Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor.
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I had a mountain top experience once. I don’t recommend it, as it involved food poisoning and a hell of a trek down goat paths to the nearest road where an ambulance could pick me up.
Come to think of it there was another one I could recommend, that one involving a car in a blizzard and fogged up windows, but I don’t think jesus would approve.
O, I almost forgot…. BAAAAAA
Where did you find this?
I think we’re allowed to automatically dismiss any videos that have that terrible faux-wood panelling in the background. Gag.
It disrupts my ability to concentrate on whatever is being said.
Oh.
My.
God…
I hear the Holy Spirit does have a hell of a hook shot.
I, there are no words for this, it just didn’t make any sense or go anywhere. BAAAA.
Oooh, I want to be a sheep! She makes it look so inviting. BAAAAA!
Good grief.
@Skimon: That’s probably because the video was cut to accentuate the crazy. I’m sure in the original cut she explains, at length, backed by specific scriptural references, why God wants the ladies to be sheep.
I’m even willing to bet that she says that since Jesus isn’t here personally to be the shepherd, you should assume anything your husband (or father, if your not married, or pastor in a pinch) says should be treated as God’s will and to treat him like your own personal good shepherd.
I bet that would make for some kinky roleplay though.
Er – Jeez Louise.
The sheep metaphor gets more amusing when you realize just how stupid sheep really are.
Ooohh goodness, I thought this was a parody at first. Poe’s law and all that…
<— not going to be a sheep for anyone or anything
Did anyone else have weird Christian Orgy images flash through their heads, with BAAAA! going on all around? Or was it just me?
Frak I’m sick.
@Zapski: sounds like Christian Furries to me…
Her argument is irrefutable. That’s it. I’m converting. Maybe if I’m lucky and God loves me enough, I’ll get cancer too! I’ve heard it’s awesome. BAAAA!
I guess I am not see the point of the video. To amuse us by demeaning someone else by taking her words out of context and accentuating what we consider amusing/horrific? I don’t suppose it was intended to make any xtians see the skeptical light. It feels like it was created to make us feel superior to anyone who believes.
I know I am making a mountain out of a molehill, but is this an “othering” video that doesn’t really help spread the idea of critical thinking? To me it only creates a stronger sense of separatism. And there is already so much to overcome, why do we make it harder?
@Non Believer: It’s just a mocking video from everythingisterrible.com There’s no deeper meaning than simple internet sophomoric humor.
Here’s NPRs report on the site.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122898901
In short: It’s a joke and you’re supposed to laugh.
Yeah, it’s all fine until the wolf gets to that party.
@Non Believer: Yeah, what @Zapski said. You’re taking it a bit seriously. It’s not even made for atheists . . . religious people are allowed to have a sense of humor, too, you know.
I’m with weirdbuglady. Looking at the still before I clicked on ‘Play’, I thought it was a new (or even old) SNL skit. Then I noticed some signs that it was real.
The lack of emotion when talking about an emotional topic, her assumption that only women were viewing, the piss-poor lighting and production, and the ‘insightful’ comment about the ‘real dreamteam’. The most obvious was the ‘be a sheep for jeebus’ circle-jerk, though. It reminded me of the conditioning I had to watch and endure growing up.
You say, BAAAAAAA
I say, blah.
Did they also cut out the bit when the Energizer Bunny went back and forth across the table?
@Rebecca Watson:
Its not made for atheist, it simple sophmoric humor and I did laugh.
When you posted it here – you changed that context. That’s all I was saying.
You’re probably right that I am making a mountain out of a molehill. There are far more egregious examples of “othering” in the skeptical movement and I know it.
I do hurt the larger issue of separatism by using a minor and not intentionally harmful example. I apologize.
@ gwenwifar
That’s what you get for trying to eat the mushrooms that make you see God. Easily mixed up with poisonous species. :-)
Dream Team? Wow — Based on her clothes, eyewear, and hairstyle, I’d have guessed this was filmed a good 10 years before the ’92 Olympics.
Men! Be lonely Scotsmen for Jesus.
If you believe in Jesus, bleat after me!
do you think this was made before or after she made Sheepless in Montana?
NSFW!!
http://www.xmobilepass.com/dvd/10839/browse_scenes/sheepless_in_montana
I wondered when I’d get an appropriate opportunity to use this, but it seems that it’s here:
You know I never really noticed that before, the Bible is pretty much an informercial for sheep herding.”
Bible college is where you learn to shear them.
A shepherd cares for their sheep, but fundamentally there’s an asymmetry in the relationship. The sheep are taken care of, but they’re also shorn and eaten, all for the benefit of the shepherd. A shepherd may sympathize with his sheep, but he never once forgets who’s in charge, and he certainly never considers letting the sheep decide what they want.
Has anyone else ever watched a real shepherd in action? If a sheep goes astray, the crook is used to grab it by the neck and throw it bodily back into the herd. There’s not a lot that’s gentile about the profession. I’m willing to bet that the authors of the bible knew that too. We urban folk think it’s all nice and easy work, but there’s a lot of physical force used to keep a sheep in line.
Where is her DAAAAAAAAAD??
There’s an actual Sheep for Jesus website. They even quote Pilgrims’ Progress. They’re serious. or shearious
http://sheepforjesus2.spaces.live.com/
I raise goats. They’re easy to herd: just hold out a piece of candy or a cigarette. They’ll come to eat it.
Here’s Willy, with his head stuck in a jelly bean sack.
So who are the sheepdogs of this…..flock?
“Stay out of the way of the long-tongued liar.”
Hahaha . . . blind sheep-like followers … Christians … get it?
hmmmmmmmm…..
OK, that lady is a little goofy for me. If any of you skeptics have some intellectual curiosity about “why sheep?”, I just happen to have learned about the history of the shepherd/sheep thing this past year.
You have to put yourself a bit in a 2,000 year old mindset. Israel at the time of Christ was a primarily pastoral rather than agricultural country. So for Jesus to use the metaphor of a shepherd and his sheep is something that would deeply resonate with the people with whom he was speaking.
The shepherd’s life at that time was difficult and even dangerous. Sheep would wander onto steep and dangerous precipices, would be the prey of wild animals, and were at risk of being taken by robbers. A shepherd was always on watch, hard-working, protective, leading the sheep to safe places, caring for his sheep almost as a father for his child. This is some of the imagery that would come up for the Israelites.
Jesus described himself as “the good shepherd,” who knows each sheep by name and cares for them, who helps the sheep over the dangerous places, who lays down his life for the sheep.
I could say so much more about this, but my main point is that, as others have pointed out, the talk was cut for humorous purposes out of any context whatsoever . . . I can only surmise that the goofy lady’s point was that it is smart to follow the Good Shepherd.
She was obviously having a little fun with it as well.
If anyone’s feeling upset at being compared to a sheep, remember that another (to me rich and beautiful) metaphor is that of Jesus as “the lamb of God” (John 1:36).
“who helps the sheep over the dangerous places, who lays down his life for the sheep. ”
Only metaphorically speaking. The Shepherd is no good to the sheep if he’s dead.
(I know, I know, to you believers Jesus isn’t dead either, rose on the 3rd day, yada yada yada).
The bone I’m picking is that a real shepherd still cares about self-preservation. He protects his sheep because they’re his property, his livelihood. He’s willing to risk his life because if he looses his flock he would be destitute and could starve to death…as would many preachers if their “flocks” wandered off; then they’d have to get off their duffs and get a real job like the rest of us.
Be careful, I think she’s trying to pull the wool over our eyes.!!! I’m feeling a little sheepish after that.