Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I am a very reluctant debater. I definitely don’t think I’m the best debater around, and I also don’t think that debates are very good at resolving differences or even necessarily clarifying ideas. I’ve put together a set of my personal debate requirements that are just as much intended to discourage casually drafting me into debates as they are to making it as productive and informative a process as possible.
But I am lackadaisical and encouraging compared to the current crop of Republican presidential candidates. Take a look at their demands.
It’s a sequel, God’s Not Dead 2 (but Professor Jeffery Radisson is).
Like the first one, the heart of this already terribad movie is a ginned-up controversy. Philosophy professors do not force students to sign pledges of belief, and there is no prohibition against citing the Bible as a literary and sociologically-relevant text. Even us noisy militant atheists don’t argue that you have no right to believe as you want.
The movie is going to be more invented oppression to fit the persecution complex of Christians. It’ll probably make a bucket of money, while getting abysmal reviews and making the rational, honest part of society puke into buckets.
Wake up. You should learn from yesterday’s elections that there’s no wave pushing your agenda along — you have to work every day to drag our country out of the ugly theocratic trends that run counter to rationality and justice.
Remember when Rupert Murdoch and 21st Century Fox bought National Geographic and we all gasped in horror and thought, “Well, there goes a distinguished brand,” and they went, “No, no, it’s all good, this infusion of cash will give us stability,” and we all gave them the suspicious side-eye and said we’ll wait and see? Remember that? I wouldn’t want you to have forgotten, since the latest news from National Geographic is all…
Employees across the National Geographic Society came into work Tuesday knowing only that they could expect “information about your employment status,” based on a vague email they had received from the organization’s president on Monday. By late morning, dozens of them had been laid off, including photo editors, an online science news writer, members of the TV channels, members of the digital NG Kids team, members of the legal team, administrative employees, and one higher-up position in graphics, multiple people who work there told me. It’s not yet clear how many layoffs there will be in total.
And they’re all biggest layoff in NatGeo’s history…
The National Geographic Society of Washington will lay off about 180 of its 2,000-member workforce in a cost-cutting move that follows the sale of its famous magazine and other assets to a company controlled by Rupert Murdoch.
The reduction, the largest in the organization’s 127-year history, appears to affect almost every department of the nonprofit organization, including the magazine, which the society has published since just after its founding in 1888. It also will affect people who work for the National Geographic Channel, the most profitable part of the organization. Several people in the channel’s fact-checking department, for example, were terminated on Tuesday, employees said.
Rupert Murdoch has a different definition of stability than I do, I guess.
Oh, and do you remember the fussy prudes who declared that my presence was going to poison the dignified reputation of NatGeo? I am amused.
No, wait, I am horrified.
Christians are adamant that they are persecuted, despite being a majority in this country and despite controlling all of politics — not only is it almost impossible to get elected to high office unless you’re Christian, but one of the most common complaints about politicians people don’t like is that they are non-Christian, as if that’s enough reason to impeach. Look at Obama, who’s always getting called a Muslim. He’s clearly not, by all that he says and does, and besides, it shouldn’t matter if he were a Muslim or a Satanist.
As a vocal and activist atheist, I’m in a peculiar position. I ought to be in a position to hammer young minds with godless propaganda, but I don’t — I’m actually very conscientious about avoiding making students think about the anti-scientific nature of religion in the classroom, because we’ve got more than enough topics to cover. Yet over and over again, I learn that Christian educators have no such compunction, and are happily engaged in indoctrinating their students, while at the same time, whining that they get no respect and are oppressed by godless scientists.
Zack Kopplin interviewed students in Louisiana. It’s all preachin’ and bible-thumpin’.
It’s the Social Evolution Forum, and it has a lot of familiar people writing about evolution. Check it out!
Well, I’m not, I’m skipping breakfast, but it is. I don’t know if watching a centipede eating a cockroach is your idea of a cheery way to wake up in the morning, but you’re about to find out.
Stefano Ronchi
Luxander, one of our awesome bloggers at FtB, is trying to raise a few dollars to start a video gaming channel (in case you don’t recall where Lux is blogging, they are a co-blogger with Zinnia Jones.) They’re requesting a pittance for what should be a unique startup.
I chipped in a bit, although to be honest, I’m just hoping Lux will remember me when they’re rolling in all that PewDiePie money.
