Saturday, April 18, 2015

conversation with Jothee Shambit

I remember reading something of Barbara Forrest in which she talked about not being rattled by an attempt of the Discovery Institute to caricature her as Barking Forrest.  I had the impression that a Barking Forrest character (a dog joke?) was invented, and that this name was intended as some sort of attack on her.  I got curious.  No, it turned out to be an explicitly fictional interview with Barbara Forrest in which the fictional interviewer himself repeatedly gets her name wrong in ways that have no bearing on what she's saying.  The silliness of the interviewer is itself a parody of radio show hosts.  However, I sort of like the idea of a fictional stand-in for a caricature.

Jothee Shambit
So ... A fictional online interview  with Jothee Shambit, based on Jeffrey Shallit's writings on the Recursivity blog, some of his other writings & depositions, and similar sentiments by other ID-critics; so here in the alternate universe where Jothee rather than Jeffrey has taken part in the Dover trial and Shallit's various other exploits.  As a public figure, he is subject to satire and parody.  More than a bit of hyperbole in places here.  Nonetheless, you can decide for yourself whether it bears more than a superficial resemblance to Shallit's attitudes and arguments.  Any resemblances to people living or dead might not be a coincidence.  The reader can decide how much of it is caricature given how gracious and genteel Shallit is in actuality.