Saturday, August 28, 2010

John Smithson Calls Midnight Review Author A "Jihadist"

Updated August 31st and September 1st, 2010.


In his latest attempt at right-wing punditry, unlicensed contractor and conservative Christian blogger John Smithson decided to comment on a silly story regarding a terror suspect appearing on the television program Canadian Idol (much like American Idol), but it is not what he had to say about the terror suspect, but what Smithson had to say about other terrorists - Smithson ridiculously writes that a Christian author of this blog (myself) is a "Jihadist."
Jihadists come in all shapes and sizes. They range from junior college drop outs with no job and no serious work experience to "converts" such as this Kevin guy (American name - see video below) who actually "tries out" with Canadian Idol and failed ---- of course. So what does he do? Tries to kill innocents.
There is no news value in this story. Losers are losers. But it is funny to watch and listen to them thrash around as if they were talented. One wonders, over the years, just what goes on inside the heads of these folks. Surely they know they have no talent but they continue to pretend to be what they are not.
You see, the terrorist suspect's name is Khurram Sher, not "Kevin," and those comments he made about "junior college drop outs with no job and no serious work experience" are surprisingly similar to comments he has left on this website.  Smithson seems to lack an understanding of the facts, as well as the law - what he is doing is called "libel," defined as defamation of an individual by written or representational means.  This is also not the first time Smithson had to resort to baseless accusations in order to prove his point (if he even had one to begin with) - a few years back, Smithson attacked another person on the internet for disagreeing with him claiming the person had no religious, political, or educational bearings.

"You know nothing as it relates to God, the JFK event or American politics," wrote Smithson. "And, again, you are not black, you have no college degree of any kind (unless it is a journalism BS degree)." 

The person Smithson attacked was black and held a Masters degree - isn't that a bit elitist of Smithson to attack the education of another, especially when it seems the only educational background he has are a couple "units" of learning at some bible schools, which he cannot even spell correctly in his own bio (and some are no longer in existence, which means they probably weren't that good to begin with).

If Smithson had ever read the "About Us" section, which we know he has because his IP address was tracked to that page, then he would have seen that this particular author has a degree, and has continued his education in the field of business and politics, but because that doesn't fit Smithson's right wing narrative, he simply decided to ignore the facts for his "drop out" story, all to make him feel like a bigger man - it is common practice for people who have a feeling of inadequacy to overcompensate, and Smithson is no exception.

Also, what exactly is a "unit" of education?  Smithson has referenced these "units" before, whether in his bio or in comments on this website, but in my experience with higher learning, I have never heard something called a unit in regards to college courses - maybe continuing education classes, but never a course, which leads me to believe that Smithson's "education" is based on questionable continuing education studies, which may or may not have been properly accredited - Valencia Community College and Rollins College are both accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools - a regional accreditation agency recognized by the Department of Education.

The same can't be said about the now defunct Preston Road Center for Christian Education where Smithson got some "units."  The group was unaccredited and saw only a handful of graduates in their lifetime - Smithson possibly being one of them, although his profile does not indicate he ever finished his schooling, and while he had made reference to entering the PhD programs of the Minnesota Graduate School of Theology and the Assemblies of God College, there is zero proof that he had ever attended those schools, so given the evidence present, it appears Smithson is the college drop out.  

It is understood that "units" are sometimes interchangeable with "credit hours" (although this author had never heard a class be measured in "units"), but that does not change the fact that Smithson's education seems to be entirely from unaccredited sources.  He claimed in a comment that the reason why his studies were unaccredited were because of the general education requirements, which mean Smithson opted for a narrower education of questionable quality because he did not want to be subjected to the "atheistic state board of education."

Smithson also wrote on one of his own websites that he "was prohibited from graduating from seminary."

Smithson had also written a post criticizing Joe Klein, journalist and author of Primary Colors, for referencing the bible in an attack against Glenn Beck.  Smithson called Klein a Marxist and stated his degree in American Civilization qualified "him for absolutely nothing."  I find it interesting that Smithson wants it both ways - he wants to be able to attack those for not having enough education (in his eyes) as well as those with more education because he simply disagrees with their message.  All this from a man who could not graduate from seminary and attended unaccredited programs of questionable quality all his life, and who is defending a college drop out like Beck.  

Jihad is the Arabic for what can be variously translated as "struggle" or "effort," or "to strive," "to exert," "to fight," depending on the context. In the West, the word is generally understood to mean "holy war," and the terms are given, inaccurately, exclusively military connotations.


The Quran does call for "jihad" as a military struggle on behalf of Islam. But the Quran also refers to jihad as an internal, individual, spiritual struggle toward self-improvement, moral cleansing and intellectual effort. It is said that Prophet Muhammad considered the armed-struggle version of holy war "the little jihad," but considered the spiritual, individual version of holy war--the war within oneself--as "the great jihad."


Including the "jihad" as one of the five pillars of Islam is another common Western misunderstanding. Jihad is not among the five pillars of Islam (the profession of faith, prayer five times a day, fasting during Ramadan, alms for the poor and performance of the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in each Muslim's lifetime).


Still, "jihad" is considered to be every Muslim's duty--be it the struggle to improve society, preventing the exploitation of the poor or vulnerable, or improving oneself before the Day of Judgment.
Now lets look up another term that Smithson is partially familiar with and how it relates to his faith - fundamentalist evangelicalism:
Fundamentalist evangelicalism is defined by its historian George M. Marsden as "militantly anti-modernist Protestant evangelicalism." Marsden explains that fundamentalists were evangelical Christians who in the twentieth century "militantly opposed both modernism in theology and the cultural changes that modernism endorsed. Militant opposition to modernism was what most clearly set off fundamentalism."
Sounds as if Smithson is the jihadist - Christian jihadist that is, and before Smithson starts to clamor about "slander," lets just put that to rest now - everything appearing on this blog has a basis in reality.  While Smithson draws his conclusions out of thin air and pure hatred for his fellow man, the authors of The Midnight Review focus on facts.  Everything written about Smithson is derived from Smithson's own comments, as well as various other reputable sources.

Smithson should really learn to embrace the teachings of Jesus Christ - didn't he learn anything from attending those unaccredited schools?

1 comment:

  1. I had received a response to this article by Smithson, but because of the insults against this author, it will not be published, however, I will be publishing a response to a couple of his comments (to which you can figure out just what Smithson had stated in his post):

    Smithson stated the terror suspect went by the name "Kevin" and was a "college flunky." How many college flunkies do you know that are doctors? Also, after researching countless articles, there was zero reference to this individual's "American" name.

    Smithson argued that a school's accreditation was no big deal, but without accreditation, lower standards may prevail, which was the case with Preston Road Center for Christian Education. Smithson claimed in his response that Preston was accredited by Abilene Christian, but that is wrong. In the article referenced above, it mentions that Preston shut its doors because it had trouble getting accredited, and last time I checked, Abilene Christian doesn't dole out accreditations...

    Smithson then insulted my education and claimed his to be verifiable. So is mine. Smithson missed the point to the reference of his education - when faced with opposing thoughts, Smithson takes the low road, attacking a persons character insulting their level of education or whatever else - this was indicated in a previous attack made on another person. I simply pointed out that similar arguments could be made about Smithson, and those arguments seem much more plausible then Smithson's incoherent ramblings.

    Basically, Smithson offered nothing in his defense and his response would have been published had it not been for the insults directed towards me, which is a clear violation of our terms of use. Smithson also stated he wanted debate, but as we have experienced in the past, when faced with facts, Smithson retreated, claiming he could not be bothered with this website, but if that was the case, why does he continue to return?

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