Atheism Plus/Free Thought Blogs (FTB)

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appalling said:
And Randfan, I've appreciate your comments more than a little, but no one else seems to be taking any notice of weird arguments like this,



...which I read as "Why bother with any overblown complaints of sexism in skeptical communities when it gets in the way of our important work combating FGM?"

Is my reading of this that far off?
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Divide and conquer?

I don't know how weird it is, since it's derived from an argument by Richard Dawkins, the world's most famous and respected atheist. It's not even original! You think Dawkins' arguments are, generally, weird?

I notice again your tendency to straw man argumentation. Atheists have important work to do. Obsessing about T-shirts and coffee invitations and sickos who make rape threats online gives enemies of atheists comfort and ammunition. That's not a weird argument until you misrepresent it.
 
zooterkin said:
I'm pretty sure that Brando was in Apocalypse Now, not The Heart of Darkness.
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Yes, the line is from the 1979 movie Apocalypse Now. Invoking it is low-grade snark, but I am horrified by some A+ forum threads, and by the conduct of their moderators.

 
Mr. Scott said:
Yes, the line is from the 1979 movie Apocalypse Now. Invoking it is low-grade snark, but I am horrified by some A+ forum threads, and by the conduct of their moderators.

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Well, yes, that's where the reference came in: RandFan posted the youtube link, was asked what it was, and then explained. If I explain that your link is Kurtz saying, "The horror, the horror" from Apocalypse Now, will dafydd give another hypercorrection? :)
 
zooterkin said:
Well, yes, that's where the reference came in: RandFan posted the youtube link, was asked what it was, and then explained. If I explain that your link is Kurtz saying, "The horror, the horror" from Apocalypse Now, will dafydd give another hypercorrection? :)
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I apologize, I haven't read the whole thread. No insult intended.

“The horror! The horror!”
― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

I thought it was widely known that the film was loosely based on Conrad's book. I didn't see the post with the YouTube link. Mea culpa.
 
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appalling said:
Oh, you have good quality snark.

I was just surprised by this thread, as a whole, a little.
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It's been amusing reading this thread and watching members here wring their hands about all the name calling on another forum while calling them names.


"Those evil A+ers gonna ruin atheism for all of us."
 
Mr. Scott said:
Divide and conquer?

I don't know how weird it is, since it's derived from an argument by Richard Dawkins, the world's most famous and respected atheist. It's not even original! You think Dawkins' arguments are, generally, weird?

I notice again your tendency to straw man argumentation. Atheists have important work to do. Obsessing about T-shirts and coffee invitations and sickos who make rape threats online gives enemies of atheists comfort and ammunition. That's not a weird argument until you misrepresent it.
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An argument from authority, Tisk, tisk.
 
tsig said:
It's been amusing reading this thread and watching members here wring their hands about all the name calling on another forum while calling them names.


"Those evil A+ers gonna ruin atheism for all of us."
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I didn't call anybody names. It wasn't a snark, just information.
 
dafydd said:
I apologize, I haven't read the whole thread. No insult intended.

“The horror! The horror!”
― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

I thought it was widely known that the film was loosely based on Conrad's book. I didn't see the post with the YouTube link. Mea culpa.
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No worries; and a fine example of admitting an error that certain people (not necessarily in this thread) could learn from. I hope I can be as gracious when the roles are reversed.
 
tsig said:
It's been amusing reading this thread and watching members here wring their hands about all the name calling on another forum while calling them names.


"Those evil A+ers gonna ruin atheism for all of us."
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OK, thanks for encouraging me to step back for a moment.

My first impulse regarding A+, after I took a good look at it was, "kill it before it spreads." Not because it's left or favors women's rights. I'm a lefty who favors women's rights. It's because it's racist (anti-white), sexist (anti-male), ageist (anti-elderly), erotophobic, and holds emotions above logic and rationality.

On second thought, it's so insane the way it's playing out, I don't think there's much danger of it spreading.

Now, I just can't look away from the train wreck in progress. It's also a neat chew toy. The faulty thinking of its promoters and followers is actually quite fascinating.

Do you have anything of substance to add to the conversation, tsig, or are sarcastic cheap shots all you've got?
 
ponderingturtle said:
And so what? Are rape threats worse than death threats that everyone with a slightly controversial presense on the internet gets?

I know rape is worse than death to a plussers that is why they banned a rape victim for finding joy in life, but do you agree with that?
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I've never been handed either a rape threat or a death threat online (although I have irl.)

I'm not going to minimize the messed-uppedness of the rape-threat-makers over the fact that internet death threats also happen, tho.

Also, this is in no way a defense of the A+ forum. I can't defend the A+ forum and won't attempt to do so. But I'm pretty sure most members here agree that rape threats are FUBAR, shouldn't happen, and are indefensible, period.
 
Mr. Scott said:
You think the argument, when it came from Dawkins, was just as weird as when it came from me?
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Atheism has more important goals, like stopping religion-based female genital mutilation, or the possibility of nuclear war over who's imaginary friend gave them Palestine. Obsessing over things like T-shirts and coffee invitations, well, that gives comfort to the enemies of reason, don't you think?
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Yes it's a weird argument because I don't recall him being appointed spokesman for all atheists with the authority to determine what the priorities should be.

Do you think we should ignore small problems we can fix because there's big ones we can't?
 
kellyb said:
I've never been handed either a rape threat or a death threat online (although I have irl.)

I'm not going to minimize the messed-uppedness of the rape-threat-makers over the fact that internet death threats also happen, tho.

Also, this is in no way a defense of the A+ forum. I can't defend the A+ forum and won't attempt to do so. But I'm pretty sure most members here agree that rape threats are FUBAR, shouldn't happen, and are indefensible, period.
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Rape threats are FUBAR and indefensible.

The most frequent rape threats I've ever seen online have been in the comment threads at Freethought Blogs, where telling commenters they should have a spiny animal forcefully inserted into their rectums has been about as common as saying hello.

That doesn't excuse other kinds of rape threat from other sources, of course. Those are FUBAR and indefensible too.

Respectfully,
Myriad
 
Myriad said:
Rape threats are FUBAR and indefensible.

The most frequent rape threats I've ever seen online have been in the comment threads at Freethought Blogs, where telling commenters they should have a spiny animal forcefully inserted into their rectums has been about as common as saying hello.

That doesn't excuse other kinds of rape threat from other sources, of course. Those are FUBAR and indefensible too.

Respectfully,
Myriad
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For all of my issues with this place, "reality has a distinctly leftwing bias." And Darat really is a social justice warrior. It's not amazing that I'd say that. It's strange that people totally ignorant of the situation here would find it so. EVERYONE leftie here knows what Darat is about. He's not exactly shy!

And I do wish TAM would institute the same anti-harassment policy Barker and others have instituted. But I don't blame that failure on the mods here or Darat. I also don't blame it on women who have been rape-threated.
 
Re: Atheism Plus

kellyb said:
I've never been handed either a rape threat or a death threat online (although I have irl.)

I'm not going to minimize the messed-uppedness of the rape-threat-makers over the fact that internet death threats also happen, tho.

Also, this is in no way a defense of the A+ forum. I can't defend the A+ forum and won't attempt to do so. But I'm pretty sure most members here agree that rape threats are FUBAR, shouldn't happen, and are indefensible, period.
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My point is that bloggers get threats. Yes it is a shame that female bloggers get rape threats possibly instead of some if the death or other threats possibly in addition to it. But are these threats coming from the internet or the skeptical community?

So I think there is an error of false attribution going on at least in part as well.

Why attack the skeptic comunity if what you want is to clean up the internet and end trolling? Of course if memory serves Rebecca used to indulge in a good troll now and then.
 
zooterkin said:
No worries; and a fine example of admitting an error that certain people (not necessarily in this thread) could learn from. I hope I can be as gracious when the roles are reversed.
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I am not a woo. I don't mind being corrected when I 'm wrong or of I've made a fool of myself.
 
Sorry for double posting. But I am reminded of a time years ago when a member brought up that pseudoscientific book "The Bell Curve". And I know the mods/admin must have been freaking out. But, lo and behold, the members here called it out for the racist, bigoted crap it was.
 
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