New Botkin Blog Post

[Bookworm]

If it isn't likely, I take that as good because while I don't think he'd deserve much less for such blatant, confrontational disrespect, I do like to think that people are better than that and better than him although there are parts of me that wouldn't blame drastic over-reaction. It was definitely a statement based on speculation.

I really hope you are not suggesting that disrespect deserves a violent response. Freedom of speech is pretty much sacrosanct in my opinion, and freedom to be a jerk is an integral part of that. If someone is doing that on private property, holy ground, whatever, violence is still not the answer and there are plenty of ways to remove them from the scene where they are offending people. Just because people over there have a different culture and religion seems to be more important to them than it seems to be to us does not mean that the sorts of crimes perpetrated by fanatics in response to insults, real or perceived, are any more acceptable than they are when a white man does them. We're all human and we all need to try to be sane and responsible.

[debrand]

I wish that he had been filmed at the Mosque. If the video had gone viral, lots of people would have spoken against him. His actions would have been denouced as jerkish and dangerous.

[treemom]

My point was they present it like he is some big bad brave badass, but his behavior is identical the the undereducaated bigoted tourists who do this daily.

[Angri-la]

I was all atwitter when I saw this post, for last night, I was encouraged by a nocturnal vision of the RoBotkinettes. They came by to judge me on being a good helpmeet, homemaker, and mother.

I failed. Elizabeth was distraught that Ladybug was in pants, and Anna Sofia told me that working was the reason my carpet doesn't have vaccuum lines. Theie Daddy was off meeting with my husband, and I am frightened to think of what they were discussing. He thinks I should take a break from FJ. Never!

I asked them if their was was the only way, why they were alone, and I made Anna cry. Elizabeth told me Jesus and Daddy were ample male companionship. I wish I would have made them have a cocktail.

It is on topic! They came to me in a Vison Forum Vision; I am Chosen. Don't hate, congratulate.

[debrand]

I was all atwitter when I saw this post, for last night, I was encouraged by a nocturnal vision of the RoBotkinettes. They came by to judge me on being a good helpmeet, homemaker, and mother.

I failed. Elizabeth was distraught that Ladybug was in pants, and Anna Sofia told me that working was the reason my carpet doesn't have vaccuum lines. Theie Daddy was off meeting with my husband, and I am frightened to think of what they were discussing. He thinks I should take a break from FJ. Never!

I asked them if their was was the only way, why they were alone, and I made Anna cry. Elizabeth told me Jesus and Daddy were ample male companionship. I wish I would have made them have a cocktail.

It is on topic! They came to me in a Vison Forum Vision; I am Chosen. Don't hate, congratulate.

I think that your dream world is making it's way into your real world. :lol: ;)

[debrand]

My point was they present it like he is some big bad brave badass, but his behavior is identical the the undereducaated bigoted tourists who do this daily.

Why would anyone want to perpetuate the sterotype of an ugly American?

[treemom]

Why would anyone want to perpetuate the sterotype of an ugly American?

I don't think most do it, but we noticed it more in Egypt than anywhere else. I think maybe because Egypt is a dream for a lot of people to see but they still are islamophobic

[FuManchu]

The preview of their DVD is comedy gold. "Now that we've been in Cairo for a while, it's really obvious just how prevalent Islam is...", said in a tone of mild surprise, as if Isaac had always suspected the Egyptians of only pretending to be Muslims and is a bit irritated by their refusal to drop the act.

[FuManchu]

Also - Ben Botkin is a good composer, but he clearly has a favourite mode: Stirring Victory Music. When a video just consists of uninteresting people saying superficial things, his music is woefully out of place.

[MonkeyMomma]

I know the Buttkin Sisters name is childish.

Doesn't make it any less awesome!

[emmiedahl]

Buttkin Sisters is an amazing name, and there is nothing wrong with being childish. Some of my favorite people are children.

srsly, though, going into someone else's place of worship and judging is not cool. Too bad he could not contain his feeling of superiority for later.

[MonkeyMomma]

Also, my question remains, where do they get the money for this stuff? And who is the Robotkinettes stylist, because they always look so good?

[emmiedahl]

The Botkin sisters look good because they are young and have the time to primp. Anyone here in their twenties probably looks as good or better after a few hours spent on the hair and makeup.

[MonkeyMomma]

The Botkin sisters look good because they are young and have the time to primp. Anyone here in their twenties probably looks as good or better after a few hours spent on the hair and makeup.

Well, I'm in my 20's, and I guess if I didn't work or have a kid and had someone to pay for my clothes, I could look like that, but I could still use a stylist! :)

[samismad]

I think they went before all the riots. I remember seeing an email or post inviting to watch as they were there. I thought at the time that I would wait for the DVD. (And yes, I bought it, before this blog post.)

From Homeschool dropouts, David Noor mentions being Eygptian, and how Christians there look up to Christians in America. He's slightly light skinned for a Coptic Christian, so I'd say the other commenter saying that mom is American has the info there.

[CanadianHippie]

I also found this self centered and disrespectful! Twits!

And inaccurate. My history maybe off, but I'm fairly certain ancient Egyptians didn't hold to any of the Christian views on Satan at all. And how can you worship something you don't even know about let alone consider the existence of?

[CanadianHippie]

Oh and this

(And we ended up having enough time left over to still be able to write our upcoming book about relationships with boys. But more news on that soon. Stay tuned!)

Confuses me. What sort of experience do they have with boys outside of their own family?

[Deleted12]

And inaccurate. My history maybe off, but I'm fairly certain ancient Egyptians didn't hold to any of the Christian views on Satan at all. And how can you worship something you don't even know about let alone consider the existence of?

He didn't say "Satanism," he said "statism," as in "of the state."

Though how you can separate the state from the religion in ancient Egypt is beyond me, and I think it's ironic that that's what they're trying to do here: conflate the government and their particular brand of faith.

[CanadianHippie]

He didn't say "Satanism," he said "statism," as in "of the state."

Though how you can separate the state from the religion in ancient Egypt is beyond me, and I think it's ironic that that's what they're trying to do here: conflate the government and their particular brand of faith.

My bad. I guess "statism" just didn't make sense to my brain when I read it. I mean, considering that ruling power was directly relation to the Gods in ancient Egypt. I mean, they have supposed Pharaohs who were gods (right Osiris? Osiris? You there? Or too busy manning the underworld where Jesus is supposed to rule?)

[Mommy22alyns]

That's exactly what disturbed me. Why can't they go? Why are they always just tech support? Or better yet, why can't they work on their OWN project? Why do they always have to play second fiddle to their brother's projects??!

I've traveled internationally multiple times, with NO MALES along! Talk about amazing. And yes, I lived and did a great job on my own. I've traveled more than most of the boys in my family. So there!

I'm also going to college to pursue what I feel I need to do with my life. Not what my brother is doing, or my Dad, or anyone else. Why is that so wrong?

Seriously!!! Ugh. Just disgusting.

[Kitten]

We discovered how much fun it is to be part of a man’s world, even if it means taking the plunge into finding world politics as fascinating as they do.

Good thing their little feminine brains didn't explode or anything. Wonder what they think of Hilary Clinton or Golda Meir or Margaret Thatcher...or if they even know who they are/were.

:roll: :lol:

[Letgo]

Several months ago, Isaac (with Dad’s blessing and encouragement) conceived and developed a vision for a six-episode series about Egypt

He is what, 30 or 31? And he still needs Dad's approval to do this? I bet that any denouncing in a mosque was done quietly and in English so no one actually understood him.

Does Isaac think that most Americans believe that our planet was colonized by aliens? That seemed to be one of the myths he was debunking on his Egyptian trip.

[Doomed Harlottt]

THIS Botkin post is why I keep reading fundie blogs. It has SO much fundie goodness:

-- The pomposity. (Really?!?!? They were preparing "briefings" for the "team"?)

-- The insistence on faux manliness. (Four men. An adventure. Blah blah blah. Look, they are treading in the footsteps of countless tourists before them, including yours truly.)

-- The insularity and arrogance. (Trashing someone else's religion while standing in their place of worship! I have nothing against trashing someone's religion but, usually not when I'm a guest in their space, and usually not without actually trying to learn about it first. And no I don't mean "learn" about it in the sense of a priori trying to figure out ways to trash it.)

-- The aping of real scholars and intellectuals. (These fundie documentaries always come across to me as though the makers watched real documentaries on TV and tried to imitate the style. You know, just because you imitate the authoritative tone and the language of actual academics doesn't mean much. I especially liked the guy who was talking about how "language" is key to the Egyptian culture. He just sounded so pompous.)

-- The intense silliness of the sexism. Such as the idea that traveling, making documentaries, and talking about poltics add up to "a man's world."

-- The fact, as others have noted, that the women are acting all excited to do the "scut" work. It's just so classic and, same as it ever was -- the idea that women can be involved in big projects but never as the leader or visionary, just always the ones making the coffee and typing things up or doing the research. There is nothing wrong with helping a sibling obviously, or doing support work, but this clearly comes out of a paradigm in which women quietly execute the nuts and bolts of a project while the men are pursuing the glory.

And another thing: I question the whole bit about riding horses as fast as you can in the desert near the Pyramids at Giza. I could be wrong, but my memory of that area, at least 30 years ago when I was there, is that it is really congested. Is there really some wide open stretch of desert where they could ride horses super fast? Or maybe they went somewhere other than Giza on another occasion to ride their horses? The way the clip is filmed, it gave the impression that they were galloping their horses right there in the shadow of the pyramids. I don't know, but I am questioning that part.

[Doomed Harlottt]

Letgo. Ha ha ha ha!

I noticed that too. The Botkin gals weren't "initially" interested in debunking the notion that aliens created the pyramids, which implies that they eventually did become interested in that.

It just says something about them or at least their followers, I think, that they feel the need to debunk this. Essentially, these are people who believe in magic, or at least wild and preposterous things. That's why they have to spend so much time demonizing Harry Potter, arguing against astrology, and the like -- because the people who are inclined to believe in their brand of fundie-ism are inclined to believe that the occult and magic are real.

[FuManchu]

I suspect you'd learn more about Egypt from reading Death On The Nile; at least Agatha Christie was married to a genuine archaeologist.