Would you take medical advice from a whiny rich frat boy?


Why is Tucker Carlson still on the air? He’s spreading criminal misinformation and encouraging his viewers to sic the cops on people wearing masks.

Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson thinks people wearing masks are “repulsive” and told his viewers last night that they should even call the cops when they see children wearing masks.

And knowing the yearning, empty vessels that make up the bulk of his viewing audience, you know it will happen. 911 operators will be diverted from actual emergencies so the intellectually lazy prep school boy can revel in the extent of his power.

Mind you, it’s children wearing masks in Walmart that so disgusts him. Not the oppositional defiance bunch that so proudly sports semi-automatic weapons in Walmart.

“Masks have always been incompatible with a free society. We used to know that. Masks strip people of their identity as individuals, transform people from citizens into drones. They isolate us and alienate us to shut us off from one another, they prevent intimacy and human contact. If I can’t see your face, I can’t know you.”

You want America to become another India? Because that’s how you get India.

So what went wrong? Experts cite the spread of the U.K. variant and frequent large events with unmasked crowds. State election rallies have gone ahead, and a Hindu festival drew millions of people to the Ganges River this month—leading to more than 1,000 new cases. But the emergence of a more contagious Indian strain seems to be the biggest factor. In March, a government statement warned of new variants that “confer immune escape and increased infectivity.” In fact, the Indian strain may have been circulating as early as October.

Shamika Ravi, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Foreign Policy that both the new strain and the increasing number of people leaving their homes explain the current surge. She said the high mobility rate may also indicate why more young people are getting infected in the current wave: They are the ones exposing themselves by leaving their homes for work and leisure. Mobility rates for older people have been lower during the pandemic.

This is what I dread. We’re taking a cautious approach at my university — some easing of restrictions, but I’m still going to be doing online teaching primarily next Fall — and I want this over. But it’s not over yet, and too many people are acting as if it is, which will only make it worse. As Margaret Sullivan puts it, Tucker Carlson’s latest idiocy on masks is dangerous and hypocritical even by his usual standards. It’s going to kill people. It’s going to empower more lunatics. And yet Fox News blithely encourages him.

Watch the spectacle of a petulant, gibbering liar straining to fuel the outrage that keeps him on the air, if you can stomach it.

Comments

  1. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    the obvious quip I will add regardlessly is :
    Masks robbing you of your identity is not as bad as COVID robbing you of your life.

    PSA: your immunity only protects your body, not the people around you. Masks protect them, not matter your personal immunity status.

  2. raven says

    Tucker Carlson is just a Plague Rat.
    There are many such facilitating the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
    The large majority of them are white fundie xian male GOPers.

    The GOP Red states have higher rates of Covid-19 cases and higher death rates than Blue states.
    That will only get worse as the vast majority of Covid-19 antivaxxers are…white fundie xian GOPers.

  3. raven says

    Masks strip people of their identity as individuals, transform people from citizens into drones.

    Nothing Tucker Carlson said was true.

    Masks do not strip people of their identity.
    When I wear a mask I am Raven wearing a mask.
    They can even be fashionable. The spring ones are in nice floral prints.

    I have no trouble whatsoever recognizing people I know when they are wearing their masks.
    Strangely enough, after a year, my brain automatically edits out the mask part. I’m not particularly conscious of wearing a mask or that the person I’m interacting with is wearing a mask.

  4. gorypdx says

    What about seeing the mask as a sign of respect and courtesy? I’ll never understand why conservative media didn’t trumpet mask wearing as a patriotic duty to protect fellow Americans. That seems like it would dovetail nicely with their usual messaging. A year ago in March weeks before the shutdown I was wearing a mask fashioned out of a bandana at a lumberyard and an old codger leading a young granddaughter told me I looked like a “god damn chineeese communist.” I just blew him off instead of telling him I was wearing the mask to protect him. Early sign of things to come… 😷

  5. raven says

    Tucker lying.
    “Masks have always been incompatible with a free society. We used to know that.

    Tucker is just lying here.

    Masks aren’t incompatible with a free society.
    Thanks to the pandemic, all the free societies in the world have masked up as a matter of survival.
    They are now the same old free societies with large populations interested in surviving the current Covid-19 pandemic.
    It won’t be forever or most likely much longer either.
    Going maskless in a pandemic is letting death be a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

    PS In any non-lunatic fringe media outlets, Tucker Carlson would have been fired for lying like that.
    As PZ says, “It’s going to kill people. It’s going to empower more lunatics.”

  6. christoph says

    @ slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)), # 3:
    SA: your immunity only protects your body, not the people around you. Masks protect them, not matter your ‘personal immunity status.’
    Haha, I misread that as “Personal immaturity status.”

  7. PaulBC says

    The only way I’d seek any advice from T***er Carlson is if a brick falls on my head and I suddenly decide I want to join the American Nazi Party. I am sure he’d have great tips on how to fit in. Medical advice? I’ll pass.

  8. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    re Raven@5:
    I had a similar reaction to Fucker Carlson saying masks strip us of our identity.
    Then I realized he was saying they strip us of being identified.
    It robs us of being instantly recognized by people from a distance.
    I sometimes feel similar about facially conveying agreement, or smiling a greeting, not being able to see the face obscures that form of communication. Small price for protecting people from a deadly virus.

  9. Akira MacKenzie says

    Tucker is yet another example of why freedom of speech/press/religion is a very very bad idea.

  10. PaulBC says

    We’re taking a cautious approach at my university — some easing of restrictions, but I’m still going to be doing online teaching primarily next Fall — and I want this over.

    I wish the US as a whole would take it step by step. It will be a long time (if ever) before vaccination levels are sufficient to provide herd immunity. But things are still a lot better now. The stable new-case rate in California fills me with confidence. Instead of pretending the pandemic never happened, why not keep doing the easy things? And wearing a fricking mask is WAY easy. I mean, sure, take it off to eat. Eat out with suitable precautions… or if you’re just as happy staying at home, don’t succumb to the pressure to normalize for its own sake. This approach could work well in flu seasons too.

    I am curious what it would take to reach something like assisted R0<1 assuming both vaccines and better precautions than we had pre-pandemic. Of course, so many Americans are both anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers I don’t hold out much hope for it happening.

  11. Pierce R. Butler says

    … a Hindu festival drew millions of people to the Ganges River this month—leading to more than 1,000 new cases.

    India has either an incredibly low R number or an atrociously low testing rate. Anybody wanna make a bet as to which?

  12. snarkrates says

    One wonders what went on in the old Swanson mansion to make Tuck so deathly afraid of masks. Was it just a Halloween party that went off the rails, or is Tucker suppressing a memory of seeing his father wearing a gimp mask and a ball gag.

    Oh, well, I think I now have enough material now to propose my new game show:
    “Let’s Hunt and Humiliate Tucker Carlson.”
    In this episode, Tuck is stalked by masked liberals who keep jumping out of closets or rising up from manhole covers until Tuck wets himself. Hijinks ensue.

  13. beer says

    @#3 slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem))
    PSA: your immunity only protects your body, not the people around you.

    Herd immunity much? I mean, if I’m immune, that protects people around me in some way, does it not?

  14. stuffin says

    Expecting civil intelligence from Tucker Carlson? Stop now!

    Masks work. Where has the flu been this year, mostly sidelined because many of us are wearing masks. Wonder how many more covid positives and deaths there would be if we stopped wearing masks?

  15. robro says

    Pierce R. Butler — I know what some colleagues in India say: the numbers are a crock. It’s near-impossible to get tested, and the Modi government doesn’t want it any easier. Sounds a lot like Humpty-Dumpy.

  16. R. L. Foster says

    What ever happened to the right-wing mantra “Fuck your feelings?” I guess only fascist feelings count these days.

  17. epawtows says

    My assumption is the MAGA heads want to run in two years on ‘and I’ll get rid of these mask mandates’ but for that to happen they need the pandemic to still be going on.

  18. Who Cares says

    TC will be on the air for years to come. He might not have any serious advertisers anymore but that is not why he has that time slot. In this case Fox gets their income from the other time slots surrounding his show seeing that people keep Fox on 24/7 just because they watch him.

    @Beer(#15):
    Not always. Infection or a vaccine needs to result in a sterilizing immunity reaction for that to be true. That version of immunity kills of the invader before it has time to infect you to the point you become contagious. Any other form of immunity carries a risk of a person being contagious even if they don’t show symptoms. What it does in these cases is lower the time a person is contagious (and the amount of particles released), still reducing infection risk but not completely eliminating it.

  19. brucej says

    While most people are laughing this off as silly, this is Radio Rwanda-level propaganda, especially in connection with the Holy Church of The Gun folks and his white supremacist views.

    Calling the cops on allegations of “child abuse” is going to get people killed because armed occupying troops “police” will show up. Armed white racists will use this as an excuse to gun people down.

    If you ever wondered how entire countries go insane and do horrible, evil things, it’s people like Tucker and his ilk.

  20. Akira MacKenzie says

    Why is Tucker Carlson still on the air?

    A combination of capitalist greed and enough stubborn bigots watching him to make his show profitable. That’s why.

  21. unclefrogy says

    @12
    I still can’t shake the dark thoughts lurking in my mind.
    the rate of mutation seems to be on par with the flue at least from the reporting so the real question is will it ever be over at all?
    Can we catch up or even stay even with this virus? Not with fools and assholes like maga heads and fox fans. I read a piece today about a private school in Miami that wont let anyone back teachers, staff or presumably students if they have been vaccinated, because of vague rumors?
    Just because there is this covid-19 surging around the planet does not preclude any other of the countless other infectious agents we already know about or the ones we do not know about from spreading into this vast resource of humans now choking the world to death slowly. If you look at the environment you find that the places with the greatest diversity are the healthiest most fertile. Mono -crops are precarious places just one step from collapse into the the marvelous chaos of a bio-diverse environment.
    uncle frogy

  22. stroppy says

    Masks strip people of their identity

    In other words, makes it harder to surveil people. Newspeak “freedom = bondage.”

  23. robro says

    Who Cares @ #20 — Word is that Fox gets the bulk of its money directly from cable providers in licensing fees, not advertising. I don’t know if that’s true, and no time to fact-check it, but it’s come up several times lately when folks discuss boycotting Swanson (Tucker’s family) or his advertisers.

  24. raven says

    @23

    Miami private school won’t employ teachers who get the Covid-19 vaccine
    Centner Academy is basing its decision on information that has already been debunked.
    April 27, 2021, 7:40 AM PDT NBC.com
    By Minyvonne Burke, Caitlin Fichtel and Caroline Radnofsky

    A Miami private school said it won’t employ anyone who has received the Covid-19 vaccine, citing concerns that the injection might not be safe.

    Centner Academy outlined its controversial policy in a letter to parents, encouraging faculty and staff to hold off on being vaccinated “until there is further research available.” Those who do wish to be vaccinated are asked to wait until the end of the school year.

    “This was not an easy decision to make,” the letter stated. “It was a consensus from our advisors that until this topic is investigated more thoroughly, it is in the best interests of the children to protect them from the unknown implications of being in close proximity for the entire day with a teacher who has very recently taken the Covid-19 injection.”
    The school said it won’t employ anyone who has been vaccinated “until further information is known.”

    “We are not 100% sure the Covid-19 injections are safe and there are too many unknown variables for us to feel comfortable at this current time,” the school wrote. “Until more is known, we must err on the side of caution when it comes to the welfare of our students and school team.”

    More Plague Rats.
    You can bet these are Trump voters and fundie xians.

    They have no idea how someone who has been vaccinated can be dangerous to anyone else.
    The number of people vaccinated in the USA is now 43% for at least one dose, that is 140 million people. The hazard to other people from (who knows what these idiots are afraid of) is so far nonexistent.

  25. raven says

    Cthulhu, these people are stupid.

    One Centner Academy parent told NBC Miami that if she could pull her child out of the school now she would. However, she said she has already forked over $30,000 for tuition.
    and
    She said that “tens of thousands of women all over the world” have reported reproductive issues from being in close proximity with someone who has been vaccinated — a claim that top medical experts have debunked.

    This action at a distance by vaccinated people isn’t even physically possible.

    $30,000 in tuition. WTF.
    My tuition for the first year of a good state university was $650.00 or so.
    (Yeah, it was the early 1970’s. There were some good points to the old days.)

  26. blf says

    @27, “This action at a distance by vaccinated people isn’t even physically possible.”

    Yes. However, there is a form of “action at a distance” from live vaccines (which none of the Covid-19 vaccines are!) — vaccine shedding. Excepting polio, this isn’t much of a concern. (The cited article only mentions the 1950s polio incident, but it’s also an issue nowadays as polio is very close to eradication, Vaccine-derived polio spreads in Africa after defeat of wild virus.)

  27. says

    India’s plunge into disaster is exacerbated by its population density, over 400 per square kilometre. There are more densely populated countries and regions, but getting medical care and making people obey rules is a lot easier with a population of one or ten million. With over a billion, that’s like herding cats. Bangladesh next door (161 million, over 1000 per sq. km.) could become part of this.

    https://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=21000

    Modi’s incompetence, people ignoring rules and a new strain could make India’s summer a nightmare. 6000 dead per day is a real possibility, even with international aid. The official death count hit 3285 dead today, and there’s still three hours left.

  28. kome says

    Tucker Carlson is nothing more than a terrorist, but that makes him incredibly dangerous. Especially as he has a following made up of people who aspire to nothing greater than also being a terrorist like him.

  29. nomadiq says

    I think it’s funny (sad) that Carlson thinks wearing a mask robs you of your identity. Unless you’re white and male I doubt he has much interest in your identity (unless he wants to have sex with you)

  30. bcw bcw says

    I wonder when Tucker got his vaccinations? – probably pretty early with the other FOX insiders

  31. William George says

    Carlson is another one of those people who need to be shamed whenever he goes out in public. Protest outside of his home too. Give him no peace for the rest of his days. He and his followers are dangers to everyone.

  32. Akira MacKenzie says

    Chip Dyke @ 33

    Why is Tucker Carlson?

    Well, when an ambassador and a TV dinner heiress love each other very much want to spawn a spoiled, racist brat to pass their obscene wealth onto…

  33. microraptor says

    It’s funny that Tucker regards mask-wearing as an awful thing given that his target audience is the demographic who remembers wearing white robes and face-concealing masks while setting crosses on fire as the good old days.

  34. unclefrogy says

    since these people have no idea how biology works nor any understanding of natural selection and do not have any understanding of the basic principles on which a democratic system work by, they only care about a few people close to them and a few that they obtain some benefit from. They do not care if anyone outside of their chosen circle lives or dies. they do not understand the consequences of rampant disease and its mutations in places that are only hours away by frequent air travel. They will be the downfall of humanity and are on a par with those stupid generals and politicians who thought atomic weapons could be used (some may even think it today)

  35. lotharloo says

    Question: Why can’t he be sued? This is direct order from Tucker to his audience to harass other people, make false abuse claims and so on. There cannot be any deniability. This is not protected speech.

  36. lotharloo says

    @fatwaguy:
    You are an obvious troll but I have seen this sentiment mentioned by a lot of people who claim to be “left”. “I’m left but SJWs/feminists/regressive lefts etc. are so bad, if I had the choice, I would vote Trump/side with fascists/etc”. I actually believe you and the problem is that you are not left anymore. The culture is moved on, we have made some progress. We have heard from more marginalized people. It is no longer sufficient to say “slavery is bad”, or “gay people should not be murdered” or as it applies to Dawkins to support feminists causes of the 80s. If you want to be considered a “leftie” or a progressive in 2020’s, you should support the progressive causes of 2020’s, not 1930s, not 1970s, not 1980s. This is what assholes like yourself or Dawkins, or Jerry Coyne or any other old white dudes don’t get.

  37. lotharloo says

    @46:
    But the point is that he claims to be on the left and he thinks of himself as very progressive, probably because he is anti Jim Crow, pro women working so on. This is a delusion shared by many of the IDWs that just because they were/are pro civil rights movement or some other social movement in 20th century, they are very progressive, their opinions on race and systemic racism or sexism should be respected, and not questioned.

  38. profpedant says

    I want to live in a society where my present values make me a ‘right-wing reactionary’! It would be excellent to live that long!

  39. KG says

    We already know from his own testimony that lyingscumbagguy is misogynist (he think’s it’s a clver and effective insult to refer to PZ as “Paula”), homophobic (the use of “FAG” as an insult above) and ablist (use of “dwarf” as an insult above). I’d lay a bet that he’s also racist (the use of “fatwa” as part of his current nym is a strong hint) and transphobic. As to whether he really considers himself “left-centrist”, I really couldn’t give a shit. He’s not just a vile but a pathetic troll – what kind of life must you have to spend your time typing puerile insults that will soon be removed on the blog of someone infinitely better and more talented than you?

  40. stroppy says

    “I against my brother, I and my brother against our cousins,
    I and my brother and my cousins against the world.”
    Old proverb

    …..

    Fatwaguy
    “If it’s between these two, I take Tucker any day.”

    Translation; “Waaah, I’m gonna take my ball and go home!”
    Simple minded twaddle, but I guess it’s rough these days when you don’t have a clue. I mean seriously, you’re saying PZ is worse than a white supremacist and a fraud? That’s bad even for a troll. Grow up.

  41. raven says

    Coronavirus: Man killed by police after violent dispute over a …https://www.euronews.com › News › World
    Jul 15, 2020 — The man, who was shot and killed by police in the US state of Michigan, had earlier stabbed a 77-year-old man in a dispute over a face mask.

    People have been arrested and sometimes killed in the USA over disputes about wearing masks.
    Usually it is a right wingnut anti-masker who is asked to put a mask on or leave, who then goes homicidal.

    Tucker the troll:
    Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson thinks people wearing masks are “repulsive” and told his viewers last night that they should even call the cops when they see children wearing masks.

    This is very bad advice that could potentially get people killed.
    In the USA, with a lot of people carrying guns, confrontations have a habit of turning deadly in a hurry.
    It’s also a serious crime to waste the 911 emergency number with pointless calls about people doing normal things like…wearing a mask during a pandemic.

  42. R. L. Foster says

    PZ must be very busy. If the past is any guide he’d have kicked the troll ‘fatwaguy’ to the curb before now.

  43. snarkrates says

    Remember when we used to get actual decent trolls. Ones who could actually string two coherent sentences together and perhaps come up with an original and entertaining insult. I miss those days. The trolls we get now are just pathetic.

  44. says

    One of my approaches is that if you can’t make a troll go away, make them useful. This can be practice.

    One thing I have taken to doing more is just stating what they are doing in different, more technical language. Spotting the dimensions and examples of the current political problem. Describing “fallatio as insult” for example. Or how they tried to use animal abuse accusations to hide their harassment in DARVO style in an earlier post.

    So far this troll is a good justification for the schism in the atheist/skeptic community. Harassment policies at conventions and more attention to that and similar resulted. This person depends on harassment for their politics.

    I’ll pick out what I can see as the day progresses.

  45. says

    Up at 39 we have this bit.
    “On the other side of spectrum we have Crazy Myers, a kook and a toxic fool all day long”

    I’m not surprised that an ableist, someone willing to use mental health and disability as political non-literalisms (using people as a means to insult PZ), would pick a white supremacist over PZ.

    At the minimum this, including “toxic”, needs replaced with objective synonyms. Sexual abuse survivors were able to expand on toxic behavior. This is bigoted whining so far.

  46. says

    @fatwaguy 62
    You will need to do better than a drug reference. That is mockery that replaces what you feel are examples of illogic and irrationality. It’s ok to have feelings but they should be attached to something useful.

  47. says

    And at 40 “… shit eating dwarf.” Is another example of using another group of people in a dominance display. I think “displacement” might be the term. They can’t deal with PZ or us so this is how they have to transform those feelings.

  48. snarkrates says

    Troll: “Well, this blog is so irrelevant that no one bothers, huh? :)”

    And yet… here you are. What does that say about you and your life choices?

  49. lotharloo says

    @fatwaguy:

    I am sure at some point in history some white dude has existed who has believed “I don’t think black people should be lynched but it’s madness to allow mixed marriages, this culture is going crazy!” and also has thought of himself as totally-not-racist and reasonable. That is you now. You use 2020 technology but you are a fossil from 1960s, way behind in morality. You are history. We are all waiting for you to die off of old age (which I am guessing it should be relatively soon) and then the human race will be one fewer troll happier.

  50. lotharloo says

    BTW, waiting for them to die off is also the correct strategy with likes of Dawkins, IDW people, Coyne, etc.

  51. snarkrates says

    Boring troll is boring. I’m not even convinced it’s not a bot. A lot of what it is writing sound like the AI generated pick-up lines.

  52. davidc1 says

    @41 ,My dog ,how are you going to come back from that insult ,thoughts and prayers .
    @74 Yeah ,every idiot should have a day off now and again

  53. lotharloo says

    @snarkrates:
    Funny story, long long time ago, I was a member of “American Politics” group of now-defunct social media Orkut. There was a right-wing guy named James who was constantly rebutting with the most ridiculous and stupid right-wing talking points. We used to call him “James, the perl script”. It took me more than a year to accept that the guy was real and not just some elaborate prank. I’m not that young anymore and accept that the unbelievably obtuse idiots exist.

  54. says

    I need to learn how to control my sympathies better. I’m feeling embarrassed on behalf of this troll, if only because I recognize how pathetic their attempts at trolling have been, like looking back at all the most immature and uncool things I did as a kid when I should have known better. Boredom is the other source of frustration, because, c’mon, at least give some substance.

    In my experience, getting bored to the point of frustration along with the act of pointing and laughing qualifies as “triggered” to these sorts of people, so I won’t be surprised if that’s in a reply.

  55. davidc1 says

    @73 Jew boy ,hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha .
    Well ,i was circumcised last Sept ,for medical reasons .My worry is ,what happens if them nazis take power again ,how will i prove i am not Jewish ? I could say i am a Muslim ,but i am not giving up bacon for anyone .
    Any more .Say something about my sister .

  56. PaulBC says

    Has PZ considered site-wide bans to deal with sock-puppets? I mean, I can ignore them (but nothing beats having a kill file like Usenet days). For those who cannot, there must be something better than whackamole.

  57. davidc1 says

    cretinous ,i am not from Crete .Jewboy ,hahahahaha ,,bugger already done that .
    Do you pleasure yourself while watching “Triumph of The Will “?

  58. snarkrates says

    Boring Troll: “There is a non consenting person involved. A child.”

    OK, Genius. Wouldn’t that make any adoption impossible. If you asked a child whether they wanted to be adopted by a loving, gay couple or stay in foster care, I think I know what they’d say.

    See, it’s precisely these sorts of logic fails that make the Turing test a bridge to far for you.

  59. davidc1 says

    @83 What and have them roaming the streets ? No ,better they stay glued to their laptops ,they can do less harm that way .

  60. snarkrates says

    Boring Troll: “No, I let your mother pleasure me.”

    Glad she finally found a use for her tiny, tiny hands.

  61. davidc1 says

    @88 I have already told you she is dead ,so you are into Necrophilia are we ,you dirty fecker .
    If i was your mother i would have my body cremated .
    Damn and blast ,i said i wasn’t going to sink to your level ,sorry for that .

  62. snarkrates says

    Boring Troll: “It’s damaging to the children.”

    That which is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

  63. says

    At 53 they implicitly admit they are about insults. But they are often group related insults that totally replace content. If there was content too they might have left themselves something but this person is just about insults.

    At 54 they demonstrate that getting banned is an acceptable feature of their politics but they don’t say why. Deliberately crossing people’s boundaries is apparently a feature to them.

    @ fatwaguy 71
    Cannabis actually. It’s more of an enhancement with the tourette syndrome.

    And “sjw” is just a political pejorative. It has no strength unless you can show some illegitimate means of doing social justice.

  64. davidc1 says

    The boring troll is right ,it is obverous that all the mass shooting are perfomed by people who were raised by them gays ,i mean it stands to reason don’t it.

  65. davidc1 says

    @96 Don’t know if you have noticed ,but this isn’t your site ,so don’t tell others what they can and cannot post .

  66. davidc1 says

    @98 Yeah ,everyone who has is circumcised for medical reason wants to be a woman.
    And i have already told you I am not Jewish ,not that there is anything wrong with being Jewish .
    So what’s your reason for being a Jew Hater ?What failures in your life do you blame them for ?

  67. Rob Grigjanis says

    38-year-old infant @100: Hitchens just stole a much older and pithier Latin saying;

    Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur

    Hitchens was a lightweight contrarian with the gift of gab. Nothing more.

  68. snarkrates says

    Dude, that quote–and certainly the sentiment behind it predate Hitchens by a lot. But here’s a Hitchen’s paraphrase that applies to you:
    If we gave you an enema, we could bury you in a matchbox.

  69. says

    I’ve had this feeling that resistance to anti-bullying legislation comes from people who depend on harassment and bullying in their politics. I can’t say that about fatwahhhhguy specifically but this situation made me think of that.

  70. davidc1 says

    @105 I am feeling left out ,when are you going to throw an insult my way ?

    Yes ,Dr Myers does look like a cat ,well spotted .

  71. says

    There’s the “fallatio as insult” again. Gotta spread that feeling that gay sex acts are bad (with a dig at a perceived in-group authority figure) instead of something relevant about a Hitchens quote.

    The idea of “group dependency with respect to issues of conflict” or “being group dependent” has occured to me.

  72. davidc1 says

    @112 Don’t know what mr fatguy has to do with French computer chips .Chortle ,chortle .

  73. says

    I guess “sjw” has no power if fatwahhhhhguy can’t show any problematic means of doing social justice. Clearly they think insults, harassment, and bigotry at multiple levels is ok in their own politics.

  74. PaulBC says

    Brony@136 I think your overthinking it. Sock puppets should be identifiable by IP. I doubt this person is a computer whiz. Just block them. With a little more work, you could whitelist anyone sharing their domain given real name identification and an agreement not to be abusive. But I bet you would not need to go to that level of granularity.

    They’d have been banned from facebook already for numerous community standards violations in this thread alone. It should go without saying, but I will anyway, that this is not “censorship” or “violating 1st amendment rights.” If anything, it’s exercising editorial control. Use of this platform is subject to following its standards.

  75. Tethys says

    This particular troll is of such poor quality, I doubt it would be much better as a pet project.

    It is unfortunate that so many atheist men have shown themselves to be utter jerks, but that’s not PZ’s fault in any way.

  76. unclefrogy says

    could someone explain to me how or why someone who claims to be a “leftist” or some kind of old time liberal but who would use the expression “jewboy” as an insult?
    I have another kind of general question. i am not “just asking questions” really.
    What is “white culture”? is it not European or is it some other particular nationality? Is it “American Culture”?
    or is it just a phrase used to mean what ever they want it to mean without the slightest understanding what the roots of culture at any given time actually are which from the way the phrase is thrown around seems closer to the truth.
    uncle frogy

  77. PaulBC says

    unclefrogy@140

    What is “white culture”?

    It’s defined by exclusion and often with an absurd level of contradiction. My favorite is the demographic category non-Hispanic white. Is a Russian immigrant who is bilingual but speaks English with an accent more “white” than a child of Latin American immigrants who happens to have relatively little indigenous ancestry? It seems in poor taste to ask, but what box would Ted Cruz check off? (There isn’t one for asshole.)

    It also pisses me off to see people of Irish descent going all “white”. One the one hand, I can document that my ancestors had it pretty good in late 19th century Brooklyn. However, they were definitely not exactly part of “white” or mainstream American culture. It took John F. Kennedy to establish the idea that a Catholic could be president. Before then it was controversial.

    It’s a sliding goalpost and it slides exactly as far as anyone needs it to separate themselves from “those people.”

  78. KG says

    I am not vile. I am a really loving person. Just ask your sister. – lyingscumbagguy@57

    Yes, you certainly are vile – an all-round bigot and hater, without even the compensation of showing the slightest wit or originality. I really don’t think Dawkins, or Hitchens if he hadn’t drunk and smoked himself to death, would find your support anything other than embarrassing. But I notice you don’t deny that you are pathetic. Do you actually suppose that implying that you had sex with a member of my family has any power to wound? Srsly?

  79. microraptor says

    unclefrogy @ 140:

    could someone explain to me how or why someone who claims to be a “leftist” or some kind of old time liberal but who would use the expression “jewboy” as an insult?

    So that other white supremacists can point at it and say “see, even the liberals are saying it so it must be true.”

  80. John Morales says

    heh heh heh.

    Puerile troll, whose apotheosis consists of jejune efforts.

    No grasp of scatology, no imagination, just feeble vulgarisms.

    Works hard to make new logins, types stuff which will vanish with a click.

    Thinks it upsets people. Heh.

    (Specimens like you are to be pitied, but not by the likes of me)

  81. unclefrogy says

    @159
    I see that you are pissed off, resentful and butt hurt.
    you are also an ignorant begot who can not take it that the world is changing, I do not feel sorry for you in the least because you are that way deliberately. you are just pathetic.

  82. zetopan says

    I take exception to your article title: “Would you take medical advice from a whiny rich frat boy?”

    No where in that title do you also say “profoundly ignorant and stunningly stupid”. So you have severely underestimated the vileness of Tucker Carlson and I would not be surprised if he takes you to court for that transgression. Also note: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it” – Upton Sinclair. Sucker gets paid several million dollars per year to spout terminally stupid nonsense, so he has the best of both worlds; he need not study anything before commenting and he gets actually paid to be that way.

  83. Tethys says

    I did not see the connection between Tucker latest unhinged Q rant, and wah-wah guy’s troll comments, but it is clear now.

    They are both deeply stunted humans, whose only means of validating their existence is to seek attention by smearing the contents of their diaper on the floor.

  84. William George says

    It’s been fascinating watching someone determined to show the world how weak they are…

  85. davidc1 says

    fatbloke @114 Thank you ,I thought I had upset you and you were ignoring me .
    Anyway ,I didn’t cut myself ,it was done for medical reasons .If you had had the same condition ,you would have had it done yourself ,maybe by a Jewish Doctor .So you don’t blame Jews for your failures ,only the Jewish Bankers ,ok so you are a selective Anti-semite .

    @159 Why are you calling Dr Myers a South American fish?

  86. DanDare says

    Can the folks with loved ones who die due to TCs bullshit take out a class action against him?

  87. davidc1 says

    fatboy@162″ The only ones who are resentful are pharyngulates” I don’t think you know the meaning of the word ?

  88. davidc1 says

    @fatbot Not trying to get you upset ,you are the one who keeps calling me Jewboy ,which is number one in the How to be a Anti-Semite manual .The word I meant was Pharyngula .
    One more thing ,you fuck off .

  89. Kagehi says

    @11 Akira MacKenzie

    Tucker is yet another example of why freedom of speech/press/religion is a very very bad idea.

    While I wouldn’t ever go that far, I do seriously think that there has got to be some sort of criteria by which one can deem that the speech/press coverage/religious BS being spouted by someone, or some organization, fails to conform to any sort of sensible reality, and is clearly meant to incite irrational behavior and/or violence, and thus qualifies as, “Yelling ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater.” I have no freaking clue how you could manage it, without the very assholes pushing this sort of crap managing to get their own BS “protected”, while more sane ideas are places in the category of, “Not the way we think people should think.”, but.. bloody hell. If there was a god, or reality suddenly developed its own super consciousness, etc., the slander/libel lawsuits that either such entity could bring against these clowns would make unimaginable legal history.

  90. says

    I agree, this object example has about all the value extracted from them. The are doubling down on “homosexuality as insult” now, while DARVOing relative to Jews. I expect they will just try other group slurs.

    They do have a lot of feelings they want to attach to something.

  91. says

    Can the folks with loved ones who die due to TCs bullshit take out a class action against him?

    The answer is… sure, there’s probably enough to convince a lawyer to file a negligence suit, maybe enough to get it past an initial motion to dismiss, but at that point you’re just trying to make things difficult to get a settlement because it seems terribly unlikely you’re actually going to win that suit since the deceased would (almost by definition) have to have engaged in contributory negligence.

    The better lawsuits would be against TC by parents who had the cops called on them by people who believed Tucker. In that scenario you would have people following TC who aren’t actually the injured party with a basis to sue.

  92. says

    Silverwynde @185
    Well, I got lucky and found the right therapist this time. Sometimes you have to shop around a bit to find the right fit. I look forward to the weekly decompression session.

  93. snarkrates says

    I see boring troll is still boring. I mean, Jebus. Its insults just keep getting lamer. Coming on here and expecting us to be insulted by implications that one is gay or trans or Jewish is really pretty stupid. Likewise, since, unlike said troll, each of us knows who both of our parents are/were, momma jokes ain’t gonna cut it either.

    I still think it’s a bot, and not a very smart one at that.

  94. davidc1 says

    And yours just gave it away ,bugger i am down at your level ,but at least i can rise again ,you can only sink in to whatever bat shit crazy barking mad bollox that’s gnawing at your soul .
    I foresee you going postal ,and death by cop ,I feel sorry for the innocent people you will murder.

  95. davidc1 says

    fatbloke ,I see you haven’t replied to Rob G on your other rant filled bollox about the buggers ,finally found your match .
    And your insult was directed at my dead mother ,can’t you think up one aimed at me and me alone .

  96. Tethys says

    Oh hey, it’s classic misogynist troll talking point #1. (Now with added Q transphobia!)

    Autobot, you are a woman? A Natural born woman? Kind of unexpected around here.

    Where is Nerd? All the trolls know that Nerd of Redhead is the only woman on Pharyngula.

  97. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Tethys #193, I’m still around, mostly just observing. The present troll is so pitiful and inane that I’ve mentally killfiled them, just reading the regular commentators responses.

  98. UnknownEric the Apostate says

    I think he sounds like pseudo-Sean Connery from the SNL Celebrity Jeopardy skits. If he takes “Famous Titties” for $400, we’ll know for sure.

  99. Tethys says

    Autobot Silverwynde

    does this make me the second? Because yeppers, woman.

    If you count me, yes, two women. It’s an in joke from way back in Sci-blog days. The trolls consistently claimed there weren’t any women among the Horde, except Nerd.
    It was always good for a round of snark, since plenty of the regulars are women, but Nerd isn’t.

    Nerd

    I’m still around, mostly just observing.

    Good to hear from you. I agree that this troll is pathetic. I’m sure our spidery overlord has better things to do than waste his time putting this boring lightweights IP address in the bane file.

  100. davidc1 says

    @200 Ah ,”He’s back ,he’s back ,as a matter of fact he’s back ”
    Mr troll is back ,with a brand new name and all .
    I was just pointing out that he had put you in your place with his comment .
    Again with the insult to my mother .
    What is it with you and the sucking of cocks ,and pimps and Ho’s
    I don’t believe in any fucking gods .
    You do seem more barking mad ,demented that normal ,if i can use normal in relation to you .

    You are not on the verge of doing something stupid are you ,like going down to your local mall and killing a few innocent fellow Americans ?
    Will we see a story on the news along the lines of “Local potty mouth runs amok in shopping center ?
    Is that where you disappear to ,when you are not insulting people on here ,polishing your big guns ,and muttering “I will show them ,mutter ,mutter ,i will kill everyone of them ,mutter ,mutter ?”

    PS ,i think evilution gave humans so many vertabrae with you in mind ,can’t have your mouth too close to your willy .

  101. says

    I have never seen anyone so absolutely desperate for attention from exactly one person.

    That guy is PZ’s biggest fan, by a WIDE margin. He wants sempai to notice him SO BAD, it might even be sexual.

    Gosh, that almost explains it, doesn’t it? A white supremacist tsundere! Apparently there is a bottom to scrape below ‘incel’.

  102. Rob Grigjanis says

    man-child @203:

    I assume you are fine with man sucking off men as well.

    I don’t really care what consenting adults do in private, but you sure seem to think about that a lot.

  103. says

    It’s funny when people say “they don’t care” about something that they bring up. Like somehow the emotional attachment we have to objects just goes away for rhetorical reasons. If there were no feelings about what gay people did they would not mention what gay people did.

    They have negative feelings about what gay people do or they would not act like gay sex acts were insults.

    And now we know they have feelings about the incompetent bigoted police too. It’s not surprising that someone who needs to use other people as objects in political dominance displays would act like the cops do anything but pick up the pieces. This kind of human does not do protection. This bigot depends on micro- and macroaggressions to control people they believe are criminal.

  104. says

    An ableist microaggression. Right on cue.

    I noticed when I described the need to use a group slur on political enemies in dominance displays they picked new slur to double-down with. I wonder what impulse they will choose next?

  105. davidc1 says

    breadboy ,hahahahahahahahahahahahaha .Don’t own a gun ,did all the gun shop owners take one look at you and say ,
    “Feck ,no way are you going to get a gun from me ”
    So it’s just knives for you is it? Unless you can get a copy of the mad bombers handbook ,and try making your own bombs .
    So the headline i should look out for is ,
    “Local Anti-Semite ,Homophobe ,,Transgender hating ,Fellatio obsessed potty mouth woman hater ,blows himself up .People noticed
    beforehand that he was having trouble because of the huge amount of plasters he had on both his hands .
    His last words were said to be” Bloody Knives “.

    I will admit to one thing ,Dr Myers does have mad eyes ,but that is normal for scientists .(Sorry Doc ,but he does have a point )
    Not going to report anything for you ,if you have an answer to his reply ,you post it
    And I think if Dawkins ,Coyne ,or the late Hitchens knew that you were a fan ,they would be very sad ,not as sad as you though .

  106. Tethys says

    I’m trying to imagine Richard Dawkins participating in a BLM protest, or any other civil rights protest. I don’t know if Morris had any local protests for PZ to participate in, and travel into the twin cities was not allowed after the white supremacists arrived in the wake of the George Floyd protest.

    The comments making (ha-ha just kidding) terroristic threats are vile enough that I would dox this particular POS. He can explain his obsession and murderous fantasies to some local police officers. I’m sure that they are taking such comments quite seriously after the maga riot and looting of congress in January.

  107. davidc1 says

    Breadboy ,hahahahaha ,well i haven’t done with you ,you Anti-Semite you ..
    You really are a potty mouth ?What is at the bottom of your anger ,is it that you haven’t got a gun to hold ,and polish and fondle ?
    What do you think of non-white people ?
    Sorry for all the questions ,but i have never seen this type of stuff ,the Doc usually puts it straight into the bin .
    I see the way you spelt c*unt ,very strange .Are you scared of vaginas ?That would explain a lot .
    You still seem to think I am Jewish ,as Charles Chaplin once said “I don’t have that honour “.

  108. Tethys says

    Oooo, castration fantasies.

    maybe our troll overdid it on the steroids, so now all he has is impotent rage and atrophied man bits?

  109. says

    @217

    Yes, every message he posts proves it. After all, who puts THIS much effort into getting the attention of someone they DON’T have a desperate emotional need for? It’s just not done. Every post, especially every new username, is one more act of unrequited, inexpressible love.

  110. blf says

    Yeah, I too wondered for a short while if it was Mabus. Doesn’t seem like it. In addition to the differences mentioned in @229, Mabus was also a (fundie?-)xian wannabe-taliban (back to the threatening point mentioned in @229), whereas in the handful of screeds I bothered to read, this one didn’t seem to be.

  111. snarkrates says

    Wow, boring trollbot is still at it? And it certainly hasn’t upped its game. I don’t think the learning curve has a positive slope for this one.
    If this isn’t a bot, isn’t it sad that it can devote 4 days of its time to sliming a thread without being missed by anyone. What a pathetic existence.

  112. davidc1 says

    Not fair Doc ,you removed breadboys rants before i had a chance to comment on them .
    I shall have to use my imagination as to how they went ,something like this i bet .

    mutter jewboy mutter cocksucker ,mutter ,mutter paula mutter mutter ho’s mutter mutter .

    Who is this Mabus of whiom you speak ?

  113. Tethys says

    Dave Mabus is an infamous internet troll who was so obsessed with harassing scientists and atheists that he was doxxed and visited by local Toronto police. There was a petition involved.

    The obsessive behavior is the same, but this troll is your average Richard Dawkins fan-boy. It’s been here smearing feces on threads since the humanists revoked Dicks award.