Somedays, it’s particularly hard to tell whether Conservapedia is serious about itself, or whether it’s just a cruel, incredibly long-term, drawn-out parody of Christian fundamentalism. Pictures like this one (right) make it particularly difficult to tell: in case you can’t tell, yes, that’s a picture of Charles Darwin sitting on Hitler’s shoulder like a parrot, and it’s currently the headline of Conservapedia’s “article” on evolution. See what I mean?
Well, this past Friday, Wonkette discovered a real hidden gem on Conservapedia: a list of “Senate Democrats from States with Republican Governors,” containing a gentle reminder that if any of those Democrats were to *ahem* “disappear,” the Republican governors in charge of the state could promptly fill their seats with good, old-fashioned conservatives, and Obama’s Senate majority would be quickly subverted:
Yes, that’s right: Conservapedia, the “family friendly” encyclopedia, would like to gently encourage you to bump off your Senators. It’s the only way to stop that secret Muslim (“Obama may be the first Muslim president”) dead in his tracks!
Unfortunately Conservapedia has since pulled the article, referring to its creation as “the work of political terrorists, [] intent upon and dedicated to mocking our conservative, Christian-friendly encyclopedia.” The obvious inference that Conservapedia wants you to draw is that it’s against violence, political or otherwise, but the fact is that this article lasted on Conservapedia so long only because it fits within Conservapedia’s paradigm of politicizing some violence, and blaming it on liberals (“school shootings are the fault of liberal public schools”), and apologizing for other violence, where appropriate (“abortion clinic bombing is NOT ‘bigotry,’ it’s just misguided”). So don’t be fooled. This is only “parody” because Conservapedia’s administrators realized it might make them look bad – not because they don’t believe it.
Thanks to Oneiroi for the tip!
Doesn’t surprise me in the least. Nor would it surprise me if a number of the “students” that take “classes” from Conservapedia ended up in prison someday for blowing up a Planned Parenthood clinic or some other act of religious stupidity.
Posted by Donovan | January 25, 2009, 5:42 pmJust in case you didn’t already know, Ames, but PalMD’s original blog the White Coat Underground, has been resurrected on ScienceBlogs. So as long as you’re making a practice of listing RationalWiki alumni in your blogroll…
Posted by Radioactive afikomen | January 25, 2009, 8:32 pmDone! Thx!
Posted by Ames | January 26, 2009, 12:01 amYour welcome!
Posted by Radioactive afikomen | January 26, 2009, 6:01 amAw.. someone broke Conservapedia. What will be do for entertainment now?
Posted by Iason Ouabache | January 26, 2009, 11:44 amThink of the death threats received by Judge Jones and the Dover plaintiffs. I feel like this is a fringe that could explode with disastrous consequences one day.
Posted by James F | January 26, 2009, 1:55 pm