While this is actually garnering a little attention -- people are asking about whether Buddhism does or does not offer "the kind of redemption" that Christianity does. And a few folks from the Buddhist blogosphere have written some indignant letters to FOX News. I can't help but be reminded of a similar situation:
Norm MacDonald, a comedian, and not someone you'd call politically correct, briefly had a TV show on which he played a down-and-out hockey player. Maybe he even had to work off some community service. So the main premise of the show was that he was employed as a social worker.
It was already unlikely, because obviously, social workers need training. But Laurie Metcalf (the woman who played Roseanne's sister) was great as the high-strung straight man trying to smooth over Norm's various clueless gaffes or insensitive blunders. The show was kinda funny!
Anyway, the National Association of Social Workers came out and publicly condemned the show. They had a big press release, and talked all about how it made social workers look unprofessional and incompetent. I think they even asked us to write letters or make calls to the TV channel to try to get it taken off the air.
Norm's response was this:
"Oh yeah, I'm really scared of a bunch of social workers."
Hilarious.
