Contagious Idiocy

[catsidhe]

Some people are idiots. But that's alright, I'm more or less resigned to this. The problem is, however, that some idiots then go and make their idiocy contagious.

Let me just try and summarise this 'argument'.

• Beowulf includes monsters.
  
• These monsters were obviously dinosaurs.
  
• The Bible story of Noah implies says that dinosaurs were on the Ark, and only died out later.
  
• Therefore Beowulf is literally true in all its details. QED.

Are you as ... stunned by their line of reasoning as I am?

Oh, even better:

• Beowulf is true. Because it talks about dinosaurs. Well, it doesn't call then dinosaurs, but we all know what they meant. (See above)
  
• Beowulf, Hroðgar, Scyld Scefing, and all the others were mentioned in Beowulf,
  
• Therefore the people mentioned in Beowulf were all real people. QED.

Furthermore,

• Germanic fictional literature did not mention real people in fictional contexts. [I'd love to see their research which proves this. Ed.]
  
• Because all the people mentioned in Beowulf were real, that is further evidence that Beowulf is a true story.

Isn't that so wonderfully circular? It's beautiful, in its own sick way.


Or, if all that 'reasoning' hurts your head too much, how about this executive summary:

Beowulf is literally true in every detail because the Bible is literally True in every detail. QED.

And this article is meant for people who are homeschooling their children.


We are so doomed as a species.

(via MedievalStudies)

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EDIT This was, daft as it was, merely second-hand bullshit.

Here and here are where you can sample the undiluted bullshit, straight from the tap, as it were.

Comments

Who said I was surprised?

[catsidhe.livejournal.com]

Like I said to someone in medievalstudies, I'm not anti-Christian, I'm anti-Idiot.

They're allowed to be Christian. They're allowed to talk about how their faith intersects with their everyday lives. They're allowed to discuss History and Literature in the context of their faith.

It's just that they should use reasoning at least as good as, or better than, what I expect from my three-year-old daughter in order to do so.

And I reserve the right to point at them and laugh when they don't.