Frother Friday on CSPAN: Today's guest, the justly obscure John Batchelor

[BurtWorm]

Further proof that advanced degrees and Ivy League education are not sufficient protection from ignorance and uselessness to society.

Batchelor (Princeton, Bryn Mawr, Union Theological Seminary, as Brian "I'm not neutral but I pretend I am on TV" Lamb helpfully pointed out) is sort of a gasbag's gasbag, apparently on the creme de la creme of frother radio (WABC, WRKO are two I caught) and nowhere else.

Major howlers of the morning: Bush is the "master" of the administration. Iraq is a "beacon of light" to the Arab nations that have been in "darkness for 500,000 years."

I kid you not about this last bit. Batchelor essentially said Arab nations have always been in darkness, even long, long, long before Islam was a twinkle in Mohammed's eye. In other words, Batchelor is a racist. Period.

And a pompous asshole who loves the sound of his own vapid voice.

[trotsky]

1. The literal cradle of civilization - Mesopotamia - was in darkness?

The man's ignorance and racism are truly biblical in proportions.

[BurtWorm]

2. He kept saying to every caller who contradicted him, "Read. Read."

:eyes:

He himself might want to read "The Ornament of the World" about the Arab/Islamic civilizations in Andalusia.

[ewagner]

3. I lasted about one minute

I thought it was funny that the background was read and the lighting in the sudio or where ever he was made his eyes look like he was a demon......

he was speaking nonsense and the RW callers were making even less sense....I turned it off quickly.........

[BurtWorm]

5. I noticed that "hellfire effect" too.

The odd thing I noticed was that most callers after a certain time were critical of his positions. Usually there's balance, but maybe his toadyish stance toward Bush was too much even for those who think the Bush boy is Jesus's kid brother.

[Cornus]

4. What got me...

...was his totally ignoring the premise of one caller: i.e., that Bush comes off as an idiot in an interview situation (compared to Blair who is often interviewed). Batchelor did not respond to this caller and went off on another tangent.

[BurtWorm]

6. He's clearly someone who is living in a fantasy world.

Where Bush is a kind of philosopher king and all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.

[BlueStateBlue]

12. I completely agree

He went off on tangents again and again. He actually responded to one caller's concise question by saying "that's inarticulate". I was so busy screaming at the TV I was late for work...

[BurtWorm]

14. "Inarticulate" !?

That was a gasbag's gasbag moment. Just pulling any old word out of thin air. :wtf:

[Catherine Vincent]

7. I saw a little bit of that guy this a.m. was I was getting ready for work.

What little I saw, I knew exactly who you were speaking of. He appeared to be some religious person, I don't know, didn't hear all of what he said. But toward the end of the segment Brian was asking him about his family, he said he has a 35 year old daughter in the body of a 12 year old. Why in the hell did he say that? I thought that was odd.

[BurtWorm]

8. What's weird is I heard the opposite, but I had to have heard it wrong.

I thought he said he had a 35-year-old daughter with the mind of a 12 year old. :crazy:

I was thinking that I'd like to ask him, if he so believes in Bush's war, would he be willing to risk sacrificing his son to it when he comes of age.

[Catherine Vincent]

18. I replayed cspan's archives of this show....

And the guy said he has a 35 year old daughter trapped in a 12 year old body. So he means, his daughter is 12 but acts like she is 35.

That poor girl.

[BurtWorm]

19. What a disgusting way of putting it.

I wonder if he's proud of himself for raising a 35 year old trapped in a 12 year old's body.

:eyes:

[alfredo]

9. Don't confuse him with Stephen Batchelor author of

"Buddhism Without Beliefs." Great book.

[teenagebambam]

10. And I hesitate to add...

...being gay myself, I should probably know better than to even say this...


but could he sound GAYER? I was shocked to learn that he had a daughter, presumably that means he was or is married to a woman, unless he's just a fornicator.

[BlueStateBlue]

11. His wife is a minister

according to the bio they read on CSPAN this morning.

[BurtWorm]

13. I confess, I picked up that vibe myself, and I'm not gay.

I was also surprised to hear he was married.

[DemonFighterLives]

16. I was thinking that as well

But figured it was his touching religious nature that caused his lispiness.

[librechik]

15. 500,000 years ago

there were NO civilizations, no farming, no Arabs, no Christians, no...

this is a real jawdropper.

[BurtWorm]

17. Weird that someone like him thinks the world is more than 6,000 years old.

:wtf: