As we’ve mentioned its been a rough week for Ingrid’s powers of discernment. Proving that perhaps her spiritual gifts lie elsewhere Ingrid has managed to bungle the reporting on a story, even when using a “a very credible source”.
Ingrid’s take on the matter:
Ingrid Newkirk from PETA is being outdone by some progressive Europeans. Newkirk may not want to eat anything that has a face, but some rights enthusiasts are suggesting that plants have feelings, too. While plant rights may be a little hard to sell at a time when world food prices are causing hunger on a frightening scale, it isn’t stopping these activists from trying. I’m visualizing sit-ins and pickets at cereal plants and corn roasting events and placards with slogans like, “Grains Are People, Too” or “Civil Rights for Corn” or even “Geranium Rights Now!”.
As you can see Ingrid has made a directly analogous comparison between animal rights which asserts that any eating of meat is wrong and this story about the “dignity of plants”.
However if you go to the actual story what you’ll find is something very different. What this all begins with is a rather nebulously worded Swiss law that mandates that the “dignity of creatures” be respected with respect to all government funded research. Because of the fuzziness of the law no one is all that sure what it all means. In fact, the only thing sure thing in all this is:
Keller sees the issue as providing another tool for opponents to argue against any form of plant biotechnology, which is already very difficult to conduct in Switzerland.
In other words, no one is making a moral argument that plants shouldn’t be eaten, as Ingrid asserts, rather what is going on is that those opposed to genetic tinkering are using this law to further their views. This is not anything new, and its not confined to Europe. And ultimately the argument isn’t just about what can be ethically done to plants but the worry that genetically altered plants will be harmful to humanity and/or the environment in general.
So why bring all this up, after all I don’t care about plant dignity one bit (and honestly I’m kind of looking forward to tomatos the size of pumpkins that only need to be watered once a decade). But what I do care about is the legitimacy of Christian reporting/blogging. At some point even those who agree with Ingrid on many issues need to be aware that one of the leading ODMs and Christian radio commentator has absolutely no legitimacy. At some point when ideology and bias become so overwhelming that the simple task of summarizing the basic facts of an already reported on story its time to find a new job, and a new hobby, and its time to start ignoring her, even if you happen to have your ears tickled by the misreporting she brings to you.
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12 Comments(+Add)
Tim, It’s obvious to most that Ingrid is doing many wrong things. However, constantly reporting on her failings and drawing attention to them insessantly is kind of starting to look like…well…what the ODMs do to everyone else. Just my opinion, a word of caution I guess.
Other than that, yeah I agree she messed up the article and it’s premise.
Joe
I think that this source should have lost all credibility by now…
Joe, I think the point (At least to me) is not to point out Ingrid’s many failings and possible cross over into the land of delusion, but that of honesty and integrity in general. It seems at one time we are told that “we should NEVER lie” by someone attacking Rick Warren, then I go and read lies not only about him but countless others at blogs that person was posted on. On top of all that, when they do (and I am being generous here) make a mistake, they rarely if never apologize or admit it. Ingrid has in the past done a retraction but has a record of just ignoring things until they go away. Most often if there is any “apology” by these people in general, it is thinly veiled and has many excuses and other name callings and stuff right in there with it. (Nope, Hannah did not pose nude for playboy but we don’t like the little hooker and we know she does in her heart. – You know that sort of thing). Ken even shows up to tell people they are wrong by mocking them… LOL! yet, I have yet to see one apology from him when he was wrong.
If there is a mistake do we acknowledge it or act self righteous. I see that it is a bigger issue. It seems that some of these people cannot let others go in peace
Check out the Gary Ezzo story!
http://www.ezzotruth.com/john-macarthur-grace-community-church.html
Then read GTY’s version…
http://www.ezzo.info/GCC/macarthur.htm
And this is still going on!
Talk about grudges! All that Grace to Ezzo…
From what I have experienced I would side with Ezzo. ; )
iggy
My last comment (which was still in the spam filter) I talked about Ezzo and MacArthur.
Note this was over…
1. Preference: That Phil Johnson had “concerns the extent to which depravity and regeneration should be emphasized throughout the GFI curricula. Though Mr. Johnson acknowledges the fact that it is mentioned (see GKGW pages 16-17, 23, 34), in his opinion, it ought to be given more attention.”
2. “the emphasis throughout the GFI curricula on various issues of family governance (i.e. non-biblical issues, such as advice given on infant feeding).”
3. “The third is the potential for conflict within a church which may occur between parents trained in the GFI principles and those that are not.” Imagine that! a conflict over Phil Johnson’s concern over conflict in the church! You can’t make this up! LOL!
All that which Phil states that Ezzo was not willing to abide to church authority… good grief… how much control does JM need? I mean that some even seemed to lie about another ministry because they stated they did not think the other’s had integrity in the leadership…
iggy
Joe C,
Perhaps, however, you’ll note the lack of vitriol and the lack of salvific exclusion, both of which are key properties of ODM writing.
In fact this isn’t even a moral argument, rather its an argument about competency.
Joe,
You do bring up a good point, though. It is something we ALL need to watch out for, myself first and foremost.
Tim does touch on something important though – that discernment extends beyond matters of religious interpretation. I don’t know about you, but I have a small number of well-meaning friends who send volumes of stuff to my email inbox which are of the quality of Ingrid’s article on ‘Plants Rights’. While most of these emails go into the round-file with a sad shake of the head, I (and my wife) do go to Snopes.com from time to time and send a correction back to the original sender.
Just as Christians should not be exchanging false and malicious information about other people, it is also important that they not become chronic alarmists who see doomsday hiding behind every news story.
For example, in looking at responsible means of reporting issues with agriculture, food prices and policies, I would point to current examples like Kay Bailey-Hutchison’s most recent press release on biofuels. It is non-partisan, it is factual, and it lays out potential solutions, rather than playing the part of Chicken Little or the Monster Shouter (from ‘The Stand’)…
And then she writes that you literally cannot make this stuff up. Ironic. She simultaneously demonstrates that you *can* make this stuff up, and that she doesn’t know how to use the word “literally.”
On Chris’s note concerning how Christians aren’t, for lack of a better word, “good” at believing: This has been a severe challenge for my faith.
If it’s all true, if the Holy Spirit is real, and Christians have the truth in a unique way with what we believe, wouldn’t we be better at separating fact from fiction? How can we trust that Christians have some insight into the universe when, in my experience, they also tend to be the largest distributors of urban mythology and other untruths around?
I don’t get it.
I think I still have a post from last night in the spam catcher…
iggy
It’s been rescued now – the spam catcher had 3 or 4 legit ones – it seems to be a bit overzealous today…
Tim, I notice the difference. I guess I just wanted to throw it out there that consistently bringing it up might look similar and certainly ODMS are going to say (and have said) “look! you do what you say we do! grah!”. And that doesn’t help the situation.
Chris I think you said the balance best…
Suppose I can leave it there|!!
Joe
Maintaining a certain level of understanding about the importance of the blog nation can help make it a recreational experience with some residual edification. Most participation and posting usually breaks down in predicable ways, so, enjoy the ride.
For lunch today I will eat Turkey meat between two slices of whole grain bread while walking all over my grass and all the while I am TVOing Hannah Montana.
I feel so free!!
sad.
lying about Europe now.
without bringing up specifics, i repeat what i said in the other thread:
it’s not just Slice, it’s all of the fundamentalist outlets which purport to “inform” people. i just went to CRN to see how long it took me to find a lie. turns out, less than 30 seconds. front page.