EDIT: Ironically, I forgot to include a trigger warning. So…trigger warning!
The Amazing Atheist is a fairly popular YouTuber. I admit I’m not all that familiar with his stuff, just because I’m really not into watching YouTube videos in general – I much rather read something than watch it. But now I definitely won’t be checking him out, after this disgusting diatribe he launched at a rape victim on reddit:
“I will make you a rape victim if you don’t fuck off.”
“Yeah. Well, you deserved it. So, fuck you. I hope it happens again soon. I’m tired of being treated like shit by you mean little cunts and then you using your rape as an excuse. Fuck you. I think we should give the guy who raped you a medal. I hope you fucking drown in rape semen, you ugly, mean-spirited cow. Actually, I don’t believe you were ever raped! What man would be tasteless enough to stick his dick into a human cesspool like you? Nice gif of a turd going into my mouth. Is that kind of like the way that rapists dick went in your pussy? Or did he use your asshole? Or was it both? Maybe you should think about it really hard for the next few hours. Relive it as much as possible. You know? Try to recall: was it my pussy or my ass?”
“I’m going to rape you with my fist.”
“BTW, you have to admit, when I told you that I hope you drown in rape semen, you got a little wet, didn’t you? It’s okay. We’re friends now. You can share.”
“Fuck you, liar. All night you douches have tried to shit on me and tear me down. Then when I do the same it’s like, “Whoa man! That’s too far. Calm down.” No. Fuck you. Go get raped in whatever orifice you have to get fucking raped in. I am sick of your shit. I regret nothing.”
What caused this filth to flow forth from his fingetips? A male feminist (Lorrdernie) commented that they were surprised someone was against trigger warnings. Wow.
PZ has a thorough takedown already. You know, in case you needed it spelled out why threatening to rape someone is bad. But also if you wanted a little history about this Amazing Atheist character, including his latest YouTube rant which can be summarized as “feminists are castrating bitches.” He got me! The sex-positivity thing is all an elaborate ruse in order to draw men into our clutches for the sole purpose of castration. Or something along those lines. I haven’t read the Grand Feminazi Takeover Manifesto recently.
And I swear, if someone trots out a “Yes, but…” or tries to say that this is worse so what Penn did was fine… Well, I won’t threaten you like the Amazing Atheist did, but I will be cranky.
Update: The Amazing Atheist has responded to PZ, somehow trying to defend his behavior. What a toad.
I’ve never been a fan of the Amazing Atheist. I always thought he was a tool, and his voice makes my ears feel like their bleeding. I’m not surprised at anything he said. Horrified, but not surprised.
Ha ha. “they’re” not “their.” Speed-typing fail.
Holy shit!
I think the disastrous part of the skeptical community is the group of people who see atheism as part of their nihilism: they have cultivated a belief that nobody can tell them anything about anything, and their instant feelings are all that’s worth anything to them. Religion – or metareligions like New Age stuff or whatever – was just one more force that had to be discarded because it offered some conception of self-editing. So they’re part of the group, but they lack the humanism that gives secualrism it’s moral heft.
Unbelievable what comes out of people’s mouths, isn’t it ?~! I have to pause for a minute and wonder what has happened in his life to make him think and talk that way. Wish I could fix it for him but that’s beyond my capabilities to repair.
Then another minute to be grateful for the men in my life who respect their and other men’s women beyond anything their mom may have taught them. I have brothers, blood and chosen, who would never even think of words like his, let alone speak.
There is a positive side to this continuing saga of misogynistic bullshit.
I get to be a part of the skeptic/atheist community when these idiots are being called out and weeded out for their indefensible behavior, rather than a decade ago when they could get away with it and people had to put up with it.
The “woe is me” youtube video was really quite pitiful.
I have previously viewed one youtube video of this “Amazing Atheist” dude criticizing the faddy “Why I hate religion but love Jesus” video that came out not long ago, and couldn’t get through half of it because every other word was f this, m-f that…it all seemed rather adolescent, so I figured the he was just some atheist guy with an chip on his shoulder paired with an under-developed vocabulary.
But when you make vicious, graphic rape threats (or any rape threats, for that matter), beyond being reprehensible, it seems like a matter for law enforcement.
It’d be more accurate to call him The Amazing Asshole in light of his recent actions. Indeed, I thought of him as being a bit of a cunt/dick* generally, but this is more than I expected.
*Note that these pejorative terms are essentially equivalent; they both refer to genitals and only insult the person targeted. Either both these terms are sexist, or neither are.
Having read through the thread, I think he offered enough “Yes, but…” bullshit to go around. What a horrific human being.
This guy has never been on my list. I’ve only ever heard of him twice, and both times have been complaints about ridiculous, offensive bullshit he was spouting.
This sort of crap is why I avoid reddit like the cess-pool that it is.
This reminds me of the reasons for which I dislike most humans. They make me sick with their dishonesty, unthoughtfulness, disrespect, sexism, racism, bias, and stupidity.
It is no news to me that atheism – understood as the absence of a belief – does not necessarily make you a morally better person. I am happy that I have nothing positive in common with such people.
And now excuse me, for I have to go to my toilet and vomit the life out of me.
“couldn’t get through half of it because every other word was f this, m-f that…it all seemed rather adolescent, so I figured the he was just some atheist guy with an chip on his shoulder paired with an under-developed vocabulary.”
So, Penn Jillette basically.
Oh, shut up. Use the word asshole and stop being a jerk.
U3
This guy has always been an ass. The reddit thing is disgusting, but not particularly surprising to me.
I especially like the way he obviously knows SOMETHING about rape victims and triggering. It’s one thing mouthing off, but it’s entire new level of class trying to make someone relive possibly the worst day of their life whilst doing so.
Love it. Classy fellow.
What a sack of crap. How do people think this is ok?
(oh wait. privilege. And rape culture. ew.)
I never paid any attention to this guy in the first place, and now I never will. We need to keep calling these assholes out, I’m getting REEEAAALLLY tired of this shit being a blight on what should be an otherwise positive and liberating movement.
Not a fan of context or history, huh?
My hypothesis is that for people like this, they’re primarily assholes who enjoy being assholes. They found out at an early age that the easiest target if you wanted attention for being an asshole was religion, and so attached themselves to secularism. It doesn’t stem out of any examination of the world.
“…for the sole purpose of castration. ”
The pruning shears prominent in your back pocket are the give-away.
I first encountered the not-so-amazing atheist a couple of years ago when I was seeking out interesting atheist/science/secularism videos on YouTube. My first impression of him was that he was a self-aggrandizing, arrogant asshole that wasn’t worth the time it took to ignore him. I’ve not seen anything since then to change my opinion. This rant of his just lowers my already subterrenean opinion of him.
I don’t think even converting to Jesus would make him a better human. I saw, I think one youtube of his, mistakenly downloaded, and that was enough to take him off my to view list. (I would suggest that we just consider him to be male and not a man, there is a difference.)
just goes to show you, a person can be intelligent but at the same time absolutely NO emotional intelligence. I’d even argue that’s what society generates more efficiently than any other resource.
You watch one or two early atheism videos from this guy and you think “hey, TJ gives good rant, cool.” You watch more than one or two videos, and you think “hmmmm… does he have any other volume besides ’11’?” Then you realize that he’s sort of really angry about pretty much everything that he sees and everyone who doesn’t kiss his ass. Then you get to his anti-feminism videos and you realize that “angry” doesn’t really describe it and you start to worry about being in the same room with him in real life. Then you see how popular he is, and you start to worry about society as a whole.
Oddly enough, I never heard of this douche before this incident. Nice to know I haven’t been missing anything.
Keep on filling up that Bingo card!
sorry for any spelling or grammar errors but I’m very unwell….
When Sharron Osborne laughed hysterically about a guy getting his dick cut off and the female audience laughed along with her, I was disgusted and angry. I started to notice more and more what women could get away with saying in the media while men would be attacked by feminists for saying things that were not half as bad.
This is when I found Amazing Atheist’s channel and his video regarding the Sharron Osbourne incident. It was what I needed to hear and made me feel better that there where someone expressing these injustices.
But for every insightful witty thing he says, he says something really dumb. For example in that Sharron Osborne video he refers to the women as cunts and that just stops his video from being taken as seriously because that makes HIM the sexist.
I do think he seems like a decent guy (usually), and he does strongly believe in equality for everyone as he states in his failure of feminism video.
I don’t understand what the fuck he was talking like that on reddit for. That’s really crazy. He has appolgized for one of his comments but still, however he meant it, he should know how they would be taken.
I can get why he is angry with feminism, a lot of the lingo like “mansplained” makes by blood boil,but he should do more research and learn about the different types of feminism and different types of feminist. And they aren’t all hyporcitical sexists. There are some really great feminists out there, like sickmouth (on youtube) who can see things from both sides.
He does have talent for getting his point across, but he’s waisting it. I know his style and character is to be offensive, which usually find very funny, but obviously he crossed a line on reddit and i’ve lost a lot respect for him.
Saying that someone is “angry with feminism” is like saying that you’re “pissed off at the civil rights movement” or “mad at cancer awareness”… either you’re using language in a clumsy way or you’re a terrible person. I’m hoping that what you meant to say was something different, like “I can see why certain feminists make him angry.”
Because you can be angry with a woman, or angry at a self-described feminist, without being a sexist or misogynist… and people like TJ need to learn that you can disagree without being so goddamned angry all the time. Some women are assholes, some feminists are creeps. It has nothing to do with being a woman or a feminist, and everything to do with them as a person. And, again, you can disagree with someone without thinking that they are a terrible person. But if the disagreement is over whether it is acceptable or not to make violent and threatening rape comments to people, and you’re on the pro-rape side, you are acting like a terrible person and you can’t shift the blame onto your critics.
That’s funny, because the only people I saw complaining about the Sharon Osbourne thing were feminists. Also, for some reason you think The View is feminist programming?
“I do think he seems like a decent guy (usually), and he does strongly believe in equality for everyone as he states in his failure of feminism video.”
No “decent guy” or person who “strongly believe(s) in equality for everyone” would ever make a statement like:
“Fuck you. I think we should give the guy who raped you a medal. I hope you fucking drown in rape semen, you ugly, mean-spirited cow.”.
Frankly, I don’t even think anyone who defends such a person can be considered decent.
“Saying that someone is “angry with feminism” is like saying that you’re “pissed off at the civil rights movement” or “mad at cancer awareness”… either you’re using language in a clumsy way or you’re a terrible person.”
I’m not great at expressing myself in the written word. But I did say this….
“but he should do more research and learn about the different types of feminism and different types of feminist.”
“Also, for some reason you think The View is feminist programming?”
Nope, I didn’t say anything about The View being a feminist program.
“Frankly, I don’t even think anyone who defends such a person can be considered decent.”
Thanks!
I haven’t defended what he has said on reddit. I said it was crazy. And how i’ve lost respect for him.
After years of cultivating an atmosphere of vulgar hateful rhetoric on the web, Jen wonders why liberal atheists are so vulgar and hateful.
??
It’s a damn shame. He has charisma, he can be humorous (not this time of course), and he’s intelligent. What a way to waste all that, channelling it into bigotry and hatred.
Saying that someone is “angry with feminism” is like saying that you’re “pissed off at the civil rights movement” or “mad at cancer awareness”… either you’re using language in a clumsy way or you’re a terrible person.
Not to be completely contrary (though I know I can come across as such), but I think that the analogy you’re using is slightly flawed.
The Civil Rights Movement is usually considered to be the push for racial equality that came to a head in the 50s and 60s with school integration, the ending of segregation, and the passage of legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the use of 14th Amendment of the US Constitution to prove that institutional racism was unconstitutional.
Feminism isn’t a single idea or static movement or ideology, and it can actually be broken down by periods of common (though perhaps not unifying) threads of ideology. (Wikipedia breaks down First-, Second-, and Third-wave feminism pretty well.) To use the term now, though, there is a certain connotation of what ‘feminism’ means: it’s the stereotype that spawned such terms as ‘man-hating’ and ‘feminazi.’ And a lot of prominent voices that are identified as feminists now are actually radically sexist towards men–they’re not interested in equal rights, they’re interested in special rights. What feminism IS and what it SHOULD be often seem quite disparate. And as DoS pointed out, there are different types of feminism and different types of feminists.
(And just for context, I’m female and a rape victim myself. I’d never heard of this disgusting person until a friend of mine mentioned that a lot of people on Reddit were trying to spread the word that he is scum.)
Jen,
Your blog and Skepchick were the reason I finally admitted to myself that I’m an atheist. I enjoy reading what you and other ladies in the community have to say and the majority of Freethoughts Blogs as well.
When I see this kind of mindless hate and scorn for people come from someone who calls themselves an Atheist, it makes me not want to call myself that anymore and that really upsets me because I thought I’d finally found a place where I could be who I am and enjoy discussing things with like minded people.
I hope that anyone who defends TJ comes to their senses. But I most assuredly will never endorse someone like that. TJ and anyone who agrees with him has no place in any part of society.
Thank you for continuing to do what you do best. And perhaps someday, because of people like you, I won’t have to hide that I’m an Atheist from my family and friends in order to keep custody of my child.
I wish there were a feature on FTB where whenever someone typed the same dumbfuck argument that’s already been debunked on here 10,000 times, the blog would refuse to post it.
I can’t help it.
In cases like these, I always play Devil’s Advocate. I try to put the person’s words in my mouth, taste them, and try to come up with some rationale for why they might not be as bad as they seem.
…and right now, I’m drawing a blank.
I can picture myself being so mad at someone that I tell them to go fuck themselves. I can even picture myself saying “fuck off and die”.
I *CANNOT* picture myself using the word “cunt” as a derogatory term. Or for that matter, in ANY context that doesn’t involve being mid-sex-act.
And threatening (or wishing) rape on someone? (Repeatedly, for paragraphs on end? Not that once isn’t bad enough)… I can’t do it. I cannot picture a frame of reference that makes that OK.
The only times I hear Reddit mentioned, it’s always about people being vile. Does Reddit serve any function APART from being the sewer of the Internet?
Dude, context fail.
That exact problem is what persons of any belief faces when they realise that what most of the world sees is the loudest of the fringe element (whether it’s the insane Christian right-wingers, the Islamic terrorists, or the ‘immoral’ atheists). But if you are a compassionate, intelligent, and respectful person, regardless of beliefs, people will see THAT about you rather than automatically labelling you as ‘one of THOSE people.’ The world needs more rational, respectful persons regardless of beliefs. The best of luck to you!
You’re so right, Jen’s 30 or so years of blogging have certainly coarsened the culture. I mean, before she started blogging everyone online was always totally 100% polite to each other!
I discovered his youtube stuff when I was first starting to take atheism seriously (about two years ago) and couldn’t stand him. He just rants endlessly about the most asinine shit. Given his popularity though, I kinda thought I might be missing something… guess not. Life Lesson #354: Not all atheists and awesome, some are just asshats without god(s) to blame for it.
Historical usage isn’t important; for instance, the word ‘resent’ has several obsolete uses, one of which contradicts current usage. You do have a point about context, though (for instance, ‘bitch’ is similar, but it’s only sexist when you use it to refer to women in general).
No, the analogy is perfect. It’s just that conflations of feminism with misandry are ascribed more cultural weight than conflations of the Civil Rights Movement with hating all White people (these arguments ARE made by asshole bigots, but fewer people buy into them). (Militant) Lesbian Separatist Feminism wasn’t any bigger in Second-Wave Feminism than the segment of the Black Power movement that really did want to murder all of the White people was in the Civil Rights Movement, it’s just that one came to be the wildly inaccurate stereotype for an equal rights movement, while the other did not. You’re just describing how institutionalized misogyny has managed discursive challenges to male superiority.
You’re a better person than me… :(
On the other hand, the sort of extreme level of anger I’d have to feel to go there is the same sort that would lead me to resort to physical violence. Frankly, I’d probably feel better about myself as a human being to just punch someone repeatedly than to wish rape on them. And the sort of situation we’re talking about is the white-hot rage of something happening in real life that’s truly horrible, not some Internet disagreement.
I wished death on my aunt when I found out that she chose not to call for an ambulance or take my grandmother to the hospital as she suffered stroke after stroke for several days. When someone says something to TJ on the Internet that’s WORSE than what my aunt did, maybe someone else can play Devil’s Advocate for him when he threatens sexual violence.
Un-fucking-believable. I rarely witness this sort of virulent misogyny outside of cases like these, perhaps because I pounce all over them if they happen in front of me. On the one hand I know it’s out there, and actually pretty prevalent, but I’m still floored when I encounter this kind of overt sexism (or racism, homophobia, etc.).
Good question about Reddit: I’ve never actually had someone make the case to me that it has any redeeming value. Anyone?
And, not surprisingly, the irony of a vulgar hateful liberal atheist blogger complaining about a vulgar hateful liberal atheist blogger is completely lost on the Hag crowd.
Some very dim bulbs at this vanity.
You’re right, I should really stop threatening to viciously rape people all the time… Oh wait, I’ve never done that.
The sad thing is, I used to subscribe to him many years ago when I was really into the atheist youtube community. And then, one day he did a hateful rant about how religious people who believe in evolution are still worthless scum and I unsubscribed and never looked back.
I will cede your point about the ideas of feminism/misandry having more cultural weight than the CRM/anti-white racism (partly because it’s much more a current affair, and also because women aren’t a numerical minority), but I don’t agree that the (visible and vocal) feminist movement is being conflated with misandry. I think that many of the prominent feminists, the loudest voices (not those doing the most work, just those that are getting the attention) are, by and large, misandrists. I think that many misandrists cloak themselves in the label ‘feminist’ to have recourse when they’re called out on it, because more often than not (and this is anecdotal, but not exclusive to my experience), whenever these vocal and often vitriolic proponents of the so-called feminist agenda are challenged, they simply shut down their critics by calling them misogynistic, anti-feminist (or anti-women) and the patriarchy. I think that we’re now facing the same problem from the opposite side in a lot of ways (looking at how women are overwhelmingly awarded custody in divorce cases, and how much money/resources are given to fund shelters, centres, legal protections, etc. for female victims of rape/DV, but none for men, even though statistics are now showing that men are victims at nearly the same rate as women, and that women are perpetrators of violence at nearly the same rate as men).
Oh, so you’re just a hate-filled liar using this as an excuse to spread your hate-filled lies. That clears things right up, doesn’t it?
I stay for r/Seattle,. r/2XChromosomes, and baby animal photos.
That was @Jeri, not @Jen… nested comments are confusing!
I don’t know how much control you have on your dashboard, but I’m always in favor of more comment-deletions and IP-bans when it’s a case of obvious trolling.
I saw one or two videos by the “Amazing Atheist” years ago, when I was first starting to get involved in the atheist community, and I found him unpleasant even back then, so paid him little attention.
That said… holy shit. I have no words to describe what a horrible person he’s proven himself to be. Arsehole does not cut it. This kind of behaviour is absolutely indefensible.
But you said teabagger. Teabagger!
I like how you tried to slip that in here. I like even more how people called you on it.
No doubt that “Amazing” wins the “Most Vulgar Atheist” award.
But am I shocked? No.
Vulgar, hateful rhetoric has become a hallmark of New Atheist activism. Shoot, you just referred to Rick Santorum as “Mr. Frothy Mixture” (had to look that one up. pretty gross. And vulgar. And hateful.)
Either way it’s hate. Stupid, destructive, hateful hate.
It’s called freethought, dipshit.
What a shitlord.
Challenge accepted.
Reddit is a good place to pick up interesting new stories quickly. As an atheist, a video game player, and a political junkie, checking Reddit regularly is a great source to pick up food for thought, and you don’t have to read any comments to find it.
Reddit also has an atheist community that is often pretty nice as long as the subject of feminism is not involved. I did an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit in my capacity as a host of The Atheist Experience, and there were some very good and thoughtful questions. /r/atheism also does pretty good secular charity fundraising, like when they raised $50,000 for Doctors Without Borders.
The Reddit community was also instrumental in leading the charge against SOPA and PIPA. You know that time when Wikipedia blacked out? The idea for that started at Reddit.
I’ve liked some of his videos. An over the top, vulgar rant can be entertaining and useful sometimes.
But this is so over the top he’s burrowing through Andromeda about now. What the hell is wrong with that kid?
Thank you so much for that kind comment :)
Oh yeah, calling Santorum “Mr. Frothy Mixture” is the same as threatening to viciously rape someone. Right.
I’ve never had a use for the amazing atheist. or reddit but then to be honest I’ve never watched any of his vids. just seen screen shots of his vids and he looked like a major asshole and that was enough for me.
To be more precise, Reddit is pretty good as long as you avoid things the comments for articles that hit the default front page. Unfortunately, as of right now that does include atheist links.
It’s a weak person who excuses her own hateful rhetoric by pointing out that others are worse.
While you are correct that male=/=man, I hope you don’t mean to infer that because he’s not a decent person, he loses his superior status and is decreed a woman or some other gender.
Also, can we vote this guy off the planet? honestly…no words for this.
Historical usage is entirely relevant when women are still being marginalized and still having words like cunt used to oppress them.
Excuse me?
There’s nothing particularly special about being “a man” vs. being “a male.” Lots of men are murderers, rapists, and other types of filth. The more you other them as “not men,” the harder you make it to fight against patriarchy.
“Emotional intelligence” is a concept I’m pretty skeptical of. One can have a high “EQ” and still be a shitbag. Meanwhile, those of us who are introverted or have ASDs but are not shitbags get stigmatized.
*cough* bullshit *cough*
Do you have a DVD out, Jeri? Because you’re absolutely hilarious. Kind of like watching my ex-housemate’s particularly stupid cat run into the wall, then wonder why it hurt.
I would bring into evidence in defence of that statement things like the fact that overwhelming shelters for persons fleeing abusive partners are exclusively for women (battered WOMEN’S shelters), there is legislation worded to protect ONLY women (VAWA), the federal definition for rape only in the last 2 months was changed to include male victims (though if I recall correctly, it may still not apply to female rapists of male victims because of the context surrounding the word ‘penetration’), women demand more pay for equal work rather than equal pay for equal work (many workplaces offer paid maternity leave but not paid paternity leave), etc.
I TOLD YOU PEOPLE WHAT SHIT YOUTUBE ATHEISTS ARE. Recently even, when rebecca watson pissed off /r/mensrights and mentioned /r/shitredditsays. I guess that was probably in the almostdiamonds blog, or tokenskeptic, I think both.
If anybody here had watched TAA videos before, or been aware of him in any comprehensive sense, this is not surprising. He regularly misrepresents feminism. On his blog, he argued that rape shield laws are ways of finding men guilty until proven innocent. No really, he argued that being barred from saying “but she’s a slut, your honor!” is the same as finding the man guilty until proven innocent. This is how he thinks.
youtuber felidatheg33k aka felidarants has exposed these blog posts several times before.
Ooh, tone-trolling. Never seen that before.
Even some of the regulars here appear to be rape apologists:
Let xe who is without sin…….
No, you dipshit. Jen’s rhetoric is fine. You’re the only one who has asserted it was problematic and you did so by comparing it to rape threats. Since that comparison is facially stupid, you’re left with nothing.
Agreeable troll is agreeable.
Why must you use anti-masturbation slurs? Jerking off is perfectly natural and shouldn’t be turned into an insult.
No need to be shy. Start throwing out names and quotes.
Hey Jen, I’m the one that TJ attacked in that thread. I just wanted to say that I really appreciate you calling this shithead out. I did a pretty good job not letting him get to me, but I’ve had 3 different people message me telling me that they were triggered by his remarks. I’m glad that there has been such a near universal condemnation of his actions in the Atheist blogosphere. I also wanted to say that, although I’m not a regular reader, I’ve really enjoyed all of your articles that I’ve been linked to.
Thanks very much for your fine work in helping to point out his bigotry.
Don’t flatter yourself, chump.
I love how you focus on the “liberal” aspect of this case, as if conservatives are completely morally righteous on this.
Play me another tune, I’ve heard this one. You gonna go after socialists next?
BTW- I’m pretty sure it wasn’t specifically these mythical neo-atheists who re-defined your hero’s last name. I’m sure if we both looked, we’d find some pretty snarky and snickery religious folks in there as well.
Hey there…
Let me just apologize for what you’ve been through, and express my sincere sympathy. TJ’s an idiot, and nothing you could have possibly done would ever justify the abuse that was heaped on you.
Jeri–Do you know anything about the rebranding of Santorum’s name? Why it was done? Because you look really fucking ignorant right now.
*steals “shitlord”*
Way to mischaracterize what made that headline actually funny. *Hint:* It wasn’t the rape.
Thanks for being so awesome and levelheaded in that thread. I don’t think I couldn’t have reacted as well as you did. Much love and so sorry for this shithead fucking with you that way. *hugs if you want them*
Thank you. He’s been doing this shit for years and I’m glad you managed to push it into the limelight. I’m not holding my breath for a rush to unsub, though. His viewers seem to love this shit.
It’s a funny coincidence seeing the Amazing Atheist’s misogyny being featured on FTB at this time. I only started paying attention to his videos a few weeks ago and came across his take on Elevator-Gate a few days ago. So just as I was beginning to think “this guy’s a bit of a dick”, this whole Reddit story comes out.
Please read the dictionary definition of “unambiguous”:
Just to split hairs: A man is an adult human male, and there’s nothing adult about this tantrum (or too much human, in other than the strict species sense), but he isn’t a child either, so that’d leave male.
Really? Watching a retarded cat is “hilarious” to you?
Jen really gets the cream of the crop here at BlagHag.
You know, it’s not the belief in a god that makes some people define everybody who disagrees with them as worthless scum and generally brainless.
Forgot the “of”
Right there with you
LOL
Sweetie! Did you actually READ that Onion article? It made a mockery of rape apologia.
I would say that it must suck to be so dumb, but then Dunning & Kruger tell us that you probably don’t realize how stupid you are.
not all youtube atheists are bad if you haven’t seen any of his vids i recommend http://www.youtube.com/user/AronRa#p/u he’s awesome.
Funnily enough, “reprehensible toad” was exactly the word I used to describe him about six months ago (iirc he was one of the first asshats who started tubthumping about elevatorgate) and resolved never to give him any hits ever again.
I feel all vindicated and stuff.
I’ve been semi-reliably informed that the origin of the word “jerk” stems from bizarre, upsetting behavior from people with disorders that had motor spasms as a symptom. Not that that helps.
…by shitbags.
Even if you’re giving out your “thoughts” for free, you’re still overcharging. And guilty of false advertising, if you’re advertising them as thoughts.
Mansplaining is a real phenomenon. There ARE people who show up, don’t bother to familiarize themselves with the topic, and jump in with something that translates to “oh, how cute, the little women think they know something. See, here’s how thing ACTUALLY are…”, and the people who do it on gender issues are generally either male or cite their association with men as a token of authority.
The term is limited because 1) at least some communities use it inappopriately to silence people who dispute the group consensus, even by directly and straightforwardly addressing the merits of the actual arguments, and 2) analogous phenomena manifest around many other privileges than male privilege (neurotypical privilege, for example, is horrible about this sort of thing). Hence I favor “condesplaining” as a generalized term, since the core trait is a condescending pretense of authoritative explanation.
Citation fucking needed.
WTF, TJ?
Urgh, but he’s lucid when he calms the hell down. Stupid inconsistent character confusing the shit out of me.
Huh. I just thought jerking motion upsets orderly conduct in general.
In this specific case, no speculation is needed. He does enjoy being an asshole. This has been established and admitted.
A high “EQ” would facilitate being a shitbag, no?
Incompetence isn’t good for achieving any purpose. Villains aren’t mirror-people for whom hunger is food and stupidity spells success.
The alternate channel is better, but yeah.
I shall favour “condesplaining”.
Nested comments are just an additional thing, though. If it really starts to irk you at some point, it’s viable to just carry on normally with @s.
He’s good at making rants. Even low-key rants at times. But he sure doesn’t always “use his superpowers for good”.
Evid3nce is mostly atheist-themed.
When you add general rational/secular channels, the good ones add up nicely.
Concentratedwater OM? Why are you using the Order of the Molly signifier from Pharyngula? There no listing of Concentratedwater having been awarded an OM. http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/mollies/
No, it’s called pissing on somebody else’s rug. You’re at Jen’s place at her curtesy.
So I’ll try to tread lightly because I don’t want my comments to fall into a CUNTO box and I am somewhat taking the bait of “this is so much worse than what Penn did…” ;-) Apologies for the length but please don’t respond to my comment if you do not read it.
I am concerned about deciding when to scratch people off the list (though not actually sure what this implies) because of what may be an emotional lapse in judgement. There certainly should be a line where if you say something beyond this you will be blackballed by the community and will require a long history of repentance before given a chance to return to good graces.
The “Amazing Atheist” character crossed well beyond that line and looks to have a history of misogyny from the descriptions although I am not familiar with him and am only going off second hand accounts here. So the question is, has Penn crossed the line? I’m not so sure about that. He certainly was intentionally offensive and used a sexist slur more than once in a facebook post. Does he have a history of misogynistic remarks? This isn’t a rhetorical question, I really don’t know the answer. I imagine comedians that perform on the edge of what society considers acceptable comedy can pretty frequently go too far.
We are all susceptible to hypocrisy, temporary idiocy, and failure to use good judgement. The fact that we can reason at all with our lump of gray goop is fantastic. So I try to give the benefit of the doubt when passing judgement on others for their lapses into idiocy. Also I think even when we decide a person is unworthy of our attention, they may still be capable of doing good work so individual acts which benefit society should still be acknowledged regardless of the source (though you may suspect the motive). Amazing Atheist clearly went beyond the forgiveable, even for being in a state of fury, but I don’t think Penn Jillette did.
I find it fairly difficult to express my perspective on, the Unbeliever commenter came closest to my sentiment I think.
Thursdayfae,
Victims needing domestic violence shelters are overwhelmingly female, victims of rape are overwhelmingly female (and those who aren’t are still usually raped by men) and providers of childcare, especially to very young infants, are overwhelmingly female.
Also not in evidence is the idea that feminists are against equal paternity/maternity leave policies. (In Sweden, I’m told they have a gender-neutral and generous parental leave policy). Or against shelters for male victims of domestic violence and concern for male rape victims.
Indeed, one of the few places I’ve seen male-on-male prison rape addressed in a context other than with glee at the prospect of some deserving criminal getting his has been by self-identified feminists. (And a few evangelical Christian types, but I fear they’re, as per usual, more disturbed about male-on-male part than the rape part.)
The fact that resources and attention get focused on the vast majority in all those cases seems pretty understandable, even though it does screw over some individual people. As a guy, it seems like more a function of numbers than misandry, to me.
I think everyone’s got their own criteria for a list.
Personally, I don’t put Penn into the category of people I just outright avoid and ignore. I’ve got a list, but I wouldn’t put him on it. As a guy, it’s probably easier for me to ignore misogyny and focus on the freaks he parades onto Bullshit and rips in to. “You baby cracking motherfucker” in the chiropractor episode is so perfect a moment of righteous rage, so I’ll always be glad Penn gave me that.
My list requires more offenses that I’ve heard of Penn committing. If Penn’s in danger of getting on it, it’s more for the fact that I don’t really respect him as a thoughtful person. So I enjoy his rants, most times, but I don’t enjoy them as much as I could if he seemed like he gave the other side a fair chance. It works fine when you’ve got some chiropractor preying on infants or a homeopath, because there is no other side worth giving the chance to. But long ago, I got a little bored with the show because it’s nothing but ranting and naked ladies, which are both fine things in their place, but don’t necessarily make a good show.
Her what??
Hate begets more hate.
If you don’t like hate then you shouldn’t say hateful things.
Why do you suppose Jen spews such hateful, vulgar things?
Are you suggesting that certain kinds of hateful rhetoric are justified?
I’m sorry, who are you again?
Yeah. Kinda like how shooting a guy who’s breaking into your house and trying to rip your daughter’s pants off isn’t the same as shooting a guy who won’t give you his wallet.
…you DO understand the difference, right? Just checking.
I think there’s a grain of truth with that: I find it very believable that battered men would be contemptuously turned away from a domestic violence shelter, given how I was treated by the officer who responded when I called the police after my ex-wife assaulted me.
Blaming this sort of thing on “feminists” is fucking moronic though. I guess the reasoning is “feminists think women should be treated better. A woman is being/would be treated better than me by these specific people in an identical situation. Therefore feminism is responsible!” This is like reasoning that Lady Gaga is “kid-friendly” because “babies say ga-ga!” It’s so stupid it transcends “mere” fallacious equivocation.
Calling Santorum “Mr Frothy Mixture” = shooting a rapist.
Got it.
You guys are real geniuses.
Hahahahahaha.
Oh, Jeri. Thanks for the continued amusement.
You do understand how analogies work, right?
If I say ‘cub’ is to ‘bear’ as ‘kid’ is to ‘goat’, am I saying that bears=goats? You can’t honestly be that thick can you?
Methinks you may have had some problems with the Verbal SAT section :)
Hey, as has been mentioned by rbray18 AronRa is a pretty awesome youtube atheist.
I was raped twice and I loved it! Don’t know what you’re all fucking moaning about.
And that’s why it’s ok to use vulgar hateful rhetoric?
No, that’s why you’re a complete moron for claiming that Azyroth made the claim that “Calling Santorum “Mr Frothy Mixture” = shooting a rapist.”
“Hate begets more hate. If you don’t like hate then you shouldn’t say hateful things.”
Why is this true? Rick Santorum seeks to suppress or eliminate my right to marry who I love, and has compared people like me to people who engage in incest, polygamy, and bestiality. This is the true ‘hateful hate.’
Are you claiming that Rick Santorum’s hate for individuals like myself will magically evaporate if we all stop using his name as a sexual neologism? Because that’s what you’re implying when you say “If you don’t like hate then you shouldn’t say hateful things.”
Well good luck with that whole hate thing.
echidna: you write really well for a five-year-old. However, some things we talk about here may not be suitable for children, so perhaps you should go and play in your room for a while, eh?
yeah the only problem is since venomfangx’s leaving most have been sporadic at best in content. well the ones i watch at any rate and life happens but there’s also nonstampcollector who’s awesome and thepeach and zomgitschriss .
Good luck yourself!
By the way, I may call Santorum Mr. Frothy Mix, but I’d never in a million years use hateful language like ‘retarded’ as you did in your above comment. Congratulations on your hypocrisy.
How do you decide which of your two faces will open its mouth when you go to speak?
Adam G: “Are you claiming that Rick Santorum’s hate for individuals like myself will magically evaporate if we all stop using his name as a sexual neologism?”
Nothing’s that simple. But what happens when you try to out-hate the other side is polarization. What happens is that you reinforce every stereotype about yourself. What happens is that you come off as a vulgar, hate-filled, vile, disgusting, perverted, self-righteous a-hole. What happens is that Rick Santorum feels more justified than ever in fighting against your agenda because you’ve just proven yourself to be exactly what he said you were all along.
So go for it. Hate away! It will get you absolutely nowhere.
So, by your logic, if we continue using Santorum as a neologism, Frothy Rick will fight harder for his own agenda, likely using hateful language like he has in the past. But, according to your logic, his own hateful language will just inspire us to fight even harder to further our own agenda! So I guess everybody’s a winner.
Polarization can be a good thing when one side is clearly on the wrong side of public opinion. I’d say the debates around gay rights have been pretty polarizing to date. What has this gotten us? Well, us “vulgar, hate-filled, vile, disgusting, perverted, self-righteous a-holes” can now marry legally in Washington state (among others), and a majority of Americans now support the right for same sex couples to marry. So I guess we have ‘gotten somewhere.’ We succeed because we persevere in spite of the polarizing hate launched at us from bigots like Santorum.
Mr. Bananaman is still on one of my “lists” as it were, providing manually ignored content, even though I’m fairly convinced that he is corporeal evil.
Then be even filthier, raunchier, and more disgusting. That way we’ll have a gay president in no time.
Really, I can’t believe the stupid that goes on here at the blag hag.
You took the words out of my mouth. There is some value to what he says, but it’s leavened with such foulness that I have to wonder how people can watch him.
“I can picture myself being so mad at someone that I tell them to go fuck themselves. I can even picture myself saying “fuck off and die”.
I *CANNOT* picture myself using the word “cunt” as a derogatory term.”
Sorry, I didn’t want to contribute to this topic, but I just fucking laughed at this.
You’re okay with “pretending” to wish death on someone, but God beware you use the female equivalent of “dick” on a female douchebag user!
It’s not even like the “N-word”, you know, where there’s no real reason to invent an extra insult for a man from a different race, except for the race.
Insults are often gender-specific, and you can’t call a woman a “dick” except in an ironic way.
I mean, I rather call them a “dick” or “douche”, because I like irony in my insults, and because, yes, saying “cunt” or “bitch” does that that brown, misogynistic connotation even to my mind that I’m not particularly comfortable with.
BUT THAT’S JUST AN INNER FEELING. These insults can be used in a sexist way, but they’re just standard insults.
I also don’t wish death on anyone (aside from actual villains), I consider that 100 times worse.
And yes, people should stop making fucking excuses like “hey, each of us lashes out like that some time, but we aren’t famous” – hey, I DON’T.
I strongly assume that Terroja was “shock-humoring” rather than actually trying to induce traumas, but I don’t go around posting bullshit like that either way.
Haven’t delved into this drama myself, but from what little I can tell from being a casual viewer of TAA, I don’t think he was actually being misogynistic/cruel – I think he just convinced himself that the person he talked to was an “impostor”, and just started employing this “shock humor” out of spite.
Or maybe this is his real persona, and the nicer TAA, and the even nicer DW, are all acts.
I’ve got no clue, but it might take a huge while to get one.
I have epilepsy.
That said, I do not take “jerk” to mean anything other than a boor, regardless of the origin of the word. Dictionary.com gives this as the origin however:
1540–50; 1935–40 for def. 4; perhaps dialectal variant of yerk to draw stitches tight (shoemaker’s term), thus making the shoe ready to wear, Old English gearcian to prepare, make ready
And I concluded long ago (after viewing a couple of AA’s videos on YouTube) that he is a jerk.
Wow!
The guy was already a personal bete noir, I enjoy YouTube and find it quite useful, but I find it quite annoying that I keep receiving promos from YouTubers like this.
I guess through some sort of program used by YouTube it has been divined that his channel is one I would be interested in although how this could be further from the truth is difficult to say.
I find his odious ranting pronouncements so vile I have blocked his channel yet I still find his videos suggested to me.
This was before I have read your blog highlighting this astonishing diatribe, and despite feeling that there was no way to have less respect for this harness I find myself in the wrong on this matter.
Cool Blog though, thanks
Yes, “their and other men’s” seems dim-wittedly unnecessary in this context. Women aren’t property (any more) are they?
The Amazing Atheist is both atheist and anti-feminist.
Good for him.
And btw, he has a point.
Being a rape victim does not afford you moral superiority, nor does it make you an expert on whatever you claim, not does it make your opinion any more valid than that of other people.
The unAmazing Atheist has always been a retarded jackfuck (apologies to any nonjackfucked retards).
Plus anytime I see his name, I mistake him for The Thinking Atheist for a second.
Fuck that moron.
Don’t do that.
Considering that the comments have been removed and I can’t see the original content, I’m not going to make any judgments here.
I watch TAA a lot. I have absolutely no reason to believe that he would go off on ANYONE like that without reason. I notice that you didn’t include anything this rape victim said to him. I find that suspicious.
I remember a little while ago, a friend of mine (Guy1) got into a LONG argument with a friend-of-a-friend (Guy2). Guy1 did everything he could to show context and examples of what both parties had said. Guy2 repeatedly claimed victimhood and said his friends should just believe him and not look into the backstory. Turns out Guy2 had started everything and repeatedly drew Guy1 back into the fray when he wanted to leave. And the full context showed it plain as day.
If TAA was really the bad guy here, you wouldn’t need to show only a few horrible-sounding out of context soundbites. You could show the whole conversation and let people come to their own conclusion.