Sometimes it’s like the rain.
“I’m Krista Tippett.”
“I’m Krista Tippett.”
“I’m Krista Tippett.”
“And this is…” <pause> “…Speaking of Faaaaiiiiith.”
How does she always manage to say it exactly the same way? And is it just me or does she say her name a lot more than other public radio hosts? Oh well, she’s Krista Tippett.
A probing, clear eyed analysis of religion in modern life is a great idea for a show, but SoF’s editorial stance, which seems to me to be something along the lines of “isn’t it just so nice that people are religious!” (what Daniel Dennett calls “Belief in belief“), leaves me a little cold. The episodes I’ve heard tend to sound like commercials for the ideas/dogmas the guests espouse. Krista rarely challenges them.
A laudable but all-too-brief exception occurred in a recent interview with a Mormon scholar. There is a Thanksgiving cornucopia of refutations to bring against Mormon historical and theological claims, but Krista chose only one. It was a good one, though. Mormon founder Joseph Smith miraculously “translated” some actual hieroglyphic scrolls (before anyone knew how to!) which were subsequently lost and then rediscovered in the 1960s, by which time humankind had mastered non-miraculous hieroglyphic translation. Inconveniently for Tippett’s guest it turns out Smith’s version was the very worst kind of bullshit. Krista actually brought this situation up with the scholar (go Krista!!) and received an amusingly meaningless response. (Imagine how entertaining and socially beneficial an hour of that kind of hot seat would be!)
You see, the scholar explained, that whole translation gotcha isn’t irrefutable evidence for Smith’s brazen charlatanism, rather it is simply one of the solemn mysteries of the Mormon faith!
Wow. Maybe in 150 years people will consider the whole Enron thing as a solemn mystery of some future faith which some future version of Krista “I’m Krista Tippett” Tippett can ask a believer politely about.
One other thing bugs me about SoF. In an oft-played promo for the show Krista states “you won’t hear many religious authorities” on the show.
I have two problems with this.
First of all, Krista has a Masters from Yale Divinity School. Doesn’t that qualify her as an authority?
Secondly, what the hell is wrong with authority?
February 11, 2008 at 4:52 pm
“Secondly, what the hell is wrong with authority?” Well, nothing really, but you probably don’t need a Masters from Yale to see through the Joseph Smith malarckey. I bet it comes in handy when examining that Jesus, Buddha, and L. Ron Hubbard nonsense, though.
May 4, 2008 at 10:56 am
Krista Tippett is one of the worst examples of how simperingly mainstream public broadcasting has become. This show is just one of the many crappy compromises that the baby boomers have made in what used to appear to be a value system based on ethical and moral change for the better in the world. Instead, they’ve gone mainstream in the most egregious fashion and appealed to their own pitifully vapid demographic. Bill Cling and the bunch at American Public Media(read: Minnesota Public Radio on some bizarre ego trip) have taken what could have been a good venue for real discussions regarding world religions and instead made some godawful legitimization of their own Jesus based crap. No discussion lacks the underlying assumption that we’re all Jesus people trying to understand those “other people” and their strange beliefs. Maybe we can learn something from them and bring it to Jesus, but more likely we can just condescend to study the exotic workings of the savage mind. After all, we’re special!
September 16, 2008 at 12:36 pm
[...] Still Krista Tippett Krista “I’m Krista Tippett” Tippett’s latest cliff-standing-safely-away-from-the-edger, a shameless, [...]
October 19, 2008 at 10:46 am
Her voice is unbearable. It’s the same kind of voice as the people who sit around in coffee shops in berets and click instead of clap, pausing for effect before reverently uttering the words “karma” or “society.” It’s like her voice is actively trying. . . no . . . frantically PLEADING to attain divinity.
I’m sure she’s a lovely person, but sheesh. Ever heard anyone talk about ancient Atlantean technology or Pleideans who want humanity to get along? Yeah, makes you think . . .
December 14, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Yes, her voice is completely unbearable. Why do she o-ver e-nun-ci-ate e-ver-ee syl-la-bull? It’s really distracting. What’s up with that? It’s *so* distracting that I can’t focus on the content of what she’s saying. Hasn’t she ever heard herself. “I’m Kris-ta Tipp-pet”
GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 8, 2009 at 2:24 pm
I posted a critical blog piece about Tippet years ago and it has been one of my most popular articles. Every Sunday I get hits on it and occasionally a torrid response – makes me wonder if Tippet herself was one of the “anonymous”.
October 9, 2009 at 11:24 am
Her voice is more annoying than the premise. These are the kind of shows that have turned National Public Radio into Nice Polite Republicans. Krista sounds high all the time. She must be high.
November 27, 2009 at 8:27 am
What is Krista Tippett’s agenda?
November 27, 2009 at 12:55 pm
My take on Tippett’s agenda:
http://airbagmoments.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/tippetts-agenda-kum-ba-yuck/
December 22, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Krista Tippett has a voice and delivery that should be put to use by the Foul Weapons Division of our Nation’s get-the-bad-guys Intelligence Service. Just clap any Arab or Pakistani in stocks and gave him a dose of Krista for twenty minutes, and if he has any sense he will gladly give you the street address of the cave where the “terrists” are hiding. We really could have used Krista during WW 2. She would have neutralized those speeches by Hitler and turned all those nasty Nazis into soft-headed poopies. Krista baby, get thee to a nunnery….