Would You Like Some Apples With Those Oranges?
by John Weckerle
The “debate” (such as it is) does some less interesting form of raging this week in the Mountain View Telegraph as Valerie McElligott of Moriarty responds to a letter by Patty Walsh which raises the issue of whether all Christians are terrorists because Timothy McVeigh, the key figure in the Oklahoma City bombing, was a Christian – an issue we brought up in our September 2 article on the subject.
Now, this is not why all Christians are terrorists. All Christians are terrorists because discredited, fraudulent blogger Andrew Breitbart has been unable to procure video footage of each and every Christian not being a terrorist. The lack of video evidence, creatively edited or otherwise, is damning in the eyes of at least a few, and far be it from us to argue.
All kidding aside, though…
As is usually the case, we did some quick searching to see whose letter we were reading. Checking the name “Valeri McElligott” quickly brought to our attention that this is the name of the head librarian at the Moriarty Municipal Library. There is only one phone listing for the name “McElligott,” and that is Valeri McElligott. Given the rather uncommon last name and the spelling of the first name, we are inclined to believe that the Ms. McElligott in the Telegraph and the Ms. McElligott at the Moriarty library are one and the same.
In her letter to the Telegraph, Ms. McElligott states: “No, all Christians are probably not terrorists. But we didn’t build a giant First Baptist Church in Hiroshima 10 years after we bombed it.” We’d like to point out to Ms. McElligott that Hiroshima was not bombed by radical Christian terrorists; it was bombed by the United States government. Further, while said government did not erect any huge places of worship, it did for all intents and purposes annex Okinawa for 27 years after the war, and still maintains military operations there. In short, Ms. McElligott’s comparison is both completely irrelevant and grossly uninformed.
It’s that last part that bothers us. When the word “librarian” comes to mind, “uninformed” is not one of those adjectives we tend to associate with it. We’d like to suggest that Ms. McElligott spend some extra time with the books in the history section, or at one of those handy computer terminals the city has so graciously provided.
5 Responses “Would You Like Some Apples With Those Oranges?”
Umm…at that point in history, when Hiroshima was bombed, we were officially classified by our nation’s leaders as a “Christian Nation”, so that should be the end of at least one argument in your article. Also, Okinawa is not within a half-mile of either Hiroshima’s or Nagasaki’s “ground zeros”. Incidentally, if you had done your internet homework properly, you would have discovered that Ms. McElligott has not been the head librarian at the Moriarty Municipal Library for several years, as you might have found out if you had visited one of those handy computer terminals the city has so graciously provided–which should shed some more light on another argument in your article. And lastly–or should I say “firstly”, since it appears in the very first sentence in your article–Ms. McElligott’s first name is Valeri, not Valerie. Three (or is it really four?) strikes…you’re out.
Well, we’d first like you to provide some references for your rather broad statements on the nation’s official status as a theocracy. No part of the United States government has ever “officially” classified the country as a “Christian Nation,” and no element of the government – “leaders” or otherwise – has the power to do so, then or now. The fact that somebody made a speech and used the words “Christian Nation” doesn’t amount to anything official, regardless of how well some people liked the phrase.
When we checked on the Moriarty librarian connection, the reference we found listed Ms. McElligott as the head librarian. We correct ourselves by now identifying Ms. McElligott as the former head librarian, and apologize to the Moriarty Library for the error. We apologize also for misspelling Ms. McEllicgott’s first name one time out of the three times we used it. We also apologize to the East Mountain Telegraph for not linking directly to the letters to the editor; this has been corrected.
If you don’t understand the reference to Okinawa, well, we think the point was pretty clear. You need to spend some more time thinking about it, and maybe doing a little reading. Consider looking into how the Japanese citizenry feels about the American presence there. You can try researching that on the Internet, or perhaps the current head librarian in Moriarty can help you out.
First, your “no element of the government” statement shows that you have checked out neither the US Legislature’s official statements over the past two hundred years (many), neither the US Supreme Court’s official statements (some, but not so many). One very small phrase, in particular, from a US Supreme Court Justice, requires an entire web page to “explain” how it didn’t really mean what it said. Since you are at least as good as I, regarding internet research, and since I am (as an instructor) quite familiar with students that “don’t have time” to do their own research, I will nonetheless insist that you to do your own homework.
Second, you still managed to misspell Ms. McElligott’s name–this time as McEllicgott. I would have thought, after the first correction, you would have made a special effort to do it correctly.
Last, I am used to well-meaning Anglos, who try to instruct me regarding Japanese culture and thought. I smile and chuckle. Japan happens to be the country of my birth.
Unlike most Americans, I have learned to laugh at myself. I am often wrong in my opinions, but seldom wrong in my research. But I laugh, regardless.
As near as we can figure, Brady, you’re a local instructor of piano and voice, as well as an adjunct professor of music – a very worthy occupation, but not one that would have us automatically recognize your authority on the subject at hand – on which you have provided absolutely no real data or analysis; rather, it’s primarily been complaints about the spelling of your relative’s name.
We have made no attempt to instruct you on Japanese culture, but have made reference to a specific issue in response to your relative’s letter to the editor. Despite your claim to having been born in Japan – and we wonder how much time you actually spent there, given that your LinkedIn profile lists you as having attended Clear Lake High School (this would appear to be in Houston, Texas). And given your reference to “Anglos” we find ourselves curious as to whether you are actually a person of Japanese descent or a person of European descent who happed to be born in Japan. Normally we would consider this irrelevant, but you’ve put forth your status as being born in Japan as some sort of support for your authority on the subject. Regardless, we see no indication that any research is lacking on our part here – we are simply not going to take the time to provide you with an exhaustive discourse on a point of reference.
As to seldom being wrong in your research – well, we’ll have to take your word for that, because we haven’t seen evidence of any. If this is the best you can do, feel free to continue commenting, but we won’t be providing responses.
Thank you, John; I appreciate your promise to not provide any more responses.
By the way, I am no longer local, and have not been “local” for over four years. Do some more research (and not just on subjects, regarding which you feel you need do no research). Since you discovered that I attended Clear Lake High School in Houston, you should also have discovered that I was a National Merit Scholar, even if I am just a lowly musician, and a lowly adjunct professor (at least from the time of the research you discovered). As for my origins, I have always been, and continue to be an enigma.
Regarding your own research (regarding which I have noticed no great accuracy), have you figured out which President of the USA, during his tenure as President, wrote to which foreign head of state, describing our nation as a “Christian nation”? (Hint: it has something to do with the atomic bomb.) Have you discovered which various legislation described us as such through the centuries? And have you (at the very least) discovered which Supreme Court Justice described us as such (and whose opinion required such eloquent writing to negate what he said)? I noticed no mention of any of those; I thought it might whet your curiosity, at least, to know there might actually be something out there that disagreed with your own published world view.
I still laugh, both at myself and others…and I especially chuckle at your total lack of mention of “Valeri McElligott” this time, since your memory for spelling is definitely worth a chuckle, and you apparently knew better than to attempt it a third time. And once again, I thank you for your promise.
By the way, apples and oranges can be very similar. They are both (usually) brightly-colored, approximately round-shaped fruits of similar sizes; they both grow on trees; the skins are sometimes used and sometimes not, depending on the whim of the cook; and their juices are among the most popular in the grocery stores. But again, I thank you for your promise. I will definitely sleep better at night, knowing the world (or at least the East Mountain area of New Mexico) has such a bastion of research upon which it can rely.