It’s always fun when the Religious Right takes the bait and responds to any kind of satire. This week I had a Shouts&Murmurs piece called Hobby Lobbyist in The New Yorker, which dealt with the intersection of Christianity and crafting. Tim Graham runs a website called Newsbusters, devoted to “Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias”, which sounds as if Tim and his righteous followers burst in, with badges and bazookas. Tim gave his story the memorable headline: “The New Yorker Mocks Hobby Lobby With The ‘Crotch Cozy'”, and announced that my piece demonstrated the “self-congratulatory secular superiority of The New Yorker and its readership.” Tim referred to me as “Gay playwright and screenwriter Paul Rudnick”, which is exactly what appears on my business card.
The comments which followed Tim’s tale were, if anything, far more vehement, and exemplify the biblical term “panties in a bunch.” They included:
“There is a special place in hell for this offensive mockery.”
“It’s a good thing for him God is all-merciful.”
“I guess a plastic crucifix in a jar of urine is more this puke’s idea of crafting…No…Wait, it’s actually more his and his ilk’s idea of ‘art’.”
“With his freak lifestyle, this guy has more to worry about than Hobby Lobby.”
And my absolute favorite:
“My wife went to the Hobby Lobby in Morehead City on Friday. She said the people there were so nice and helpful. They have to put up with crap like this.”
At least now we know the true agony of working at Hobby Lobby: not only will the store’s health insurance refuse to cover birth control, but employees are also forced to read The New Yorker.
