Callie Wright interviews the guys who are putting on Mythcon. They’re terrible. Here’s the reason they justify inviting Carl Benjamin aka Sargon of Akkad to be a speaker there: he’s an entertainer. Atheist conferences need to bring in new, exciting speakers.
I’m just wondering what is entertaining about Carl Benjamin? They compare him to George Carlin and Sarah Silverman.
They also point out that attendance at atheist conferences is down, and we need to spark new interest, so they’re looking for novel voices in the entertainment industry. If they’re dredging the bottom of the barrel to find people, I don’t think that’s going to help stimulate interest.
Jesus. Benjamin is an “entertainer” now. Gosh. Let’s bring in “entertaining” Nazis to conferences, too.
Except Carlin and Silverman were/ are funny, and generally provide insightful perspectives on various topics. Carl, on the other hand, is only funny if you think laughing at the pain and misery of others for his own benefit is entertaining, and he pontificates on topics he later admits he hasn’t bothered to take the time to look into, much less understand.
Sure he’s an entertainer…for anti-feminists and other Nazi-lite assholes who love to see someone rant at those hated lefties.
Strange how every voice toted as novel from cishet blokes says literally nothing new.
@3 Siobhan
It is the same as with the whole “We have to listen to Nazis” argument all over. These groups do NOT have anything new to say. They haven’t had a novel idea in hundreds of years, just the same old arguments over and over.
@4 Turi1337
David Brooks told me that if you don’t sit still for my entire conspiracy theory presentation about the Jews then you’re the real fascist.
Isn’t Sarah Silverman atheist? Why not invite her?
Goddamn. If these numbnuts are the new future of atheism…what useless, facile thinkers. What insulting, dense assholes.
They wanted to stir up controversy to pump attendance. It has fortunately failed. 400/1400 seats sold.
Of course, they think it’s because there’s too little Carlgon, not too much. Sound causal reasoning from skeptics.
Also, these fuckers are so THIRSTY for that alt-right market. They say over and over and OVER how many followers Carlgon has (conveniently not adjusting for bots and fake accounts).
That’s why Thunderdoofus makes hundreds of videos about Anita Sarkeesian even though he doesn’t play video games. It’s why all the top skeptic/atheist YouTubers are alt-right libertarian douchebags.
That way lies folly and danger. If this movement can only build by bringing in that element, it should die.
No one can rightfully be compared to George Carlin. Do we ever miss him now.
Sure, let’s not ask ourselves why attendance is down. Let’s just bring in the kind of shrieking bigoted right-wing voices that are getting more and more associated with associated with atheism and cross our fingers that will turn things around.
I hate it when these “edgy” “comedians” compare themselves to George Carlin. He put the comedy first. They put offending people first. He challenged the statue quo. They reinforce the status quo. He went after the oppressor. They go after the oppressed. They wouldn’t be worthy to be pissed on my George Carlin if they were on fire.
Fox News is also billed as “entertainment”.
“Let’s bring in “entertaining” Nazis to conferences, too.”
A couple of numbers from Springtime for Hitler wouldn’t hurt.
While they’re at it, why don’t they get that right-wing Stick Guy to come and hit the audience over the head repeatedly? It would have the same stimulating intellectual content as the speeches.
It couldn’t be that attendance is declining due to the fact that they treat women and minorities terribly, and thus have run them all off, could it? Nope, when they’re in a hole, they just keep digging. Who was it that said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?
Logic and skepticism have nothing to do with the present leadership in atheism. It’s all about intellectual superiority, not reason, and when that is the aim of a movement, it’s easy to cross over from one target (the religious) to another (women and minorities).
At least ‘entertainer’ is more apt than ‘educator’ for Sargon. But I think ‘validator of bigots’ might be more apt still.
#6
She is likely too big a name for a small con’s budget.
I think Carlgon probably has more in common with Sarah Palin than Sarah Silverman.
15) Exactly. Even some of my friends still involved in the skeptical movement feel the need to express their superiority over the rest of the liberals. One of them even posted the hashtag “#notallwhitepeople” on her Facebook post. Some leaders need to feel superior is driving the movement in a very dark direction.