Poor Ken. He so wants to be respectable.
He’s complaining now that the Creation “Museum” tried to get in on some marketing deal with an outfit called Groupon, that advertises discount coupons or something, and he got turned down. They thought his “museum” was too controversial. So Ken Ham must whine.
Some of the businesses they feature for our area are attractions such as laser tag, spas, lawn care, etc. However, in other markets (such as Atlanta) they have featured the local natural history museum–which of course is totally evolutionary and teaches children that man is an evolved animal–but I guess that is not controversial!
That is correct. Evolution is not controversial at all in the real world. It is only controversial in the wacky fantasy land of fundamentalist superstition.
Apparently, because the Creation Museum is a Christian facility with a walk through the Bible, that is “controversial!”
No, I only wish the Bible and Christianity were regarded as controversial, but they aren’t — they’re pretty much widely accepted here in Idiot America. The problem with the Creation “Museum” is that it is brain-dead soul-sucking stupid, and while Americans love wallowing in piety, they hate being associated with obvious inanity.
Americans… hate being associated with obvious inanity
I put it to my learned friend that there are two significant pieces of evidence running counter to this claim. Firstly, you elected George W Bush as president. Secondly, you elected George W Bush as president again.
I haven’t tried it, since I’m not in a big city, but Groupon’s idea is actually kinda cool. If enough people are going to use a certain discount, then that discount goes active– kinda like that site that lets you raise money for projects, but with coupons. After the offer goes active, then I guess you’re charged X amount of cash, and have a certain amount of time to use the offer. So this way a business can make kind of an extra-cool offer, because they know that it will only happen if a larger number of people have actually signed up to take them up on it. And of course, folks who want an offer to go live will tell others about it so it doesn’t potentially die.
But yeah, things like this probably wouldn’t work so well in a town of 6,000 people, haha
@#1– Actually, we DIDN’T elect him the first time.
Darn, startlingmoniker beat me in #3.
I see that after whining about Groupon Ken threw his toys out of the pram and huffed that they don’t need Groupon anyway. So I wonder why they tried wasting money by contracting with Groupon in the first place. I would suggest that contributors to Ken’s coffers might want to ask that question but I suspect anyone dim enough to fund him won’t be able to summon the mental wherewithal to do so
No, Ken, it’s not Christianity that’s controversial, it’s your rejection of science for mythology that’s hard to sell.
No doubt Ken and his ilk will use this little incident to claim persecution and, of course, if you are persecuted then you are right. You can see the hint of this in Ken’s message. I am suprised he didn’t go for full on persecution and the martyr complex. “We will know we are right when they say we are wrong”. What a twisted world.
Thanks for my quote for today!
Manufactroversy ≠ controversy
I hate being associated with Ham’s inanity, particularly since it is just across the river. I wish he’d take his stain of ignorance out of my region and back to Australia.
Why not? All of these sects have drastically different interpretations of the Bible, different theological assumptions, and different agendas. The only thing they probably agree on is that they regard Jebus as the Messiah. They like nothing better than arguing about obscure theological points, about how their reading of some random bible passage constitutes The Truth, and are quick to break away and form their own churches to finally lead the people on the one true path. That’s why they’re always looking for rifts in the Atheist movement, they simply can’t understand why we don’t break up over questions that cannot be settled in a meaningful way.
Someone should tell him that turning his idea down as too controversial is only the polite way of saying it’s outright stupid and noone in their right minds would want to get near that idea.
After all, we are all friendly in our daily interactions.
Thus, there is really no point for him in zeroing in on controversial, he should be upset about people thinking of him as plain stupid.
Ken Ham. The most aptly named creationist wingnut in existence.
Evolving animal Ken
Not that it matters one bit to you
Go back to fabricating your hoax velociraptor saddles
B
This is just another instance of an evil but smart motherfucker figuring out a way to get essentially free publicity. Sign up for something, and when you get turned down, turn it into an event.
That guy is a fucking PR clown car. Gaudily-dressed and extremely unfunny things just keep spewing from his mouth.
No bloody way, mate. We’re not letting him back in here – he’s your problem to deal with now.
Besides, there isn’t a big enough market for his kind of nonsense here. Yes, we have our share of idiot Christians but they’re far less likely to go somewhere like his pissant ‘museum’ than the equivalent US wackaloons.
@Gus Snarp, sorry mate, but we don’t want him back. I’m also reluctant to say it as it might sound like an insult and it isn’t meant to, but there aren’t enough suckers here for him to make a living out of his particular brand of stupid.
And U Say @7
Which is of course why all the people who swallow that bull for Ken are also the same people who support women’s rights, civil rights, queer rights, etc…
Though, hmm…
Could explain the further denialism that tries and state that there is no such thing as persecution against minorities and that the only persecution is when minorities make fun of dominant groups or do such hideous crimes as “breaking our bats with their faces”. Not to mention the hideous contortions for their “the only real racism is blacks against whites”.
Maybe you are on to something after all and that’s why they need to live in Mad Hatter World in order for their inane guiding rules to not clash with their open-aired bigotry.
Maybe if Ken would quit raping piglets, his little fantasy land park would get some attention.
Groupon tried to provide Ham the face-saving euphemism “controversial”, but he seems to be begging them to say “Fine, then, it’s because you’re an embarrassing moron. Satisfied?”
If there isn’t a Teach the Controversy shirt for this meme yet, there really should be.
Darn you, Australians!
Wowbagger @ 16: if we can’t get you to take Ken Ham back, would you at least consider Rupert Murdoch?
Ham forgot to mention that the local natural history museum is also not based on totally imaginary bullshit, not a complete joke, and not a scam to part idiots from their money.
Other than those minor quibbles there is absolutely nothing wrong with the above quote.
No, but I’ll give you lat and long where you can kick him out of the plane! :)
What if the Creation Museum were featured in Groupon, but nobody came?
That’d be funny. Sadly unlikely, but funny.
I’m signed up for Groupon, but it’s never offered me anything I’d pay real money for. It’s always acupuncture, chiropractors, herbalists, luxury olive oils, boutique knickknacks and such. Come to think of it, the creation ‘museum’ should fit right in. Keep complaining, Mr. Ham.
Man, yesterday Billy D’Oh!, today Ken Ham — these guys just love playing the persecution card whenever someone ignores them as td;dr.
@Rev. BigDumbChimp (#9) –
Nice use of the word “manufactroversy”.
Ham is a slick operator – no question about that – and he knows how to work his audience like any successful huckster.
@Rev. BigDumbChimp (#9) –
Nice use of the word “manufactroversy”.
Ham is a slick operator – no question about that – and he knows how to work his audience like any successful huckster.
Gotta bring back an oldie but a goodie.
“There are people who believe that dinosaurs and men lived together. That they roamed the Earth at the same time. There are museums that children go to, in which they build dioramas to show them this. And what this is, purely and simply, is a clinical psychotic reaction. They are crazy. They are stone…cold…f***…nuts. I can’t be kind about this, because these people are watching The Flintstones as if it were a documentary.”
-Lewis Black
ken ham whined : “Some of the businesses they feature for our area are attractions such as laser tag, spas, lawn care, etc”
well, ken, those places have at least two things going for them over your “museum.”
1) they teach more science
2) they are fun to go to
The fact that Americans love wallowing in piety is the reason why Ham’s museum is considered “controversial.” The Groupon people aren’t so much worried about Creationism’s contradiction with science, as they are with its contradiction with religion.
First, it promotes one sect over another, as being more factually “true” than others. That’s a no-no in the public sphere.
But, more important, I think, is the concern that the Creation Museum undermines religion by making it falsifiable. Those who are both pious and shrewd know that you can’t do that: you can’t make faith dependent on any fact which is either likely to turn out wrong — or has already been concluded to be wrong, by general secular consensus. Keep religion in the airy-fairy who-can-know-anything area, and you can stay pious, smug, and safe.
Ham is blindly promoting atheism, and other Christians realize it. There’s the controversy.
It is stupid to pay for stupid at full price. How stupid do you think we are? (Note to rest of the world: Do not answer that question. Or if you choice to answer that question, remember that North Dakota alone has more nuclear weapons than all of Southern hemisphere combined.)
Noah and the dinosaurs.
Thank you, Sastra. I’d never considered this. Your argument does make sense.
destlund, I belong to Groupon in Houston AND San Antonio, and I’ve got lots of discounts for 50-75 percent off terrific restaurants (very helpful when I take my brother’s family to dinner), activities for my brother’s kids (a ceramic painting party!), sports, six operas, four symphony concerts, an evening at the theater and another at a comedy club, yes a few boutique items, weight-loss exercise sessions at upscale spas, and naturally sweetened cupcakes for diabetics that they’re going to deliver for a dinner I’m giving at the end of the month. I could never afford all this at full price.
The fact that they told Ken Ham to peddle his flat-earth nonsense without their help just makes me love them more.
Which doesn’t explain why that travesty exists in the first place.
Many Americans like wallowing in obvious inanity, but there are many others who don’t wish to be associated with demonstrable absurdities like creationism/ID. They may believe their own inane tripe (like non-scientific notions of evolution, even), yet they’re not keen on sectarian nonsense.
The thing is that there are nearly an infinite possibilities for being stupid, Ham’s way being just one. Rejecting his way of being stupid doesn’t necessarily show that a person or group is intelligent, it just means that they don’t like Ham’s stupid, either for good or for bad reasons.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
I like Groupon. They have discounts for the Minnesota Historical Society and today send me one for one of my favorite bars. Now, not only do I get to enjoy inexpensive sushi and martinis, I also get to piss off Ken Ham.
Life is good.
In my idealized world, being willfully wrong would be controversial.
Sounds kinky. Where do I sign up?
Hammy has a point. In my neighborhood, laser tag, spas & lawn care are totally controversial, yet they are allowed to advertise.
Sastra #33:
For people who stop to consider actual YEC claims, he would be, but I fear that very few do so. I would love to think that Ken Ham and his ilk will be shunned by mainstream Christians for this, but if anything it looks like the fundamentalists are circling the wagons (see the Texas SBOE, although elsewhere ID proponents are not faring well, e.g., bills proposed in state legislatures, number of publications claimed by the DI, the Biologic Institute). At least in this PR battle the newspaper editorials favor the scientific side – I can’t recall seeing a pro-creationist editorial cartoon outside of the Answers in Genesis web site.
I wonder if we can talk Ham into going out to verify this ‘new ark’ they ‘found’ and revoke his visa / citizenship while he is gone…..
Okay…we seem to talk a lot about Ken Ham and his obvious lack of reality on these blogposts, but how big is the following that he has? I have been a part of several churches with hundreds of Christians and almost none of them really believe that the Creation myth is real. Do people posting here run into creationists a lot? I guess I am wondering why the focus turns to creation when finding the lunacy found in the bible. It’s filled with all sorts of wacky stories that can’t really be true. Is it because creationists speak the loudest?
Yes.
No, it’s because creationists want the government to be their bullhorn, by forcing various versions of creationism, like ID, into the schools.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
Ken Ham needs to get together with Bill Donohue for a new event called Whineyfest wherein they can complain about being snubbed by private businesses.
.
Polls show that a substantial percentage of Americans are creationists.
The numbers vary a lot depending on the exact wording and the poll but it can be 30% to 50%. That is 90 to 150 million people. Something like 90% of the Teabaggers are creationists.
Maybe he is actively promoting atheism, and he is really an evil atheist pretending to be a cretinist while fleecing those poor christian suckers for all they are worth!
OK, maybe not. But let’s start the rumour anyway. :)
Q: What do you get when you convert a creationist to atheism?
A: Cured Ham.
I love Groupon here in Columbus (which I assume is where a Creation Museum deal would have run). So far, I’ve picked up a cheap (but very, very good) massage and a cheap ticket to the Columbus Museum of Art.
There have been plenty of others that I didn’t pick up simply because they were for a salon or a restaurant on the other side of town.
So cool to hear they turned him down…. ;-)
Hell yes. I get them a lot in my environmental classes. Of course, I yank their chains as much as possible.
BS
@ Raven #47
Is there a geographic trend to this? I have always assumed that it was endemic to the south, but I could just be stereotyping.
And I think I was giving the teabaggers far more credit than they deserved. It seems the media coverage of them is larger than actual participation. Arizona just passed prop 100 despite strong opposition from the teabaggers, and with all the coverage they get here I thought for sure it was going to get voted down.
*Sniff!* Why, I never thought I’d live to see the day our little goat-man actually appeared to learn something!
Wouldn’t it be nice if these devoutly religious adults like Ham or Comfort would merge into one devout religious sect? Perhaps Jehovah’s Witnesses or Christian Scientists with a penchant for handling venomous snakes? But I guess that wouldn’t be fair to the serpents.
There is. It is a fundie xian belief and they are mostly south and central USA. The NE and the WC have fewer. Mainline Protestants, Mormons, and Catholics are mostly not creationists.
Getting OT here but probably the Teabaggers are a bit overexposed. Just glanced at the voting and it is all over the place. IMO, the voters are mostly just angry and fed up and voting against incumbents and randomly lashing out. The Nihilism party would do well these days.
USA and Turkey. That isn’t quite what you were asking, but those two countries are off-the-scale compared to RoW.
Poor Ken. His natural history museum is neither natural, history, nor a museum.
Ran into one in my art appreciation class last Friday. She maintains that a sunset is Art (not a representation of it, the sunset itself) because it had a Creator who Created it with Intent that it be Art. She got very upset – like in tears – when the teacher said that nature could be very beautiful but it wasn’t Art per se, because it wasn’t created by a human or with human agency.
we did get into an interesting discussion of whether the paintings created by elephants and non-human primates were Art. No conclusion on that front, because no one knew how much human agency is behind those paintings.
I think Ham is just upset because he read the name as Gropeon and assumed it had something to do with his subscription to Pigletfuckers Weekly.
Anti-Christian? No. Groupon sees what a laughing stock the Creation “Museum” is.
I wouldn’t give Ken Ham the time of day.
Oh look, Kenny’s crying. Somebody call the Haaaaambulance.
Do people posting here run into creationists a lot?
Are you kidding?
I live in Texas! The species homo rationalis are exceedingly rare here, close to extinction.
Darn you, Australians!
oh, and before it comes up…
No, New Zealand does NOT want Ray Comfort back, either.
no way, no how.
Besides, isn’t he married to Kirk Cameron now?
Does a bear shit in the woods?
Hey, hey- don’t go knocking all of America just because of George W. Bush. Gore was robbed!
I really do think America is two countries. I’m tired of getting dragged along/blamed for whatever is going down in Jesusland.
Sastra #33:
It worked for me. Ken Ham, many years ago in person, set me on the path to atheism. He was the first Christian preacher I saw who claimed that to be a Christian, you had to accept a literal 7-24-hour-day creation. I realised for the first time that it was possible to lie from the pulpit. It seems so naive now…
Wouldn’t it be nice if these devoutly religious adults like Ham or Comfort would merge into one devout religious sect?
actually, I think they are.
They call themselves “teabaggers”.
what?
oh, I guess they “called” themselves teabaggers.
what are they now, teaparty-ers?
Re comment #10 from Gus Snarp above. Gus, we apologise! Ken Ham is one of ours. So how did he end up infecting the US with his ruthless fundicrap? He hit a brick wall in Australia. Less than 9% of our population attends church at least monthly. 9% of a adult population of say 16 million, out of a total of 22 million. That’s a small market, that he’s sharing with all the other versions of his and the opposing belief systems. He needed more. You speak english, so do we. The US is renown for being errr…rather religious, and he can get Maccas for dinner. So, he left this country with his tail between his legs and headed for the Raving Religious fundamentalism the southern part of the US seems to adore. Kens got a funny Aussie accent, ‘specially when he’s talking about bananas. We don’t want or need him back. I know we’re a long way away, but it’s not far enough. Better still, can you bundle him up and ship him off to the far north of Canada with no return ticket?
I like Groupon.
I now like it a whole lot more.
“brain-dead soul-sucking stupid”
Great. Like a saddle on a triceratops.