Jim the Pleb Made Me Do It

[Badger3k]

("pitters are working themselves into an angry froth" according to report in comment 5)

Yeah. They often mistake laughter for anger, those maroons. Do they have anything other than projection?

[Parody Accountant]

Considering the number of members with vasectomies, I dont think there is a lot of froth...

http://i.imgur.com/AhpPok0.png

http://i.imgur.com/Eizt1Kc.png

http://i.imgur.com/Uv2x3YK.png

[Gumby]

Half the page is Melody and either an entering or exiting mouth-turd.


My work here is done.

What did you use to make that gif?

[bovarchist]

("pitters are working themselves into an angry froth" according to report in comment 5)

The froth of Khan.

[H. Korban]

Perhaps Benson, Christina, PZ et. al. do not realize, but the gap (perhaps unplanned) between CFI board statement and Lindsay's apology for hurt feelings, has led to some rather entertaining antics. Having written off CFI, withdrawn as speakers, stopped subscription to magazines and calling for a blanket boycott now they are faced with appearing like petulant children. I would not put it beyond Ron to have deliberately waited to see how the fools would react to CFI board's statement.

It really is a circus out there.

For these people feminism is a parochial game, one that allows them to earn victim points and, in a perversely sexual manner, feel good about it. It is like a strange sexual fetish, in which some get turned on by verbal or physical humiliation. It allows them to appear as if they really care about women's rights while in reality all they really care about is a little bit of limelight, the ability to plant a flag on a molehill, speaking gigs in expensive hotels, and their next victim fix. And, of course, the ability to control what people say and think.

[EdwardGemmer]

CFI can't really drop WiSC3 without opening themselves to further attack, however they can borrow a page from the FtB playbook and issue a statement something like "We're interested in providing an opportunity for those who otherwise might not be heard..." and them dumb every pain in the ass from this year. Checkmate.

In general, I've hated most conferences for at least two decades, once I'd been to a few and realized most of the speakers were on a conference circuit, rarely bringing anything new up, mainly just shilling their books and crap, and that new speakers were vanishingly rare.

I guess I hadn't realized that the real purpose of the conference was a company paid vacation and alcohol and sex.

They seem ridiculously boring. Also, given that these deep rifts are at least entertaining, a smart person would schedule a conference around talking about that. Of course since we have no leaders, we get the same old stupid garbage.

[zenbabe]

Just to clarify: you allow a man to spaff his beans into your mouth at the conclusion of a blowjob, and you are capable of and willing to go facedown into your own muff.

I...could you...can I...would it be possible to...*faint*

Haha! SO NOT HOW I MEANT IT

I do not care. Boast about it all you want but you have to post a GIF/JPEG/Video here as proof or it never happened.

I'll get right on that, sir.
soe 2 spek

[bhoytony]

[youtube]Zlcxwwd19Qg[/youtube]

[welch]

Welch just joined MKG on my ignore list. MKG reminds me of Colonel Cathcart or Colonel Korn, whichever one it was Ex-PFC Wintergreen found too prolix (fuck, even Steerzo is less windy, or at least less studiously self-absorbed with his own opinion of his own brilliant word play), and welch is OK as long as EVERY OTHER FUCKER ADMITS welch IS ALWAYS RIGHT NO MATTER WHAT ABOUT ANY FUCKING SUBJECT IN THE FUCKING UNIVERSE. (I think that sums it up nicely.) Plus the Florida-based bastard can't take a few seconds out to delete unneeded quotes, even when adding less than 50 characters to a five-nested 2000-word screed. I'm tempted to set maximum quote nesting back down to three, or even two. What do people think?

My preference is to not alter the maximum quote nesting.

With regards to the ignore list, I initially hesitated to use it except in the more dire of circumstances. For a long time I only used it for trolls like the La Cosa Nostra-damus worshipper, that whacked-out teenybopper troll with the chair-wets for Steersman, and Skeptikksotwat.

Then one day not too long ago, after witnessing one particularly excruciating stretch of posts, I I thought "Hey, I'm mainly here for the entertainment, why do I let this shit infest my retinas?" I realized that it's not a contest to see who can exercise their scroll-wheel finger the most and endure the most inane and self-absorbed posters. I also realized that there exists a certain (small) subset of posters here who either never bother to add anything relevant to the overall theme of the Pit, and/or everything they prattle on about is designed to aggrandize themselves and denigrate anyone who doesn't look like the person they see in the mirror they spend too much time looking into.

I don't need to read the prattle of self-serving narcissistic snobs. I could have stayed at FtB if I wanted that kind of infantile snotty babble. So, I said "fuck it, into the bin you go" and cut out the dead weight. And since there undoubtedly exist people who roll their eyes at my lightweight banter and flimsy photoshops, they are free to do the same to me.

That said, my ignore list is still small. And as irritating as he can be, Welch ain't on it :)

Been working 42 out of the last 48 hours, so the amount of fucks I give about lsuoma going all Mailing list retard about how I don't quote right is pretty low. But if he wants to cry about it, I'll get my goblet.

[welch]

Which leads me to ask, what exactly is the down side for Lindsay and CFI to simply and definitively tell the entire poisonous rabble to fuck off?
These clowns don't pay anyone's salary. They alienate the wider public. They are an embarrassment. "Don't let the door hit you on your inflamed red ass on the way out", should surely have been a more sensible response.

And I think that's exactly what they would do, but politics gets in the way. Execrable or not PZ and his minions have a lot of internet influence in the community, and they're quite good at raising shitstorms. Lindsay politely doesn't kiss the Axis's collective asses, PZ and his pals start a bullying shitstorm. The shitstorm would be of Yellowstone megavolcano proportion if CFI just told them flat out to fuck off. CFI has a business to run and they want to appear as reasonable to as wide a group of people as possible. Of course, the risk they take is going full Neville Chamberlain. That hurts them just as much as telling PZ to fuck himself.

Given the length of time it has taken for Lindsay to issue this "apology", and given how carefully parsed it seemed to be, I'm thinking that CFI is playing pure politics and walking the tightrope as best they can.

They have so much influence that Dawkins and grothe are sharing the same refrigerator box, JREF has disbanded, and PeeZus is running TAM.

[welch]

Ophelia is oozing noble piety now that she's discovered Blackford's tweets.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterflies ... nd-timely/

What a horrible thing to say. Even what Ron said to CFI staff and branch leaders is terrible? Russell is so confident that all the staff and all the branch leaders are completely wrong to be upset about anything that he knows it was terrible for Ron to apologize to them?

Of course, everyone was upset, for the same reasons Ophelia was upset. She knows this, because she does.

Yeah, and the guy they've been shitting on these past 2 years is presumptuous for thinking Lindsay's getting the same treatment.

I don’t see how he can reasonably make such a sweeping and savage assertion.

Savage assertion. Mykeru's tweet "vibrates with rage." Gurdur "violently disagreed" with her. The woman lives in her own private disaster movie.

Oh, and Russell is a colonialist for meddling in US affairs.

It's either that or come up with her own material.

[TheMan]

Just in case you are wondering... I have no one on ignore. Being TheMan and therefore ThePatriarchy I need to keep tabs on everyone. Forever vigilant I must remain.

[Parody Accountant]

[youtube]Zlcxwwd19Qg[/youtube]

http://i.imgur.com/NTh4D6Q.png

[welch]

NOT COOL. That's not appropriate for anywhere on the internet. Ask the guy who invented it.*

http://anomalycentral.files.wordpress.c ... peaks2.gif

(*never made that claim, I know...)

To be fair to him, when he made that clam I laughed. But he kinda was instrumental in its development. The inventor of the World Wide Web was Tim Berners Lee however.

There's a lot of technicalities in what Gore said, and if you understand the difference in what the "internet" was prior to the legislation he pushed, and what it is now, he's not really that wrong. Although if you want to talk about who really "invented" any of it, the folks like Bob Metcalf and the others who helped create TCP/IP, packet switching, and all the foundational stuff that took networking out of the hands of companies like Bell/AT&T are closer to the top of that list than anyone else.

What Berners-Lee did that was amazing was he made something that anyone could figure out. You didn't need to be a nerd to use a web browser. Now getting online in the early days was another thing, but it was taking it away from shit like Gopher and Archie and the rest and making it something that you didn't need to be a programmer or a sysadmin to use, and helping ensure that it wasn't all AOL and Prodigy is the huge part. He de-nerded things, and that's always admirable.

[bovarchist]

Mmmmmm....FROTHY.

http://www.vanden-eykel.com/baloo.gif

[ConcentratedH2O, OM]

MKG reminds me of Colonel Cathcart or Colonel Korn, whichever one it was Ex-PFC Wintergreen found too prolix (fuck, even Steerzo is less windy, or at least less studiously self-absorbed with his own opinion of his own brilliant word play)

All hail (or "precipitate upon", if I may be allowed the intrusion of micturition upon this meteorological allusion, as this function of the aqua vita may be a more apt method of protestation with which to enjoin people to protest the cowardly cur) his Highest Majesty LSUOMA, whose very name (or nom, or nym, within the common parlance of western (and, never forget, westernized) users of the electronic pipelines we have come to call "The Internet" utilize in order to indicate the same) combines the apparently inseparable twin interests of a certain place of education within that State (of all those United, as it were, within a half of one great continent) whose boundaries encompass the city of New Orleans (which, in the language spoken by merely one of the peoples who have traipsed foot across its mystic lands, is represented as La Nouvelle-Orléans) and a suffix (which will surely fucking fix nothing, if you will allow me a glimmer, a spark, a shard, an - if you will - ucles de l'escallion et commes sur vatonnez) which hints at cancer.

The Big C,
Which is made from out of control C...
...ells' bells, I wish 't would go away,
From this world to the next,
Like so many,
It has done for,
And sent far,
Away.

[Parody Accountant]

Considering the number of members with vasectomies, I dont think there is a lot of froth...

http://i.imgur.com/AhpPok0.png

Never again will I eat vanilla pudding. You ruined that for me.

http://img.pandawhale.com/26153-Bill-Co ... f-LuNb.gif

[ConcentratedH2O, OM]

Mmmmmm....FROTHY.

http://www.vanden-eykel.com/baloo.gif

Great GIF call!

[Hunt]

Just in case you are wondering... I have no one on ignore. Being TheMan and therefore ThePatriarchy I need to keep tabs on everyone. Forever vigilant I must remain.

I think there should be one day each month when everyone is forced to write Yoda style.

[Gumby]

Mmmmmm....FROTHY.

http://www.vanden-eykel.com/baloo.gif

The Slymepit - where innocent childhood memories go to be bound, tortured and killed.

[Parody Accountant]

Mmmmmm....FROTHY.

http://www.vanden-eykel.com/baloo.gif

My wife is angry. That. Was. Beautiful. Timing.

I'll spare you the story, but she saw me removing the words 'I CAME' from that Disney Robin Hood pic only minutes earlier. She was not impressed by the frothy replacement.

Shit fuck jesus. Well done.

[Badger3k]

Mmmmmm....FROTHY.

http://www.vanden-eykel.com/baloo.gif

The Slymepit - where innocent childhood memories go to be bound, tortured and killed.

I know everyone has seen this one...

demotivational-posters-your-childhood.jpg

(32.32 KiB) Downloaded 296 times

[Parody Accountant]

Mmmmmm....FROTHY.

http://www.vanden-eykel.com/baloo.gif

The Slymepit - where innocent childhood memories go to be bound, tortured and killed.

I know everyone has seen this one...

demotivational-posters-your-childhood.jpg

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

[welch]

All hail...

http://bynkii.com/bynkiidotcomimages/frothking.png

[bovarchist]

The FTB business model. Feel free to shop any face you want. Bonus points to anyone who knows the source ;)

http://www.vanden-eykel.com/pologize.jpg

[Kareem]

This rage looks a lot like photoshops to me.

[acathode]

Adam Lee is really dumb.

So let me get this straight. If the FtB/Skepchick crowd *THINKS* a course of action would make us angry and rage, they will want to do it.

Clearly this inane tendency could not be abused.

In this case I think it's more that Lindsay's own apology doesn't really tickle them enough (not enough groveling, admitting he was wrong, etc) so to compensate they'll need to get their sense of victory from imagining the whole "other side" vibrating with rage etc.

It's just petty high school politics... over and over and over again.

[Skep tickle]

[Kareem]

They're really making up their own reality. Are they forgetting they were freaking out and saying it's not good enough? This isn't just stupidity or dishonesty, this is some kind of disorder.

[Parody Accountant]

K. I'm done. Goodnight.
http://i.imgur.com/zrcUCsh.png

[katamari Damassi]

If only some of those people would come here and watch us freak out over Ron's notpology.

[Mykeru]

Wing walking is also really dumb.

http://kazu.org/post/federal-safety-off ... show-crash

I saw in another article someone giving the pilot credit for his skill in avoiding the crowd, although that didn't play into it at all. People said the same thing with the Reno Air crash of the Galloping Ghost caused by a broken trim tab that launched the pilot into an 11g climb that probably caused his brains to squirt out his asshole.

I guess people think its what you are supposed to say about dead pilots.

Also, it wasn't the wing walking that killed Wicker, it was the flying into the ground.

Several military cargo planes fly over my house every day. They're so clumsy-looking and noisy, that I've developed this baseless fear that one of them will fall out of the sky some day and crash nearby. Extremely unlikely, but formally possible.

Your fears are unfounded.

[youtube]uIjO0sKBDDw[/youtube]

Mostly.

[ConcentratedH2O, OM]

They're really making up their own reality. Are they forgetting they were freaking out and saying it's not good enough? This isn't just stupidity or dishonesty, this is some kind of disorder.

QFT.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

Adam Lee is really dumb.

Who's he think he is? Democritus of fucking Tavistock?

[AndrewV69]

Oh BTW? According to one comment here the proper term for this is "Kink for Christ":

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/2 ... 79646.html

YMMV

[welch]

Am i just missing some alternate reality here?

[BarnOwl]

Your fears are unfounded.

[youtube]uIjO0sKBDDw[/youtube]

Mostly.

Yeah, that would leave a few scorch marks on the lawn.

[Aneris]

Ok, again a long-form summary of the events, closing it, I hope. It's super long. Obvious being obvious.

The Baboons are so awesome to watch. I am a bit sad that I didn't went into cognitive psychology, they make almost as good a test subject as the UFO cultists Leon Festinger studied.

Ellen Beth Wachs put up a nice compilation of evidence that, yes, the wider Atheism Plus faction wanted to have Ron Lindsay removed. These are:

• Skepticon folks (basically all named people from their side show up in some capacity. This convention's organizers also linked to Watson's boycott call. The same gang of people also appear on "FTBConscience" announced few days ago.
• FTB Bloggers, PZ Myers, Stephanie Zvan, Ophelia Benson and Richard Carrier (feat. background vocals by Jen McCreight). Notoriously thin-skinned by A+ criticism as Carrier's speech video received 6,000+ downvotes (vs. ~700 registered members in the Slymepit, do the math).
• Secular Women, especially Amanda Marcotte
• SkepChick, especially Rebecca Watson
• Melody Hensley, who is apparently well connected with the gang, but works with CFI.

As a reminder, they associate themselves either directly with Atheism Plus, the label or its tenets, i.e. a brand of authoritarian gender/radical feminism that is kept vague enough so that Ophelia Benson and few others can genuinely delude themselves that it means something more inclusive (hint: PZ Myers endorses I Blame the Patriarchy, Secular Women of Macrotte and Co believe "Microaggression" is a well-known and supported concept, despite that even Wikipedia only features a disputed article, with no other languages—hardly universally accepted).

Ron Lindsay's orginal speech was mildly critical of A+ and these tenets, like "Shut and Up and Listen", "Privilege" and "Patriarchy" and that's the reason the respective A+ sites exploded in pyroclastic clouds of rage-hate, as we come to expect from them. Moderation? Nuance? PZ Myers believes in rhetorically arming and inflaming, where the rhetorics (or just thinking) fell somewhat to the wayside.

Each issue by CFI or Ron Lindsay enraged them even more, and they went from burning bridges to asking for a boycott, Skepticon (aka Atheism Plus Con) severs ties to CFI as a sponsor (and linking to Watson's boycott statement), withdrawing as a speaker and asking minions to write letters so they fire Ron Lindsay.

But.

The last CFI statement undercut their prerogative of interpretation, and avoided their talking point that Ron's job is up for debate at all. Their anger spiked after that letter, but when the rage tears dried up a bit, it must have dawned on them that they have failed.

JT Eberhard, someone I didn't know before, wrote days ago, that he felt that his crew went a tad too far. He mounted around 3,800 words, where 90%+ are disclaimer that he's totally "friends" with the gang mentioned above just to point this out (he thereby underscores, highlights and encircles the points Ron Lindsay and others have made. You can't disagree with them when you can't write some thousand words of disclaimer). Now that his baby Skepticon also severed ties with a sponsor, he was worried.

His text was a transparent attempt at placing the A+ authoritarians and rage bloggers again back into the center of the community. They are family. That's his message. He tried to place attention at the Slymepit again, the go-to default "to denounce" faction the community uses to win social points, a kind of negative shibboleth. Justin Vacula is both a red herring and anti-christ; denounced to curry some more favour among his "friends", and also used to distract attention away from Ron Lindsay and the hole his "friends" have dug for themselves.

At the same time we also saw Benson starting to cool down a bit, preparing the backpedal maneuvre. She didn't quite follow Greta Christina's example of severig ties with CFI entirely. Their coup d'etat didn't work .

Ron Lindsay now offered a short apology, which is really objectively just as good as the other things he or CFI offered (since I didn't have an issue in the first place, but that CFI managed expectations not well enough, I don't demand apologies and conversely don't care if they are deemed appropriate to those offended). Ron Lindsay retracted none of his points, but apologizes that he upset someone. The level of hatred and shit storm the A+ folks have generated is utterly inconsistent with "reservedly happy, and cautiously optimistic" about his apology. I see this as a way to settle the matter from Lindsay's perspective with a way to starve these people by no longer funding their efforts or inviting them as a speaker (I would hope so). I hope they do WiS3, and am confident they can fill up the missing spots with other people. Why not Abbie Smith, for example.

Now that the failure begins to sink in, the regular #FTBullies and baboons have to deal with cognitve dissonance. Good that Russel Blackford, according to PZ Myers a "lying fuckhead", didn't like Ron Lindsay's apoplogy. Now they can stage themselves as "with Ron" against his evil critics. We now witness one of the great spectacles of nature. Only rivaled by the great salmon run and the vast migration of animals in Africa: the turncoats flipping around with no efforts and warping the fabric of reality so it again fits their world views.

OMG! The Slymepitters are angy at Ron now, they tweet (nope, we aren't. I'm not. The others above seem mildly amused).

Their level of vitriol and hatred directed towards Ron Lindsay is now quickly swept under the carpet. Ellen Beth Wachs latest evidence, that served as the opener here, is a nuisance that doesn't fit into the new story. Stephanie Zvan, professional writer and adept at retconning took it to herself to correct the impressions. In short succession we see a lot of more lies perpetuated by them...

There was no letter-writing campaign to get Ron fired

(just scroll up again to see Amanda Marcotte's original tweet, if you forgot it already)

That’s it? One random person speculating that it would be “choice” to have Rebecca or Melody appointed to head CFI is now a “campaign”?

Stephanie Zvan claims that it would be okay in the first place if Ron Lindsay just apologized. They seem to forget that apologies are expected to match the allegations. She seem to believe that after you defame someone as a misogynist rape enabler, who is grouped with rapists and rape-apologist of the Aussie Army (and a fraudster), the so-styled can simply say "Opps, sorry!".

That's horsehit. She either suffers from a severe case of hindsight bias or is just manipulative as usual. It works now, as the tides have turned. It works now, as Rebecca Watson's attempt at controlling the interpretation didn't pan out. It works now, as Amanda Marcotte and other's attempts at having Ron Lindsay removed didn't pan out, either. Ron Lindsay's apology now works, because they have noted in the recent week that they're losing the interpretation and are not seen as central or essential to the community, hence, JT Eberhard was worried about "his friends" and tried to recalibrate again. We don't know what else is going on behind the scenes. PZ Myers is suddenly willing to hear critics of his horde, so it's far more likely that traffic goes down, less people than expected are interested in FTBconscience, not enough donors secure fundings of Skepticon or something else in that area. And finally, keep Rebecca Watson's "misogynist rape enabler" treatment in mind for the baboon bonus joke.

★★★ Bonus Joke ★★★

I know Blackford just means to be disrespectful to women, but he’s also being disrespectful to Lindsay and CFI. What, they can’t make their own decisions without Blackford’s input and approval?

[Darth Cynic]

Call me petty, but I've got to admit that the pitters' rage has made me feel happier about Lindsay's apology.

Lee...

Once he wrote fairly reasonable essays, now the more he speaks the more he comports himself as a contemptible, unctuous cretin out to please mistress or master, nothing too low.

People possessed of some dignity would not debase themselves with such transparent, self reassuring drivel.

So yes Lee, you are petty, a sniveling, petty toady, who has the pitiful temperament that not only requires imaginary feelings of dismay on the hated other to feel a measure of happiness. That can only find a measure of value in something if another, a hated other is severely bothered by it. But also feels the need to broadcast their lamentable lack of character to all and sundry; presumably to have their oily glee validated by like minded cretins. Do your imaginary constructs make you all warm inside?

One wonders if you likes your fishes all wriggling and raw?

Lee..., a synonym for pondscum.

[Guest]

Aneris,

I wish you would also post this summary on a blog, along with your prior summaries.

Not because I dislike reading them here, but to make them easier to link to, and easier for Google to find.

[Steersman]

Ok, again a long-form summary of the events, closing it, I hope. It's super long. Obvious being obvious. The Baboons are so awesome to watch. ....

Indeed. And a good summary; some fascinating if bizarre psychology in all of that.

However, FWIW as another thrilling chapter in the saga, EllenBeth has a response to Zvan to which I responded:

EllenBeth said:

I, at no time, stated, suggested or implied that there was a campaign to replace Ron with Melody or Rebecca.

As much as I’m sympathetic to the general criticisms of FTB and company for their campaign against Lindsay, I have to suggest that there’s a bit of a comedy of errors in play here. While you may not have “stated, suggested or implied there was a campaign to replace Ron with Melody or Rebecca” in that particular post, it seems to me that you did so in that Canadian Atheist post.

More specifically, David Jones said (1):

… Watson and her clique and the FtB crowd … [have] tried to get Grothe sacked and Lindsay sacked (with an eye to replacing him with one of their own if you believe what Wachs said) ….

To which you replied (2):

You don’t have to just believe me about them wanting to replace Lindsay with Watson or Hensley. I have proof. I haven’t wanted to pull it out yet until they deny it.

Rather difficult to see how that doesn’t qualify as stating, implying, or suggesting that “there was a campaign to replace Ron with Melody or Rebecca”.

Not that I’m entirely or even greatly skeptical about the basic premise or argument that you are making: as you indicated (3), there were direct or indirect calls for his firing – in effect or explicitly – from Amanda Marcotte, Dana Hunter, Secular Woman in the guise of Charles Loelius, and Chris Clarke. Just trying keep the stories straight and the books balanced.

And that rather sustained effort looks rather much like a witch hunt, Crommunist’s effort (4) to discredit the charge notwithstanding. While he makes a great – and rather tediously lengthy – effort to prove that Lindsay and the CFI are not at all analogous to witches and that they are not being subjected to a witch hunt, that rests on entirely bogus premises:

The main thing to remember about witch hunts is that witches aren’t real. ….
Ron Lindsay and CFI are not ‘witches’:
The reasons why people are upset with [Lindsay’s speech] have been meticulously explained (although that does not seem to perturb the flood of people claiming that there’s nothing wrong with what he said). The failure to respond adequately to criticism by both Mr. Lindsay and the organization he helms are not imagined or unprovable slights – they’re evident for all to see.

That he happens to think that those “reasons” should be accepted – apparently on faith – is no justification for thinking that everyone else has to give very much if any credence to them. Likewise with those “slights” which are, in their nature, decidedly subjective and open to interpretation. Rather similar to medieval accusations that someone was a witch. It is not that Lindsay and the CFI are not witches; it’s that the “reasons” for the accusations don’t hold any water. Which means that the former are being treated as if they were the latter – ergo, witch hunts.

----
1) “_http://canadianatheist.com/2013/06/20/leaving-the-skepchick-network/#comment-27416”;
2) “_http://canadianatheist.com/2013/06/20/leaving-the-skepchick-network/#comment-27432”;
3) “_http://mycatsaremygods.com/2013/06/23/walking-away-from-those-that-are-becoming-that-feminazi-stereotype/”;
4) “_http://freethoughtblogs.com/crommunist/2013/06/20/abused-meme-roundup-witch-hunts/”;

[TheMudbrooker]

I'm going to indulge in a bit of conjecture about the supposed plot to replace Ron Lindsay with either Rebecca Watson or Melody Hensley. First and foremost, bear in mind that the usual suspects at FTB/A+/ et al have absolutely no interest in the hard work involved in doing a job like Lindsay's. The only thing that interests them is celebrity, the perks that come with it and being the gatekeepers to that celebrity. I'm betting that they were hoping that Lindsay would get fired and some of his underlings would resign in protest. It's those underling's jobs that are the key. While a new CEO would likely be recruited from outside CFI, the other jobs would be most likely filled from within. As people get promoted and their jobs are taken in turn by other staffers, the odds of Hensley moving up in the CFI food chain would have been pretty good thus leaving her current job of CFI party planner open. This is a job Watson is actually fairly well qualified to do. With Watson in Hensley's current post and Hensley as her supervisor, th Baboons would have control over the speakers invited to CFI events and influence over who gets invited to speak at events supported by CFI. Remember, this isn't about activism or doing anything constructive, it's about getting your tickets for the conference circuit gravy train.
Again, this is pure speculation, but it's much more plausible than trying to get Watson or Hensley installed as CFI CEO.

[AndrewV69]

Ok, again a long-form summary of the events, closing it, I hope. It's super long. Obvious being obvious.

The Baboons are so awesome to watch. I am a bit sad that I didn't went into cognitive psychology, they make almost as good a test subject as the UFO cultists Leon Festinger studied.

Ellen Beth Wachs put up a nice compilation of evidence that, yes, the wider Atheism Plus faction wanted to have Ron Lindsay removed. These are:

...

I have a bit of of a problem with the Facebook screencaps that EBW provided. Taken in isolation they seem fairly innocuous to me. It just looks like a private conversation where people can say whatever the hell they feel like without it being taken seriously.

Of course it starts to look like a campaign once you add in the ejaculations of the usual suspects. But that just looks to me like they are following their standard playbook which included calling for the head of the latest witch of the week.

I also have difficulty believing that any of those jokers, no matter how deranged could seriously entertain that any of the proposed replacements for Lindsey are even remotely qualified for the job.

Feel free to correct me here ... but you would have to be insane. It was clearly a joke. Right?

[AndrewV69]

This is a job Watson is actually fairly well qualified to do. With Watson in Hensley's current post and Hensley as her supervisor, th Baboons would have control over the speakers invited to CFI events and influence over who gets invited to speak at events supported by CFI. Remember, this isn't about activism or doing anything constructive, it's about getting your tickets for the conference circuit gravy train.

This is a much more plausible scenario to me.

Again, this is pure speculation, but it's much more plausible than trying to get Watson or Hensley installed as CFI CEO.

Again I agree. As I said earlier someone would have to be insane if they thought either of those two were qualified.

[Skep tickle]

Links to: http://skepchick.org/2013/06/ron-lindsa ... ent-170843

Which reads (middle paragraph is a quote, purportedly from Hensley):

courtneycaldwell / June 23, 2013, 2:34 pm

I admit that I was very skeptical upon first reading his apology (call me cynical). I’m still hesitant to entirely chalk this up to a win, but Melody’s words on the matter have given me hope:

“Ron Lindsay has apologized to CFI staff for his actions at Women in Secularism 2. He has written an apology here. I’m sure it will not be satisfactory to everyone. I know that I wish more was said. I know Ron. I know that not everyone does, though. This was written after an day and evening of intense discussion and debate. Sometimes there was yelling and tears, but I think we made a breakthrough. I believe this type of personal apology doesn’t come easy to him. I believe that he is sincerely sorry for his speech and further actions at Women in Secularism 2. This is coming from his harshest critic.”

I do believe that further action is necessary to prove this isn’t just a publicity thing – but I’m tentatively giving Ron the benefit of the doubt for now.

Reply to that comment at skepchick says:

pteryxx / June 23, 2013, 7:32 pm

That quote seems to be from Melody’s Facebook page, which requires login to view.

[Hunt]

Somehow I doubt this one's going to make any Pharyngula "Around FtB" list:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/hetpat/2013 ... /#comments

[Skep tickle]

http://mycatsaremygods.com/2013/06/23/w ... omment-446

http://i.imgur.com/aTMYFoR.png?1

:popcorn:

[Skep tickle]

Somehow I doubt this one's going to make any Pharyngula "Around FtB" list:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/hetpat/2013 ... /#comments

Ally Fogg's blog is really a beacon of light over there, isn't it.

[Tony Parsehole]

Half the page is Melody and either an entering or exiting mouth-turd.


My work here is done.

What did you use to make that gif?

http://imgflip.com/gifgenerator

Just upload your pics in order into that.
The Paint.net plugin seemed too much like hard work for me .

[Hunt]

Somehow I doubt this one's going to make any Pharyngula "Around FtB" list:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/hetpat/2013 ... /#comments

Ally Fogg's blog is really a beacon of light over there, isn't it.

He does seem to have what it takes to drive a stake through the heart of blind ideology. That's all I, or I hazard to guess, any of us want. Not anti-feminism.

[Tony Parsehole]

Bill Cosby you say?
[youtube]IybWd_F0YNU[/youtube]

You will either love this or hate it. No in-between.

[Tony Parsehole]

Am i just missing some alternate reality here?

I think it's called "making shit up".

[Steersman]

http://mycatsaremygods.com/2013/06/23/w ... omment-446

http://i.imgur.com/aTMYFoR.png?1

:popcorn:

From the same thread:

I’m trying to reply to the utter falsehoods within Stephanie’s blog post about this, but she seems to be blocking everyone who is calling her facts into question. Another one just bit the dust.

She has framed this issue as: “EllenBeth is claiming there was a conspiracy within SW to get Ron fired.”

It’s an embarrassing piece of propaganda.

To which EllenBeth responded:

Blocking and re-framing into utter falsehoods- that’s her known M.O. Read what I wrote and it doesn’t match up to what she is promoting it as.

Although, as I mentioned above, I figure that EllenBeth had in fact, “stated, suggested or implied that there was a campaign to replace Ron with Melody or Rebecca”.

But there does seem to be a few cracks developing over there. Popcorn time, indeed.

[AndrewV69]

Somehow I doubt this one's going to make any Pharyngula "Around FtB" list:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/hetpat/2013 ... /#comments

Ally Fogg's blog is really a beacon of light over there, isn't it.

Holy Crap!!!

(not saying any more because of spoiler)

[Tony Parsehole]

HeHeHe......Oolon at EBW's blog.

http://mycatsaremygods.com/2013/06/23/w ... omment-473
Bear in mind the blogpost, once again, had NOTHING to do with the Slymepit but that doesn't stop ol' Ooly from giving us another ton of shout-outs.
The guy is fucking obsessed.

[Steersman]

Somehow I doubt this one's going to make any Pharyngula "Around FtB" list:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/hetpat/2013 ... /#comments

Ally Fogg's blog is really a beacon of light over there, isn't it.

Holy Crap!!!

(not saying any more because of spoiler)

I find it rather amusing – and quite telling – that there seemed to be very few of the “usual suspects” – the SJWs and rad-fems from the Skepchick/FTB mob – who put in an appearance in Fogg’s Part I on the topic, Raging Bee being the notable exception. Although I do have to commend her/him for making some good points.

[JackSkeptic]

Somehow I doubt this one's going to make any Pharyngula "Around FtB" list:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/hetpat/2013 ... /#comments

Ally Fogg's blog is really a beacon of light over there, isn't it.

Yes and I find him well worth reading. I'm learning a lot from it even if I do not always agree. It makes some of the others shrill, petty and simplistic.

[AndrewV69]

I find it rather amusing – and quite telling – that there seemed to be very few of the “usual suspects” – the SJWs and rad-fems from the Skepchick/FTB mob – who put in an appearance in Fogg’s Part I on the topic, Raging Bee being the notable exception. Although I do have to commend her/him for making some good points.

I was amused when Schala said "Raging Bee is obviously a troll". I nearly did a spit take on that one. And the Adiabat said:

Raging Bee: I don’t generally mind troll as long as they are funny and keep things fresh, but you are just getting boring now.

And I howled! Because I did not think Adiabat was taking the piss for one. I imagine Raging Bee might have been jolted by that one. But who knows?

Finally, when Ginkgo "outed" Schala as trans I suspect some of the usual suspects may have had a pause for thought and reevaluation. But again who knows?

In any event I look forward to the comments on this one.

[JackSkeptic]

HeHeHe......Oolon at EBW's blog.

http://mycatsaremygods.com/2013/06/23/w ... omment-473
Bear in mind the blogpost, once again, had NOTHING to do with the Slymepit but that doesn't stop ol' Ooly from giving us another ton of shout-outs.
The guy is fucking obsessed.

If I didn't know better I would consider him an undercover double agent for the slympit. He discredits their 'side' so thoroughly with his inane waffle he is damaging the very ideology he pretends to support.

[Steersman]

Somehow I doubt this one's going to make any Pharyngula "Around FtB" list:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/hetpat/2013 ... /#comments

Ally Fogg's blog is really a beacon of light over there, isn't it.

:rimshot: Fog a beacon of light? I thought the former necessitated the latter? ;-)

[time to call it a day; night all]