Asshat of the Day - September 8th, 2010

Today's titlist - one Terry Jones.

Despite sharing a name with a generally awesome individual, this Mr. Jones is quite clearly an idiot.

Despite denunciations from religious leaders, angry Muslim protests, the pleas of top U.S. generals and White House disapproval, a fiery, unrepentant Christian minister vows to burn stacks of Korans to mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Centre, a tiny, controversial church with only 50 followers in Florida, says he won’t bow to threats or entreaties but might listen to divine guidance.

“We have firmly made up our mind, but at the same time, we are definitely praying about it,” said Mr. Jones, who wears a pistol on his hip and says he has received more than 100 death threats related to his plans for an “International Burn a Koran Day.”

Now, I'm in favour of mocking religion at every turn, and condemning its evil acts. But this isn't a statement of protest, it's an attempt at constitutionally-shielded retaliation in a petty and vindictive fashion against people who, on the whole, had nothing to do with the events of 9/11.

And, beyond that, it's burning books. Not that various nutty Christian sects don't have a penchant for that particular act of depravity, but I find myself paraphrasing Sir Sean Connery: Mr. Jones, Bible-thumping morons like yourself should try reading books instead of burning them.

Asshat.

Determinedly Evil Misogynistic Bastards

The Iranian justice system at work.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was to be restrained at the center of a mob of twenty or thirty other human beings, who are then to bludgeon her to death with hurled stones. Surely, she must be a monster to warrant this treatment. What did she do? Murder infants in their cribs? Pour poison into the water supply? Wrong on both counts. She "committed adultery while married". Now, I was under the impression that one had to be married in order to commit adultery in the first place - apparently, in Iran, pre-marital sex is also adultery. It's just a hundred lashes if it's pre-wedding, death by stoning post-.

Human Rights International, Amnesty International, and other groups raised an international outcry. And the Iranian response?

"...the verdict will be carried out regardless of Western media propaganda.”

I'm a big fan of live and let-live. But they're not letting this woman live. They're going to murder her through an excruciatingly unpleasant method. And why? Because she did something upsetting to their world view, and they have to keep women complacent, obedient, and scared.

A Dangerous and Evil Man

Normally, when I or my co-bloggers encounter idiocy, irrationality in the face of evidence, or other, similar behaviour online, we accord its author with the ridicule and refutation that comes with the dubious honour of the title of Asshat of the Day.

Not in this case.

The more I read that has been written by this man, the more I am convinced that he is dangerous, heartless, conscienceless, and, if he isn't, in fact, clinically insane, evil. I will say this again - if he is not entirely out of his mind, he is an evil man, and I consider virtually everything he has done to be a detriment to mankind.

This man is Andreas Moritz.

Brought to my attention by Pharyngula, as so many are, he is, as is detailed in the story itself, a hypocrite, a woo-meister, and a snake oil salesman nonpareil. But that's not even half of it.

He is an AIDS denier. He is a homophobe (p. 339, and, in fact, most of the rest of the book) disguising himself as someone concerned for people's health. He is a con-artist, creating symptoms in healthy individuals. He thinks (and espouses the idea) that cancer is caused by negative thoughts. For this reason, he argues against chemotherapy. Or antiretroviral drugs. Or pharmaceuticals of any description. Oh, and it should go without saying that he's opposed to vaccinations.

His websites, books, and articles are a bizarre and horrifying blend of The Secret, Kellog's Sanitarium, folk remedies, snake oil, and what can only be described as blatant fraud. (For instance, his river rocks as healing implements, available for sale!)

I leave you, gentle readers, with this. I can't imagine how this man tricks people into thinking he's healing them. He makes me sick... and I've never even met the man in person.

Not Asshat of the Day, but simply, purely, a blight upon humanity.

Aftertouch: Orac weighs in.