Comments

  2. Jackie, all dressed in black says

    He’s on mine, Akira. I don’t care how mildly amusing it is to poke fun at religious texts, I’m not giving him a view.

  7. Samuel Vimes says

    Dalton seems to be a persona non grata here. Forgive my relative newbie ignorance, but why?

  10. congaboy says

    Wasn’t Dalton’s sin defending a person he considered his friend; which is a trait that I admire. I stand up for my friends, too. Dalton doesn’t have to believe the accusations that were made against Shermer and no one on this blog has to like Dalton. Sheremer is denying the accusations against him and Dalton believes Shermer, which is reasonable unless and until the evidence becomes such that Dalton’s support for Shermer becomes untenable. If, at some time in the future, Shermer actually admits to the accusations, it would still be reasonable for Dalton to support his friend in coming clean and making the changes in his life to ensure that he never commits the offending acts again.

    I think that there is a disturbing amount of atheists who really don’t understand equality and other human rights. But, that doesn’t mean that their views on atheism are wrong or should be ignored. I agreed with most of Christopher Hitchens’ views on religion, but disagreed with almost all of his views on war. Human beings are complex and can actually hold good and bad views on different things. I am able to separate things out. I did not like the video Dalton made in defense of Shermer; I found it gratuitous, patronizing, and not at all on point; but that doesn’t mean that I no longer find his other videos interesting and/or entertaining. I don’t agree with a lot of what Bill Mahr says, but I still find some of his stuff entertaining.

  11. nich says

    congaboy@10

    I quote from the video [hat tip to John Morales via Jason Thibeault for the transcription]:

    [Person with wine bottle approaches wineglass-holding Mr. Deity: “would you like a refill?” “Um, no. Thank you.”]

    Now. See how easy that was?

    Here’s another little tip: if you find it hard to say no to the refill, you can just leave the glass full! Don’t take another sip!

    That’s my friendly little piece of advice to those of you without a backbone, or any sense of personal responsibility!

    Emphasis mine. That is not just somebody voicing support for a friend. That is good ol’ fashioned victim blaming.

  13. Jackie, all dressed in black says

    congaboy,
    Victim blaming on behalf of a rapist just because you are chummy with him, is not an admirable trait. Sorry you think it is.

  14. says

    If a friend of mine did what Dalton did, I would no longer be friends with him. I have ended long-time friendships on less. I have integrity, and I have standards. If my friends are being willfully ignorant and harmful, then, no, I would no longer be friends with them, and like Jackie, I do not find that an admirable trait.

    I grew up with a girl who was very racist. She said some shitty stuff and straight-up refused to even talk about it, let alone consider why some of what she had to say was just plain awful and offensive. We have known each other since we were toddlers. I haven’t spoken to her in three years. Fuck that shit. I surround myself with good people, not with victim-blaming, sexist assholes.

  16. Eric O says

    It’s hard to enjoy the work of a comedian when you think they’re an asshole. I’m going to pass on that video as well.

  17. says

    I was going to ask if Mr Deity had changed his mind about Mr Bicycle Shorts, but reading the comments, apparently not.

  19. Sunday Afternoon says

    I think PZ is playing with us here – testing the waters to see if people are paying attention. I think full points for everyone except congaboy at the moment.

  21. Sunday Afternoon says

    Seeing how people react to a Mr. Deity video given the Mr. Bicycle Shorts lawsuit threat (see link in #6)?

  25. Sunday Afternoon says

    @chigau: I don’t have cats yet I have seen more than one cat playing with recently caught mice. This was in a rural setting where mice were in plentiful supply in the surrounding fields.

  26. davidchapman says

    1
    Akira MacKenzie

    I thought Dalton was on the shit list.

    2
    Jackie, all dressed in black

    He’s on mine, Akira. I don’t care how mildly amusing it is to poke fun at religious texts, I’m not giving him a view.

    3
    chigau (違う)

    No thanks.

    4
    Ibis3, Let’s burn some bridges

    Likewise.

    5
    maudell

    Thirded.

    I watched Mr.Dalton’s effort, (above). I’m glad to be able to tell you folks, you certainly didn’t miss much.

  27. Nick Gotts says

    But, but, but…

    We’re all a hive mind here, aren’t we? When PZ says “Jump!” we respond “How high?” Don’t we???

  28. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    We’re all a hive mind here, aren’t we? When PZ says “Jump!” we respond “How high?” Don’t we???

    Get this old tired body off the ground???? *snicker*

  30. doubtthat says

    I think the video is the result of an out-of-court settlement: Shermer drops his threats, in exchange PZ will start advertising the Diety videos.

  31. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    I think the video is the result of an out-of-court settlement: Shermer drops his threats, in exchange PZ will start advertising the Diety videos.

    Not being quite so cynical, PZ might have found the video amusing and wanted to share.

  33. congaboy says

    Everybody

    I re watched the video. It’s bad. You are right, he goes beyond merely supporting a friend. I had forgotten how bad that video was the first time I had watched. I sit corrected. Thank you for pointing that out.

  34. Al Dente says

    doubtthat @32

    Just joking around.

    Just a suggestion: Next time you joke around, try to make the joke funny.

  35. anteprepro says

    So, since I had never seen a Mr. Deity, I decided to take the plunge, while knowing that the person behind is a smug, cheerful little victim-blamer.

    And what do I get?

    Stale, unoriginal humor with a “we are such witty satire!” ending. And a joke about how Everyone Agrees that Fred Phelps Should Be Smited at the end of the real sketch. I feel like I didn’t miss much by not watching this.

  36. Sunday Afternoon says

    @anteprepro: Way back when PZ popped up in one, “Mr. Deity and the Science Advisor.”

    PZ used it as his intro when giving a talk I attended at UC Santa Cruz.

  37. doubtthat says

    @Al Dente

    This thread was missing its sanctimony. Your contribution has been essential.

    In context, it stands up. Maybe you could share some hilarious alternatives.

  38. Al Dente says

    doubtthat @37

    Okay, so you don’t want your jokes to be funny. Hey, if that’s your choice then you can live with it. I only ask that you don’t inflict your unfunny jokes on us. You ignore us and we’ll ignore you. Win for us and maybe for you.

  39. doubtthat says

    I just need some way of determining whether I should be taking humor advice from you. Obviously your posts all have a jovial spirit and whimsical flair, but can we fairly call that “funny?”

    As performance pieces – Randomly Hostile Internet Commenter – they succeed, but the irony is pretty dry for my taste. I mean, most folks not accustomed to the style around here would probably just roll their eyes and paste the “Tough Guy” Neil DeGrasse Tyson meme, but where most see useless rancor, I see a chance to learn.

  40. says

    I actually thought doubtthat’s comment was pretty amusing, and clearly not to be taken seriously. I wonder if Al Dante is feeling a bit sensitive about the fact that they missed the obvious snark?

    And, maybe humor is quite subjective and therefore what Al Dante doesn’t find funny, someone else still may…

    Yes, I am often easily amused. No shame.

  42. woozy says

    So, since I had never seen a Mr. Deity, I decided to take the plunge, while knowing that the person behind is a smug, cheerful little victim-blamer.

    And what do I get?

    Stale, unoriginal humor with a “we are such witty satire!”

    What what you have gotten without knowing Dalton was a smug, cheerful little victim-blamer.

  43. says

    I haven’t watched any Dalton’s videos since the grenade thread, but not because of his victim-blaming flic. That I could understand as a normal human failure in reasoning, if he dropped it subsequently and kept (embarassed) silence on the issue. I could understand unwillingness to publicly retract/correct.

    But he made two or three videos in a row in direct corroboration with Mr. Bicycle Shorts right after that and that I could not watch. That made it clear his victim blaming stance was not a bug, but a feature.

  44. carlie says

    I watched it, but wasn’t too impressed with the “and a real guy really died” as the punchline you’re supposed to laugh at.

  45. OverlappingMagisteria says

    anteprepro @ 35:
    “So, since I had never seen a Mr. Deity, I decided to take the plunge…”

    This episode wasn’t anything special. If you want to get a more fair sense of Mr. Deity, check out some of the older stuff. The early stuff was much better. He was already getting stale (possibly running out of ideas) when the infamous “Defend-Shermer-with-horrible-arguments” episode came out. So at least unsubscribing wasn’t much of a loss at that point.

    For some Classic Mr. Deity check out:
    Mr. Deity and the Science Advisor (guest staring PZ)
    Mr. Deity and the Really Big Favor
    Mr. Deity and the Identity Crisis

    And I’ll admit that “Mr. Deity and the Skeptic” (guest staring Shermer) was one that I enjoyed, but its lost some of its luster recently…

  47. says

    For some Classic Mr. Deity check out:

    But why? Ew. Gross. No. There’s no need to check out Mr. Deity, classic or otherwise. The internet is vast … plenty of other things to watch without having to resort to watching victim blaming asshats.

  49. David Marjanović says

    defending a person he considered his friend; which is a trait that I admire

    I don’t. My friend, right or wrong, my friend is evil.

    And yes, for the record, this means that I want my friends to call me out when I do wrong. I most certainly don’t want them to be afraid of me; no good could possibly come out of that.

    Everyone Agrees that Fred Phelps Should Be Smited

    Smitten. Smite, smote, smitten.

  50. arienai 【あり得ない】 says

    I don’t know, I’ll give the guy credit for backpedaling:

    A woman who is raped is never ever never never ever never ever … ever never to blame for being raped. I don’t care if she is dressed in a burqa, bikini, provocatively, or has not one ounce of clothing on her. I don’t care if she has taken drugs, is drunk out of her mind, or is in any other way either self or otherwise incapacitated. Rape is rape and a woman is never to blame.

    But it’s pretty clear that he doesn’t believe the accusations against Shermer, or he probably wouldn’t still be appearing in videos with him.