Some of you will have read recently that PZ Myers stuck his oar in where it wasn’t wanted by supporting Rebecca Watson talking nonsense, and even coming over here to comment about it. It had nothing to do with him, but in true egocentric fashion, he made it all about him. Quelle Surprise.
Also, lately, and more famously, Thunderf00t has been booted from FreeThoughtBlogs for speaking his mind and not towing the party line over there. (Despite being given assurances that he could blog on whatever he wanted).
All in all, the once respected FTB has become a laughing stock. PZ in particular is now, unfortunately, a complete joke to most sceptics, on a par with his good friend, and even more ignorant/arrogant, Rebecca Skepchick Watson.
In fact, across the blogosphere there is only one site I can find where the users consistently suck up to the FTB crew (apart from the commenters on FTB itself). That is the HeresyClub.com – a site with blogs by young (in mind and body) apparent freethinkers who think freely about things as long as it fits in with who they choose to pander to on any given week. I’ve been on a ton of sites and forums in the past two weeks, and have been glad to see that very few think of FTB as anything other than a bit of a joke anymore. Personally, I think it’s a shame that Maryam Namazie still blogs there as she is being unnecessarily tarnished.
Today, via twitter, I noticed that a new website has popped up. A parody site of FTB called Freethoughtblahgs (http://www.freethoughtblahgs.com/). There’s nothing new, and often not much clever, about parody sites, but this one is brilliant. The content is hilarious, and the thing that really struck a chord with me when reading it is how similar to the real ‘ftb’ it was. This just shows that FTB has mostly become so ludicrous in its bloggers use of blinkered hyperbole and strawmanning that it is hard to distinguish from a website essentially mocking it for such behaviour.
I fully expect the usual crew to rip into me for writing this, however, it’s my opinion and that of many many people, so I’m no longer worried about the reactions I’ll get.
‘Skeptics’ can be as partisan and sycophantic as theists sometimes, and never has this been so obvious as in the past few weeks. These people need to stop hero-worshipping, grow up, and actually see things through the eyes of experience and realism, not juvenile idealism.
11 Comments
There’s nothing young about Rhys Morgan’s body. They call him ‘The Pendulum’ for a reason.
If someone speaks out in support of FtB, are they “sucking up”, being “sycophants” or are they maybe just “being nice”? Personally I like some of the bloggers on there, don’t like others and am ambivalent about the rest. Isn’t it possible to see someone as inspiring and interesting without it being called “hero worship”?
Although, I admit I find it hard to keep up with the minutiae of all this, so I can only speak from my own point of view.
That said, that FtB parody site is quite funny. (Oh no, I put my foot in it, now…)
Not all positive talk is “hero worship”.
But the vomit inducing pandering shown by some is beyond simple sycophancy and has started to appear a bit creepy.
You are spot on about PZ and his minions. Remember, not all skeptics/atheists are truly that smart. Being one only makes you a few IQ points above a theist. Keeping dogma, one’s ego, and personal bias out of rational thinking is the hard part, and the part that most of these people cannot seem to get their heads around.
Surprise, surprise, the only criticism I’m getting about this is from the Heresy Clubbers, Benson, and their little band of merry suck ups.
It would seem a few of them jumped the gun by naming someone as the creator of the blog in the above post.
They are now backpedaling that claim.
It’s becoming harder and harder for me to remain neutral in this.
Where did they do that?
PZ and Stephanie Zvan both did. PZ has backed off, but Zvan has doubled down on her claim.
Oh, dear, I poked around on the parody site and found this:
Um, why is that supposed to be funny? Satire that points out someone else’s mean-spiritedness can be funny. (Jokes about Dick Cheney come to mind.) This, though, looks like a mean-spirited attempt at humor against someone who, generally speaking, hasn’t been mean, and I find that about as funny as seeing a kitten get kicked in the head.
Thanks for sharing, J.J., I care so much about it, I’m not going to go look.
Satire can sometimes play differently to some people. Sometimes satire isn’t satire.
Btw, on youtube there is a video of a doberman kicking a kitten in the head. It spins across the kitchen floor. It then runs back at the doberman and attacks its nose. I chuckled.
Hilarious! I really like these.