Now that the conservative establishment has those Muslims all sorted (kick ’em out!), the Hispanics under control (build a wall…I mean, fence!), and the black population terrorized (just shoot them), and the transgender kids timed to explode (don’t ever let them go to the bathroom and wait for them to pop) it’s time start tightening the screws on the atheists again. I don’t think they’re particularly strongly targeting us, especially not in light of what’s being done to other minority groups, but that there is simply a rising tide of intolerance for non-white, non-Christian, non-asshole people. So Tucker Carlson had Amanda Knief of American Atheists on to complain about the removal of a park bench that said “Men Who Aren’t Governed by God Will Be Governed by Tyrants”.
I have to say that that slogan is discriminatory against unbelievers — and it’s false as well. I think the example of history says that believers are fairly susceptible to tyranny, and the more fanatical the belief, the more likely their tyrants will be incredibly awful. Flip it around; if a city put a park bench that said “Men Governed by God Are Governed by a Tyrant”, it would be seen as strongly anti-religious, and Tucker Carlson would be demanding that it be removed.
As for Tucker Carlson, he’s the replacement for O’Reilly. O’Reilly was stupid and would would address these kinds of issues with mindless blustering anger, but Carlson isn’t any better. His approach is to squint and babble and act like he doesn’t understand what the person he’s interviewing is saying — and he probably doesn’t. I guess Fox News hosts have to be dumbasses so their audience can identify with them.
Amanda Knief was good, and she’s a good choice to go on these kinds of shows. She’s one of the nicest people in the movement — she’s a lawyer and an atheist, so she’s shattering both stereotypes by being friendly and nice — but she also wasn’t going to let Carlson’s inanities slide by, answering everything patiently and with a smile. David Silverman is good if you want a combative personality fighting back on the screen, but Amanda is better if you want someone who’ll defuse the anger.
Voltaire’s Prayer works for me!
What a F__ A__hole. Objects to a small label saying “Paid for by Atheist” as some sort of “Emblazoned all over it”.
She tried to clarify (and got interrupted) that even Her group would have no objection to “god” being within the name of an organization that paid for the bench and recognizing it with a label. It is the Inscription on the Bench itself in big bold letters that anyone who does not believe in God are supporting Tyrants, and inherently evil. [Veterans supported Democracy with their lives] (or similar), would be my proposal for the bench to provide as the preferred alternative to the exclusionary bench A small plague on the leg of the bench saying [paid for by …] in an unobtrusive location to recognize who provided the bench is common courtesy.
sigh
Faux Noise is really locked into being as offensive as possible, aggressively asserting a single view that all must follow, or be called (unspeakable words).
*spit*
?
If a city put a park bench that said “Men Governed by God Are Governed by a Tyrant”, at least it would be true.
I want to rub peanut butter in Tucker Carlson’s hair.
If you put a shorter message on the bench, you could use a bigger font: “GOD IS A TYRANT”
Hey, it’s not even atheistic.
I’m glad that Bill “MFer, I want more ice tea” O’Reilly is gone from that place, but nobody would honestly believe Fox News would change after this. Or Ailes.
It bothers him that people do their complaints anonymously to such a degree as to call the act “deplorable”. It is, I would surmise, precisely this kind of reaction to complaints that would lead a person to do their complaints anonymously…
The “slogan” is a quote from William Penn, founder of the Pennsylvania colony. The colony had freedom of religion, as long as you believed in God. Well, the Christians, anyway. In other words, it contravenes the First Amendment both in its original sense, as well as any meaning it might have now.
Another Penn quote might have been something to say to Carlson: “Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it,” in reference to his complaint that the bench was removed on the complaint of just one person.
“People who are not governed by God will be governed by tyrants” Look at who those “governed by God” elected.
He is literally not listening to her, and not letting her talk. When I was thoroughly entrenched in the Catholic Church, even then I would have thought “I see no problem with the quote, but since it bothers someone they should take it down.” I’ve never thought in my whole life that God needs to be in every public space. That goes against both Church teaching and the United States Constitution.
Ignorant flaming asshole goes out, ignorant flaming asshole comes in. You can’t explain that.
#4. Looks like a wig to me.
What a disingenuous asshole. “How dare you take action on behalf of someone who isn’t brave enough to tell us who they are so we can stone them!”