The strange tales of Paul Mirecki

Townhall.com ^ | Dec 14, 2005 | by Michelle Malkin

[.cnI redruM]

Paul Mirecki -- the Kansas University religious studies professor who derided Christian fundamentalists as "fundies" -- is a strange man with strange tales of alleged persecution. Contrary to his knee-jerk defenders on the Left, it is not bigoted, hateful, or intolerant for me to scrutinize his story.

It's rational.

The professor first created controversy in November after penning an unhinged e-mail message expressing his desire to deliver a "slap" to the "big fat face" of the "fundies" by teaching an intelligent design course "as a religious studies class under the category 'mythology.'" The message was sent to the mailing list of the university's Society of Open-Minded (snort!) Atheists and Agnostics. Mirecki signed his taunting diatribe "Evil Dr. P." These are the words of an individual more than a few cards short of a full deck.

After his remarks were publicized, KU cancelled the proposed course. Mirecki was forced to apologize. And then, out of the blue, It Happened.

Last week, Mirecki claimed he was beaten by two mysterious white men on a rural highway. He says the unidentified assailants, in a pickup that tailgated him in rural Douglas County, Kansas, targeted him for his views while he was "taking a long, pre-dawn drive in the country to clear his mind," according to the student newspaper. Mirecki says he pulled over to the side of the road to let the men pass. He then said he got out of his vehicle. The alleged attackers got out of their truck and beat "the hell" out of him, reportedly using a "metal object," Mirecki said last week before abruptly clamming up about the attack and sequestering himself in his house.

News of the beating aligned perfectly with the mainstream media's template of Christian fundamentalists as right-wing vigilantes. Mirecki's liberal supporters on the Internet swallowed the story whole. The Wichita Eagle told those with questions about Mirecki's account to "give it a rest." A Kansas City Star columnist called allegations of a manufactured hate crime a "cheap shot."

Why?

Mirecki can't remember where the incident took place, according to local law enforcement, and has offered only the vaguest of suspect descriptions. There are conflicting accounts about Mirecki's physical appearance the day of the attack. While a faculty colleague claimed that "big swollen spots" had "transformed" Mirecki's face, Jesse Plous and Tiffany Jeffers, two of Mirecki's students, told the campus newspaper they didn't notice bruises or scratches when they met for his class six hours after the alleged attack. Lindsay Mayer, another student in the class, "said injuries weren't extremely noticeable." Mirecki did not mention the alleged beating in class.

Now, a week after the alleged attack with the alleged assailants still at large, Mirecki is poised to take both his university and the local sheriff's office to court for their insufficient support and investigation. The fundies! Academia! The cops! They're all in on it!

After university officials announced that Mirecki had voluntarily resigned as chair of the religion department, the professor came out of his shell to blast the school for forcing him to step down. The university stands by its account. Mirecki has complained that law enforcement officials have seized his car and computer, and doesn't like the direction of the probe. "If I have to sue, I will," he told the Lawrence Journal-World.

None of this smells right.

The truth is there are too many cases of hate crime hoaxers on campuses -- a phenomenon most left-leaning journalists are loathe to cover -- to dismiss the possibility in this case. Last year, Claremont McKenna College professor Kerri Dunn was sentenced to prison after she staged an anti-Semitic hate crime against herself. Earlier this year, a lesbian student at Mt. Tamalpais High School in Marin County, Calif., faked several anti-gay incidents to garner attention and sympathy. Leah Miller, a black student at San Francisco State University, admitted to scratching "NIGG" on a dorm room door and writing herself a note with the same epithet. Jaime Alexander Saide, a Northwestern University student, admitted making up anti-Hispanic threats against himself after the school rallied around him with "Stop the Hate" marches.

Strange, isn't it, how leftists on campus who sneer at blind faith are so often fooled by it themselves.

[.cnI redruM]

He may not be paranoid. This guy, in fact, may be such a major jerk that everyone in Kansas really does hate his guts.

[Sthitch]

It makes me wonder why an agnostic or an atheist would want to teach religion.

[wideawake]

You were defending this guy's course offering the other day.

Is there another side to Mirecki's story? Or is he as big a loser as he seems?

[goodnesswins]

"religion" of liberalism...

[FormerACLUmember]

Lawrence, KS - University of Kansas religion professor Paul Mirecki, whose planned course on creationism was canceled after he described Christian students as "redneck Taliban f*cktards who belong in formaldehyde, not in classrooms," was released today from a Lawrence hospital after an attack by a mysterious gang of Nascar racers.

According to Mirecki, he was driving his car at 3 AM on the outskirts of town when "20 or 30" Nascar race car pickup trucks suddenly appeared in a local WalMart parking lot and began following him menacingly, blaring AM talk radio. He says they ran him into a ditch, and began beating him with bibles, banjos and moonshine jars marked with 'XXX.'

"'This here's MERIKUH, and wee's all Jezus lovin' USA MER'KINS, yew gol-durn trickifyin' commernist smartypants! Stop challingin' our traditional backwoods bible valewz and tax cuts with yer dirty college book-larnin'!'" Mirecki quoted one of the assailants as saying. Mirecki said another threatened to "'shut up that thar purty professerin' mouth o' yers, lessen yew stop perluti-fyin' our Kansas hillbilly yunguns withen yore Satan monkey theories.'"

Mirecki was released from the hospital after treatment for minor bruises on his right cheekbone and fist.

Lawrence Police spokesman Carl Baher said that identifing the assailants would be difficult because, according to Mirecki, they were wearing Klan hoods and Sean Hannity masks. Nevertheless, Baher said his department would pursue all leads in the incident, the first recorded Nascar-related hate crime to occur in this quiet university town in more than 120 years.

"We are asking the Lawrence and KU community to aid in the investigation," said Baher. "Please report all sitings of white hillbilly Nazi plutocrats driving loud race pickups with large Halliburton or Enron decals."

(from IowaHawk)

[threeleftsmakearight]

You have nailed it!
What you wrote is, in essence, what an imbecile like this actually believes.
I love how his story has the "assailants" driving a pick-up truck. His story may have been more believable if his attackers were driving a church van.

To any DU lurkers out there; if you believe this guy's story, you are not nearly as smart and sophiisticated as you believe.

[FormerACLUmember]

Mirecki is a tenured fraud. Plus he even looks a bit like his fellow charlatan, Fake Big Chief Ward Churchill!

[Right Wing Professor]

While a faculty colleague claimed that "big swollen spots" had "transformed" Mirecki's face, Jesse Plous and Tiffany Jeffers, two of Mirecki's students, told the campus newspaper they didn't notice bruises or scratches when they met for his class six hours after the alleged attack. Lindsay Mayer, another student in the class, "said injuries weren't extremely noticeable." Mirecki did not mention the alleged beating in class.

This is really slimy of Malkin. She herself on her blog posted a picture of Mirecki with two black eyes and a bruise on his arm. She knows damn well he was injured. There may be a question how, but not if.

[Right Wing Professor]

Is there another side to Mirecki's story

You mean, other than that he claims he was beat up, and has black eyes to prove it?

[Liberty1970]

You mean, other than that he claims he was beat up, and has black eyes to prove it?

So who's hiding the pictures of his alleged black eyes? I haven't seen any.

And how does having a black eye prove that it was obtained by getting beat up? By two men? On a remote road? Because of his beliefs?

In short, in the grand tradition of evolutionists everywhere, he's a bit short on the evidence to prove his grandiose claims... and believing him requires a lot of faith while ignoring all the conflicting data (such as mentioned in Malkins article).

[Right Wing Professor]

So who's hiding the pictures of his alleged black eyes? I haven't seen any

You haven't looked very hard.

http://media.lawrence.com/img/photos/2005/12/10/Mirecki_Paul.jpg

Malkin linked to it.

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004047.htm

[cgk]

Malkin ping!

Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Michelle Malkin ping list!

[RJL]

Please add me to the Malkin ping list.

Thanks

[cgk]

Welcome aboard! :)

[bad company]

You mean, other than that he claims he was beat up, and has black eyes to prove it?

These black eyes? Sorry professor, that's makeup.

[VOA]

Mirecki has complained that law enforcement officials have seized
his car and computer

Wonder if the computer is his laptop...that happened to be in
the car during the alleged attack?

If so, Mirecki needs to watch more episodes of "Law And Order".
You report a crime, the crime scene gets a real going-over.

[VOA]

It makes me wonder why an agnostic or an atheist would want to teach religion.

Being a missionary for atheism (and/or agnosticism) with tenure
and a captive student body...all at state taxpayers expense?

Talk about a sweet deal!

[johniegrad]

Pusillanimous.

[twntaipan]

Black eyes of that magnitude would have been easily discerned by anyone who saw the man after the alleged beating.

This has all the trademarks of a fabricated hate crime, but then for liberals, "fake but accurate" is their trademark.

[okie01]

These black eyes? Sorry professor, that's makeup.

Are you making that judgment based on the absence of swelling? Or the odd symmetry?

Because "makeup" is the first thing that came to me...

The bruise on his biceps looks real, though. But that could have a lot of sources...