Topic: Jonatha Carr, the raving anti-evolution student

[Ravenhull]

I am sure most of you have seen the video. Bizarre case, with the little info so far:

Jonatha Carr, Florida Atlantic University Student, Has Violent Outburst In Class Discussing Evolution (VIDEO )

A student at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton was reportedly subdued with a taser after a violent outburst in a class discussing evolution.

Jonatha Carr's apparent meltdown, in which she hit another student, threw punches, and allegedly threatened to kill the professor and other students, was recorded on a cell phone camera and has quickly gone viral, the University Press reports. (Watch clips from the incident above, or the entire video below.)

Fellow student Rachel Bustamante wrote that Carr was asking “absurd questions” during a review section about female selection among peacocks, and eventually went on to ask why “evolution kills black people” in an increasingly insistent manner.

Sounds like this girl has some issues that I hope get addressed. 

On a side note, when I was googling her to find a story on this incident, one of the results was some guy's blog with the little bit that was previewed saying something along the lines of "welfare enabled wildabeast"... Thankfully that was gone once I hit the 'back button' after getting the stuff I copy-pasted above... ugh...

[SVoid]

It was very interesting and I'm torn what to make of it, or how much it should be talked about. On one hand this didn't just 'come out of nowhere' and yet may be an abortion of some sort for her personally. It's disturbing and alarming, was probably a traumatic experience for some of the people there, and maybe more so after they got home, calmed down, and realized that they may have been in danger.

I'm not sure what to attribute the outburst to. However, I did catch this person on YouTube who was disappointed that the teacher didn't tell students to stop recording it (I'm not sure I would have noticed if confronted with a belligerent student) and didn't react properly to calm her down (I couldn't hear what he said, and the video started when she was already on a roll. Who knows what he did prior).

I don't want to use this to poke fun at religious people in general or this young woman in particular. At the same time I'm not sure it should be ignored. As I said, I'm torn.

[Ravenhull]

Yeah, it's not clear what her motivations were, based on the little seen. Could be religion, or, based on the "evolution kills black people", maybe some form of black nationalism or such. Whatever the "cause", the outburst does not reflect rational thought. As I said, I hope that she does get checked enough to see if there is something more to this. And if not, she needs to be reminded of the principles of civil discourse.

Regarding the filming, let's face it, with the ubiquity of phones with full video capability, any public outburst is going to get recorded, and probably stuck on YouTube. And while he could have asked them to stop, how effective would have that been, especially given his attention was monopolized by the young lady.

[jaypee]

The video in the HuffPo article is down, here's another link

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/crime/video-college-student-jonatha-carr-threatens-professor-over-evolution

[Halleyscomet/Wakefield]

I don't want to use this to poke fun at religious people in general or this young woman in particular. At the same time I'm not sure it should be ignored. As I said, I'm torn.

I doubt religion alone caused her outburst. There was something fundamentally wrong with the woman. All religion did was give shape to her outburst and possibly influence the timing.

[ting-bu-dong]

I might have missed it, but is there any reason to think religion is a factor in this? The 'evolution kills black people' comment sounds more like this was triggered by a garbled third hand understanding of evolution having to do with eugenics and social darwinism. Who knows what she had been reading about evolution outside the classroom, and who knows what was said in the lessons prior to this outburst. Clearly this wasn't actually about peacocks.

[jaypee]

I don't want to use this to poke fun at religious people in general or this young woman in particular. At the same time I'm not sure it should be ignored. As I said, I'm torn.

I doubt religion alone caused her outburst. There was something fundamentally wrong with the woman. All religion did was give shape to her outburst and possibly influence the timing.

FWIW, we're all kind of assuming it was religion. Granted I was only half-paying attention to the video, but I don't think I once heard her say anything about religion. There was a lot of racial tension in there.

And as PZ Myers said, midterms are a really stressful time for students.

[andrewclunn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0njL4IKI0I

[daemonowner]

I can easily imagine religion being the sole cause. Think of the things people have done in the name of religion, its not hard.
if she was taught by her pastor or preacher or whoever that evolution considers black people to be inferior, and so survival of the fittest says they should be killed, and perhaps thats the reason for slavery etc throughout history, then I can imagine her finally snapping, perhaps even with the looming exams.

[Beη]

I might have missed it, but is there any reason to think religion is a factor in this? The 'evolution kills black people' comment sounds more like this was triggered by a garbled third hand understanding of evolution having to do with eugenics and social darwinism. Who knows what she had been reading about evolution outside the classroom, and who knows what was said in the lessons prior to this outburst. Clearly this wasn't actually about peacocks.

Yeah, that's true.  It may not have had anything to do with religion.  However, I don't recall ever seeing evolution presented in "garbled third hand" manner unless those presenting it had a religious motivation for doing so.

[David E.]

That is about as negative stereotype of a rant as I've ever heard.   

[no-en]

.

[jaypee]

I can easily imagine religion being the sole cause. Think of the things people have done in the name of religion, its not hard.
if she was taught by her pastor or preacher or whoever that evolution considers black people to be inferior, and so survival of the fittest says they should be killed, and perhaps thats the reason for slavery etc throughout history, then I can imagine her finally snapping, perhaps even with the looming exams.

That's a lot of assumption.

[Moloch]

"I. WILL. KILL. THE. FUCK. OUT. OF. YOU!!!"

But I'm sure she's a "good" Christian. 

[daemonowner]

I'm not assuming that is what happened to her, I'm constructing a random easy to believe scenario based on some crap that I've heard, saying based on that that religion could have been the sole cause - its not inconceivable.
I was responding to this sort of idea:
"I doubt religion alone caused her outburst. There was something fundamentally wrong with the woman. All religion did was give shape to her outburst and possibly influence the timing." -Halley
The point being religion could quite easily have caused it. Would she have snapped then and there about evolution in the middle of class, after asking her professer repeatedly why evolution kills black people if it wasn't for religion? I can't imagine religion not having an influence, and I imagine it had quite a strong one. These ideas are everywhere.