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sherbetbizarre Great Old One Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Total posts: 1418 Gender: Male |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
 Posted: 02-05-2013 00:01 Post subject: |
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It would be great! |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 29-07-2013 11:07 Post subject: |
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If we're cracking down on Twitter abuse, can we include Richard Dawkins and the atheist trolls?
By Tim Stanley
Last updated: July 29th, 2013
There's a lot of talk at the moment about civilising Twitter – and it's a conversation that we need to have. I'm not in favour of banning free speech, except when it's an obvious incitement to violence, but there's no denying that Twitter has become a bear pit. In the long run, that might not be an entirely bad thing. The invention of social media – an unregulated, semi-anonymous public space – has handed us a chance to explore what is and isn't acceptable discourse in the Internet age. We're in the process of building a new online etiquette, and it could teach us some self-discipline. We're slowly learning that sticks and stones might break our bones, but words can hurt, too.
So this gives me an opportunity to flag up a particular kind of abuse that's annoyed me for a long time: aggressive online atheism. Don't get me wrong: this is in no way comparable to the terrible sexual abuse that has recently gained headlines. But it's still amazing how people feel that they can casually mock the spiritual and emotional convictions of others – including Tweeting directly at believers that God doesn't exist and they're either liars or idiots for saying so. One man who does this with gay abandon is Richard Dawkins. Apparently Prof Dawkins is a genius who writes beautifully about chromosomes and cave men. Well, bully for him. But he's a bully, nonetheless. A recent Tweet that caused a stir: "Don't ask God to cure cancer & world poverty. He's too busy finding you a parking space & fixing the weather for your barbecue." Hilarious. Or on Islam: "Mehdi Hasan admits to believing Muhamed flew to heaven on a winged horse. And New Statesman sees fit to print him as a serious journalist." Of course, that's the same New Statesman that invited Dick Dawkins to edit it for a week – so, yeah, its taste is questionable.
Prof Dawkins is only sending out Tweets rather than Tweeting directly at individuals – which makes him more of a passive aggressive bully than the full on shove-you-head-down-a-toilet variety. But there are plenty of the alpha male atheists around and I've had many come knocking at my Twitter feed. I don't hate them, I don't want them banned, and they certainly don't make me want to boycott Twitter. But I would like them, and the Neanderthal Dawkins, to consider the following.
When you insult my faith you go right to the heart of what makes me me. When you're trying to convince me in 140 characters of sub-GCSE philosophical abuse that God doesn't exist, you're trying to take away the faith that gets me up in the morning, gets me through the day and helps me sleep at night. You're ridiculing a God without whom I suspect I might not even be alive, and a God that I prayed to when my mother was going through cancer therapy. You're knocking a Church that provides me with compassion and friendship without asking for anything in return – perhaps the greatest, most wonderful discovery of my adult life. You see, people don't generally believe in God for reasons of convenience or intellectual laziness. It's usually fulfilling a deep need – filling a soul with love that might otherwise be quite empty and alone. In short, when you try to destroy someone's faith you're not being a brilliant logician. You're being a jerk.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not calling for Dawkins or his ilk to be banned. I'm thick skinned and I can take the odd badly spelled Tweet telling me that I'm a simpleton. But if we are having a grown up conversation about what is and isn't offensive, can we Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and All Of The Above be a part of it, too? Or is only liberal secularists who are allowed to take offence?
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100228442/if-were-cracking-down-on-twitter-abuse-can-we-include-richard-dawkins-and-the-atheist-trolls/ |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 29-07-2013 13:01 Post subject: |
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| When the various religions quit their homophobia and misogyny then will be the time for RD to take things easy. |
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| Ronson8 Things can only get better.
Great Old One Joined: 31 Jul 2001 Total posts: 6061 Location: MK Gender: Male |
| Posted: 29-07-2013 13:43 Post subject: |
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| Mythopoeika Boring petty conservative
Joined: 18 Sep 2001 Total posts: 9109 Location: Not far from Bedford Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 29-07-2013 19:29 Post subject: |
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| Yes, Richard Dawkins is only reacting to shit that comes from the other side (as it were). |
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| drbastard Great Old One Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Total posts: 525 Location: South West Age: 71 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 10-08-2013 14:05 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Professor Richard Dawkins embroiled in Twitter row over Muslim comments
Richard Dawkins has been forced to defend controversial comments he made online after saying the last time Muslims contributed something worthwhile was during the Middle Ages. Prof Dawkins, the bestselling author of The God Delusion, wrote on Twitter that all the world's Muslims had won fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge.
He went on to argue that although Muslims were responsible for many achievements during the Dark Ages, including alchemy and algebra, their contribution since then was questionable.
His comments sparked outrage from many high-profile writers and journalists including author Caitlin Moran and Channel 4 News Economics Editor Faisal Islam. Moran tweeted: "it's time someone turned Richard Dawkins off and then on again. Something's gone weird."
Professor Richard Dawkins causes Twitter row with Islamic barbarian jibe 30.
Writing on Twitter on Thursday, Prof Dawkins said: "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though."While in response to another Twitter user who wrote that Muslims were responsible for alchemy and algebra, he replied: "Indeed, where would we be without alchemy? Dark Age achievements undoubted. But since then?"He later tried to justify his comments by saying he talked about the number of Muslim prize winners because we often hear "boasts about their total numbers".
He wrote: "Why mention Muslim Nobels rather than any other group? Because we so often hear boasts about (a) their total numbers and (b) their science."He added: "A statement of simple fact is not bigotry".
Prof Dawkins has gained worldwide attention for his outspoken criticism of organised religion, and argued that the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States showed that a harder line must be taken with believers.
In 2010, he sparked controversy after labelling the Pope "a leering old villain in a frock" in an article for The Washington Post. A year later, his comments provoked uproar once again when he called the Catholic church "evil".
Previous Twitter comments have also caused a stir, including one in which he wrote: ""Don't ask God to cure cancer & world poverty. He's too busy finding you a parking space & fixing the weather for your barbecue."
Earlier this year, speaking about the damage caused to a library in Timbuktu, in Mali, during the uprising he described those who burnt it down as "Islamic Barbarians".His comments were interpreted as being derogatory to Islam and insulting to followers of the religion by some on Twitter.
Trinity College, Cambridge, has 32 Nobel laureates, as against 10 Muslims listed in Wikipedia.
But Channel 4 News journalist Islam tried to debunk some of Prof Dawkins' Nobel Prize claims, saying that he shouldn't have included Nobel Prizes awarded for economics. He said over the last two decades, "it's 8-4 against trinity."
"I say this as a Muslim alumnus of Trinity College, Cambridge".
He added that if Prof Dawkins "had any clue what he was talking about, he'd know to strip out the Economics Nobels, which aren't quite real".
Prof Dawkins made his name as an evolutionary biologist with his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/10232082/Professor-Richard-Dawkins-embroiled-in-Twitter-row-over-Muslim-comments.html
First sexist and now a racist bigot. Dawkins may have once had something to contribute but that was a long time go and now he's just become a parody of himself and a regular Twitter troll. He's an embarrassment not only to himself but to every normal thinking scientist in the country. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17933 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 10-08-2013 18:06 Post subject: |
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| Hes gone ott there, that cannot be defended. |
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| Mythopoeika Boring petty conservative
Joined: 18 Sep 2001 Total posts: 9109 Location: Not far from Bedford Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 10-08-2013 19:20 Post subject: |
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Is it true that the entire Islamic world doesn't have as many Nobel prize winners as one Cambridge University college...?
Shocked I am, if it is true.  |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21365 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-09-2013 09:33 Post subject: |
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Professor Richard Dawkins: we are winning the war against religion
Atheists are winning the war against religion, Richard Dawkins, the author of The God Delusion has said.
By Alice Philipson
7:00AM BST 12 Sep 2013
Professor Dawkins said it was now possible to go to a dinner party and assume no one was religious.
"I think on the whole we are winning," he told The Times. "We are all moving in the same direction. I get the feeling more and more that religion is being left behind."
"You do not have to be reticent in what you say. You do not have to look around and say, 'I hope I am not offending anyone'. You can pretty much speak your mind now in a way that you could not 50 years ago."
Prof Dawkins said he did not believe that religion had any moral value. "But I do believe it has had, historically, artistic value," he said.
His comments come a month after he became embroiled in a Twitter row after saying the last time Muslims contributed something worthwhile was during the Middle Ages.
He went on to argue that although Muslims were responsible for many achievements during the Dark Ages, including alchemy and algebra, their contribution since then was questionable.
At the launch of his memoir, An Appetite for Wonder, this week Prof Dawkins said he would like his legacy to consist of being known as a "lover of truth", and as "a believer in the possibility of discovering objective truth by scientific research".
He claimed to have some sympathy for the Anglican Church and to enjoy reading the Bible but condemned a small minority who he said were still ignorant of science.
He cited research which said some people in Britain believed humans coexisted with dinosaurs, he said.
Prof Dawkins made his name as an evolutionary biologist with his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10303705/Professor-Richard-Dawkins-we-are-winning-the-war-against-religion.html |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 12-09-2013 12:06 Post subject: |
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And then there's a less well known side of Richard Dawkins, as an apologist for, 'mild paedophilia'.
| Quote: | http://www.salon.com/2013/09/10/richard_dawkins_defends_mild_pedophilia_says_it_does_not_cause_lasting_harm/
Richard Dawkins defends “mild pedophilia,” says it does not cause “lasting harm”
The biologist and author described the sexual abuse that occurred among his former classmates as "mild touching up"
Salon.com. By Katie Mcdonough, Sep 10, 2013
In a recent interview with the Times magazine, Richard Dawkins attempted to defend what he called “mild pedophilia,” which, he says, he personally experienced as a young child and does not believe causes “lasting harm.”
Dawkins went on to say that one of his former school masters “pulled me on his knee and put his hand inside my shorts,” and that to condemn this “mild touching up” as sexual abuse today would somehow be unfair.
“I am very conscious that you can’t condemn people of an earlier era by the standards of ours. Just as we don’t look back at the 18th and 19th centuries and condemn people for racism in the same way as we would condemn a modern person for racism, I look back a few decades to my childhood and see things like caning, like mild pedophilia, and can’t find it in me to condemn it by the same standards as I or anyone would today,” he said.
Plus, he added, though his other classmates also experienced abuse at the hands of this teacher, “I don’t think he did any of us lasting harm.”
Child welfare experts responded to Dawkins’ remarks with outrage — and concern over their effect on survivors of abuse.
As noted by the Religion News Service, Peter Watt, director of child protection at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, called Dawkins’ defense of sexual assault “a terrible slight” to victims of such abuse.
“Mr. Dawkins seems to think that because a crime was committed a long time ago we should judge it in a different way,” Watt continued. “But we know that the victims of sexual abuse suffer the same effects whether it was 50 years ago or yesterday.”
Katie McDonough is an assistant editor for Salon, focusing on lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@salon.com. More Katie Mcdonough. |
What a prize prick. |
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| JamesWhitehead Piffle Prospector Joined: 02 Aug 2001 Total posts: 5779 Location: Manchester, UK Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-09-2013 12:13 Post subject: |
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| That's what his teacher said! |
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| drbastard Great Old One Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Total posts: 525 Location: South West Age: 71 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-09-2013 13:36 Post subject: |
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It's been my theory for a long time that he was abused by church figures which would easily explain his pathological hatred of religion. This admission only serves to reinforce this possibility. So yeah, any harm done? An immense amount I'd say.
Also judging by his behaviour of late he's either starting to really believe he is as infallible as god or he's developing some sort of insidious frontal lobe dementia. Time for him to get checked out one way or another I reckon. |
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| feen5 Don't tread on any mines Joined: 09 Feb 2004 Total posts: 1581 Age: 40 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-09-2013 14:18 Post subject: |
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While i am not condoning his statement at all, i should say that he was on the Pat Kenny show this morning and he was asked about this.
He was not saying that mild pedophila does not cause lasting harm he was merely saying that in some cases that it doesn't. And you can't say that he isn't right with that assumption. Everyone handles things differently.
Some people are able accept that it happened and move on with their lives without it haunting them. And i think that as it happened to him and he was able to move on then he has every right to be allowed to express an opinion on it. |
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| Pietro_Mercurios Heuristically Challenged
Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 12-09-2013 14:29 Post subject: |
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| feen5 wrote: | While i am not condoning his statement at all, i should say that he was on the Pat Kenny show this morning and he was asked about this.
He was not saying that mild pedophila does not cause lasting harm he was merely saying that in some cases that it doesn't. And you can't say that he isn't right with that assumption. Everyone handles things differently.
Some people are able accept that it happened and move on with their lives without it haunting them. And i think that as it happened to him and he was able to move on then he has every right to be allowed to express an opinion on it. |
If the original Times interview is correct, according to the Salon article:
| Quote: | ...
Plus, he added, though his other classmates also experienced abuse at the hands of this teacher, “I don’t think he did any of us lasting harm.”
... |
It is a mark of Dawkins outlook, that he's all too quick to take the personal and make it general. He's got every right to express an opinion about his personal experience, less so about how being beaten, or molested, might have affected others. |
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