Mike Booth: @somegreybloke I’ve been informed that wasps sting while flies do not. If you need advice on animals or rape, @Thunderf00t should be your go-to-guy.
PZ Myers: @pzmyers I’m quite enjoying watching @somegreybloke school @Thunderf00t
Ophelia Benson: @OpheliaBenson @pzmyers @somegreybloke @Thunderf00t QUITE enjoying? It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in awhile
thunderf00t: @thunderf00t @OpheliaBenson OPHIE! There’s gotta be a joke in there somewhere about u not looking in the mirror often. 😀
cethis says
Wait a minute, I thought Phil was supposed to be the height of rationalism! The pinnacle of reasoned debate. The champion of the intellectuals. The defender of the enlightenment…
MrFancyPants says
If I didn’t know better, I’d assume that Mason was 10 years old.
Stephanie Zvan says
I assume he has no argument to make. Nor do I know better.
jagwired says
Ah that’s sweet. I think Thunderfoot just called you beautiful. Unless I’m not understanding his joke.
Jason Dick says
So, apparently he intended to claim that you’re ugly, but accidentally made an implied “joke” about you being incredibly beautiful?
I am in awe.
kitty says
Sorry, I just…I have to…
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
Okay, now that that’s out of my system…what the actual fuck is wrong with Thunderfoot? Did I just not notice this when he was spending way too much time ‘debating’ creationists? Has he actually changed?
Oh well, I guess it doesn’t really matter.
Aran says
Classy. To think I used to look up to this guy back when he talked about creationism. -_-
Stacy says
That’s hilarious. A man argues rings around Mason, and the best he can do in response is insult a woman’s looks. And he does that incompetently.
Way to go, Phil.
throwaway, gut-punched says
You might want to invest in some shin guards to preempt the non-consensual impromptu leg-gnawing. TFoot just can’t control himself and wouldn’t want to spoil whatever mood he’s attempting to cultivate.
Al Dente says
I used to think that, in D&D terms, Thunderthud had high intelligence but low wisdom. Now I see I was overestimating his intelligence.
thinksanddrinks says
#10 Al Dente: Your first sentence is one that I have encountered among DnDers. It is apt. The second sentence, I think, encapsulates everything about that (insert scatological orifice reference).
angharad says
You know this post and your last one appear in the FTB Recent sidebar right after one another, so it now kinda reads “Phil Mason responds in the usual way, which from my seat is just so bloody stupid”….
Aratina Cage says
Typical sexist harassment: no logic, all about cutting you down as a woman for daring to have a laugh at his failed reasoning and denialism.
Francisco Bacopa says
I used to love the Thunderf00t channel four years ago. But what the fuck happened? I met Phil at the Texas Freethought Convention two years ago, when Hitchens made his last public appearance before he died at MD Anderson. We were all one big happy family back then. I unsubscribed long ago
WTF Phil? You made VenomfangX post that shit. You were the coolest.
But WTF? You gotta post the lamest rape apologist BS like you’re smart for doing so? You didn’t even come up with your own intelligent angle on it? You always used to be able to do that.
And questionable consent? I’ve been in situations like that and pretty much figured that she might be raped and that I might be a rapist. I’ve been in a few situations like that and while things might have worked out OK, I viewed the outcomes as very negative for both of us.
And if she’s incoherently drunk, you’ve got a medical situation requiring first aid. Prop her up with her head to the side and let her sleep it off if you can’ t sent her home with someone you trust. And if you think fucking someone that for gone counts, yeah it counts. It counts as rape
Hankstar [Antipodean Antagony Aunt] says
Good lord, but Phil is an arsebiscuit.
No wonder the MRAs love him – he makes fuck-all sense and the little sense he does make is reprehensible, selfish, narcissistic, entitled, smugnorant, patriarchal and patronising.
Also, he fought a lion once by pretending to be a wasp. True story.
fwtbc says
I can’t see the iamge.
Could you please add img alt text, or put the text from the image into the post?
Thanks!
thinksanddrinks says
#13. Exactly. In my college days I conveyed several young ladies back to their residences. I got a lot of crap for doing so, from larger, more handsome, more appreciable males. I got crap from the associates of the young ladies, until they heard from the caretakers of the young ladies (and the young ladies themselves, most of whom appreciated it; several did not acknowledge the effort). It can be difficult to extract people from bars when they are drunk and defenseless, while battling drunk jerks (frat boys) when outnumbered. Decent guys do it anyway.
latsot says
The only possible answer is “I know you are, what am I?”
And then throw his shoes in the girl’s toilets.
Giliell, professional cynic -Ilk- says
Well, he clearly states in video that the best thing about unraped women is that they are more beautiful. So, if you’re not conventionally attractive as a woman, TF has no use for you. But that’s not misogyny, that’s helpful advice, why are you getting mad at him?
kesara says
I don´t know why I´m still subscribed to thunderf00t´s channel – masochism I guess. He made some really great and informative videos in the past, the guy is actually talented. But his obsessive hatred of everything related to FTB and feminism turns him into a blathering moron on Youtube and into a vicious scumbag on Twitter.
moleatthecounter says
Like others here, I too used to watch his YouTube videos with relish. He was one of the first decent commenters on religion/creationism that I ever discovered. Now he seems to be an embarrassment. Perhaps he believed too much of his own positive press and felt somewhat untouchable.
Ho and indeed hum… There are far better creationism dismantlers out there now by the way. For example, Potholer54, Phillhellenes… But I’m sure you are all aware of these people. And as far as I’m aware, they aren’t misogynists…
Aneres says
I realize this isn’t a comment on the content but…
When I first discovered atheism on youtube I naturally came across tfoot’s creationism series. Before I knew who was what of anything, I tried to watch but could not stand to listen to him because he sounded like he was constantly nursing a giant oyster in the back of his throat and I just wanna scream at the screen “HOCK THAT LOOGIE ALREADY!”
Kevin, 友好火猫 (Friendly Fire Cat) says
@fwtbc:
Mike Booth: @somegreybloke
I’ve been informed that wasps sting while flies do not. If you need advice on animals or rape, @Thunderf00t should be your go-to-guy.
PZ Myers: @pzmyers
I’m quite enjoying watching @somegreybloke school @Thunderf00t
Ophelia Benson: @OpheliaBenson
@pzmyers @somegreybloke @Thunderf00t QUITE enjoying? It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in awhile
thunderf00t: @thunderf00t
@OpheliaBenson OPHIE! There’s gotta be a joke in there somewhere about u not looking in the mirror often. 😀
So basically, Phil Mason is a rape apologist AND bad at insults.
A Hermit says
MIke Booth is brilliant.
Thunderfart, on the other hand, has apparently converted to Islam as he has now embraced the whole “women should dress modestly ’cause men lose control and become rapists when they see a bare ankle” argument…
arthur says
Online atheism is regressing to infancy at an alarming rate.
Narcissistic wounding seems to be rampant.
If it isn’t the awful Phil Mason, it’s the schoolyard meltdowns of Sara Mayhew. Meanwhile that daft atheistplus twitter block bot has apparently gone HAL, broadcasting denunciations of twitter accounts of people who have nothing to do with atheism or online harassment, and making snarky comments to boot. Then there’s PZ, who when confronted with this latest Phil Mason travesty, chose to mock him as “Fubberf00t”, “Dundert00t”, and so on.
The online atheist community is pathetic.
A Hermit says
Just noticed Taslima Nasreen had the same reaction I did…http://freethoughtblogs.com/taslima/2013/10/03/video-and-tweets-of-a-rapeapologist-misogynist-atheist/
A Hermit says
Yes, PZ could do much better. I’m partial to “Thunderfart” or Thunderfool” myself.
hyperdeath says
Can we drop the “Thunderfart” thing. Leave the petulant name-calling to the slimepitters.
Ophelia Benson says
Thanks Kevin @20 – I’ll add that to the post.
Sorry for not doing it when I posted, I was rushing. My bad.
SallyStrange says
Speak for yourself. MY online atheist community is chock full of fabulous!
And I don’t get the problem with mocking Thunderwhatsit with silly names. “Thunderf00t” (with the zeros, not the Os, of course!) is patently ridiculous. I think Thomas Jefferson’s advice–that the best response to the ridiculous is ridicule–applies here.
A Hermit says
I’m this case I see it more as an accurate description of the sound of the man’s videos than petulant name calling…
Anthony K says
Why?
R Johnston says
Al Dente @10:
In D&D related terms Phil Mason is all threes and his only attack is a special attack of “be an annoying asshole” that causes each opponent in range to make a will saving throw or launch her most powerful flame attack at Phil, ignoring other opponents for a round and frying Phil to a crisp in the process. He is a variant on Noober:
Spooky Tran says
I am also confused. It sounds like Thunderfoot paid Ophelia a compliment.
Goodbye Enemy Janine says
You are confused.
Marcus Ranum says
Why?
It might be mistaken for an argument? You know, like some slyme-pitters mistake photoshopping someone’s head onto a goat’s body for an argument? Calling someone “thunderfart” actually takes less skill and creativity than the photoshop approach, and it’s about as effective.
kaboobie says
Whatever value TF might have once had as a mocker of creationism (which I never saw, because my first and last exposure to him was his brief stint on FTB), he is now actively making the world a worse place with his rape apologist bullshit. What a pathetic excuse for a human being.
Blondin says
We have good quality locks on our house and we always lock up when we go out. Unfortunately someone we trusted (a former baby-sitter) knew just how to get in and where all the goodies were. I guess it was our own fault for looking like victims to the daughter of an old family friend.
What if he’s got a pointed stick?
theoreticalgrrrl says
Women aren’t houses you forgot to lock or wallets you left on a park bench. Please stop comparing us with objects and things that need locks. Rape is NOT LIKE theft. It’s a violent, very personal crime against an actual human being. These analogies are nauseating.
Blondin says
theoreticalgrrrl, point taken. I wasn’t trying to extend the analogy, I thought I was highlighting its inadequacy and in-applicability.
theoreticalgrrrl says
Blondin, I understand. I think well-intention people try to highlight its inadequacy and end up giving those analogies more attention than they’re worth. That and trying to prove a particular woman wasn’t “asking for it.” If I never read or hear that phrase again I’ll die a happy person. I hate that we have to use the language of pro-rapists and their enablers at all. Some things shouldn’t even be dignified with a response or rebuttal.
Aratina Cage says
Arthur #25,
You can contact me about it on Twitter: @aratina
leni says
But Thunderfart has nice synergy with naval gassing :/
If I’ve learned anything from the pit, it’s the importance of aesthetics.
By the way hyperdeath can I have a photo of you and a home address? No reason., just curious!
SallyStrange says
theoreticalgrrrl said it. Women are not objects or property. If you want to analogize rape to some other crime, analogize it to torture. That’s what rape is: mental and physical torture.
Or, you could analogize it to lynching, a violent hate crime targeted against a subset of the population to resist the advancement of the laws granting them opportunity by making it too dangerous for them to use public spaces without fear. Rape, like lynching, is an extralegal method of intimidation to enforce the old, unequal social order even after the law no longer does. So is sexual harassment.
Rape is a human rights violation.
It’s not theft. It’s not mugging. It’s not burglary. Why? Because women aren’t objects.
This is really hard for a lot of people to understand.
Think about that. There’s widespread cultural resistance to the idea that women are dissimilar to objects, money, property, possessions. When you compare rape to theft, that is the subtext to your communication. Is that really what you want to communicate?
Tony! The Immorally Inferior Queer Shoop! says
Awww, that is so precious, arthur @25 thinks PZ is under some obligation to respond to ThunderingF00l in some ‘proper’ fashion (which evidently does not include mockery). Newsflash: PZ has written several detailed critiques of Blunderf00t in the past. You can search for them easily.
hjhornbeck says
hyperdeath @28:
In most circumstances, I’d agree with you. Given the existence of a strong rebuttal to TF, and the laughably horrible arguments he’s making… I’ll let the name calling slide this time. Besides, who wants to live a life of online perfection, in the fear that some haters will broadcast your mistakes in perpetuity?
Doing the wrong thing every once in a while is a subtle but satisfying way of thumbing your nose at the Slyme.
Bobo2 says
Looks to me as if it was a compliment. I don’t understand your complaint.
Ophelia Benson says
It wasn’t a compliment. For one thing, the “Ophie” in all caps underlines that.
Bobo2 says
I don’t see how the form of address (even if it’s one you don’t particularly care for) has any bearing on the remainder of the message.
You said something was the most beautiful thing you had seen in a while. His response was that therefore you must not look in the mirror that often (because if you had then you’d have seen yourself, and the response would be less beautiful than your own visage).
The “you must not look in the mirror very often” (or similar) response is a not uncommon reply to comments such as the one you made. It’s a joke, and it’s closer to a compliment than a put-down.
You’re letting your insecurity colour the content of an otherwise inoffensive message.
SallyStrange says
Fuck you, Bobo, you malevolent, gaslighting asshole.
latsot says
Sally is right, Bobo. It’s perfectly, effortlessly clear that TF wasn’t paying Ophelia a compliment. He didn’t even have the courage to make it an outright, straightforward insult. It looks like he weasely wanted some ‘plausible’ deniability or – something I’ve seen a lot recently – made an ambiguous insult to generate a response so he could ridicule Ophelia for ‘overreacting’.
I expect a response from TF doing just that. Ophelia is hardly overreacting. Her response is clearly measured and appropriate.
Sally said this best with “fuck you”.
Raging Bee says
hyperdeath: I’m sticking with “Thunderfart.” It’s a perfectly appropriate nickname for this idiot, since all of his “thunder” is nothing but stale brown air, pulled entirely from the wrong end of his digestive tract.