If the #ReasonRally failed, why were so many people happy to have attended?

As expected, Thunderf00t has a new video crowing about the failure of the Reason Rally. But I’ve been reading the stuff put out by people who attended.

Trav Mamone thought it was great.

Matt Facciani had a grand time.

Adam Lee got a charge out of it.

Some guy named Ed Brayton made a series of videos about it.

I’m beginning to wish I’d gone — everyone is making the point that the reason for the Reason Rally was more than just making a big mob scene, but getting together as a community for a day. That sounds like a success to me.

As for the haters, Adam Lee has a smart comment on that.

The usual sneering bigots asserted that the rally’s anti-harassment policy must have kept people away, a claim with the same plausibility as a Bible-thumper blaming gay rights for earthquakes.

Apparently, fathers do matter

That’s the only positive spin I can put on the awful story of Brock Turner. For those who’ve missed out on the outrage, Brock Turner was a Stanford athlete who found a drunk woman passed out behind a dumpster, and he proceeded to do what any privileged male asshole would do: he raped her. He was caught in the act however, and tried to run away, and was put on trial.

Awful enough so far. But then once he was convicted, the judge decided to give him a light 6 month sentence, because prison would have a severe impact on him. Yes? Isn’t that the point? Of course, the judge, Aaron Persky, was also a former Stanford athlete, so this is clearly a case of a judge seeing someone who looks like him, so he must be a good boy…

So injustice is compounded. But then, just to make me truly sick to my stomach, Turner’s father made a statement. This is why I say fathers matter — because Dan A. Turner is an oblivious asshole who raised an asshole. This is appalling.

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Dictionary atheists are boring atheists

Since we’ve got one of those keep your social justice outta my atheism types babbling in the comments here, I thought I’d point out that Deacon Duncan has a good response to those kinds of conservatives.

We atheists are supposed to stay focused, stay on message, but the only message they’ll tolerate is that god doesn’t exist and religion is bad, with no thought about why or the implications. It makes for a rather boring and repetitive message, and lacking in introspection.

(((How to make a racist cry)))

You may notice a wild proliferation of parentheses on social media lately — that’s because it was discovered that white supremacists have been flagging the presence of Jews by bracketing their name with triple parentheses, so everyone is mocking them by putting our own names behind triple parens.

I thought these racists were already pathetic, but I did not know how low they could sink.

It’s worth noting that the internet’s anti-Semites hate when their culture is appropriated by their opponents. For example, when internet users started repurposing Pepe the Frog, a previously racist meme, a white nationalist lamented:

Most memes are ephemeral by nature, but Pepe is not… He’s a reflection of our souls, to most of us. It’s disgusting to see people (‘normies,’ if you will) use him so trivially. He belongs to us. And we’ll make him toxic if we have to.

Which makes stealing the bigots’ signature symbolism for Jews all the more fun.

Say what? This is Pepe the Frog.

pepe

If that’s a reflection of their soul, that reflects very badly on their souls. Also, the character was part of a webcomic created by Matt Furie, so they actually don’t own it.

What failure?

How strange…I’m hearing from so many people ranting and raving about how the Reason Rally was a failure, but they’re all people who weren’t there; at the same time, I’m seeing a lot of enthusiastic appreciation from attendees. This wouldn’t be at all odd if it were Christians and Fox News trying to dismiss it, but there’s also a cadre of the usual dedicated anti-SJW atheists also triumphantly declaring the defeat of the Reason Rally.

Here’s the deal: it was a mixed success. It sounds like it was a good event, and the people who went there got what they wanted out of it, but it also had lower attendance than had been hoped for. The accounts I’m seeing suggest that it fell somewhat short of the attendance at the first one, although it was still a healthy turnout.

So what reduced the number of attendees?

Obviously, it’s because I wasn’t invited to speak at this one.

Wait, no, that’s not it. With such a mob of speakers, I’ll be the first to admit I’d be a fairly low-wattage draw.

I’m going to pin the problems on organization and focus. Personally, I didn’t go because the early organization was very frankly a mess — way back in January I was complaining about the slow start and the small number of speakers at that time…and if you’re trying to get large numbers of people to commit to the expense and time of travel, you’ve got to get them enthused early. I just couldn’t. And by the time they got their act together, it was too late for me to make arrangements.

This is fixable. Next time, get a solid core of speakers committed well in advance. Don’t dribble out announcements slowly, over months.

The other problem is focus. This is an atheist event, but a lot of the noise being made ahead of time was about Big Name Celebrities agreeing to speak there, like Johnny Depp and Margaret Cho. That’s nice for getting a blurb in the newspaper, but they have no reputation as atheists, and haven’t spoken much about godlessness, so they were no draw at all to me (although I might have been pleasantly surprised by their talks, if they hadn’t cancelled, which is a whole ‘nother problem). It needed atheists qua atheists, not random celebrities who happen to not believe in gods. If I want to listen to someone talk about atheism, Greta Christina is more of a celebrity than Johnny Depp.

This is also fixable. Start with a solid roster of known atheist speakers first, sign ’em up early (they’re easy, they’ll be enthusiastic for the cause), and then try and get those popular but largely irrelevant celebrities.

So sorry, naysayers. It wasn’t a failure, but there’s room for improvement.

What’s in these things?

gummibears

Haribo Gummi Bears sound fun. They’re sugar free and a harmless sweet snack, right? Until you read the reviews. It seems to have a dramatic effect on people, which I’ve filed away in my memory, next to my Enemies List.

But what’s in them to cause this effect? That’s where it gets interesting. It says on the bag that they’re “Sugar Free”, but it’s a lie. They’re free of glucose and lactose, two specific sugars, but read the list of ingredients, and you discover that they’re full of other sugars.

Corn Syrup, Sugar, Gelatin, Dextrose, Citric Acid, Corn Starch, Artificial and Natural Flavors, Fractionated Coconut Oil, Carnauba Wax, Beeswax Coating, Artificial Colors Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1

Corn syrup is nothing but oligosaccharides. Sugar: more oligosaccharides, specifically disaccharides like sucrose (and how can they advertise that they’re sugar free when the second ingredient is “sugar”?). Gelatin, at least, is not a sugar, but a protein, collagen. Dextrose is a simple sugar, a monosaccharide, but it’s true, it’s not glucose. Still, consuming dextrose is a great way to get a rapid blood sugar spike.

So what these things are are pure, concentrated sugar bombs that pass straight into your colon as a potent syrup that drive your gut flora into a frenzy. Watch out for them.

Also, never trust that “sugar free” label.

But if you do have enemies, you can buy them in five pound bags on Amazon. Makes me wonder if they also sell pocket nukes and bulk neurotoxins.

You know where you can find good writing?

snoopy-good-writing-is-hard-work

Right here on FtB! If you’re looking for something to cleanse the palate after this mess, I recommend…

There. Much better.