Nerd is my Gender
What's yours?
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Please join me in speaking out against anti-autism fear-mongering!
Vaccines don’t cause autism. And even if they did, are we really suggesting that autism is worse than the measles? That people with autism are somehow so defective that it’s better to risk horrible illness and death than to risk “catching the autism”? For shame!
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You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself. You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them. Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof. You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic. Security is one of your major goals in life.
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Believers baffled as world doesn't end
Quote of the day: “I had some scepticism but I was trying to push the scepticism away because I believe in God”.
Protip: if you ever try to push away skepticism because you believe God wants you to, you’re doing it wrong.
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I’d like to teach you a different easy question, one that is far, far more useful than Ken Ham’s silly “Were you there?” The question you can always ask is, “How do you know that?”
Right away, you should be able to see the difference. You already knew the answer to the “Were you there?” question, but you don’t know the answer to the “How do you know that?” question. That means the person answering it will tell you something you don’t know, and you will learn something new. And that is the coolest thing ever.
PZ Myers’ letter to a young girl -
Tim Minchin decides to end the anti-fat hate.
An update to the above-linked post.
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=138783861
MINCHIN: … if you get offended by my song about the Pope, for example, which is not playable on air, but is very, very carefully constructed, I’m fine with that and I can argue it and I can take the anger. But if you got cross with me about one of my earlier songs that I did, for example, called “Fat Children,” eventually I went yeah, actually, you guys are right. It’s just bullying.
Glad to hear that one of my skeptical heroes is able to admit when he’s wrong and to become a better person.
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Values and Beliefs: Socially Responsible Business | Tom's of Maine
Some alarmist atheists piss me off. Guess why there’s a call to boycott Tom’s of Main?
Hint: there’s a protoreligious word on the company’s mission page.
Give up? It’s “faith”.
Nevermind that the first line is: “To serve our customers’ health needs with imaginative SCIENCE from plants and minerals”
It is my professional opinion that now is the time to PANIC!
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Feminist Dogma
How does pure awesomeness begin? Thusly:
Hello there! Are you growing tired of the ongoing criticisms of sexism in the skeptical community? Do you feel like one of the essential values of freethought and skepticism is lost when we set up “sacred cows” like feminism? Do you believe that feminism, like anything, needs to be held up to critique, and that the way that any questioning of feminism or dissent from the growing feminist consensus is met with the “thought police” coming to gag you? Do you feel this crushing of dissent is creating an echo chamber that is preventing us from being able to have a free, open discourse? Do you feel all this petty infighting over such trivial issues is destroying our movement? That people seem wholly incapable of discussing sexism in a rational way? That it’s distracting us from more important issues? Do you believe that we need to be more skeptical of feminist dogma?
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Creating a More Inclusive Humanism in an Ableist World
Warning: ableist slurs. (And unfortunately, the editors deleted my warning in the OP, even though my unedited post included one.)
Here are a few comments I’ve read recently in atheist spaces.
- “You are so literal as to be autistic. Are you really that stupid?”
- “PETA is creating the next wave of young adults with scary personality disorders.”
- “Cannibalism is the same as eating a hot dog? I’ve heard better analogies from people with Down Syndrome.”
- “Instead of writing a new generation of software to circumvent our filters, maybe they should recruit social misfits with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and write software that amplifies their efforts.”
- “I realize that this man-child is a ward of the state. Too “young in the mind” to hold a job or live on his own without assistance. This simple minded man is alone. He is most definitely frustrated. And I feel like in a way, we are one.”
- “[Insert countless remarks equating religion with mental disability/insanity.]“
An excerpt from a post I wrote about ableism in atheist/skeptic/freethought/humanist communities, and what we should be doing to fix this issue. As a person without disabilities, I’ve come to the conclusion that either atheists with disabilities are too burnt out to fight for this issue, or else they’re being ignored. I have too many friends who are constantly being hurt by ableism in atheism, but nobody’s fighting against it. This has to end. Please spread this around and help make atheist communities safer for everyone.
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I value diversity, I really do. I am a black homosexual feminist as much as a white heterosexual male can possibly be. But…
Ah yes, the old “I’m not X, but…” followed by X (and in this case, even containing X).
(Source: freethoughtblogs.com)
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I take orders on these and more! Profits go to the Skeptical Society of St Louis.
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Ableism in Atheism Survey
Please take this survey and share it with others to help give a better picture of the experiences people with disabilities are having in atheist communities. -
I googled “sexist bingo” and the top results were from gaming and skepticism. Our lord and savior google does not lie.
Still with SCIENCE, but updated with suggestions from stfuconservatives.
This bingo is dedicated to all you white cis male atheists who won’t check your privilege. No really, you need to check that shit in at the door.
(Source: existentialcrisisfactory)
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Solar System Scarf
Display your love of astronomy and passion for science with this handmade scarf!
Featuring:
-all 8 planets
-our moon
-the rings of Saturn and Uranus
-the great red spot of Jupiter
-other heavenly bodies by request
100% soft acrylic yarn. Sizes and colors are representative of the actual planet appearances, with some artistic creativity taken.
All profits go to support the Skeptical Society of St Louis.
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Defending Sexism at The Reason Rally (or, Who's Exempt from Skeptical Inquiry?)
Reasons for God (RfG) has issued a response to the Friendly Atheist’s post which is a response to various complaints about various speakers at the Reason Rally. RfG says “Mehta’s argument is that the documented sexism of some of the biggest speakers [Richard Dawkins, Penn Jillette, Bill Maher] is just not a big deal! … Therefore, it is still worth having them speak because ‘we need big-name celebrities to attend.’”
I have heard the argument that big-name speakers deserve to push out other speakers. To me, that reeks of appeals to authority, and it’s also a pretty effective “shut up, that’s why” tactic. (RfG claims that the Westboro Baptist Church was also officially invited to attend. Frankly, that point is moot, since there’s no way they wouldn’t have planned to attend either way.)
At this point, RfG takes the time to point out that anyone can be sexist (true) and that atheists attempt not to be sexist, in general (also true). They seem to imply that sexism is caused by atheism and sexism is in spite of Christianity. Ha!
Anyway, on to the main show.
Point #1: Is it true that Bill Maher, Penn Jillette, and Richard Dawkins have all made blatantly sexist comments?
Moving on…
Point #2: Are these comments representative of a broader problem with the atheist movement?
Yes, but this is where the answer isn’t a simple Google search away. Let’s zoom out past the atheist movement. Let’s even bypass Christian culture. Let’s zoom out to any level of society, really, even the entire world. What do you see? Gender inequality to varying degrees, with very few exceptions. That means we should apply that skepticism we so often apply to religion needs to be turned onto ourselves when someone makes the claim that we’ve somehow uniquely (seemingly from magic) achieved a community free from sexism.
Point #3: So what does it say about The Reason Rally that an organizer of the event is arguing that a higher standard—such as “no sexism”—should not disqualify speakers?
These “questions as points” are getting irritating.
Anyway, RfG writes what sounds like an excellent intro to this issue, but then places it at the end of their post with an air of finality, as though we can dust off our hands and walk away from this issue. The reason is, they don’t really care about the success of the atheist movement, they’re just looking for their “CHECKMATE, ATHEISTS” moments.
Screw them, here’s where we get down to the heart of the matter:
Actual Point: Nobody is exempt from having the skeptical toolkit applied to their issues.
Nobody. Even when we’re trying to get a huge group of people from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences together. And you know what really says “lulz, I get an exemption, u mad bro?”
If we got rid of every speaker who held an irrational belief, there would be no one left on that stage.
So deal with it.
Oh okay!
No wait, no. I don’t have to “deal” with it, I can talk about it and anyone else can talk about it and even RfG can talk about it, because it’s there and it’s not exempt. Maybe you’re worn out. Maybe you have listened to a thousand complaints and need to turn off your email so that you can get some work done before you address complaint number one-thousand one. Everyone has their limits. But atheists are as entitled to talk about atheism as atheist leaders are.
After all, this rally is about us. We’re the ones the politicians need to represent and the media needs to understand. We will not travel across the nation to be told that our experiences should once again be second-class status and that our voices should fall into the background. We will not exempt anyone from skeptical inquiry.
So yes, the rally is going to bring a whole lot of differences together in ways previously unseen. But it is our right to expect more from each other, from our leaders, and from our future. We will not be silent. We are atheism.
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There are a surprising number of vegans who seem to believe anything at all that sounds sciencey while simultaneously holding actual science in suspicion.
(Source: beforewisdom.com)
Genderqueer with a touch of happy humanism.
