'Smack the Nominalist'

A jolly good debunking has long been one of my favourite forms of entertainment. I remember sitting entranced by a BBC 'Horizon' programme in which Carl Sagan and others trashed Von Daniken's 'ancient astronauts' theory when I was about 11 and loving every minute of it. Lawrence Kuschka's 'The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved' gave me a similar thrill a few years later.

When I started posting on the 'Wasteland' message board as a regular, I was mesmerised by just how BAD some of the theistic arguments were; also just how DULL, consisting of reams of cut and paste drivel that nobody had the stomach to go through. And instead of either respectful debate or pointless name-calling, how I longed to act as judge, jury and executioner to bad logic and twisted facts, preferably in an entertaining manner.

'Smack the Nominalist' started as a 1-line response, then a notional threat of a game-show, then via a few short segments into the full-length scripts you see below. Kira is a fellow Wasteland poster whose response to the early episodes was 'Can I be the bimbo in the bad dress?', and Lo! her request was granted. Likewise, when I discovered that Bold Fenian is an Irish pub musician (among his many other talents), it seemed logical to have him play Paul Schaeffer to my David Letterman. And from then on, it just grew like Topsy.

I was amazed and touched when other people started writing debunks in this form as well - after all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

And after all, this is a game anyone can play...

Tim Byard-Jones [Hume-anist]