Jim the Pleb Made Me Do It

[bovarchist]

Given that it was conducted over the phone, there was at least one option JV might have tried. Let Silverman talk until an interesting talking point arises, and then shut him off and speak on that subject for an appropriate length. At which time, you can put him back on again (he probably wouldn't even have noticed) and let him go on some more. Repeat as required.

Censorship! Silencing! Oppression! SQUEEEAAL!!!

Aren't they basically going to do that anyway? As long as JV gets to talk for 50% of the time, I don't care how he makes it happen.

[AnonymousCowherd]

Given that it was conducted over the phone, there was at least one option JV might have tried. Let Silverman talk until an interesting talking point arises, and then shut him off and speak on that subject for an appropriate length. At which time, you can put him back on again (he probably wouldn't even have noticed) and let him go on some more. Repeat as required.

Censorship! Silencing! Oppression! SQUEEEAAL!!!

Aren't they basically going to do that anyway? As long as JV gets to talk for 50% of the time, I don't care how he makes it happen.

50-50 if it's a debate. If it's an interview, then the whole point is to get the guest to put forward their views, maybe make some comment and and then allow them to elaborate. The audience is supposed to do the criticism/judgement work to inform and refine their own points of v....

who am I fekkin' kidding.

[Ape+lust]

Oh, the irony of Physioproffe accusing people of "gibbering like fucken crazed monkeys on cracke".

I'm beginning to feel slightly bad by picking on him. Is he.....What's the politically correct word?......"special"?

He's the original archfeminist of the bunch, used to torment Zvan and Laden in that ridiculous way you're reading now for not being feminist enough. Which once caused Zvan to hork up one of her grandiose position papers on the dangers of policing for purity within movements.

Imagine that.

[Cunt of Personality]

http://i.imgur.com/p7UxAn7.png

[Tony Parsehole]

Oh, the irony of Physioproffe accusing people of "gibbering like fucken crazed monkeys on cracke".

I'm beginning to feel slightly bad by picking on him. Is he.....What's the politically correct word?......"special"?

He's the original archfeminist of the bunch, used to torment Zvan and Laden in that ridiculous way you're reading now for not being feminist enough. Which once caused Zvan to hork up one of her grandiose position papers on the dangers of policing for purity within movements.

Imagine that.

Crazy. He never strikes me as uber feminist. He never strikes me as anything but thick as pigshit.

Cool new avatar BTW. I think I might change mine soon.

[Tony Parsehole]

http://i.imgur.com/p7UxAn7.png

Let's do this.

http://weknowmemes.com/generator/upload ... 343670.jpg

[Gumby]

Given Silverman's hysterical tirade against Justin last night, these quotes from Daniel Fincke seem timely. From his Patheos blog post oh-so-appropriately titled "What Kind of a Rationalist Idealizes Personally Abusing Opponents Into Submission Like An Authoritarian?"

Essentially, if they persist in not recognizing the force of our reason, we are supposed to feel entitled to try to coerce them emotionally with the threat of demonization, denigration, and shunning. In essence we are supposed to feel entitled to presume to reduce them to mental children who need to be emotionally twisted into a fearful obedience. And not only this but we are to see our paternalistic role as their emotional trainers as best fulfilled through verbal abuse, rather than through firm but respectful moral arguments and moral charges capable of rational substantiation. So not only are we to see fit to act as people’s parents, we are encouraged to act like abusive, authoritarian parents who use threats and shaming and verbal denigration to train their children.

I find a lot of people who will abandon commitment to rationalism out of an apparent fear that it will not win every argument. I am afraid people are signaling to me that they are more committed to winning a political and social war using whatever tactics necessary than committed to reexamining their beliefs and values. I am afraid they are unwilling to embrace the annoyance of their opponents’ free consciences to disagree by demanding ever more arguments before fully capitulating. I am afraid they do not see those with deep disagreements as a welcome challenge to constantly reassess, refine, and prove their beliefs anew. I am afraid they do not have much confidence in reason at all after all to be persuasive and would gladly use the full repertoire of socially and emotionally manipulative religious tactics to inculcate and enforce their beliefs and insulate them from criticism. I also am afraid that they are not willing at all to accept the numerous minor victories one can accomplish in a given argument but rather, like absolutists, they demand a wholly unrealistic (and probably irrational) capitulation from their ideological enemies in any given conversation.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/camelswith ... oritarian/

Gee, it's a mystery why Fincke left Freethought Blogs.

[Ape+lust]

http://i.imgur.com/ILZhvri.jpg

[Hunt]

Cool new avatar BTW. I think I might change mine soon.

I'm assuming that's blood, not hair pigment. So who, or what, has he just fed upon?

[BarnOwl]

I agree that you can't debate with demagogues, who by definition have agendas. But you can turn the tables on them by pursuing one of their agendas to the point of absurdity, and this strategy can be very effective. A friend of mine grew weary of people asking him why he traveled with "so much stuff" or "such a large bag" and decided to turn the questions on them. "I like to work out in the hotel gym every morning before my meetings, and I don't like hanging up one sweaty T-shirt to wear again the next day, so I bring several. What about you? Do you work out when you travel? Do your bring gym clothes?" When the person starts to change the subject, you don't let up. "Well, obviously this is a topic of fascination for you, so let's discuss it some more. What kind of gym shoes do you bring?" Keep going. Don't let up. If you do it right, they'll never ask intrusive personal questions or state their ridiculous assumptions again.

As another trivial example of this technique, I have a financially covetous colleague (FCC) who used to ask intrusive questions about how much things I own cost, and would sometimes even make shit up about my purchases, out of whole cloth.

FCC: You drive an expensive car, don't you?

Me: I drive a Honda - I think it's a moderately-priced, reliable car.

FCC: But it's fancy, right? It's a sports car.

Me: It's an Accord coupe. How much do you think it I paid for it new?

FCC: Well, I don't know. Hondas are very nice cars.

Me: You must have some idea, if you're sure it's an expensive car. How much do you think I paid?

FCC, mumbling and starting to walk away: Oh, I don't know....

DON'T LET IT GO NOW!

Me: Obviously this is a topic of great interest to you, so let's keep talking about it. I brought my sister with me when I bought the Honda - she used to work at a BMW dealership and knows how to talk to the sales staff to get the price down.

FCC: You were going to buy a BMW??? Those are so expensive. I could never afford one.

Me: I thought that since this topic was so fascinating, you would pay better attention. I was at the Honda dealership. My intent was to buy a reliable car that I could drive for a decade or more. I wanted the service and repair costs to be reasonable.

FCC: Ooohh, BMWs cost a fortune to repair.

Me: We're talking about Hondas.

Etc. You must KEEP AT IT, no matter how irritating it becomes.

[Tony Parsehole]

http://i.imgur.com/ILZhvri.jpg

HAHAHAHA! That's epic.
This is going to get old quickly:
http://weknowmemes.com/generator/upload ... 078538.jpg

[AnonymousCowherd]

I think I've spotted Amer Atheists problem;

Atheism may be defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and aims at establishing a life-style and ethical outlook verifiable by experience and scientific method, independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority and creeds.

They think atheism=skepticism. Dictionary fail.

But Amer Atheists themselves have even higher aims;

to encourage the development and public acceptance of a humane ethical system stressing the mutual sympathy, understanding, and interdependence of all people and the corresponding responsibility of each individual in relation to society;

How could A+ resist that? Mind you, nice to see how that actually plays out IRL, according to their current president.

Maybe this is the bit the A+ers missed - social philosphy!

to develop and propagate a social philosophy in which humankind is central and must itself be the source of strength, progress, and ideals for the well-being and happiness of humanity;

Meh. Maybe it sounded too much like the introduction to Superman. Or maybe it pissed off the vegans.

They even fuck up the notion of materialism, confuse it with a set of moral imperatives and give it that twist which is somehow a cross between a Marvel comic and a Miss America speech c 1962.

http://atheists.org/about-us/aims-and-purposes

[Ape+lust]

Oh, the irony of Physioproffe accusing people of "gibbering like fucken crazed monkeys on cracke".

I'm beginning to feel slightly bad by picking on him. Is he.....What's the politically correct word?......"special"?

He's the original archfeminist of the bunch, used to torment Zvan and Laden in that ridiculous way you're reading now for not being feminist enough. Which once caused Zvan to hork up one of her grandiose position papers on the dangers of policing for purity within movements.

Imagine that.

Crazy. He never strikes me as uber feminist. He never strikes me as anything but thick as pigshit.

Cool new avatar BTW. I think I might change mine soon.

Check this out:

Physioprof wrote some rules to follow if you want to be considered a feminist man.

http://isisthescientist.com/2009/05/12/ ... andy-dand/

It should sound familar, with the hectoring about privilege, shutting up, yer doing it wrong, etc.

That set off Laden and made Zvan write something she'd scorn today.

As a bonus, look for Thibeault in Laden's comments whining about how mean it is over at Physioprof's, how the commenters scare him.

...And I care about having a place where I don’t feel like I have to shut up to be accepted. I may not have much to contribute, but I don’t like the feeling that everything I post might be considered hostile just because I chose to post it with my real name, which betrays my gender.

Hy-po-crites.

[Jan Steen]

36 - 8 – 79 – 30 – 3 – 53 – 2 – 0 – 0 – 4 – 15 – 3 – 23 – 1 – 42 – 9 – 1 – 21 – 2 – 14

No, you don’t need to predict the next number in this sequence. These are the number of comments on Steffy Zvan’s blog between 3 and 15 June.

With only one exception (a post about the Star Trek movie, which has 15 comments) the posts that attracted more than 10 comments are all somehow about the Deep Rifts while the others aren’t. If the number of comments is a good indicator for the number of page views then it is clearly profitable for Zvan to stir up the drama.

I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would want to follow her blog anyway. She is an unbelievably boring writer, lacking even the tiniest sparks of wit and humour. Her writing style is that of an interdepartmental report on the state of sewage systems in Novosibirsk. She should be grateful to the 'Pit for focussing some attention to her. She doesn't deserve it.

[Parody Accountant]

Oh, the irony of Physioproffe accusing people of "gibbering like fucken crazed monkeys on cracke".

I'm beginning to feel slightly bad by picking on him. Is he.....What's the politically correct word?......"special"?

That's the term. You may need to spell it differently for him to understand it though.

[Cunt of Personality]

http://weknowmemes.com/generator/upload ... 078538.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/tMiqCbD.png

[Hunt]

http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... ent-638071

Justin/Jason, What's the difference! All those schlemiels are the same!

[Ape+lust]

Her writing style is that of an interdepartmental report on the state of sewage systems in Novosibirsk.

That gave me the happy itches. Funny and true.

She does have the grim resolve of an apparatchik, scrambling to handle point when shit blows up, writing some ponderous doorstop of propaganda explaining why what you're seeing isn't what you're seeing. You'd think she was angling for a job, or something.

[Tony Parsehole]

Check this out:

Physioprof wrote some rules to follow if you want to be considered a feminist man.

http://isisthescientist.com/2009/05/12/ ... andy-dand/

It should sound familar, with the hectoring about privilege, shutting up, yer doing it wrong, etc.

That set off Laden and made Zvan write something she'd scorn today.

As a bonus, look for Thibeault in Laden's comments whining about how mean it is over at Physioprof's, how the commenters scare him.

...And I care about having a place where I don’t feel like I have to shut up to be accepted. I may not have much to contribute, but I don’t like the feeling that everything I post might be considered hostile just because I chose to post it with my real name, which betrays my gender.

Hy-po-crites.

What mutherfukken parralelle unniversee dide you find that in?

It's got 85 comments and the opening paragraph is this :

You’re a d00dly d00d. Everyone around you since birth has been praising you for sharing your thoughts, opining on topics far and wide, and generally taking fucking action!
You have just visited a feminist blog, have read a post and/or some other comments, and your d00dly opining d00d brain lobe is pulsating like a motherfucker with all sorts of extremely important d00dly things to share with the laydeez. Will you get your sorry d00d ass handed to you on a fucking platter? Or will you be a tolerated visitor? Comrade PhysioProf is here to share his tips with you on avoiding d00d ass platter handitude!

85 comments.

[Tony Parsehole]

85 comments.

[debaser71]

Someone posted earlier about the glory days of atheism, where atheists became atheists because of following logic to the end, and how these glory days are over. How now these days atheists can be bat shit crazy ideologues. But ya know what? I'm ok with this because religion is that fucking pernicious on society. Atheism is mainstream and I'm ok with it 'selling out' a bit. It wasn't that long ago where any random atheist felt like the only atheist on the planet.

I was hanging out with some old/longtime friends last night. And many were talking shit about religion. I was happy. Maybe it took them 20 years to catch on but shit, here we are.

So having asshat atheists (FTB crowd) is a small price to pay to have atheism mainstream.

All IMO. Also, I'm keeping the atheist label. Fuck the idea of people taking it away from me.

/carry on

[Ape+lust]

85 comments.

The funny thing is, is he used to give Laden endless shit about his writing. It was bad, it was unclear, Physioprof could never suss out what he was saying. It made Laden nuts.

[Tony Parsehole]

Am I dreaming? Because, according to that Link Ape-Lust posted, four years ago Greg Laden wrote this:

When I walk away from a conversation with PhysioProf, I often feel like his main goal was to silence me, to take away my voice. I feel badly for people like Deatkin, whose voice was also threatened by PhysioProf for no really good reason. PhysioProf the Dementor, sucking people’s voices out of their mouths. I like that. He can use that. Anyway, PhysioProf is the embodyment of the ad hominem attack, contrary to his expressed views to the contrary. I feel he has tried to take my voice on those few occasions because he has prejudged me to be an evil (racist) misogynist. Or something.

If you can't beat 'em join 'em eh Greg?

[Tony Parsehole]

I can't wait for MetaLogic to get back with his shiny new avatar.

[Ape+lust]

Am I dreaming? Because, according to that Link Ape-Lust posted, four years ago Greg Laden wrote this...

Read what Zvan wrote, if you can get through it without breaking for naps. If she posted it anonymously at Pharyngula, she'd get the shit kicked out of her.

[Gefan]

No particular comment from me other than to observe a notable uptick in this kind of thing after Hitch was safely in the ground.

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com ... scientism/

[bovarchist]

I think I've spotted Amer Atheists problem;

Atheism may be defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and aims at establishing a life-style and ethical outlook verifiable by experience and scientific method, independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority and creeds.

Um...already wrong. My acceptance of the supremacy of reason is most definitely reserved. If nothing else, evidence trumps reason for me every time.

[Hunt]

Check this out:

Physioprof wrote some rules to follow if you want to be considered a feminist man.

http://isisthescientist.com/2009/05/12/ ... andy-dand/

It should sound familar, with the hectoring about privilege, shutting up, yer doing it wrong, etc.

That set off Laden and made Zvan write something she'd scorn today.

As a bonus, look for Thibeault in Laden's comments whining about how mean it is over at Physioprof's, how the commenters scare him.

...And I care about having a place where I don’t feel like I have to shut up to be accepted. I may not have much to contribute, but I don’t like the feeling that everything I post might be considered hostile just because I chose to post it with my real name, which betrays my gender.

Hy-po-crites.

What mutherfukken parralelle unniversee dide you find that in?

It's got 85 comments and the opening paragraph is this :

You’re a d00dly d00d. Everyone around you since birth has been praising you for sharing your thoughts, opining on topics far and wide, and generally taking fucking action!
You have just visited a feminist blog, have read a post and/or some other comments, and your d00dly opining d00d brain lobe is pulsating like a motherfucker with all sorts of extremely important d00dly things to share with the laydeez. Will you get your sorry d00d ass handed to you on a fucking platter? Or will you be a tolerated visitor? Comrade PhysioProf is here to share his tips with you on avoiding d00d ass platter handitude!

85 comments.

Answers may questions I've had for a while. It's like CPP was the original crazy. The others were semi-sane at that time. CPP has progressed to full-on psychotic dementia, while the others...well... In observance of that, CPP now has his perennial padded cell at FtB where he's on a steady drip of prolixin and ambles around his cell cooking burritos and watching baseball... and the lunatics run the asylum.

[Whisper Walrus]

Have to say - well done JV for staying cool in the fact of Dave going full Setar on you.

Quoted for fucking truth. I expected better from him.

[Lsuoma]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get ready for your avatar Metalogic.....

MySQL database confirms Parsehole as 100,000.

Next stop - 100,000 in PToS. Poster gets to choose MY avatar.

[Tony Parsehole]

Challenge accepted.

[Tony Parsehole]

MetaLogic didn't specify a time limit for his new avatar so he could take it down after 5 minutes.

[Kareem]

Have to say - well done JV for staying cool in the fact of Dave going full Setar on you.

Quoted for fucking truth. I expected better from him.

I actually have a lot more respect for Vacula and less for Silverman (not that I knew that much about either of them). It's clear this isn't about feminism vs anti-feminism but those willing to bend to the will of a mob and those who aren't.

[Parody Accountant]

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/ ... 792170.jpg

[treestump]

Deliciously retarded post from Lyers. His comments on Slymepit are as ludicrous as always.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... in-vacula/

Love his "baboons" comment.
"I was in the chatroom for the show, and it was like being in a mob of baboons.". sure PZ.

[Tony Parsehole]

No particular comment from me other than to observe a notable uptick in this kind of thing after Hitch was safely in the ground.

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com ... scientism/

There is an alarming amount of feminist hate directed at science lately.
When cherished beliefs are shown to be scientifically incorrect their only resort is to discredit science.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5322/9056 ... da8713.jpg

[Tony Parsehole]

Deliciously retarded post from Lyers. His comments on Slymepit are as ludicrous as always.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... in-vacula/

Love his "baboons" comment.
"I was in the chatroom for the show, and it was like being in a mob of baboons.". sure PZ.

Whereas Pharyngula's comment section is all rainbows and fairy-smiles.

[Ape+lust]

Deliciously retarded post from Lyers. His comments on Slymepit are as ludicrous as always.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... in-vacula/

Love his "baboons" comment.
"I was in the chatroom for the show, and it was like being in a mob of baboons.". sure PZ.

Whereas Pharyngula's comment section is all rainbows and fairy-smiles.

"Silverman was far more diplomatic than I could ever be..."

Look at his "good thing it whudn't me" posturing. Years ago, he was scheduled for a panel with Chris Mooney. It was going to be epic. Everyone knew PZ would set him on fire and make him eat his ashes. Didn't. Happen. He didn't put a dent in Mooney. If PZ the writer showed up, there wouldn't be enough salve to fix his ass. There's a huge chasm between PZ online and PZ in person and he doesn't like to remember that.

[Gumby]

Because of my relentless pursuit of bettering my shoops (read: because I'm an OCD bastard that just can't let shit go), and because agarybuseychristmas showed me just how much my color matching was off in my original pic, and because I realized I chopped off Howdy Silverman's finger, and because this morning I noticed that PZ had two left ears in my original pic...

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd24 ... dfd387.png

OK, I'm done now, I promise.

Unless....

[Lazy]

Someone posted earlier about the glory days of atheism, where atheists became atheists because of following logic to the end, and how these glory days are over. How now these days atheists can be bat shit crazy ideologues. But ya know what? I'm ok with this because religion is that fucking pernicious on society. Atheism is mainstream and I'm ok with it 'selling out' a bit. It wasn't that long ago where any random atheist felt like the only atheist on the planet.

Atheism got mainstream.

At the beginning, "I'm an atheist" was enough to let people show off their smarts. It started arguments. The arguments were easy to win. They made people the atheists look clever.

Then atheism got mainstream. It's not enough for a satisfying fight. People found other ways to show off their cleverness.

Internet social-justice talk is a new battleground. People say some absurd thing. They get to have their fight. And they can use jargon to establish how clever they are.

[bovarchist]

T
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5322/9056 ... da8713.jpg

ARNIM ZOLA!

[justinvacula]

Welcome back.

[justinvacula]

As promised, it's time to return to focus on activism. Thanks everyone for the comments on last night's show with Silverman.


WNEP-TV writer Julia Melf authored an article titled “Man Objects To Prayers Before City Council Meetings” concerning my June 13, 2013 address to Wilkes-Barre City Council objecting to government-led prayer urging council to remove prayer from future meetings.

The comment section — with more than 120 comments — includes individuals asserting I secretly hate America, saying I should leave the United States because I am not welcome, telling me to “shut up and listen” to prayer, and suggesting I ought to leave council meetings (or not attend) if I object to prayer.

http://www.skepticink.com/justinvacula/ ... -meetings/

Feel the Christian love and please join the article comments!

[Ape+lust]

Because of my relentless pursuit of bettering my shoops (read: because I'm an OCD bastard that just can't let shit go)...

Lol! And it's a good thing you are or we wouldn't get any more shoops. If the the results weren't so much fun, I'd do something easier like making furniture with a penknife.

That looks great, it was worth a revisit.

[Eskarina]

Deliciously retarded post from Lyers. His comments on Slymepit are as ludicrous as always.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... in-vacula/

Love his "baboons" comment.
"I was in the chatroom for the show, and it was like being in a mob of baboons.". sure PZ.

Why is one of the sponsored links telling me to get "Athena pheromones" to increase my attractiveness to the opposite sex?

What if I'm a lesbian?

And why is it sponsored by Pharyngula, the blog of PZ Myers who was a feminist even before he was born or something?

[Aneris]

More proof that Physioproffe is a time-traveller. Here's his latest Twitter feed, copied and pasted verbatim, in tapestry form.

http://weknowmemes.com/generator/upload ... 420222.jpg

Spooky.

hihih brilliant.

[Saint N.]

David Silverman seems to adjust his views based on whoever happens to be his current audience. Now he is trotting the FTB shtick about denouncing offensiveness and "getting rid of the shit" but a year ago on the skeptically yours podcast with Emery Emery and Penn Jillette he staunchly boasted how freedom of speech supersedes offensiveness (even going so far as to say that one can write a book with nothing but the word "cunt" in it, and give no regard to possibly offended parties).

Anyway, here's the link, http://skepticallyyours.net/episode-1/

the relevant bit with Silverman starts at about 33-34 minutes in.

[Zenspace]

Happy Mother Marginalization Day!

(This is your future according to your local SJW representative)

[Tony Parsehole]

Cheers Aneris.

@Saint N. Yup.
Dillahunty, the dishonest king of hypocrisy, pulled the same crap. Bragging about how important it was to draw Muhammed on "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" (and offending 1 billion muslims be damned) and then a year later, writing a piece for Skepchick, saying:

" When you hear a complaint that someone has raised, you might think that they’re expressing an irrational, emotional, over-reaction to the situation. You might even be correct – but it doesn’t matter, and here’s why:
You don’t get to decide what someone else finds offensive.
You don’t get to decide what someone else finds uncomfortable, unwelcoming, disconcerting, stressful, harrassing, troubling or painful.
You aren’t the world: everyone isn’t exactly like you."

I mean what the actual fuck do people like Soundbyte-Silverman and Doormat-Dillahunty want to convey? They hold conflicting viewpoints depending on who's listening.


http://skepchick.org/2012/08/speaking-o ... illahunty/

[bovarchist]

Can't we just call it Motherfucker Day?

[Cunt of Personality]

They hold conflicting viewpoints depending on who's listening.

There's a word for that but, since dictionaries aren't allowed, I have no idea what it is.

[Ape+lust]

David Silverman seems to adjust his views based on whoever happens to be his current audience. Now he is trotting the FTB shtick about denouncing offensiveness and "getting rid of the shit" but a year ago on the skeptically yours podcast with Emery Emery and Penn Jillette he staunchly boasted how freedom of speech supersedes offensiveness (even going so far as to say that one can write a book with nothing but the word "cunt" in it, and give no regard to possibly offended parties).

Anyway, here's the link, http://skepticallyyours.net/episode-1/

the relevant bit with Silverman starts at about 33-34 minutes in.

Well, that deserves posting. Whatta maroon.

"It seems to me that people have come up with the idea that they have the right to not be offended. And that right that they have, to not be offended, supercedes your freedom of speech as the constitution (sic). Quite frankly, Penn could write a book that says just "cunt." It could just be cunt-cunt-cunt-cunt-cunt, and it could be...(crosstalk). I mean, I've always been amazed at people who, quite frankly, do not get the concept of freedom of speech. They don't get the concept of freedom of press. They think that if you say something that they find offensive, you're being bad."

[Jan Steen]

Her writing style is that of an interdepartmental report on the state of sewage systems in Novosibirsk.

That gave me the happy itches. Funny and true.

She does have the grim resolve of an apparatchik, scrambling to handle point when shit blows up, writing some ponderous doorstop of propaganda explaining why what you're seeing isn't what you're seeing. You'd think she was angling for a job, or something.

Sister Number Three is aiming to become the Secretary General of the Ministry of Truth once FTB has taken over the world. Unrealistic? Hey, it’s her only hope of becoming a Really Important Person. Imagine, she’d have the power to have Justin Vacula arrested and tortured until he became just as adept in parroting FTB thought as Dave Silverman.

[Kareem]

David Silverman seems to adjust his views based on whoever happens to be his current audience. Now he is trotting the FTB shtick about denouncing offensiveness and "getting rid of the shit" but a year ago on the skeptically yours podcast with Emery Emery and Penn Jillette he staunchly boasted how freedom of speech supersedes offensiveness (even going so far as to say that one can write a book with nothing but the word "cunt" in it, and give no regard to possibly offended parties).

Anyway, here's the link, http://skepticallyyours.net/episode-1/

the relevant bit with Silverman starts at about 33-34 minutes in.

Well, that deserves posting. Whatta maroon.

"It seems to me that people have come up with the idea that they have the right to not be offended. And that right that they have, to not be offended, supercedes your freedom of speech as the constitution (sic). Quite frankly, Penn could write a book that says just "cunt." It could just be cunt-cunt-cunt-cunt-cunt, and it could be...(crosstalk). I mean, I've always been amazed at people who, quite frankly, do not get the concept of freedom of speech. They don't get the concept of freedom of press. They think that if you say something that they find offensive, you're being bad."

I would actually respect him a lot more if he didn't want to get ambushed by the crazies out there and refused to do the show. Instead, he made Justin do a litmus test and then just preached to him, all to appease the crazies. It's the difference between avoiding drama and exploiting it.
I honestly don't know why so many are afraid to stand up to people who would be written off as looney to the general public.

[Ape+lust]

Sister Number Three is aiming to become the Secretary General of the Ministry of Truth once FTB has taken over the world. Unrealistic? Hey, it’s her only hope of becoming a Really Important Person. Imagine, she’d have the power to have Justin Vacula arrested and tortured until he became just as adept in parroting FTB thought as Dave Silverman.

On her old blog, she used to lament her miniscule readership and the fact that her writing barely caused a ripple anywhere. Whatever she's after, she certainly acts like she's not going to blow this chance to be Someone Who Matters. So yeah, if she was ever offered a job that came with a big brocaded hat and a riding crop, I could see her taking it. She's one of the most cold-blooded of this bunch.

[Jan Steen]

Sister Number Three is aiming to become the Secretary General of the Ministry of Truth once FTB has taken over the world. Unrealistic? Hey, it’s her only hope of becoming a Really Important Person. Imagine, she’d have the power to have Justin Vacula arrested and tortured until he became just as adept in parroting FTB thought as Dave Silverman.

On her old blog, she used to lament her miniscule readership and the fact that her writing barely caused a ripple anywhere. Whatever she's after, she certainly acts like she's not going to blow this chance to be Someone Who Matters. So yeah, if she was ever offered a job that came with a big brocaded hat and a riding crop, I could see her taking it. She's one of the most cold-blooded of this bunch.

The worst thing that could happen to Zvan is when the Slymepit stopped paying attention to her. We are doing her a favour right now. Maybe we shouldn't be doing that.

[John Greg]

I often have trouble understanding the points Stefunny tries to make in her blog posts. Not because her posts are complex and eloquent, but because her reasoning is so opaque, intentionally obscure, and because quite often, in hindsight, there is, in fact, no point being made, but, rather, she is trying one of a variety of well-poisoning tactics.

Anyway, that is certainly the case with her latest. She posts a comment quoting some opening discussion between Skep Tickle, Justin, Reap, and some others, where in the prelim they discuss listening to some earlier clip of Silverman and Zvan, and that somehow, this discussion about that clip proves that all Slymers are evil, and, more interestingly, Svan claims that when Skep Tickle makes a comment about accepting a request to write a review, Skep's comment is actually a statement saying:

We’ll take a radio show that does long-form interviews of activists, scientists, artists, and scholars, a show that supports a community of atheists and humanists, a show that a team of volunteers sinks a lot of time into, and we’ll have it reviewed by a guy who’s tickled that he has an audio clip that sort of makes it sound like I said something I didn’t say.

WTF?!?

It is complicated, as is much of Zvan's intentionally opaque prose; it is classic Zvan; it is dishonesty at its height.

But really, you have to go and see it to get the point, and no, I am not doing Freezepage -- sorry, but that's a pain in the ass, and a handful of quick views ain't going to fill anyone's bank account. If someone else, who is comfortable with doing so, wants to take a Freeapage, be my guest.

link: http://freethoughtblogs.com/almostdiamo ... -movement/

[Apples]

[Aneris]

-- snip --

I think that we've reached a point as atheists where there are enough of us, with enough presence in the culture, to give rise to people who are only atheist because they see others doing it and they think it's cool. In other words, the glory days when pretty much everyone in the atheist movement was an atheist because they'd arrived at that conclusion in isolation, are over.

Unfortunately, it means that we have to deal with the fact that a lot of people who call themselves atheists today really are exactly the kind of people that we got out of religion to avoid. Followers, ideologues, 'ists', who have simply found a different kind of religion to believe in.

Yup. Yuuuuuuuuup. And the sort of thing is not just happening in atheism. It's painful to see others throw around the "I'm a skeptic!" label just to bolster their arguments by linking 'skeptic' to their identity. Implicitly, "I identify as a skeptic! Therefore, in order to not be a bigot, you must respect my identity by accepting, without evidence because I shouldn't have to provide it because this is my identity, that I have used skepticism in coming to my conclusions." If you're a skeptic, show your goddamn work! I don't care if you're a mass murderer, just please for the love of Brian, show your work.

Labels are generally dubious as they acquire all kinds of additional connotations over time, based on attributes of the most visible wearers (who tend to stand out in some way, often negatively). In addition, many labels have different connotations in different cultures (or nations). For example, politics are typcially quite a lot left shifted in Europe and then left and right mean slightly different things in different countries.

Dillahunty discussed the Atheist label a while ago, and it was rather disappointing. The base idea, of course is, that someone does not believe in theism. But under the microscope, you find these variations.

1. atheism/nontheism/negative atheism:
absence/lack of belief in (the existence of) God/gods

1.1 implicit atheism:
no deliberative, reflective rejection of the belief in God/gods

1.1.1 ignorant atheism:
no knowledge of or familiarity with the concept of God or a god, of/with theism

1.1.2 indifferent atheism:
knowledge of or familiarity with the concept of God or a god, of/with theism, but no interest in reflecting or desire to reflect upon it and the question of the existence of God/gods

1.2 explicit atheism:
deliberate, reflective rejection of the belief in God/gods

1.2.1 (doxastically) agnostic atheism/(expressly) neutral atheism:
neither affirmation of nor inclination to affirm the nonexistence of God/gods
+
neither affirmation of nor inclination to affirm the existence of God/gods

1.2.2 sceptical atheism/quasipositive atheism/quasi-antitheism:
inclination to affirm the nonexistence of God/gods

1.2.3 positive atheism/antitheism:
affirmation of the actual/factual nonexistence of God/gods

1.2.3.1 superpositive atheism/super-antitheism:
affirmation of the necessary nonexistence of God/gods

In close inspection there is the axis of knowledge, not knowing about theism (ignorant atheism) or not knowing about gods or finding knowledge unattainable in principle (agnositcism). Then there is a motivational dimension, which spans about the interest of dealing with theisms. Not dealing with them would also make one an atheism. Not being convinced by theistic claims is another way of being Atheist (you don't have to do something at all, you also don't have to do anything to not collect stamps). Another aspect, perhaps hidden from this breakdown is the perspective. It can be "top down" or "bottom up". The top down view makes a declaration, and the individual is then sticking to it (a bit like celibacy). The bottom up perspetive simpy decides on a per-case basis and since theisms are never convincing, remains unconvinced. In the latter case one can extrapolate that theistic claims are probably never convincing, thus to make things easier state that one is an Atheist. "I am" or a "person is" are problematic statements anyway for another reason, but that's another story.

[jjbinx007]

Here are supposedly some of the words which makes the NSA think you're a terrorist:

http://au.businessinsider.com/nsa-prism ... ing-2013-6

dictionary

So THAT'S why PZ hates them so much!