By the way, just a warning, the guy coming in after us is Gay.

@Devin does it matter who initiated it? You still posted the comment on TechCrunch. There are many other big bloggers like Phil that will also be blogging on this, against TechCrunch’s favor if you don’t put a stop to it. Apologize, remove the post, and move on!

As the creator of the 35,000 user Catholic app on Facebook, 20,000+ user LDS app on Facebook, Baptist and other apps, as well as a Tech blogger myself and author of soon to be 2 books, I guarantee you don’t want to have this turn into a PR nightmare. I will be posting this to all 35,000 Catholics on Facebook who I know will support it, as well as all LDS applications and groups. It’s already been Twittered – I know I’m not the only one that tracks, “Mormon” on Twitter. I will blog it, and about 300 people a day will see it (and growing!). Hey – if this turns into a big enough PR issue, why not add it as an example of Facebook “No-No’s” in my Facebook book soon to be released (Forewarded by Scoble and Lorenzen)?

This will be my last post because I’m not interested in entering an point-by-point flamewar here.

Everything in the world is fair game for poking fun at. I dare you to find a stand-up routine without religion, sex, or race in it. If you were offended by the fact that we find a certain religious tradition funny, oh well. Don’t read the interview! And while you’re at it, don’t read The God Delusion or His Dark Materials, don’t watch Jesus Camp or listen to George Carlin or Bill Hicks. Like I said, this is an interview with a man who has made a point of going after every sacred cow, crossing every line, and generally treating political correctness as a total joke, and whether you agree with him or not, it’s as much his right to speak his mind as it is yours to say you’re offended. Mormons happened to be topical and already mentioned (so was f—ing nuns while Hillary Clinton watched, I notice no one mentioned that), so they came up in conversation. And we were just riffing on his earlier bit and giving him a heads up, not formulating a final solution. It’s a long walk from banter to bigotry.

So, while you are free to register your displeasure, please refrain from trying to censor us.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7719689369

I read the interview, I have no problem with the content. In general, any time religion is made to look ridiculous I’m in favor of it. It (religion) has caused far too much pain in human history to be allowed any sort of veneration.

Spirituality? Belief in God? Religious freedom? I’m all in favor of it. But I’m also just as willing to publish those who choose to say it’s absurd.

To compare this to racism is a false analogy. Penn is not saying Mormons are inferior humans. He’s simply ridiculing them for their beliefs (and based on his show Bullshit, he does the same for all religions).

I hadn’t read any of this until Jason Alba emailed me from JibberJobber, but I would have greenlighted it anyway. It’s not sexist, it’s not racist. It’s simply speech.

I’m happy to debate this further but it’s going to have to be a reasonable, non-threatening discourse. I’ll leave it to you to decide.

Mike

Wow, come out and show your true colors Michael, a pompous blogger blaming the world’s problems on religion. Such an Internet original(roll eyes). You come here and worry about some tiny blogger complaining about what you write, but you don’t really listen. I mean, these after all your readers. The only reason you even exist is because of them. Ask Digg what happens when you forget about your readers.

Penn saying those things is one thing, he is a comic. Your writers however are not, and started the comments in the interview. They continued to add comments and then even brought it up again at the end again. Things like this is what gives bloggers a bad name, and proves that you guys are just pure hacks. It is tabloid journalism. That would be like Katie Couric joining in on a guest making fun of Jews. Here is an example. Conan O Brian had on Bill Maher just recently where he went off on all Christians. Now, Conan didn’t continue on with it and feed him more material. Let the guy do his thing, but the interviewer does not join in. I’m fine with Penn going off, that is his thing. Let the comic do his job, you do yours. Your writers are bigots, and apparently so are you.

Since Michael won’t check the thread again I will just speak in general. Why don’t we look up what the word bigot means, “a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group with hatred and intolerance”. Ok, so Michael starts his comment with “I have no problem with the content. In general, any time religion is made to look ridiculous I’m in favor of it. It (religion) has caused far too much pain in human history to be allowed any sort of veneration.”. Hmm, sounds like bigotry to me. Michael lumps Mormons in with groups that have caused all these problems just because they are labeled a religion. Not only is Michael bigoted, but he is a hypocrite. He says he wants a fair discourse but he began his comments lumping up all religions together negatively. That is the same as labeling technology bad because you can make bombs with it. Each group needs to be viewed on its own merit, otherwise it is exactly what the dictionary defines it as, bigotry.

Michael apparently doesn’t read his own comment. I don’t care if he agrees with religion, but that is not what he said. Putting us in the same group with those that supposedly caused much of the world’s problems is not a good discourse. Michael says, “I’m happy to debate this further but it’s going to have to be a reasonable, non-threatening discourse. I’ll leave it to you to decide.” Why doesn’t he take his own advice?

One last comment, in my comments I never blamed Penn. I think the Simpsons and South Park have actually had some very funny pieces jabbing at Mormons. I watch those in expectation of that however. I do not read tech blogs for this. Michael should just create a comic blog if he wants to do that stuff, otherwise there is no place for his writers to create this type of content.

We’re at 12 diggs now – let’s get this to the top of Digg. Michael wants this to die down so they have ceased commenting on here and the article itself (they were just sticking their foot in their mouth further anyway).

http://digg.com/gadgets/CrunchGear_That_was_Uncalled_For

Michael, if you are still reading this – so, basically what you’re saying is that you don’t care that your readers are offended and it’s their fault, not yours that they are offended? You’re saying you don’t care what your readers think? Maybe true in real life, but you clearly need to get some business sense and try to understand your readers better. So far the comments against the article (on the article page itself!) are in the majority, and not just among Mormons.

The real problem here is hypocracy. Those who claim to be tolerant. I am “Mormon” and I really do not care if someone makes a stupid comment demonstrating their ignorance. What I cannot stand are those who hide behind being politically correct when their ox is gored, but have no problem denigrating other groups. It is apparent that Michael is just such a person.