Wolf Blitzer and The Atheist
Wolf Blitzer, who has been the screenface for CNN losing all credibility over the past few years, met himself a gracious atheist who tried twice to let Blitzer’s damfool butt off the hook. But, noooo ….
Wolf Blitzer put his foot in his mouth for a moment on Tuesday while interviewing a survivor of the devastating tornado in Moore, Okla.
“We’re happy you’re here. You guys did a great job,” Blitzer said to Rebecca Vitsmun, who escaped from her house with her 19-month-old son right before the twister tore through it. “You’ve gotta thank the Lord, right? Do you thank the Lord for that split-second decision?”
Vitsmun hesitates for a moment and smiles. “I — I’m actually an atheist,” she said, laughing off the awkward moment.
And who should she thank for her flattened house behind her, Wolf?
Thanks to Kary for the heads up.
Reporters asking questions about religion is just walking into a mine field. What if she had started off by saying that she was alive because of HER LORD and Wolfie had better confess his sins right.that.minute or he would be struck down in a hail of pestilence and fire?
Wasn’t she just so cheery and kind? Great mom!
1Blitzer the wolf is truly an idiot for asking such a stupid and arrogant question of that lady. Did he just assume that everyone who lives in a red state believes in a sky daddy?
2I guess she let him know very graciously that she was not a subscriber to such fairy tales. Wonder why he didn’t ask her if the “lord” was happy about destroying so many homes and taking lives in the process. It works both ways blitzie!
Wow………..such a neanderthal. Ignorance gone amok!
Wolf is the stupidest person this side of Fox. CNN has become a National Inquirer tabloid in the past few years and Blister is one of the main reasons.
3I get reliable news from Colbert, Daly, and the Daily Currant.
I’m proud of that woman. Under the circumstances I might have been much less polite.
“No, God was busy fixing a sporting event, I had to do this on my own.”
4Brings to mind the Mark Twain quote
5“God must love idiots, otherwise he wouldn’t have made so damn many of them”
Scottybeamer, I feel the same way about preachy atheists.
6out loud atheists in Oklahoma? oh my…..!
7I watched the interview live and was really impressed with the young lady and her story. I was surprised when Wolf asked her about thanking The Lord the first time. She sort of mumbled something and I could tell it wasn’t going to go well. The second time he practically brought out the holy water when he asked her in a louder voice “do you thank The Lord?” That’s when she said “actually, I’m an atheist.” Wolf sort of mumbles something about her having made the right choices anyway, sort of embarrassed like, but then she said “I wouldn’t blame anyone for thanking their Lord.” Like I said, I was very impressed with her poise.
If you haven’t seen her interview, she talks about coming from Louisiana, where they know to run from storms. But her husband had told her in Oklahoma they get in bathtubs with helmets and mattresses. Her husband was at work but she got in the bathtub with her baby and a laptop, but when she saw on the laptop that the projected path was down her street and she had 5 minutes, she threw her baby in the car and left. Her husband got home before her and found the helmet and mattress in the tub full of debris, where she would have been killed. The only shoes she had were heels she found in her car, she ran home and met her husband in the street to a tearful reunion. A really nice story. Ruined by Wolf’s preaching.
8Wolf Blitzer is the dumbest person on tee vee. He proved it a couple of years ago on Celebrity Jeopardy, where he was dumber than a lake of pond scum. He finished with a negative $4600; Andy Richter, Conan’s sidekick, won with plus $68,000. It was very funny. Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVC28oemocA
9As an atheist, I’ve never understood those people standing amid the rubble of destruction thanking Jesus for saving them. What about all of those people that The Little Baby Jesus didn’t save? Were they no less deserving?
Uncle Dave, I found your condescending tone about this woman terribly offensive. You thought she was a preachy atheist? Merely because she didn’t thank your “lord?”
If she had thanked Allah would she be a preachy Muslim?
Or are you only preachy if you don’t thank some sort of sky god?
We live in a society that celebrates Christianity. If we don’t join in that celebration are we then “preachy?”
10Mark and Uncle Dave, I think you’re both decrying the extremists that reside on the opposite ends of the spectrum, so in that respect you may be more in agreement than you think. In other words, we’re should be asking ourselves the question that zealots of all persuasions will leap to condemn: “How can I be so damn sure?”
11… Or as one definition of an agnostic in the Urban Dictionary outs it – “Someone who is not arrogant enough to
12think they KNOW whether God exists or not.”
Mark dear, uncle dave’s comment was directed at scottybeamer, whose tone was a little snarky. Blitzer was way off base and outta line, but that’s not unusual! It would really be better if all of us were a little more careful of each others toes so to speak. Regarding religion as well as many other things, Goerthe said it very well – if everyone swept his own front porch, the world would be cleaner!
13I’d need to know the definition of “preachy” that includes stating your nonbelief when asked to publicize your belief in a Big Invisible Sky Boohoo known by a feudalistic title. Besides what business is it of the blisters or his audience?
14Also too, if everyone tended to the knitting of his own sweater…………..
15Juanita Jean and customers, here is something to consider you may not have even thought of: http://www.alternet.org/story/155798/major_threat_to_religion_clergy_people_coming_out_as_atheists
16Mark, The young lady was kind, not preachy. I am sorry if I conveyed any other impression.
17Uncle Dave, they aren’t getting that your comment was a reply to scottybeamer even though you stated it!
18Love one another. Some folks believe, some folks don’t. I think that we all have to work together to keep the earth habitable. Everyone needs air, water, shelter, food, safety. I think the CNN guy was foolish to push that. Glad the lady was so nice.
19Wolf is a dyot but so are all reporters in situations like this. One on CBS asked a woman how she felt when she found out her children who had been in the elementary were safe. I sooooooo wanted her to say, “All I could think was, damn, I just can’t catch a break these days.”
20It’s unconscionable to try to “interview” people who have just experienced incredible horror. Even more egregious is the attempt to tell them what they feel or think just to fill air time. Reporters have strayed far from their given task, which is to report the facts, and end up being the story themselves.
21As a life long Christian, I sometimes defer to the wisdom of Blood, Sweat and Tears…”Swear there ain’t no heaven and I pray there ain’t no hell, But I’ll never know by living, only my dying will tell.”
22I think I won’t be commenting again.
23Thanks JJ………for a cool site. I enjoyed it.
Scottybeamer,
I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve enjoyed your insights and comments on many an occassion. But I do respect your need and decision.
Rest of you folks, just as you criticize Wolf for trying to tell that woman how she felt or should feel, I will remind you that assuming what are the feelings or intentions behind a post often falls in that same category. You are projecting and sometimes in very negative ways. I admire your wit and perspectives on many an occassion, but I also wish we reached for a higher and more compassionate approach–especially towards each other who are part of the WMDBS.
24TV interviewers routinely ask rude and or stupid questions. They have in mind what they want a witness to say; they come into the situation with roles and scripts in mind, and try to manipulate people into fulfilling the role of “devastated griever,” “brave survivor,” “noble first responder,” etc. Then they ask leading questions to get sound bites they can use. Drove me insane when I worked in EMS.
I remember one of them in the first Gulf War asking a wounded soldier “What did it feel like when you were shot?” and my immediate wish was for someone to plug the reporter in the leg and say “Like that.” Blitzer’s question was also rude and ignorant, but not really worse than a lot of others. The absolutely most disgusting one to me so far in the OK mess was the interview of the teacher with broken sternum and spine, immobilized in a hospital bed, clearly in pain, emotionally shattered, and barely able to talk, being asked question after question by some perky girl reporter about what it was like, and how she felt, while trapped under debris with kids from her class.
No media personnel should be allowed to photograph (still or video) people in triage, in the ER, or in the hospital until both the medical staff and that person’s family (since the person may be so medicated they can’t think straight) agree. I was in rural EMS; I’ve seen stuff…and I know how shattered and shocky people are after a disaster…it is not fair, it is obscene, to shove microphones and cameras at them.
Yes, we need to know what happened. No, we don’t need to torment a severely injured person to get gory details. Or for that matter run helicopters low over a site stampeding cattle when fences are torn down (happened in the Jarrell tornado…cameraman filmed cattle running down to the highway…so damn smart, not. And I notice in OK, law enforcement had to tell the news choppers to back off so they had a chance to hear people crying for help.
Thing is, people in crisis each have their own reactions, and need to be allowed to react as they need to for recovery. Using them for prime-time sound bites just is not fair. That is neither the news we need to know, nor news fit to print (or show on TV.)
25Scottybeamer to Star: THANK YOU!
26Scotttybeamer. JJ’s place attracts progressives of all persuasions and we all have to be careful not to step on toes. Some of the faithful can be overly sensitive at even barely perceptible intrusions into sacred territory. You’ll get used to it. Stick around, grow another layer of hide and lets all find a way to get along.
27Uncle Dave: Thanks for the clarification. You talked about “preachy atheists” and I just assumed (perhaps wrongly) that you were addressing the topic at hand.
Socttybeamer: I hope you will stick around. I too appreciate your comments.
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