Indonesian Communication and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring has declared that he has isolated the cause for a string of natural disasters. It turns out that it is due to television and immoral programming.
The minister made his comments after the country was hit by a powerful earthquake in September and noted that the disaster was preceded by immoral television and the wider availability of pornography. While we have had many leaders of the religious right make such bizarre statements (here) about natural disasters, this is one of the top ministers of one of the world’s fourth most populous nation with around 230 million people.
For the full story, click here.
I thought that Baghdad Bob was already caught shortly after we invaded Iraq. Elaine is right that this Indonesian official is copying Pat Robertson’s ridiculous claims.
This guy could be on to something. There is plenty more evidence to support the theory that porn is connected to natural disasters, although it is only anecdotal. (Does losing an erection and having to clean up a mess afterward count as a natural disaster?)
@Takoma
Yes, Prof. Turley’s post on this blog was one of several posts linked to in that article.
@ Dredd:
I visited your blog: it’s great–and the high-priest-in-chief post is spooky… Bush is definitely in the same league as the moron from Indonesia…
A little boy and a priest were talking.
Little boy: When God made Adam and Eve, they didn’t have clothes on?
Priest: That’s right.
LB: And God was watching them?
P: Yes
LB: Then God invented porn.
Another High Priest In Chief …
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/05/dogma-of-high-priest-in-chief.html
It’s definitely the gays, wiccans, feminists and ACLU. It takes that kind of interlocking directorate to pull off something as big as an earthquake.
(However, television is in part to blame for someone believing such a stupid proposition.)
My dad has been blaming the fall of Western Civilization on Lucille Ball.
I didn’t know he was Indonesian.
The Indonesian Communication and Information Minister probably took a page from the Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell prayerbook. Remember what they said after 9/11?
It was the ACLU, pagans, feminists, etc., who helped bring God’s wrath down upon our country.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-CAcdta_8I&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
We had candidates who ran for President of the United States who think the Earth is 6,000 years old.
Well just ban Porn and see where that gets you. That prurient desire longs after its lustful tail. We do have to have someone to blame, when we cannot accept the fact that the Poles are Shifting. Ya think it could explain warming in some areas? Like the Rain Forrest moving up? Nah, too much logic for some.