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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCharlie Kirk Was the Latter-Day "Holy Hubert"
Back in the early 70s, when I was finishing up my degree after four years in the USAF, a street evangelist who went by the name of "Holy Hubert," was making the rounds of West Coast college campuses.
He'd show up in whatever public plaza or free speech area and just start preaching. He used the usual evangelistic themes, but really loved going after attractive young women. He believed they were all soulless Jezebels and had no hesitation in calling them just that. But he also had other topics. He invited people in his pick-up audience to debate him right there in public.
Like Kirk, he was a fast-talking conman who constantly interrupted whoever challenged him, but cried bloody murder at anyone who dared to interrupt him. His arguments were bogus, always, but he could talk louder than anyone else and people stood away to avoid the spittle that flew out of his mouth.
He often drew pretty large crowds of spectators. Most came for the comedy. A few came to argue with him. Why Holy Hubert showed up is anyone's guess. He was famous, though. A Google search for "Holy Hubert" will bring up lots of stories about him. I don't know what happened to him, really. He was simply a transitory phenomenon who came and went on campus in those days.
haele
(15,038 posts)IDK if they were connected, or if it was a mail order type church at the time, but when my mom was working at UW in the mid-, late 70's, she pointed out several different greasy haired raggedy John Bircher looking guys who seemed to work a West Coast seasonal circuit over the years, Holy Herbert, Angry Andy, and Bible Bob...
The one she called Angry Andy stands out even though he was only there for a week before a group of football players decided to take him off the quad and he never came back.
She thought had serial killer vibes - he really hated females and would throw wadded up handwritten bible passages and messages consigning "all daughters of Eve to Hell" at them to avoid touching them while screaming women didn't belong in public except for shopping for their men or going to church and they had to be covered up in public so they couldn't tempt men again.
Attilatheblond
(8,174 posts)He would show up during lunch time when office workers (mostly women) would be out and about for lunch. He REALLY hated women and was pretty damned nasty about listing all the ungodly things women did, like working to support themselves for starters and 'refusing to obey god and stay home making babies'.
Finally, some clever young woman with mad tap dancing skills decided to deal with the jerk. She had a lovely white tie & tails costume, but with 'hot pants' rather than trousers, tap shoes, and a top hat. She would lay a piece of plywood on a diagonal corner from which ever one the misogynist was preforming any given day, fire up a boom box that had an amazing volume, and dance away. It was solid gold!
MineralMan
(150,549 posts)Holy Hubert, though, may be the best known and best documented. I'm not sure, but he's the one I'm most familiar with.
Midnight Writer
(25,126 posts)He'd set up on campuses, holding his Bible and screaming at the girls as they walked past, calling them whores and sluts.
He'd gather quite a crowd, "debating" them by name-calling, "shaming", interrupting, deflecting.
Finally, as you may have already guessed, he impregnated a young lady out of wedlock.
I've often thought Trump took lessons from these religious grifters. He seems to have a lot of the style of evangelists, from the pompadour to the grifting to the bombastic rhetoric.
I see he died in 2022. I hope he finds his just rewards in the afterlife.