Even though it has been over a week since Paul Mirecki alleged that he was assaulted for the controversy he caused, we still have only one fact about that morning to work with. Nevertheless, this hasn't stopped many from using the alleged incident as a prop for their pet causes. When you blog search with "˜Mirecki,' you'll retrieve over 900 postings. And while I don't have the time to categorize them, the majority seem to be variations on this librarian's sentiments:

Reading this issue of "What's New" one would think that the Dark Ages and feudal society and theocracy is coming back. It might be when evolution is still being debated, scientific evidence of global warming is ignored, fascist bullies are beating up those that oppose theocracy or anything that contradicts their pin headed thoughts. It is time for rational people to come forward and stand up against the theocratic desires of some on the far right. It is time for the scientific literate people to speak up. Don't be part of the silence any longer. (emphasis added)

Of course, this is not surprising given that the Daily Kos spewed gobs of misinformation from the beginning.

Even though no new facts have been added to the public trough, this hasn't stopped many from having a strong opinion about what happened that morning.

Those who hate the "˜religious right' of course accept Mirecki's story at face value because it nicely confirms their stereotypes. The titles of the following blogs nicely illustrates this:

Professor Beaten For Evolution Views
Christian Jihad Watch: Pickup Truck Thugs Assault Professor In Kansas
Onward Christian Soldiers
Christians Beat Up Teacher?
Violence as an acceptable way to defend Intelligent Design?
That's What You Get For Standing Up to the Zealots
Professor Beaten Over His Religious Views
What would Jesus do to us heathen Evolutionists?
Today Kansas, Tomorrow ze Vorld!!
When fundies attack
Creationist rampage
Christians give Christians a bad name
Kansas: Land of The Anglo-Fundamentalists?

Among those who don't believe Mirecki's story, the Hoax Theory is popular. Actually, there are many different versions of the Hoax Theory, and I'm not about to list them. These hoax theories are probably sustained by the fact that the vagueness of Mirecki's story is matched only by its convenience. This is unfortunate for Mirecki. Even if his story is true, without substantiating evidence, many are unlikely to accept it given the manner in which it has become fodder for all the anti-religious attacks. Nevertheless, we must remember there is no evidence that any hoax was perpetuated.

The strangest speculation has to be that of John Wilkins. I've already commented on his bias before , but since then he has actually raised the hypothesis that the police themselves are somehow associated with the alleged assault and have seized his computer in order to frame Mirecki.

Some people have embraced that speculation. For example, according to one blogger, "I'm old enough to remember a time when the police were the good guys. That is no longer true. You have to assume that if it wears a uniform, it is a prick."

I don't think Wilkins himself is willing to go this far, but he does think the Police Conspiracy theory is just as likely, if not more, than any of the hoax theories. He even adds that "we need to do a Bayesian analysis" as if he was being objective about all of this, adding "it will depend on what we know about Kansas police." Let me guess. The "Bayesian analysis" means will have to determine if any of the investigating police officers attends church?

Wilkins ends his oddball speculations with the following:

We'll see. But this exposes one thing about such cases - no matter what the evidence, if you really want to, you can make any kind of case you like. Or, you can just take the evidence as it comes and draw the obvious conclusions.

It's not "no matter what the evidence." It's the fact that this is a high stakes issue with so little evidence to work with that makes it possible to "make any kind of case you like." For example, if you hate the Religious Right and Police, while fearing the Coming Theocracy, one might be tempted to embrace Wilkins' speculation.

But as Wilkins says, "we'll see."

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 14th, 2005 at 1:01 pm and is filed under Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. The trackback link is: http://telicthoughts.com/opinions-about-the-mirecki-story/trackback/