Richard Dawkins was supposed to be one of their speakers this year. But then he approvingly tweeted a certain video, and…this happened.
The Northeast Conference on Science & Skepticism has withdrawn its invitation to Richard Dawkins to participate at NECSS 2016. We have taken this action in response to Dr. Dawkins’ approving re-tweet of a highly offensive video.
We believe strongly in freedom of speech and freedom to express unpopular, and even offensive, views. However, unnecessarily divisive, counterproductive, and even hateful speech runs contrary to our mission and the environment we wish to foster at NECSS. The sentiments expressed in the video do not represent the values of NECSS or its sponsoring organizations.
We will issue a full refund to any NECSS attendee who wishes to cancel their registration due to this announcement.
I thought I was the guy who was supposed to be blacklisted!
I’m afraid Dawkins in entering some sort of early onset dementia? A friend of mine is an engineering professor and used to be really sharp but now is getting very inappropriate due to dementia. He is constantly getting sexist and making very odd, and public, passes at women including my wife.
maybe not early onset, how old is he?
Please, let’s not speculate about mental illness.
Or, as others have put it, it may well be Dawkins has become unfettered in his retirement; i.e. what we now see is what was always there.
(Nice so see an actual consequence, though)
You’re right, i guess I’m just hoping for some reason. The more I find out about people I thought were knowledgeable or funny (damn you Clarkson!) the worse it gets.
I applaud the organizers of NECSS for their integrity. May more conferences dis-invite him for similar activities.
@5
While I understand your sentiment, consider that you are, in fact, hoping that an elderly person becomes affected by dementia. Even if he’s a racist, sexist asshat, that’s kind of fucked.
I’ve got to say that, while I entirely appreciate this gesture from the NECSS peoples, I find it weird that they’re not referencing the massive and ongoing skeptic fail that relates to it.
I agree that divisive, counterproductive and hateful speech are contrary to the mission and environment that skeptical groups should be fostering, but the descent into credulity is surely a big deal as well? I mean, sure, we all probably have our pet things that we’re less than completely skeptical about 24/7 – I know I do, and thankfully knowing helps protect against it – but it seems to be getting so egregious with him.
I dunno… I don’t want to sound like I’m dissatisfied with this, or that I’m offended, outraged, or driven to opprobriations or other alliterative and increasingly tenuous synonyms by it. I just think it’s a little strange is all.
Even after Dawkins deleted his tweet that targeted a woman (and other feminists), he refused to apologize and kept insulting her. He speculated that she might be mentally ill and/or lying about the rape and death threats she has received. He also claimed that she “deserved ridicule.” Thank goodness the Center for Inquiry will stand by Dawkins no matter what he says or who he targets.
@Vivec
I would rather that than he’s just an asshole.
@Vivec #7: I don’t think #1 was /wishing/ or hoping any mental illness on RD.
@Athywren #8: I agree entirely.
RD is justly attacked for being an asshole, but he gets away too easily for being very irrational while selling himself as champion of reason.
No seriously, I hope nothing but good health for him. I guess I am just sick of finding out about all these people I have respected and looked up to are in fact not decent people.
Ha!
I can guess how this is going to go down. He’s going to call this political correctness run amok, the usual suspects will cry about free speech and the NECSS will be accused of being part of the SJW/Atheism+ cabal. It’ll be frustrating to see the backlash, but on the plus side, this helps to delegitimize the toxic attitudes that are running rampant in the atheist movement.
I hope that doing the right thing doesn’t hurt the NECSS. Apparently, they are good people.
Yeah, or maybe that’s what he was always like, but now he just has more free time.
I’m glad about this, I’ve always liked the Novellas, and in the past few years I’ve caught up and listened to all the SGU eps (used to drive a lot). Since I didn’t go week-to-week, and having known what they didn’t know in the first several years of it, it was interesting to see how the conversation turned from marriage proposals to Rebecca (which they all took jokingly at first, but it seems creepy now), and Skepchick doing the calendar, to more awareness about all this stuff.
They all showed a lot of disappointment about Dawkins’ elevatorgate behavior and comments when it happened, and Steve and the others always had Rebecca’s back when the ridiculous complaints came it (such as people complaining Rebecca had too many women in the “This Day in Skepticism” segment, Steve actually did the stats and it was actually a rather small minority, and he sometimes brings this example when people complain about feminist issues).
I’m sure Rebecca had a lot to do with the awareness-raising in the show and of the men co-hosts, you could even see it happening in the show when sometimes she would call out something someone said.
Steve also talks proudly how his daughters are “budding feminists” and bringing up some issues that they (his daughters) are angry about, like school dress codes.
Why it took this long to publicly rebuke Dawkins for all his behavior though, it’s the disappointing part, and it’s going to be interesting how this affects their relationship with the CFI and TAM.
I hope that this is the beginning of RD starting to face consequences for being an asshole.
@11
Well, I wasn’t referring to 1, I assumed the “You’re right, i guess I’m just hoping for some reason” part was in reference to the dementia comment. If that was a goof on my part, my apologies.
My bad grammar, I meant that there might be some reason other than he is just a terrible person. Sounds like I was hoping for mental illness when I thought I was being sarcastic.
Nope, to speculate would be to cast aspersions upon people that do suffer from mental illness. I guess he’s just a dick.
Can I still keep my copy of The Selfish Gene?
Now he’s trying to apologize and not apologize for sharing the video at the same time. It would be funny if it weren’t so disgusting. He’s trying to appeal to the slyme-types and the conference organizers.
His weakness is his prestige.
I know someone elsewhere on the web who was at Oxford in the 90s while RD was still there, and he said that he actually heard a lot of rumors about Dawkins back then, but he dismissed them at the time since they were coming mostly from students and friends of his ex-wife.
Based on that, I’d say that the real difference is that previously Dawkins was making statements with PR people who could run interference to keep some of his more odious views away from the public, while now he can simply tweet any nasty little thought the second it occurs.
I still remember how startled I was while reading The God Delusion for the first time when I got to the section where he outright dismissed the harm caused to children who were raped by Catholic priests.
A better explanation for the actions, words and attitudes of Dawkins, Harris and Condell and some others is ego. They became famous because of their words, and soon assumed they could say anything and people would still listen to them. They miss the point that their fame came only when they sounded reasonable and people agreed with them. They now think they’re unquestionable.
You’ve got principles, you’ve got guts, NECSS.
And now I will get my basket and harvest all the delicious frozen peaches (best served with male tears)
Good for the NECSS, well done. I hope they manage to withstand the storm.
Giliell, #22
That could be quite a hit. Lacrimated frozen peach cobbler with spiced bro tears ice cream.
Can we see if Heston Blumenthal is interested?
Dawkins’ take on it, via his twitter account:
De-platformed for tweeting an irreverant joke song?” note: this was long after Lindy West told him exactly what the problem with that video was, twice, once in direct response to him tweeting at her so he had to have seen it
Maybe I’m naive. Can’t believe anyone’s as nasty as her. Nor that anyone would threaten her. Nor that anyone’d lie about being threatened.
Is this really true? How depressing. But it would explain a lot. in response to “People lie about being threatened all the time these days. Some have gotten caught threatening themselves.”
And again, just 5 hours ago, this:
“I tweeted a joke song satirising the holy alliance between rad Islam and rad feminism. The Thought Police were not amused”
“A joke song satirising the alliance between radical Islamism and radical feminism. The Islamist character was rather endearing.”
Here’s the real kicker:
I deleted it because I was momentarily persuaded, probably wrongly, that a human life (however vile) might be threatened.
And just a half hour ago:
Jesus de-platformed. Heaven Gazette reports that the Second Coming is disinvited. Jesus had not a single woman or minority among 12 Apostles
He is absolutely purposely refusing to believe that there is any chance that the woman was actually threatened, or that anyone could possibly object to his approval of that video on anything but trumped-up feminism gone amok. He is completely resistant to reason.
Again, this is all AFTER he was twice pointed at the We Hunted The Mammoth summaries of all of the hate-filled threats this woman has received, things that include comments like “Since there is nothing you can do about it, how do you feel that we are mere minutes from your address?” followed by complete doxxing. If he refuses to believe not only screengrabs, but links to actual accounts and articles harassing her, then what, pray tell, would he actually believe is real?
Urrrrgh. He keeps turning up in my feed.
An alliance that exists NOWHERE outside of the minds of the extremist right sectors of the internet and the painfully credulous. Fucking hell, Dawkins. There is no possible sympathetic interpretation of this. He’s either thrown skepticism out completely, or he’s actually acting maliciously.
He sure loves to use the term radical feminist.
I wonder how he feels when a Christian calls him a militant atheist.
Yep, bitches be lying. But dudebros on Twitter, they’re trustworthy.
Dawkins is completely removed from reality now. It’s time to retire him.
Seriously though, is this deliberate maliciousness on his part, or is this just the result of his simply believing everything anyone tells him if it supports his prejudices? I know confirmation bias is a big and powerful thing, but I’m having the hardest time believing that he can be so damned credulous.
…I think I’m reacting in the same way that he is. Bad Athywren. :\
Radical feminists are actually a thing. Just not the thing Dawkins et al think it is…
+++
It’s always just “bitches be lying”. Probably all of us. None of us have ever been threatened, have had people wish for us to be brutally raped and murdered, or have actually experienced violence.
The thing is, Dawkins must be getting a lot of hatemail and violent threats himself. He should have evidence of those things happening right in his inbox…
On the other hand, this is a man who believes a 14 year old kid planned his own arrest, police mistreatment and subsequent invitation to the White House by cobbling a clock together.
Since the fucker is rich, do you think he’d be interested in buying a bridge?
Silly me, forgot that word was on the list…
—
Radical feminists are actually a thing. Just not the thing Dawkins et al think it is…
+++
It’s always just “b*tches be lying”. Probably all of us. None of us have ever been threatened, have had people wish for us to be brutally raped and murdered, or have actually experienced violence.
The thing is, Dawkins must be getting a lot of hatemail and violent threats himself. He should have evidence of those things happening right in his inbox…
On the other hand, this is a man who believes a 14 year old kid planned his own arrest, police mistreatment and subsequent invitation to the White House by cobbling a clock together.
Since the fucker is rich, do you think he’d be interested in buying a bridge?
I notice he never seems skeptical when it’s men claiming that feminists are harassing them. Then he’s not saying “maybe I’m naive but I just can’t believe people at that way”. Only when it’s women claiming men harass them. Funny, that.
@32 Giliell
But the threats and hatemail are likely coming mostly from religious people and that’s to be expected because stupid, however rational, educated atheists couldn’t possibly be doing that kind of thing so the people claiming to be harassed by atheists must be lying. Sure, the people being harassed are also atheists in this situation, but they are women so fuck’ em. I mean, no, no, not because they are women, because totes a legit feminist…it’s becauuuuuse……ah yes, because they are radicals, yes. They are radicals so they must be lying, and if they are not, they deserve it anyway.
Maybe the Reason Rally organizers will also disinvite him. I’m going whether he’s speaking or not, because I refuse to let him spoil an otherwise awesome day. There may be others who’ll avoid an otherwise awesome experience just because he’s there. Let’s hope the right thing is done for that event also.
He is now comparing himself to Jesus, and his speaking to the second coming. I just can’t even parse the egomania without much more coffee. I would like to note that RD seems to have forgotten all about Mary Magdalene. She is described as the best and most beloved of the disciples, who Jesus often kissed upon the mouth. * This particular sacred book did not make the official babble , IIRC it is part of the apocrypha.
Someone should tell Dawkins that if you’re saying things that could be passed off as Donald Trump’s latest babbling, it’s not a good thing.
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahaha… oh wait, seriously?
No. Their lips are permanently attached to Dawkins’ ass. He could shoot a small child in the street and they’d still invite him to everything.
I just read some of the replies to NECSS’s tweets on the subject.
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh…
Carlie @33:
Very simple, really. On the one hand, there are “people”. On the other hand, there are “women”. Entirely different sets. Disjoint, even.
https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/692682511906914304
“Interesting. I’d like to hear detail on that. Thanks” in response to someone providing a link to an A Voice For Men link ripping apart David Futrelle. Richard Dawkins is going full MRA.
I picture Dawkins in a bubble that keeps shrinking as the air slowly leaks out, but hypoxia means that he can’t understand why.
That brony porn shitposter that Richard Dawkins retweeted, the one who told the great and mighty Dawkins that feminists make up threats all the time, is a real piece of work. He is given to retweeting items like this. (If you follow that link and do not get the meaning, that is a photo of Hitler as a baby.)
While I cannot expect Dawkins to check the timelines of everyone he retweets, this does show the caliber of people who are attracted to him and actively defend him. I wish he would open his eyes just once, behold the people who defend him and weeps. He has been reduced to being a Milo like figure. And he only has himself to blame.
You have to think he’s at least slightly aware of the dimming of his star, given that he all but bought CFI in order to keep them Dawkfriendly*.
* On that note, I saw Michael De Dora tweet something mildly critical of Dawkins this morning. Would Dawkins be petty enough to fire someone doing such amazing work for mild criticism? The popcorn keeps on poppin’.
Holy shit, Lindy West did a bang-up job on Twitter. She held no punches. It makes me wonder why he’s not reacting to her like he did to Ms. (“Don’t speak to me of her”) Watson?
I kan haz troll funz:
https://twitter.com/changerofbits/status/692782128237408256
“Maybe I’m naive…” Tweets Dawkins.
No, Richard, the word you wanted was disingenuous. I don’t believe you are naive.
Interesting. I remember a Richard Dawkins who used to read hostile and threatening emails he used to get. It must have been a different biologist, atheist, Richard Dawkins then.
changerofbits #46 I have to admit … that’s hella apposite.
I am so proud of the NECSS right now. I hope they stick to their principles. I’ve never actively been involved in atheist or skeptic conferences because just at the time I thought I might like to do that, Dawkins pulled his Dear Muslima bullshit, and I found myself preemptively unwelcome, so this gives me a bit of hope. Good for them.
lotharloo #48
That’s it! Dawkins has secretly been replaced by a poorly programmed robot. It explains everything.
My theory is that God (the Christian god) is real, has possessed Dawkins, and is systematically working to ruin his reputation among all rational people as revenge for coming up with the word “meme” – according to some church dude who once made a documentary about how evolution really happens and isn’t a threat to theism, the idea of memes is terrible, because it means that the bible’s tenacity says nothing about its veracity..
(yes, that abuse of ‘theory’ was deliberate)
I know we’re going by the scholarly usage of “meme” rather than the colloquial one, but I can’t get over the idea of Yaweh possesing an elderly biologist in order to eradicate dank memery
andyo@15
Perhaps you’ve not heard but TAM is no more. Hemant Metha wrote about it last September. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/09/03/the-future-of-the-james-randi-educational-foundation/
UnknownEric the Apostate@44
Dawkins deserves all the criticism that is being and has been directed at him here and elsewhere. But please let’s get our facts straight. Please accurately inform yourself on the relationship between Richard Dawkins and CFI. Dawkins did not purchase CFI even in the loosest sense of that phrase as implied by your comment, and he does not have the power to fire Michael De Dora. You are completely misrepresenting the relationship between CFI and the Dawkins Foundation. If out of ignorance then please correct this problem.