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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Very funny way of summing up some lines of argument here

11 comments:

  1. A 'humanist chaplaincy'. Yes, that makes a lot of sense - not.
    Of course, it's a sign of how degraded modern culture has become that a vacuous poseur like Stephen Fry is treated as some kind of 'intellectual' by the devotees of TV and Twitter. Isn't the motto of Harvard 'Pro Christo et Ecclesia'? Just a relic now.
    Time once again for Christians to reassert the claim that Christianity is the true humanism and the true rationality.
    Martin

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  2. I immediately picked up Juvenal's Sixteen Satires, which Martin, as a Latinist, will appreciate.

    Nick

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  3. " a vacuous poseur like Stephen Fry is treated as some kind of 'intellectual' by the devotees of TV and Twitter. " - Martin -

    If this disgraceful example of 'ad hominem' is allowed on this blog, I rest my case - that Peter Carrell is being abjectly subjective about whose comments he finds acceptable.

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  4. One wonders where you get these things from, Peter. I just don't have the time to trawl the web (and I'm retired!). So you must surely have an interested ally in your attempts to vilify the gay community.

    However, the satirising was quite brilliant; but I would like to have heard the follow-up from Stephen, himself; who was obviously welcomed into the academic community at Harvard. I'm sure the satire was well-meant, but it could not have been without its supporters who would have shared the usual anti-Gay sentiments. On the whole - not a very edifying use of your site.

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  5. Actually, Ron, I got the video clip from one of the most pro-gay marriage sites I encounter on my e-travels.

    Oh, dear, I seem to have a set of commenters here (above also) who do not see much or even any humour in Stephen Fry being serenaded in this delightful way. He at least seems to have gotten the joke.

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  6. Hi Ron
    Re the poseur comment.
    How about arguing the case for why it is wrong?
    Certain people do pose as intellectuals, and certain others pose as recognisers of intellectuals. If the allegation is false, let's hear the rebuttal.

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  7. Fry is a very good comedian, and I thought the vid was hilarious.

    I think most of the commentators above perhaps need to take things a little less seriously. Humor is edifying in it's own right.

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  8. Fry is a very good comedian,

    Let us not forget that the gentleman in question has used his talent for comedy to attack God and his Church from time to time.

    Or that this event before a congregation of the intellectual elite was born out of antipathy to Christ and his Church - you think that this isn't so?

    Molly Lewis is a delightful and sweet young woman but the subject matter of this "serenade" trivializes deeply held concerns of the people of Faith

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  9. Probably a symptom of living in Christchurch: the thing that stood out for me the most was the date of this event.

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  10. Andrie,

    Many people use their talents from time to time to attack God and the Church. I don't think that means I cannot appreciate their talents when used for other ends. If I took that approach I would just end up in a tiny Christian cultural ghetto, and probably go insane.

    Yes I'm aware of what the event was. So what? I can't enjoy a bit of humor from one small part of that?

    I've been down that road of isolating myself culturally and being angry at the state of the world. It doesn't lead anywhere good.

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  11. Andrei understood the point I was making. The performing talents of Fry or the young woman are not in question, but his hatred of God and mockery of Christianity are well known. His reputation as a 'thinker' is based on his presenting a quiz show called 'QI'. Of course he is a troubled man, beset by bipolar disorder and considerable vanity. This is a matter of public record. So too is his hatred of Peter Hitchens, which he 'tweets' to the legions of his followers. Like a typical leftish luvvie, he denounces 'mean-spiritedness' in others while demonstrating it in himself, and like all of us, he needs the grace of God - but denies it exists. The very definition of hypocrisy and despair.

    However, the subject of my comment wasn't really Fry but those who adulate him, in one of the world's most elite universities. Yes, Satire X does come to mind:

    They shed their sense of responsibility

    Long ago, when they lost their votes, and the bribes; the mob

    That used to grant power, high office, the legions, everything,

    Curtails its desires, and reveals its anxiety for two things only,

    Bread and circuses.

    Martinus Petronius

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