Let's play Richard Dawkins Twitter Meltdown Bingo!

(Granted, I’m a pagan, so I guess dogmatic atheists must think I’m full of superstition and “woo”.)

@Pendraegon

Oh Pat Condell, he and some of his fans are actually why I turned away from atheism and began examining religion again to eventually find my faith.

::high five::

The Australian Sceptics’ Magazine left me with such a bad taste in my mouth that it pushed me away from any further exploration along those lines and probably helped me to where I am today – a much happier situation.

@sugarvonmurdertits: are you fucking kidding me, coming out with some Poor Richard mealy-mouthed defence of him?

This is the man who wrote Dear Muslima. Misogyny and racism in one toxic bundle.

He sneered that victims of abuse by priests were in it for the money, and he’s said repeatedly that a religious upbringing is worse than sexual abuse, while writing off what happened to other people as “mild pedophilia” and not something they should get upset about.

He declared recently that it was immoral for women not to abort if they knew the fetus had Downs. Nice bit of denying women autonomy, and dismissing a whole group of people as not fit to live.

He’s defending Michael Shermer, a known harasser and almost certainly a rapist (I see little reason to disbelieve his accuser).

Fuck that “common usage” of witch hunts, he’s comparing a wealthy, powerful man who’s getting called out online for sexism (Harris) to women being murdered for “witchcraft”, something going on all around the world right now. Harris, in case you’ve forgotten, is the one who declared once that if he had the choice of ridding the world of religion or rape, he’d choose religion.

Dawkins isn’t some poor delicate frail old man, upset by coarse language and unable to understand what people are so angry about. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s vindictive, racist, misogynist, still hating on Rebecca Watson (“Don’t speak to me of her” and blocking her from appearing at events he would attend) after three years. He goes through this cycle of posting hateful shit on Twitter and then pearl-clutching about how the plebs aren’t smart enough to understand him every other week. He’s a hateful man, and I feel sorry for anyone who used to admire him; they’ve been totally let down by finding out what a shitstain he is. Oh, and he’s quite happy to have support from the ‘pitters, as virulently misogynist a crew as you’d find anywhere. Those are his fanboys. That’s the company he keeps.

So yeah, if you’re going to turn troll on us, just fuck off.

Catfish

http://games.usvsth3m.com/richard-dawkins-honey-defender/

That is all.

I think I love you.

@Michael McG

When one of Dawkins’ best selling books–a book that is often cited as one of the best introductions to atheism–is basically an appeal to ableism, I fail to see how anyone seriously interested in social justice to take him as a viable leader

Perfectly said. It’s the epitome of that little AssholeAtheist(TM) subset: anyone not-atheist is stupid/deluded/insane; any beliefs unprovable by Teh Science are woo and laughable and probably evil, even if they affect nobody other than the person believing them.

*Hands up* another lover of mythology here.

I did briefly try the hard atheist worldview after leaving the one I was brought up with. I read The God Delusion and took away from it that humans are an animal species. A gregarious primate species, in fact. That one idea has been very useful to me in the years since. Everything else, not so much.

Read God is not great and then not long after, Tariq Ali’s history of the West involvement in the Mid East “Bush in Babylon.” I felt that Ali made a better argument. It was a real eye opener to see some of the background that we don’t hear, even now when my own government is sending troops back to Iraq. Because look how well that worked the first time. Ugh.

I like Tim Minchin, but suspect he’d frown on me as one of Storm’s friends, because mythology and dream interpretation. (Hi Bina!)

@kittehserf – agreeing with pretty much everything you said. Add to which Sam Harris’ latest bio-truth that women are just not cut out for rational thinking… >_<

And not that I want to get into an argument about it, but you'd be stunned how much overlap there is between Shamanic ideas and contemporary psychology. I've been in therapy for about a decade now, as well as having studied some, and it doesn't take much change in the wording to cover the same concepts. "Family" therapy, soul retrieval journies, mindfulness… The more I read and experience, the more I agree with Elliade. It's all coming from a common root.

And not that I want to get into an argument about it, but you’d be stunned how much overlap there is between Shamanic ideas and contemporary psychology.

I’m far too Jung for that to stun me.
Also far too into…um…paganish sorts of things, in a could-use-more-practice sort of way.

@Blahlistic – Yeah, it offers so much open ground to read all the things and make up your own mind. Then everyone fights about it all, of course. Richard Dawkins types turn up in all worldviews. But like some of the Vedic ideas, Paganism doesn’t require a penis to operate authoritatively.

He’s an animal behaviourist, so defending MRAs is probably connected.

“It is extremely courageous of Dawkins to speak out against the SJW drones. He’s a moralist and critical thinker of the highest order, and he is not going to be cowed into submission by feminist bullying.”
Shut up, Woody! “SJW drones”??? You mean people who care about other people? And you think Rage-Boner Paul Elam is “a moralist and critical thinker of the highest order” too. But I do give you credit for being perfect … ly wrong. And, by the way, why does your head look like a giant suppository?

“Honestly, I’ve always found the idea of role models intrinsically flawed. It seems to presume that someone should be emulated in all ways, when invariably, you’re going to disagree with some facet of their philosophy or behavior. A lot of folks, I feel like they’re just forever looking for that magic Perfect Person who they can just obey and imitate in all ways, and then BAM! They’ve discovered the magic key to goodness and don’t have to worry anymore.

I’ve found it more beneficial to take what I like, leave the rest, and try to continue on, living mindfully.”

Well said. I’ve always belonged to the Great Buffet School of role models. We are all seriously flawed, including even the best of role models, so you really can’t avoid picking and choosing.

NOTE!!! I love the discussion on road kill, but present studies indicate that about 1/3 the 150-250 cases of leprosy that are reported in the US each year are contracted from Armadillos. The leprosy pathogen is very sensitive to heat and the armadillo has a relatively low body temperature. Therefore it is dangerous to handle armadillos, particularly squashed ones — let alone eat them. Leprosy is such a rare disease in the US that it might not be diagnosed correctly outside of Texas and Louisiana, where armadillos have been common for a long time, and the armadillo’s range is increasing.
(Up until about 10 years ago I had never seen an opossum; since then I’ve had to eject three from our house — we have a cat door so our felines can come and go, and we’ve had skunks and raccoons in the house as well. But I don’t expect to have to eject an armadillo in my lifetime.)

And, by the way, why does your head look like a giant suppository?

Omigosh

WOODY is the suppository of all wisdom our gobshite Prime Minister referred to?

That would explain a lot.

Isn’t he also of the “social sciences are not Real Science” dudebro set?

I think he might be…which makes me like him even less.

Well, at least the man will never need a colonoscopy.
His head’s up in there so often I’m sure he’d spot any abnormalities before they got started.

What? Did Woody actually BEAT HIS CHALLENGE while I was away? How can this be? Someone explain this!

RE: Phoenician in a time of Romans

it’s “lets pretend shamanism and vision-quests dealing with the gods are real”.

Uh, dude. I know shamans. C’mon. Don’t be a dick.

RE: blahlistic

Yay, she’s alive again! I wondered if yours came back.

Yeah, though no telling if she’ll stay. She definitely sees herself as dead, rather than in cold storage.

Sneak desperately would LOVE to be a vegetarian, but we always get sick when we try. Something about our body just requires meat, I guess. Not much, but some is required. (Also, I could never go vegan. I’m not that into meat, but OH GOD CHEESE MILK YOGURT I LOVE YOU.)

Read “The Blind Watchmaker” many years ago, and found his whole tone off putting. Pretty shrill overall. Wait, isn’t that one of the things he accuses feminists of?