Shit Skeptics Say

“Dude, Phil Plait accepted my friend request.” <- LOVE.

Doctor Who reference FTW!

Not relevant but: 
The Proclaimers “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”, here’s the cast and crew special for the end of David Tennant’s tenure as the Doctor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s4Czla6tXc 
I like Mat Smith but the tenth is my Doctor 😛

“I’m not using any elevators at TAM”
“You’re not gunna see me talking to any girls at TAM”

I wonder if the feminist issues raised lately will end up just scaring some men away from talking to women entirely at conferences. The debate about etiquette and how to properly treat women has become so hostile it’s not worth the risk of becoming the next Elevator Guy by accident.

And in case you missed it, Shit Atheists Say

“You know what Christopher Hitchens said..”

(and I say ‘actually’ waaay too often)

LOL!  I’ve said the one about Neil deGrasse Tyson!

Way overhanded on the sexism stuff. I just ended up thinking he was probably an asshole.

Thank you for the mad props, sir!!!

Seriously?
LOL

How so. I thought it was pretty light.

Let’s be honest about what this video is — “Shit Male Skeptics Say,” not “Shit Skeptics Say.”  I’d have shared it if he hadn’t hammered all the sexism crap.

He also had a couple of pickup lines along with the sexism crap.

Is irony a male-only thing?

It certainly seemed to me like he was mocking the sexist stuff oblivious male skeptics were saying this past summer.

I just ended up thinking the same about you. An uptight one.

I just ended up thinking the same about you. Probably an uptight one.

I just ended up thinking the same about you. Probably an uptight one.

I can’t believe people take crap like Ghost Hunters or any other ghost show seriously. My uncle loves those shows and he believes that they are really contacting ghosts. I am not sure if he still does, but he used to be a firm believer that John Edwards was actually communicating with the dead. 😛 

Unfortunately  Marissa C. is right. Women are not equipped with the tools required to understand or appreciate irony or self-deprecating humor. Knowing this I would never dream of creating satire with the hope that a woman could comprehend it. It’s also a well known fact that NO WOMEN in the skeptic movement have ever expressed any dismay at the ‘sexist’ accusations of fellow female skeptics. Why would a female skeptic EVER accuse another female skeptic of sexism? (they both have vaginas, right?) And I didn’t think skeptical women were allowed to not believe that Richard Dawkins was sexist.   Sorry Drew

We laugh at these skeptical responses because we’ve all heard them, and most of us have said at least some of them. Their repetition makes them sound cliche. The same thing goes for the Shit Atheists Say video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdiSYdvN3dg&feature=youtu.be

They’re only repeated because the idiotic claims they’re responding to are repeated cliches. I’ve used some of these responses many times, because gullible people bring the same silly ideas to me over and over again. Sometimes I think that if I hear Pascal’s Wager or “This will cleanse your toxins” one more time, I’ll go tear-the-paper-off-the-walls mad. The tedium of having to listen to the same old general public woo, both religious and non-religious woo, is so painful, we’re now laughing at the tedium of our own replies.

I would love to hear a brand new idea once in a while, silly or sound, so I could respond with a fresh, thoughtful, non-cliched reply.

If I were you, I wouldn’t try talking to any women at atheist conventions. 

Actually, that’s a myth.

You have a right to not be asked a question? That’s absurd. The point of this whole movement is that nobody has the right to remain comfortably unchallenged.

I do appreciate the concerns women have. I wasn’t implying that the issues raised were unwarranted. My point is the bitterness that you admit to raising is also a problem when it gets to the level of hostility that you literally tell me straight up that I shouldn’t speak to women at all at conferences. These debates have the result of both, as you say, turning women with legitimate concerns into female atheist pariahs, as well as turning men who make mistakes or unintentionally have bad manors into dirtbag scum.

“Oh me.”

That was my favorite.  I haven’t used that one…yet.

Alexa, I wonder if jus-de-fux and A-Port realize just how much their responses only reinforce your point. Are they seriously considering themselves to be skeptics? Dubitable, as is some of their genders at least in my eyes. But let’s not get too deep into such soul-searching. Surely we can elevate the debate. Or maybe bury it like the dead horse it ought to be by now.

As for this Larry Guy, maybe he could turn down the hurt-male-privilege scale a few points?

This by way of unnecessary apology for being of the x-y kind of person I happen to be. (Oh btw, you gonna frequent any elevators at all around Feb 14, late-ish?;) Yes, I understand I’m kind of late to this party, too.

Being asked a question does NOT equate to being propositioned for sex by a strange man, especially in a situation where you are alone and in an unfamiliar territory. The fact you even try to equate the two is absurd, and is a gross minimization of the issues female atheists face. I have the right to go to a convention and not be made to feel uncomfortable by men – plain and simple. That is NOT an idea that needs to be challenged in any way, shape or form.

If this attitude of yours is the majority among men that fill the halls of an atheist convention, I would not be interested in attending. I would hope that atheist males – claiming to be people of reason – would embrace feminism (the fight for the equality of the sexes), and thus, actually LISTEN to women’s concerns.

These debates are necessary discussions the atheist community needs to have, no matter how ugly they may get. Women are grossly underrepresented in our community, and there is clearly a reason for it. And the bitterness I, and many other female atheists feel, is more than justified. We can’t even voice our complaints without being shut down, ignored, or mansplained to.

You’re free to talk to any women you want to atheist conventions, but personally, I think you still have a lot of work to do when it comes to your approach to women and their concerns in the atheist community. When you can see only how women’s concerns and voices will affect men, you simply aren’t getting it.

“I have the right to go to a convention and not be made to feel uncomfortable by men – plain and simple.”

Why? How do you justify this? I’d love to be able to prohibit all sorts of people from making me feel uncomfortable. Can you help me hook that up?

Yawn.

When you can see only how women’s concerns and voices will affect men, you simply aren’t getting it.

I actually do understand the issue, and as I said, how women are treated in our community is of legitimate concern. Your assumption that I only see it from the perspective of how it effects men is completely incorrect. I try to look at it from both perspectives. That should be admirable, not condemned. You’ve attacked me bitterly for it though, only because I’m trying to point out that the aggressive bitterness of the debate has an effect on men. That’s not to say men are victims of feminism or how it effects men is all that matters.

if “I’m not using any elevators at TAM” and “You’re not gunna see me talking to any girls at TAM” are “shit skeptics say”, then that could be a problem, couldn’t it? Or is that of no concern at all? If men are steering clear of women at atheist conferences, is that a desired result? Is that something women want? Is that what you want?