Crocodile Tears About Norm MacDonald

The Blaze^[1] & Big Hollywood^[2] are both accusing atheists on Twitter of bullying comedian Norm MacDonald into silence.

MacDonald expressed his faith in a tweet while responding to an inquiry^[3].

@normmacdonald is the PGA tour becoming the bible club of pro sports norm?Cuz this guy just said on Nat. TV he read scriptures today! Wtf?
— Kevin sypher (@sypher1960) March 17, 2013

He got some responses to that expression from a few who didn't agree.

Aww man @normmacdonald Streelman is one of those, God, scripture, and peace pussies... Wife was a sexy but that shit ain't cool..#itsabook !
— Rick Nawojski (@dickyboy13) March 17, 2013

“@normmacdonald: I think most people study the scriptures. Most people seem smart to me.”. I like a good fairy tale.
— Dr. Meyer (@Blooeybird) March 17, 2013

Aww man @normmacdonald Streelman is one of those, God, scripture, and peace pussies... Wife was a sexy but that shit ain't cool..#itsabook !
— Rick Nawojski (@dickyboy13) March 17, 2013

@normmacdonald Religion is the worst thing to ever happen to this planet.
— Ryan Maino (@PARecSpecs) March 17, 2013

These are the examples they provided of the "bullying".  The idea that these tweets qualify as bullying is weak sauce. None of them threatened him. No one even suggested he should not express his opinion. If they had done so, that sure as fuck would have been included in both articles.

MacDonald would have been just fine if he had left the tweets there. Deleting them was his own choice. Personally, I'm more disappointed that he deleted them than that he said it in the first place. I enjoyed his comedy before this contrived controversy. I don't see how this incident would change that.

The Big Hollywood article that started this ends with:

Atheists and secularists won’t be satisfied until they bully every last religious person into silence. And as Macdonald could tell you, that’s not funny at all.

That's what this is really about. They are determined to paint us a particular way, so they grasp at straws to twist innocuous events to fit that mold. It's horseshit. But, then again, horseshit is what Beck & Breitbart deal in best.

This is how scared they are of us. They make up stupid shit like this. If they want to see truly despicable words, they should see their own comments section.

Or some of the tweets on the issue.

@parecspecs @normmacdonald Really? Hmm. I don't remember Hitler using religion as a reason to wipe out the Jews, just "science" of eugenics.
— HistoryofMatt (@HistoryofMatt) March 17, 2013

Hi @sypher1960 go F urself u communist pos. #Tea :-)
— Barry Choom (@rapidcraft) March 19, 2013

And what did the guy who started it all have to say about it?

@iamdce2 norm is awesome and I couldn't agree more. I'm calling out the professionals who thank Jesus for the win. Pretty much it.
— Kevin sypher (@sypher1960) March 20, 2013

Those are not the words of a bully.

I will call atheists out when they're behaving inappropriately^[4] and I adamantly oppose the practice of blaming the victim^[5].  But simply speaking up in opposition to religion does not qualify as bullying.

Bullying did occur here, but it wasn't by the atheists.  This whole thing is an attempt to shame us into silence.  It's pathetic and should not be tolerated.

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1.  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/19/bullied-by-atheists-nonbelievers-go-after-former-snl-star-for-saying-he-believes-in-god-scriptures/
2.  http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2013/03/18/Comedian-Bullied-Into-Silence-For-Being-Religious
3.  https://twitter.com/sypher1960/status/313410469480235008
4.  http://aparticularblogbyaparticularatheist.blogspot.com/2012/10/not-all-atheists-are-good-people.html
5.  http://aparticularblogbyaparticularatheist.blogspot.com/2013/03/star-trek-on-rape.html

Twelve Apostates - Christopher Hitchens

One of the most common things I see said to my atheist friends by their Christian friends & family is attempts, via various tactics, to shut them up.  They don't like it when we speak up about religion.  They especially do not like it when we do so effectively.

No one did it more effectively than the late Christopher Hitchens.

In initially planning for this list, I was not going to include any of the Four Horsemen.  But when I switched it to be personal to me, leaving Hitchens out ceased to be an option.  He pointed out the absurdity of what religions expect us to believe with unmatched eloquence.  He condemned religion, with veracity and without apology, for the evils it contains and attempts to force upon us.

He did this so well, the act of him doing it was given a name.  Hitchslap.

Christians tried relentlessly to shut Hitchens up.  He, as he would put it, was having none of that.  They also attempted to outwit him.  They failed miserably every time.  Even as he was dying of cancer, he refused to stop until the cancer forced him to.

As much as I admire James Randi, the atheist debater I most wish to emulate is Hitch.  I share his disdain for religion.  And while, I'm not likely to ever attain his level of eloquence (not many will), I don't plan to let that stop me.

Step On Some Cracks

Someone recently asked in the atheist group I am a part of if we ever pander to theists we know when they lose loved ones.  I responded with:

Absolutely not. I refuse to do anything that makes it appear as if I think their beliefs are valid or worthy of my respect. Pandering to their beliefs does nothing but reinforce the foolish notion that their beliefs are required in the process of dealing with loss. I would rather be honest and show that it's possible to cope with difficult times as an adult should, without fairy tales.

This reminded me of something, that I often think about, from kindergarten.  

Step on a crack, break your mother's back

I'm sure most people reading this have heard that phrase.  Some of you maybe even avoided stepping on a crack at least once because of it.  I had classmates who said the phrase, actively avoided stepping on cracks because of it, and told others to do the same.  I responded in the only appropriate way I could think of.

I would purposely let them see me stepping on cracks.  I didn't make a big show of it, but I think I did call them stupid a time or two.  I thought this superstition was stupid.  I thought all superstition was stupid.  I was never ostracized for rejecting their superstition, and I think the willingness of people like me to challenge them is part of how they outgrew it.  

I think this part of my childhood is a good example of three things.

1.  It displays just how silly a thing otherwise intelligent people are capable of believing.  Sure, just about everyone outgrows that particular silly belief.  But it's really not much sillier than the beliefs many adults hold.

2.  It's my constant reminder of the damage religion can cause and how it sticks with you.  I think of it nearly every time I walk over cracks.  I didn't even believe the superstition, and it is still in my head nearly 30 years later.  I can only imagine what children from fundamentalist backgrounds go through.  It's part of why Recovering From Religion is the organization I support more than any other.

3.  It is one my favorite anecdotes to show what kind of atheist I am.  I could have played along with them or feigned belief.  Or I could have simply not participated and let go on believing this silly thing unchallenged a while longer.  But I was having none of that.  It was probably a harmless game to most of the kids.  But a few treated it as true and were attempting to dictate the behavior of the rest of us.  So I stepped on the cracks.

The world needs more of that.  Too many people use religion to force stupidity and hate upon society.  They would be far less able to do that if more of us would simply step on the cracks.  With no one stepping on the cracks, the foolish superstition runs the risk of persisting.  The more people not afraid to publicly step on the cracks, the more the believers are forced to keep their silly beliefs to themselves and to quietly avoid the cracks without bothering the rest of us about it.

Uncontroversial Billboard is Controversial

This is the first atheism related billboard Nebraska has ever had.  It is meant to let atheists in town know they are not alone.  It is intentionally non-confrontational, although, it is intentionally timed to also promote our upcoming conference.

The response has been interesting.  Local radio host, Scott Voorhees posted about it, calling us militant & disgusting.  He apparently even went through the trouble of contacting UNO, where our conference is being held, to complain.  His complaint was shot down, but that didn't stop him from attacking us on the air the next morning.

We also got coverage on the local Fox & CBS stations, and in the local newspaper.  Someone at KMTV is particularly interested in us, as they just ran another story on it just a moment ago and they've already posted on their Facebook about it twice (nearly 900 comments since Monday & over 200 comments since noon today).

Guess what kind of attention this one got when it went up months ago in the same town.

A billboard denying, and directly attacking, established scientific facts goes up and no one notices.  A billboard goes up telling atheists they're not alone, with no attack toward anyone, and a media frenzy ensues.

For atheists, simply existing anywhere but the shadows means putting up with a lot of crap.  It should not be like that, and this is why I make a point of being open & vocal about my atheism.  The rest of the country needs to get used to us being here.  We've always been here.  This should be a non-issue.