I have been watching a lot of Richard Dawkins on YouTube recently. Now, when I mentally contrast the allegations I hear about Dawkins being a firebrand, a furious mob-riler, intellectually lazy, and just plain ol' RONG, I have to laugh.
Dawkins listens patiently while brainless godbots drone on without sense or organization to their thoughts, and usually lets them finish before responding. He never uses hateful language against his opponents, and never raises his voice when arguing (even when he really should, because the other person is shouting him down!) I have heard him say "fuck", but only when quoting someone else. The man speaks in paragraphs. I occasionally find some view he espouses slightly annoying, but that's because I think I'm rather more tolerant of wishy-washy feel-good religion than he is. His logic is always impeccable; he is concerned first and foremost with equality, and justice, and mutual intelligibility.
The man is the very picture of British reserve, civility, and articulation, in short. Contrast him with Hitchens or Harris if you want to see what anger and true impatience with religion really look like.
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Ah yes, Hitchens:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=k7SFlbzkv4Q
That was a fun event and the caustic public persona of Hitchens was less in evidence, I guess because he was very much among friends.
Yeah, I think the reason Dawkins gets a bad rap is the provocative titles he uses for his books, movies, etc -- stuff like "The God Delusion" and "Root of all Evil?" In actuality he is much more reserved and genteel than all this might suggest.
But the fact of the matter is, sometimes you have to say provocative things to get noticed in modern society. And I'd say Dawkins has done a fairly good job of that. People who are willing to listen to what he says instead of just tearing him apart on account of a few titles will find that he's a eminently reasonable man, and will be glad that they took the time out of their days to find out what this "God delusion" guy was really out to say. Those who don't take the time to listen -- their loss.
I'd be happy to compare religious conversion/deconversion stories with you, btw...e-mail me at diftorhehsmusma at gmail dot com :).
when someone is called the kinds of names prof dawkins has been called, it's quite clear that the nuts in the god camp perceive him as a threat, and as someone who can get the truth across.
I adore RD for those same reasons.
So cool to find a fellow vegan atheist! We're a rare breed. ;)
I'm not sure if you are the same Vegan Atheist who commented on comments in your You Tube videos?
In the "Stupid Muslim Comments" video #6, the "Vegan Atheist" says he thinks "people came from apes. What do you think..
I will say this for Richard Dawkins, he scoffs at people who believe that, yes. He is a biologist and therefore we assume somewhat intelligent and educated. He believes the theory of evolution and that "humans and apes share a common ancestor" but not that humans evolved from apes.
I hope vegans and atheists everywhere will think before they speak or write on the internet.
It isn't only others who make stupid comments.
"If you want to dish it, then you can take it", but like I said, I don't know if you are that person.
If you RSVP I wouldn't mind. I have my own blog as well.
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