The weird parallel world of Conservapaedia

[tree_and_leaf]

Conservapaedia is a bit disappointing, really:you'd have hoped they could have put some effort into their political skewing of the facts (who was it said, a pro pos of Iraq, that "The facts on the ground have an anti-Bush agenda?") Nonetheless, their 'broadcasting' page is a source of unintentional comedy.

http://www.conservapedia.com/Category:Broadcasting

I can't decide whether my favourite bit is their castigating of the BBC for (among other things, including, naturally, and anti-conservative and anti-Christian agenda) their scandalous neglect of the Scots; the unnamed Doctor Who episode that was an allegory for the entry of Britain into the Common Market, and the Guardian's denouncing 'Daleks in Manhattan' as the BBC 'relentlessly spewing out Socialist propaganda' (and here I thought that was right up the Grauniad's street); the puzzling fact that Crossroads is one of the few TV programmes that merits an entry; the attack on Angel for Pelagianism (only they don't seem to know the word); the odd entry on Star Trek which devotes most of its interest to arguing that the programme pushes the 'ancient astronaut' theory of life (which, IIRC, only featured in something like two episodes of TNG)

Generally, though, one is left with the impression that they haven't actually watched any of the things they're writing about, as can be seen in what is surely the crappest summary ever of Life on Mars: the entry in its entirety reads

Life on Mars is a British sitcom based in Manchester, England. It follows the exploitations of a man, Sam Tyler, who thinks he is from the past. There is some controversy surrounding the naming of the secondary lead character, Gene Hunt. He is not in fact a genealogist researcher. He is in fact a Police Officer.

ETA: Oh, for goodness sake. This is the entry for "material."

The material world is that which we observe physically surrounding ourselves.
While very important in terms of keeping ourselves alive through the production of food, shelter, etc., it is a diversion from the spiritual task we are concerned with as seekers and believers in a higher plane. It is true that we must meet our material needs in order to live in God, but it is more importantly true that we must shy away from material aggrandizement in order to stay pure in our pursuit of the Word.
I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or denounce them as heretics....

Comments

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Blimey. Must go and have a good look at that - at some time when my screeches of laughter will go un-commented on...

My favourite bit is Gene Hunt - just dying to give those Creationists a good kicking "'Cos they're scum, an' they 'ad it commin' to 'em"...

[tree_and_leaf]

Gene: 'Oo are you calling a bloody genealogist, you incompetent, tee-total, bible-bashing baseball-watching jessie! (*picks up cowering conservapedia writer and throws him across room, takes a contemptuous swig from hip-flask*)

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

*like Sam, makes token attempts to deplore violence, but is secretly loving every minute of it*

[tree_and_leaf]

Sam, meanwhile, is trying to work out why they think he think he's from the past, this being a variation in his situation which had not previously occured to him.

Your icon's from the carrot song, isn't it?

[davidbrider.livejournal.com]

Conservapedia is, indeed...fascinating.

He says, charitably...

David.

[tree_and_leaf]

Hm... I'm not sure charity is an appropriate response to wilfully ignorant and inaccurate work. But it's certainly fascinating, in a slightly nausea-inducing fashion.

[greenwoodside.livejournal.com]

Oh, please do denounce them! Then we can laugh ourselves to tears...

[tree_and_leaf]

Although I'm sure it's just what they'd expect from a dirty liberal intellectual...

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

Gulp. Erm, well, gulp.

I thought I'd try looking up a few hot potatoes. Nothing on abstinance, very odd entry on marriage(looked as though they were actively trying to put people off)very very long and *ahem* interesting entry on evolution.

[tree_and_leaf]

Odd indeed - though the lengthy and batshit entry on evolution is, I suppose, par for the course.

[maeve-rigan.livejournal.com]

As so often with this kind of thing, the term "metaphorical" seems absent from the mental universe.

Is it odd that they seem to have no objection to the Wombles? All that emphasis on picking up litter--isn't it too tied to the material world?

[tree_and_leaf]

I dunno. Maybe picking up after the everyday folk can be mistaken for a good bourgeoise pre-occupation with tidyness and respectability?

As so often with this kind of thing, the term "metaphorical" seems absent from the mental universe.

Quite. It's full of the sort of category mistake that the average mediaeval would have scorned.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Isn't it in Foucault's Pendulum that one of the characters says that signs reading "No Littering" are remnants of a Cathar horror of fornication?

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

Had a look at the "Harry Potter" entry and was really quite disappointed. Was expecting some kind of foaming at the mouth denunciation and there wasn't one. The loony religious right isn't what it was these days :-).

MM

[tree_and_leaf]

They're not so much loony as stupid, I think:

Espionage refers to the act of gathering information, generally using subversive means. A man who engages in espionage is called a spy or spymaster; a woman is called a spymistress.
The word Espionage comes from the French word espionage, meaning literally "to spy". However, it was the Americans and Russians who made the most historical use of espionage, during the Cold War. Other countries who have used espionage include Israel,[1] Germany during World War II, and Great Britain. Espionage is much less common today, except for industrial espionage, which is what happens when one company spies on another one. However, it has been reported[2] that Al Qaeda has planted spies in U.S. organizations, as well.
Famous spies include Mata Hari.

You heard it here first: spying no longer common!

[sophysduckling.livejournal.com]

That I read this while listening to the James Bond theme made me look up "conspiracy," which was sadly banal.

[tree_and_leaf]

:( They really aren't trying hard enough.

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

You heard it here first: spying no longer common

Ah, so that's why M15 has that bloody big building on the banks of the Thames, then, is it?

These people are definitely stupid.

MM

[tree_and_leaf]

No wonder no-one has ever tried to recruit me as a spy; I understood this was an occupational hazard of studying obscure things at Oxbridge, and was disappointed never to have had the chance to push a KGB agent into the river, a la David Audley

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It is at this point that I am able to come out and say that the only careers adviser ever to understand me directed me to MI5. My kirby grips set off the scanner at Thames House.

Alas, as you can tell, they didn't employ me, but it was fun while it lasted. They paid interview expenses in cash.

[lilliburlero.livejournal.com]

The word Espionage comes from the French word espionage, meaning literally "to spy". However, it was the Americans and Russians who made the most historical use of espionage, during the Cold War.

This brought back awful memories of marking the worst of my exam papers. The tautology! The non sequiturs!

And from the page on the BBC:
The BBC produces many well known television programs, including Bod, Grange Hill, Holby City, Are You Being Served?, Terry and June, Crackerjack

Now, I don't know much about telly (with a couple of brief interruptions I haven't had one for 12 years) but I loved the present tense here (though I believe Holby City is still going, isn't it?). I'm boggling at the thought of US conservatives happily hoovering up a diet of Mrs Slocombe and her pussy, Tucker Jenkins and oooh, I could crush a grape! Bod, I'm afraid, was before my time. I had to Google it.

[tree_and_leaf]

One of my friends as an undergrad had an obsession with Bod (why, I don't know: it predated him considerably, and I'd never heard of it until then). It was a very odd programme indeed.

[tree_and_leaf]

If you want a real religious right loony, try the site on CS Lewis that oursin linked to - did you know that CS Lewis was a pagan Roman Catholic taoist Hindu who was attempting to seduce the God fearing youth of the word to alcoholism, Satanism and Gnosticism, and who believed that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had babies?

'Cos I didn't.

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

Me neither.

I bet Lewis is spinning in his grave.

Screwtape, on the other hand, would find it all terribly amusing ... :-).

MM

[snorkackcatcher]

the unnamed Doctor Who episode that was an allegory for the entry of Britain into the Common Market

That would be The Curse of Peladon.

As this is a Wiki, do you think these are all added by genuine card-carrying conservatives, or have ebil libruls sneaked in to add comments and take the piss?

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

As this is a Wiki, do you think these are all added by genuine card-carrying conservatives, or have ebil libruls sneaked in to add comments and take the piss?

Oh, I do hope so!

MM

[tree_and_leaf]

Thanks _ was hoping someone would identify the episode for me.

do you think these are all added by genuine card-carrying conservatives, or have ebil libruls sneaked in to add comments and take the piss?

Goodness knows - surely no-one could be that stupid? But on the other hand, surely no-one would invent that? At any rate, it would serve them entirely right if they were thoroughly subverted.