ones, too:
-The WB Network
-Vince McMahon
-Judge Judy
-Trey Parker and Matt Stone (creators of South Park)
-Johnnie Cochran
-Barbara Walters
More to come, I’m sure…
The IQ of a group is equal to the IQ of the dumbest member divided by the number of people in the group.
Okay Rousseau, let’s add Peter Melchett. He’s the guy at GreenPeace who seems to be doing stupid things.
Jesse Jackson has been jumping the gun lately, so I guess he belongs on there, though I still don’t think he’s in the same league as most of the others.
Johnny Cochran is though, and I will add Shapiro and F. Lee Bailey as well! They’re all OTL.
Judge Judy is already on there.
Baba Wawa can be listed, for asking annoying people invasive personal questions and calling it ‘journalism’.
I don’t know who Vince McMahon is.
Why should the creators of South Park be on the list? It’s just a comedy cartoon show.
Oh, and I meant to thank PunditLisa for putting the list in alphabetical order. Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You
I assume they got to Seattle via unmarked black helicopters?
But I can’t argue with the rest of your choices.