San Francisco Chronicle writer calls Christians "mindless lemmings"

[Bill the Cat]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/24/DDLSSUCRE.DTL&hw=Mark+Morford&sn=007&sc=166

As far as urban public education is concerned, we are essentially at rock bottom. We are at a point where we are churning out ignorant teens who are becoming ignorant adults, and society will pay dearly, very soon, and if you think the hordes of easily terrified, mindless fundamentalist evangelical Christian lemmings have been bad for the soul of this country, just wait.

© source where applicable

What an ass!

[The Curtmudgeon]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/24/DDLSSUCRE.DTL&hw=Mark+Morford&sn=007&sc=166

As far as urban public education is concerned, we are essentially at rock bottom. We are at a point where we are churning out ignorant teens who are becoming ignorant adults, and society will pay dearly, very soon, and if you think the hordes of easily terrified, mindless fundamentalist evangelical Christian lemmings have been bad for the soul of this country, just wait.

© source where applicable

What an ass!

You're being redundant, . You already called him a writer for the SF Chronicle.

The (what else would you expect?) Curtmudgeon

[Philosophickle]

Wow, idiots really confuse me. On the one hand, this fellow seems to be jumping on the "terrorize fudamentalist Christians" bandwagon that has surfaced in the last three years in print, which suggest that he himself is a lemming of sorts.

On the other hand, we are called lemmings, yet any Christian that has been alive for more than ten minutes hears the "Christians can't agree on anything" argument. I hope smugness is not viral.

[Chaotic Void]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/24/DDLSSUCRE.DTL&hw=Mark+Morford&sn=007&sc=166

As far as urban public education is concerned, we are essentially at rock bottom. We are at a point where we are churning out ignorant teens who are becoming ignorant adults, and society will pay dearly, very soon, and if you think the hordes of easily terrified, mindless fundamentalist evangelical Christian lemmings have been bad for the soul of this country, just wait.

© source where applicable

What an ass!

I'm not surprised. American Media tends to be ignorant about certain groups of people, such as Canadians and Christians. They also have the tendency to Scapegoat and Slander....

Actually, it's more like the media in general.

[Jimmy Higgins]

I guess this should earn the "If Minnesota did this..." Award.

The quote in OP says "fundamentalist evangelical Christian lemmings"

The article did not say Christians in general, as the OP alledges.

[Philosophickle]

I guess this should earn the "If Minnesota did this..." Award.

The quote in OP says "fundamentalist evangelical Christian lemmings"

The article did not say Christians in general, as the OP alledges.

Most of us believe that fundamentalists are still Christians.
But it did seem like the author of the article was talking about those Christians that are mindless, rather than mindless Christians.

[Jimmy Higgins]

Most of us believe that fundamentalists are still Christians.

Yes, but the OP would lead one to believe that the author was speaking of Christians in general, not an isolated group of them.

But it did seem like the author of the article was talking about those Christians that are mindless, rather than mindless Christians.

Yub yub.

[Minnesota]

To be fair to Mark Morford, the author of the article, and to the SF Chronicle, the opinion quoted was not necessarily his or the Chronicle's, but that of his friend. Morford has paraphrased his friend. In fact, the whole article is pretty much a reiteration of what his friend said. Of course this doesn't change the allegation of his friend, but I think it better places the responsibility for it. (I'm sure Morford pretty much agrees with the entire gist of his friend's remarks, but not necessarily the details, such as the one under issue here.)

No, my friend takes it all a full step further. It is not only a sad slide. It is not just a general dumbing down. It is far uglier than that.

As far as urban public education is concerned, we are essentially at rock bottom. We are at a point where we are churning out ignorant teens who are becoming ignorant adults, and society will pay dearly, very soon, and if you think the hordes of easily terrified, mindless fundamentalist evangelical Christian lemmings have been bad for the soul of this country, just wait.

It's gotten so bad that, as my friend nears retirement, he says he is seriously considering moving out of the country to escape what he perceives will be the collapse of functioning American society in the next handful of years due to the destruction, the shocking - and nearly hopeless - dumb-ification of the American brain.

source

[Bill the Cat]

I particularly liked the response from the girl that had attended the high school the writer's friend taught at. I did find funny the kid that touted the scholarships he/she had won, yet misspelled a word...

[$cirisme]

I'm not surprised. American Media tends to be ignorant about certain groups of people, such as Canadians and Christians. They also have the tendency to Scapegoat and Slander....

Actually, it's more like the media in general.

Hey now, don't go lumping all of us Christians in with the Canadians. I'm pretty sure the Chronicle writer would never stoop so low.

[$cirisme]

I guess this should earn the "If Minnesota did this..." Award.

The quote in OP says "fundamentalist evangelical Christian lemmings"

The article did not say Christians in general, as the OP alledges.

Yes, that was my first reaction as well.

[Chaotic Void]

Hey now, don't go lumping all of us Christians in with the Canadians. I'm pretty sure the Chronicle writer would never stoop so low.

I'm Canadian AND Christian, eh?

<Sarcasm>

Oh, take off, you hoser!

This is a fair warning to those sarcastically impaired the preceding text was written in jest.

[Darth Executor]

Yes, that was my first reaction as well.

Mine too. However, it's a SF newspaper so I suspect their definition of "fundamentalist Christians" is broader than ours.

[Minnesota]

As for Mark Morford's friend's remark.

As far as urban public education is concerned, we are essentially at rock bottom. We are at a point where we are churning out ignorant teens who are becoming ignorant adults, and society will pay dearly, very soon, and if you think the hordes of easily terrified, mindless fundamentalist evangelical Christian lemmings have been bad for the soul of this country, just wait.

I have to agree.

[LGM]

As for Mark Morford's friend's remark.

As far as urban public education is concerned, we are essentially at rock bottom. We are at a point where we are churning out ignorant teens who are becoming ignorant adults, and society will pay dearly, very soon, and if you think the hordes of easily terrified, mindless fundamentalist evangelical Christian lemmings have been bad for the soul of this country, just wait.

I have to agree.

I have to disagree.

The Morford opinion piece was nothing more than anecdotal, Chicken-little clap trap. And the Christian slur was unbelievable. It was completely out of context, but no doubt an ignorant cheap shot designed to pander to his perceived audience.

Imagine if an editorial in a more conservative paper, had written a similar article and said:

As far as urban public education is concerned, we are essentially at rock bottom. We are at a point where we are churning out ignorant teens who are becoming ignorant adults, and society will pay dearly, very soon. And if you think the hordes of lisping, politically correct, mindless, gay evangelicals have been bad for the soul of this country, just wait.

What tripe. Oh my, the sky is falling, because some inner city Oakland kids don’t measure up to the lofty academic standards of his ‘delightful’, ‘poetic’, ‘quirky’ teacher friend. I'm guessing those must be SFGate code words for 'flaming'.

Puhleeze…what was it Morford?...slow day at the global warming, Asian bird flu, Iran’s about to launch a nuke - panic center? Do you really think you're some brilliant, insightful, highly educated, about to win the Pulitizer Prize, journalist... because your word processor grammar and spell checks your ignorant rants?

Perhaps Morford’s teacher buddy ought to interview for a job teaching at Cal Tech, or UC Berkley or Stamford? Then we’ll all have a good chuckle as his blinkered view of the educational state of the world gets a nice slap in the face.

I’m the parent of two sons, in top Universities, who recently graduated from a public high school where the academic, athletic, music and art programs were simply outstanding. So excuse me if I don’t buy into the tripe that public education has hit rock bottom. My sons and their friends are mostly all serious students, musicians and atheletes. They are all in top schools, and they will be the next generation of doctors, lawyers, engineers, businessmen, political leaders, teachers and journalists.

Hopefully journalists who don’t write anecdotal, hyperbole laden, clap trap about how watching ANY TV before the age of six allegedly causes your child’s “basic cognitive wiring and spatial perceptions to be pretty much scrambled for life”

What an unbelievably hilarious and ignorant thing to say. Perhaps it's Moford who has hit 'rock bottom'? Or perhaps one of his other ‘delightful’, ‘poetic’, ‘quirky’ sociologist friends wrote that unnamed study?

Here's a newsflash for Moford's teacher buddy...not every inner city kid needs to know what 'agriculture' is, or the names of all the potato varieties...

...in order to serve french fries to some ignorant journalist on his lunch break.