Pat Robertson’s public call for the assassination of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela (August 2005) had me surfing through the news sites to sample the instant response of America and the World in general. No blog or news site I could find dared to put a positive spin on the utterances of “reverend terminator”. The US Government was aghast and distanced itself at once. Even the most conservative sites (The Conservative Voice is an example) were only willing to defend Robertson on the basis of freedom of speech.

I have little option but to try to rectify this shamelessly one-sided reporting. Robertson was misunderstood. It is quite clear that Robertson was simply testing public reaction to the possibility of a thorough overhaul of the Ten Commandments – and where better to start than with the sixth. After all, “thou shalt not kill” has proved an annoyance to politicians and religious leaders for millennia.

Neither is it the only troublesome commandment. I personally have problems with the one about not coveting my neighbour’s Ox. (Damn fine Ox, if you ask me.)

Sadly, Robertson’s bold initiative was poorly planned and poorly executed. Only 28 of the 1290 news articles that were posted on the web within 24 hours of the Robertson’s ‘commandments initiative’ actually mentioned the sixth commandment, and most of these were decidedly negative on this burning issue. For example:

  • Thou Shall Not Kill – Get it through Your Fat Head Mr. Robertson,
  • God denies links to Pat Robertson, and
  • Thou shalt not recommend an assassination

(which is at least suggesting a possible variation of the sixth commandment, but not in the direction that I believe Robertson was hoping for.)

Anyway, here’s a scoop (remember where you heard this first). As is my wont nowadays, when engaged in a Surfin’ Safari, I Googled for aliens i.e. I Googled “Pat Robertson” and “aliens”. I was not wasting my time. Following one of the links, I was unsurprised to discover that Pat has tested his sixth commandment upgrade idea before.

According to abduct.com in a July 8th 1997 broadcast, Robertson “launched into a diatribe against those who entertain the existence of space aliens and UFOs. He said, in a rambling discourse, that if such things exist, they are simply demons trying to lead people away from Christ. According to Robertson, the threat is so serious that people who believe in space aliens should be put to death by stoning – according to ‘God’s word.’”

I personally think they should be zapped with an alien death ray – far more appropriate, but never mind.

Finally, on this topic I discovered a Pat Robertson conspiracy theory on conspiracyplanet.com. This one’s financial. The idea is that Robertson made his comments knowing that they would cause a flight to quality in the long bond market. Apparently some off-shore fund, in which Robertson is alleged to be an investor, purchased long bonds just before Robertson broadcast his unwelcome words. As conspiracy theories go, it’s a little weak. I’m sticking with my interpretation of events. Solid analysis, if you ask me.

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