I mean, Lee, the word Fundamentalist means a specific denomination and it is annoying to have it picked for "murderous fanatic" especially as we already had said words.

But then I suppose it is the same as calling ascetic and self-righteous even though the real puritans were not all that ascetic and lots of people were self-righteous then.

I suppose it is somewhat like it, Jason, in that the term "saint" and the term "fundamentalist" are very misleading if you read one religion into another, presuming that Christian "fundamentalists" are as violent as Muslim ones. Similarly, having Francis of Assisi or even Hildegard of Bingen in mind when reading about Muslim saints could lead to incorrect conclusions.

Gina, I said "Would *anyone* [...]", and you never have been, nor will you ever be, just *anyone*. :-) So until I hear that many more twentysomethings and thirtysomethings know why it would be funny to call an undercover investigative journalist that name, I'll consider my question unanswered.

Cue the forced self-righteous outrage over PFM accepting the work of "gotcha journalists" with questionable integrity like James O'Keefe in three... two... one... one... one...? Hm. Maybe no one wants to take on Billy because he'd win the dispute handily even if he's given up arguing for Lent. ;-) When people at the very top are asked to resign, it makes the accusations look very legitimate, irrespective of how the evidence was gathered.

"Pravda" in Russian means "truth", which everyone understood to be a hugely ironic joke. National Public Radio is similar in that only the last of those three words is really accurate.

Muslim saints, Lee? Is that anything like Muslim "Fundamentalists"?

And in breaking news, heads are rolling - from the top down: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/09/134388981/npr-ceo-vivian-schiller-resigns

Both parties, and politics in general, can be anti-intellectual when they go for image, sound bite, style and perception over the hard work of thinking and the longer process of reasoned dialog.

Hey, the Saint! Cool!!

I guess that answers your question, Lee. :-) But I happen to be a TCM fangirl with a huge crush on George Sanders. I couldn't say how many there are like me.

One of the undercover investigative reporters is credited (with an obscured face) as "Simon Templar". Would anyone under the age of 50 make the association, even with Val Kilmer's attempt? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Templar

And I didn't know that Islam has a notion of saints, far different from even the Protestant idea of sainthood, much less the Catholic concept. Interestingly, a number of Muslim saints are women, including one who was her family's fourth daughter, and so was named just "Fourth".

And Jason, you're right about the term "intellectuals" being an epithet. I've refused to accept it ever since reading Paul Johnson's book by that title, in which intellectuals of several nationalities come across as boys (of whatever chronological age) who have figured out that they can sell their ideas instead of working for a living, and use their spare time to indulge their sexual appetites. So I'll proudly be "anti-intellectual", too.

I see a lot of "public" broadcasters are holding pledge drives. I'll withstand their pleas with even more fortitude than usual.

Of course much of the republican party is "anti-intellectual". Intellectuals are bloodthirsty French and German philosophers with outrageous ideas. I am scholarly, not intellectual.