Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin - Richard Dawkins No-Platformed by Atheism+

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Jan. 28, 2016 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin

12:08

Richard Dawkins No-Platformed by Atheism+

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	Gather round, ladies and gentlemen, because I have a very interesting tale to tell you.
	I'm sure you all know who Richard Dawkins is, but for those who don't, he's a professor of evolutionary biology, a world-famous author and philanthropist known for his award-winning contributions to science, reason, and secularism.
	And on a personal note, I'm not going to lie, I have a great deal of admiration for Professor Dawkins.
	He, in my opinion, is in the same league as people like Christopher Hitchens when it comes to intellectual honesty and debunking nonsense.
	When you are as famous as Richard Dawkins, you will find that there are whole blogs dedicated to being critical of offhanded comments that you have made on Twitter, like, What did Richard Dawkins say this time?
	This is a Tumblr blog run by a member of the regressive left, with the exclusive purpose of policing any offhand comments Professor Dawkins happens to have made.
	So when Dawkins tweets something along the lines of, obviously doesn't apply to the majority of feminists, among whom I count myself, but the minority are pernicious, with a link to a video, you know you're in for a good time.
	Especially when the video is my video, or at least a video on my channel.
	I'm just going to preface this by saying a lot of people are going to attribute this video to me because it's on my channel.
	I don't feel that I can actually take the credit.
	I asked SaitenAtheist, the chap who made it, to make me a unique video that I could host on my channel to promote him, and he did.
	I had no input in the content of the video.
	But even if I had, I wouldn't have changed a thing.
	I think his video is brilliant, and I am very proud to host it.
	But I do want to set the record straight, because a lot of people are attributing the creative impetus of this video to me, and frankly, I'm not that talented.
	You can imagine just how angry the regressive who runs What Did Richard Dawkins Say This Time was about this.
	And they decided to show their colours by linking to the article about me on Rational Wiki, a place so honest that they actually think I am a Donald Trump supporter.
	Of course, anyone with half a brain knows that Rational Wiki is to rationalism what Freethought Blogs is to skepticism.
	And so it was quite entertaining when PZ Myers decided to write a post on Freethought Blogs regarding this little episode.
	Myers decided to really uphold the reputation of Freethought blogs and begin his little blog post with a lie.
	Richard Dawkins does it again, citing a crude cartoon from Sargon of a CAD that claims feminists are in league with Islamists.
	Fuck me.
	I'm guessing you didn't do your due diligence, PZ, because that's not what the cartoon says at all.
	It just says that their ideologies are very, very similar.
	At least he went to the trouble of reading the text on the video.
	Feminists and Islamists have basically the same ideology, demonstrated through the magic of song by Saiten Atheist.
	Instead of rebutting this, he just says that this is a pile of nonsense, favourably promoted by Richard Dawkins.
	Demonstrated.
	Jeebus.
	I'd at least expect him to understand the meaning of that sentence.
	PZ, since you didn't watch the video, how would you know?
	As you might expect, the comment section got pretty triggered and was made into a safe space very, very quickly.
	So whatever you do, do not go there and post comments that dissent against the prevailing group thing.
	That's a form of abuse.
	I think this comment really sums up the desperate pretentiousness of free thought blogs.
	So so unfortunate.
	I'm a Dawkins fan, but this is just hard to see.
	The slender read of truth in Sargon's video is that a minority of feminists, like a minority of everybody, would like to shut down contrary opinions with laws and not just counter speech.
	And that is wrong and bad.
	But Sargon puts it in such a crude, over-the-top and stupid way.
	And to endorse such oafishness.
	Ugh.
	Oh well, feet of clay.
	Oh god, you guys are so sophisticated.
	You're so smart.
	You guys are just, you are so brilliant.
	I can't believe everyone thinks free thought blogs is a giant fucking joke.
	Of course, it wasn't just whiny bloggers who were giving Richard the business.
	There were, of course, the Twitter trolls, by which I mean feminists.
	Professor Dawkins was accosted by a highly intellectual and experienced feminist academic who accused him of thinking that women he dislikes deserve rape and death threats.
	Of course, Professor Dawkins was flabbergasted.
	Why would you even say such a thing?
	It turns out that at some point in this debacle, someone had explained to Professor Dawkins exactly who the feminist playing the piano was.
	And academic titan Lindy West had told Professor Dawkins that posting my parody video of Big Red implies endorsement of her abuse and will definitely amplify it.
	And I don't know about you, but to me that sounds like a statement that is just brimming with truthiness.
	But who is Lindy West?
	If she's so important, how have I never heard of her?
	Huh.
	Okay, well I guess she must come from the Steve Shives School of Public Debate.
	Okay, well I'm not bothered about being preemptively blocked.
	I'll just sign out of Twitter and have a look at her profile anyway.
	Lindy West, why fat lady so mean to baby men?
	I'm guessing she's a feminist but not one of those horrible misandrist feminists I've heard so much about and author of Shrill, a memoir.
	Hmm.
	Pinned tweet.
	Be right back, glorifying obesity.
	Clearly it's a joke I'm not in on because it just links to a picture of her sunning herself on a beach in Skegness.
	So why was this free bleeding feminist giving Richard Dawkins such a dressing down on Twitter?
	I mean, who is she?
	What are her credentials?
	I went to college and I got an English degree and then I graduated from college and then I had nothing and I had no skills except for writing.
	So I just sort of like I took an internship at a magazine that was not something I was interested in at all.
	It was about babies.
	It was like a free magazine about child rearing.
	Then I would write things that I was not qualified to write and just I just sort of got thrown into all these weird writing assignments and just had to figure out how to do it and it was a really really actually good experience even though it was boring and weird and I was giving people medical advice that it was even though I was like 21 years old and didn't actually know anything.
	So she's clearly a very well educated and responsible person.
	I'm glad that she decided to take time out of her busy day helping people to redress Professor Dawkins' misogyny and help protect such a special, special snowflake.
	After learning that the lovely young woman with the red hair and the joke was actually a real person who had been disgracefully threatened with violence, Professor Dawkins decided to do the honorable thing and delete his tweets.
	I expect after being attacked by the staunch intellectuals of free thought blogs and being mobbed by the crybully feminists on Twitter, enough was enough and I don't blame him for saying look I'm deleting my tweet and just getting out of this.
	Of course this wasn't enough for rabid feminists like Jennifer Champagne who decided to continue to interrogate him on the subject and demand an apology which Professor Dawkins hilariously misinterpreted as Champagne asking whether Big Red had apologised.
	She of course had the cheek to say no.
	I meant you.
	And of course she didn't agree with the professor when he asked don't you think she should apologise for shrieking shut the fuck up and fuck face at anyone who tries to get a word in.
	Anyway!
	I'm not done!
	I'm not done!
	Shut the fuck up!
	Of course, Professor Dawkins continued to be mobbed by other rabid feminist dogs who decided to nip at his heels, even claiming that he participated in the harassment of someone who has gone into hiding.
	But the thing is, that's all just Twitter nonsense, and while it can be quite overwhelming to have a sudden rush of very angry and hostile people coming at you on Twitter, it's not anything serious, because it is, of course, Twitter.
	However, being disinvited from a skeptic conference after an anti-feminist tweet is something else.
	The Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism has withdrawn their invitation to have Richard Dawkins speak at their conference after sharing a highly offensive video.
	They didn't specify the video, but it was likely the awful YouTube video that Dawkins shared right before this happened that compared feminists to terrorists.
	Okay, just a couple of quick points.
	Islamists are not necessarily terrorists.
	And we'll just take a quick look at the full statement.
	The Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism has withdrawn its invitation to Richard Dawkins to participate in NECSS 2016.
	We have taken this action in response to Dr. Dawkins' approving retweet of a highly offensive video.
	We believe strongly in freedom of speech and freedom to express unpopular, even offensive views.
	I can't say it without smiling.
	However, unnecessarily divisive, counterproductive and even hateful speech runs contrary to our mission.
	Now I do hate to point out the logical inconsistencies of the atheism plus position here, but let me refer you back to this comment from earlier in the video.
	Specifically the part that says a minority of feminists would like to shut down contrary opinions.
	And the conference had withdrawn its invitation to Richard Dawkins based on the fact that he had tweeted something.
	I hate to be the one to break this to you, I really do.
	What you are demonstrating to everyone right here, you absolute morons, is that you resemble that remark.
	You are the feminists being criticised.
	Your reactions to Dawkins tweeting that video would be absolutely irrational if it didn't reflect on you.
	This is how that pathios article ends.
	Importantly, this situation goes way beyond Richard Dawkins.
	It's an example of the atheist sceptic movement explicitly condemning misogyny, which is encouraging.
	No one is trying to censor speech, but if you share hateful stuff, there will be consequences.
	Seriously, do you people have no sense of self-awareness?
	I mean, honestly, do you honestly have no idea what's going on here?
	Do you not see how people on the outside see you?
	I mean, there was nothing hateful about that video.
	It was criticising bad ideas.
	And by your own reactions, you have inadvertently shown everyone that these are bad ideas you hold.
	And you don't like them being compared to Islamists because it shows you just how bad your own ideas are.
	Just so everyone knows, Professor Dawkins just tweeted out a Twitlonger saying that he was deplatformed for tweeting an irreverent joke song.
	Ah well, always look on the bright side of life.
	Incidentally, would Monty Python have been de-platformed for that?
	No, don't be silly.
	Life of Brian was only satirizing Christianity.
	I'm pretty sure this goes to show that Professor Dawkins understands that there is a religion here that is above criticism.
	And when finally those people who have experience dealing with the regressive left realised what was going on and asked him about it, he said that he deleted the tweet because he was momentarily persuaded, probably wrongly, that a human life, however vile, might be threatened.
	To which someone else explained the cardinal rule of dealing with the regressive left.
	Never show weakness, never back down.
	Apologising to the regressive left never helps.
	They'll just see you as weak and attack even more.
	And Professor Dawkins replied, yes, I'm starting to learn that.
	You see, I have this touching faith in the goodness of humanity.
	And you know what?
	I do as well.
	So, I think to help restore Professor Dawkins' faith in humanity, it might be worth anyone who uses Twitter and is watching this video to just send him a message to tell him whether you appreciate his work or not.

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