Seattlest takes the Slog, amongst others, to task for having the nerve to point out that the newest Mariner—Carl Everett—is an idjit. Carl, you see, believes that the bible is literal truth, has been charged with child abuse, thinks that dinosaur bones are man-made, that gay people don’t exist, and that, well, let’s just run the quote: “You can’t say there were dinosaurs when you never saw them. Someone actually saw Adam and Eve. No one ever saw a Tyrannosaurus rex.”

We shouldn’t be so quick to criticize Carl, Seattlest says, because…

Everett is a major league baseball player with a high school education. He gets paid millions of dollars to hit baseballs, not study the Mesozoic.

But Seattlest can’t leave it at that—no, he basically plays the race card. The race card is pretty effective here in Seattle, where accusing someone else of racism is an easy and effective way for a white guy to win an argument. Once accused of racism, very few of the wimpy white liberals in this town will defend themselves. Back to Seattlest:

Everett grew up in Tampa’s Highland Pines neighborhood, one of the poorest in the nation… So maybe he wasn’t spending his childhood assembling wooden dinosaur kits and going to the Burke Museum (like we did), but rather avoiding gunfire and trying to find something to eat… He doesn’t deserve ridicule for his beliefs, however dumb they are. As Everett’s Bible says (and we paraphrase): “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”

Oh puh-huh-leeze.

Everett deserves to be ridiculed for his beliefs because—guess what, Seattlest?—his beliefs are utterly ridiculous. It’s patronizing in the extreme—and, hey, racist as hell!—to suggest that someone should be shielded from criticism because he’s from a bad neighborhood or had a crappy education. Yes, he’s here to hit balls. I hope he can do that—I’m a season ticket holder, and I’d like to see the Mariners win a few more games next year. But just as Everett has a right to his opinions, however idiotic they may be, other folks have a concurrent right to our opinions about his opinions, and just as much right to express them. It’s not snobbery to be shocked by someone else’s appalling ignorance—whatever his background or occupation—particularly when their ignorance is mixed in with self-righteous, bigoted religiosity.

And, hey, Everett may not have received a good education in his bad neighborhood—that’s what Seattlest assumes, anyway, which could also be construed as racist—so being confronted by others now that he’s all grown up and not living in a bad neighborhood anymore isn’t an attack, Seattlest, it’s a service. Perhaps being told that his beliefs are ridiculous and that he’s misinformed about dinosaurs and Adam and Eve and gay people will inspire a little self doubt, and prompt Everett to go and get the education today that he didn’t get as a child.

Telling people to pat Everett on the head and shrug off his ridiculous beliefs because he’s so very, very good at hitting balls is patronizing and a far, far more insidious brand of local snobbery. Blogger heal thyself.