[spoiler]
Louis wrote:
I did something I very, VERY rarely do (because I’m not super interested in the hate campaign stuff, that is a reflection of my privilege I realise), I went over to the Slymepit for a look. I read a few pages of their new version of the endless ERV inspired thread (1 to 6, 20 to 30, and 68/69 IIRC) just to get a flavour of what they were about.
Okay, well not too many surprises, few more uses of certain words than would fly here, but that really is by the by, they’re not open to being convinced that language has the power it does, fine (unpleasant, but you know, in the grand scheme of things not the most serious crime ever). We know that already. I was pleased to note the general tone of reaction to this Jerry Conlon tweet (even though he was a very minor and rare slymepit poster who no one remembered, ostensibly at least) was disgust. Good on them for that.
Should I emphasise that last part so passing pitters note that an evil Pharynguloid credits them with some actual humanity?
I was less pleased to note the pretty standard rantings of Reap and people like that, the venom is impressive and well tolerated, even supported. That’s a bit sad really. The hate directed at PZ/Rebecca/Jen/Greta/Ophelia etc is pretty disgusting, can’t excuse it. I was really unimpressed by crowing over claimed profound “logical victories†which, in the couple of instances I saw linked to and subsequently read weren’t anything of the type, just more point missing, question begging, assumption laden crap. Which is dull. Voltaire’s “prayer†applies again I think.
I was actually shocked to see the minimising and point missing that went along with the condemnation of this tweet. A fair amount of “not-condemnation†went on, i.e. “this is disgusting, BUT it’s obviously only a joke†or “this is disgusting, BUT it’s just playing into Ophelia’s hands as a professional victim†and so on.
It’s all a bit disappointing really. I can’t muster enormous outrage because I don’t know these people, they just seem a bit crap. They don’t seem like the folks I’ve met at atheist/sceptic meet ups and what not, they don’t seem like any of my colleagues or friends. I guess I’m just lucky that I tend not to meet people who obsessively hatefap over the internet over mean women who won’t fuck them and mean people who won’t tolerate their bullshit. Hell, if I hated everyone who hadn’t tolerated my bullshit over the years I’d have no time for anything else!
Granted for PZ/Rebecca/Jen/Greta/Ophelia etc it’s an entirely different kettle of fish, and those people obviously have my sympathy. I find it really, really, REALLY hard to credit that this all kicked off pretty much just because some woman on the internet said “Guys, don’t do thatâ€. Really? Seriously, really? THIS is what energises these people?
{sigh}
I have a tendency towards comic hyperbole. I love a good joke, me. I’m fond of over the top extreme comic pseudo threats like “I’ll tear your arm off and beat you to death with the wet endâ€. I’m just puerile enough to find them funny in the right context. And there, again, is the fucking cluebat. Context. It matters. I’ll tell you the wrong context, the context where it is really easily misunderstood: when there are lots of people pouring hate filled missives at someone and you are an additional unknown/pseudonymous person adding to the cacophony. THEN those sorts of “jokes†take a different sheen, an entirely different tenor. How the hell is Ophelia to know if this person is mucking about or unhinged? She’s not. Granted it’s more likely he’s being an obnoxious moron than anything else, and the likelihood of anything nasty actually happening is tiny, but really how can anyone tell?
And this is where I *can* muster some genuine outrage. I don’t know Ophelia, I’m pretty sure we’ve never met, I read her blog rarely and comment even more rarely. I’m sure someone will claim I (and people like me) are White Knighting, but really, we’re not. Ophelia’s sex is only relevant in the sense that women do get acid chucked in their face for being “uppity†in various ways. And many other things besides. This is not a context free comment. This tweet does not exist in a vacuum. It exists as part, a particularly obnoxious part, of a large amount of vitriol directed at Ophelia for a variety of reasons. Not the sexist comment about her looks, note the slymepitters referring to her by a looks based insult on their site on a regular basis. Is this the best they can do?
Fuck it, I’ve done similar things in my past (comments about Denyse O’Leary for example) and I feel like a knobhead for having made them (and I was!). My dumb comments about Denyse O’Leary’s looks weren’t a substitute for actually engaging with her IDCist arguments. I never wanted her to shut up and go away, in fact, just like I want with the slymepitters, I wanted her to keep talking. That way I never needed to lift a finger to make her look a fool. I would never consider hounding the poor woman with derogatory comments on her Twitter feed (if she even has one) I don’t in fact even give two shits about the dozy git! Her dozy arguments are the fun bit. Low bar cracks about her looks aren’t great wit. The idea that I’d make threats to her, or make comments that could reasonably be interpreted as threats, is laughable. Just who does that?
Oh wait, sexist shitheads do that. Right. Gotcha.
Sorry for the teal deer ramblings but urgh. Sorry.
Louis
[/spoiler]
Link:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... ent-539384
I've bolded certain parts of this comment that don't toe the party line. Anyone want to bet on how long it takes before he's memory holed?
Also, gonna requote one line in particular:
Should I emphasise that last part so passing pitters note that an evil Pharynguloid credits them with some actual humanity?
Yes, you should emphasize that last part - but direct it at your FTB "colleagues". They like to paint us as a hivemind, and in total opposition to them on everything. As you've seen, this isn't the case.
Louis, check out what someone said a few posts below yours:
juliewms wrote:PZ and other FtBloggers… it’s time to disengage from these people (Slymepitters, Reap Paden, Stefanelli, the haters, the negative posters, etc.) completely before someone is physically hurt because of the continuous arguing and posting online. It is obviously escalating, with the latest threat of an acid attack, and you all need to involve the authorities (law) at this point.
Think again about what you've read here. Can you really imagine us wanting to physically hurt the FTBers? If you've read as much of this thread as you claim, I bet not. This is why we're so (verbally) harsh toward PZ, OB, et al. Because they spread lies like this.
