Continued: (Ed) Atheism Plus/Free Thought Blogs (FTB)

Atheism Plus was murdered !

In the days before it's demise a poster had returned to post on the RIP Atheism Plus thread about how they had been bullied off the forum and a longstanding A+ member had tried an admirable job of gaslighting this poster using terminology like " taking things out of context" eg calling someone a human urinal.

Seeing what was going on, A+ mods/admins did what they do best, they hit the delete button and silenced the conversation.



Just for fun

Here's a blog post by A+ luminary Grimalkin saying xe was mistaken about the whole trans thing. Equal parts entertaining and confusing.
 
Gaslighting is just newspeak for disagreement about past events.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I wonder if this is a real change or just prostrating at the altar with no actual intention of changing.
 
Friends

It's with a heavy heart that I come bearing the following news. It seems that our comrad and blogger extraordinaire, P.Z. Myers has been beset by "misogynist MRAs and anti-SJW jerks" who he things might just be funding Dr. Richard Carrier PhD's lawsuit against his beloved blog network among others.

Please Help
 
Really don't know whom to support here.

Carrier basically did to Shermer what was subsequently done to him, though the accusations were of a different caliber altogether.

PZ, well, he seems to think that "misogynist" means anyone who opposes him on anything of note. Difficult to support someone who so eagerly demonizes erstwhile allies.

If this goes to trial, though, I'm showing up. Atheist conferences haven't been terribly lively of late and I'm saving my pennies.
 
Last edited:
SimplyAghast said:
I do hate to spread rumors, but this is what they're doing. There was a "more will be named" Tumblr on which people posted a number of accusations of sexual impropriety on the part of atheist/skeptic men. The Tumblr was taken down after an accusation was leveled against David Silverman. (Who has been on their side.)

Here's a link to a screencap; I don't believe that the actions the anonymous poster describes are illegal. Hmm...I can't post links yet because I'm new. I hope it doesn't bother any mods if I break the URL up with spaces. I am, after all, simply trying to prove an assertion.
Click to expand...

Working link → https://imgur.com/Dy1EyMP

Looks like Silverman is in hot water over at Freethought Blogs.

PZ warns of a "bombshell" in the offing.
 
Last edited:
d4m10n said:
Gaslighting is just newspeak for disagreement about past events.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

That was me who got called a human urinal and Stout thought the response was manipulative/gaslighting.

See this and this.

Getting called on something terrible and trying to convince the "accuser" they're just crazy really is a real thing people do. It's not newspeak, although it's often a false accusation.
 
kellyb said:
Getting called on something terrible and trying to convince the "accuser" they're just crazy really is a real thing people do. It's not newspeak, although it's often a false accusation.
Click to expand...

I prefer a more traditional and narrow reading of the term, which preserves the specific interpersonal and abusive nature of the original coinage. Having been accused of gaslighting far too often for disagreeing in good faith about past events, I feel the term has been largely emptied of its previous (useful) meaning. This is par for the course in the social justice lexicon, alas.
 
d4m10n said:
I prefer a more traditional and narrow reading of the term, which preserves the specific interpersonal and abusive nature of the original coinage. Having been accused of gaslighting far too often for disagreeing in good faith about past events, I feel the term has been largely emptied of its previous (useful) meaning. This is par for the course in the social justice lexicon, alas.
Click to expand...

I go by the even more strict Britannica definition:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/gaslighting

In everyday life, it's a pretty common thing liars of various stripes do to different degrees. When you catch someone lying and they try to get out of it by making you think you're insane for thinking/knowing it, that's the basic form, IMO.
 
I recently wrote a short essay on the cautionary tale of Atheism Plus for another venue. In the process I re-read large parts of this thread and of such related postings elsewhere as are still available.

This reconsideration after the passage of time led to a simple thought that hadn't occurred to me before, though I'd come close a few times. In retrospect, that understanding clarifies a lot of the history. Whole patterns of seemingly baffling behavior fall into place in a consistent and comprehensible way.

[The notion that skeptics could engage in productive discussion at the A+ forums] was wishful thinking, arising partly from the stated A+ goals being consistent with the prevailing politics of the skeptic community. They weren’t interested in discussion. Their forum’s purpose was to reassure the people of the right genders, sexual orientations, and racial characteristics that yes, indeed, they were widely hated by everyone else.
Click to expand...
 
Myriad said:
I recently wrote a short essay on the cautionary tale of Atheism Plus for another venue. In the process I re-read large parts of this thread and of such related postings elsewhere as are still available.

This reconsideration after the passage of time led to a simple thought that hadn't occurred to me before, though I'd come close a few times. In retrospect, that understanding clarifies a lot of the history. Whole patterns of seemingly baffling behavior fall into place in a consistent and comprehensible way.
Click to expand...
Sound like an interesting essay. Any chance you could share it here? Or even just a similar essay written by a casual acquaintance of yours?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom