That's me in the corner

[susie_flo]

Last night I represented Hufflepuff on University Challenge.  I hate it when that happens, especially when G is on smug Ravenclaw form. Tsk.

I blame the fact that my mind was still preoccupied with Richard Dawkins' latest display of grumpy, owlish intellectual thuggery in episode three of his Ode to Darwin.  A couple of years ago Charlie Brooker reviewed the very similar 'Root of All Evil' series with this quote...

"it's hilarious because every time Dawkins meets a religious spokesman, which he does at regular intervals throughout the programme, he quickly becomes far too angry to conduct a civil conversation with them - visibly fumes, in fact, and adopts the expression of an outraged Victorian gentleman who's just been mooned by a cackling street urchin while escorting a lady across Bloomsbury Square. It doesn't exactly move the debate forward."

He hasn't changed.  I really think he ought to be more sporting about it all... maybe lay off the brutal editing a little. (e.g. he could have let Rowan Williams - probably his most eloquent opponent - finish his sentence rather than overlaying his still-moving lips with Dawkins' own Peep-Show style thought process, comical though it may be).  G made a rather insightful comment that Dawkins is as far out of his depth when talking to an educated opponent about religion as they are talking to him about Science.  

Mind you, I did wonder whether anyone else became song-virused by 'Blame Canada' when the lady from Concerned Women for America popped up to represent the sweet-faced voice of stupidity, expounding on the lack of fossil evidence for 'in-between' species.  Ho hum.

Comments

[steer.livejournal.com]

As Mitchell and Webb put it "Some might question the wisdom of an admissions policy run by a talking hat in the first place."

Still, I think I'm also a natural for Hufflepuff.

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

Oh I dunno, I think it probably beats our Clearing system... :-)

[steer.livejournal.com]

I wonder which university is most like Hufflepuff? Possibly the OU. I think Imperial is probably slytherin though (sorry the_meanest_cat).

[childeric.livejournal.com]

Yes, I wish they'd let Rowan W have his say. He was being so fantastically reasonable and English and emphatically sane that it floored Dawkins a bit, I think. Besides, there's something gloriously nineteenth century about the Archbishop and the eminent professor having a debate about evolution.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Hufflepuff indeed! I would sack the hat if he put you in there...

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Ooh - harsh, on both counts. (My mother would be turning in her grave to hear the OU being so maligned) Annoyingly, I can't think of better examples of either Hufflepuff or Slytherin!

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly!

[steer.livejournal.com]

*laugh* But I like Hufflepuff. I mean slytherin is evil and Griffindor are a bunch of hyperactive overachievers. Essentially, they're not people who you'd want to hang about with. I think Hufflepuff would generally be the best place to live but probably Slytherin or Ravenclaw would have the best parties. Griffindor would be too busy shouting "jolly hockey sticks" and "hooray for the school" to do much that really was any fun.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

alright I concede - the Huffs would be the nicest of the lot to hang around with socially. A Slytherin party would probably be like a cross between a masonic initiation ceremony and a backstage party at The Apprentice (shudder). The Gryffindors would be like frat-boys at a Keg party and the Ravenclaws, bless them, would probably all dress up as Beedle the Bard characters and play wizard chess.