The Atheism+ Moment
And just to demonstrate my hypocrisy after repudiating violence, muha...
I got this off tumblr, can’t positively ID the original artist. Description: Charmingly low-fi political art. Three sad looking dudebros are being assaulted from off-panel. One is being punched, one kicked. One has a hand with painted sharp nails driving the middle finger up his nose. The caption reads: PROTECT UNDERAGE GIRLS FROM CREEPS IN THEIR 20s
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...when they are allowed to set the tone of our culture’s discourse. On one hand, we have shitty theocratic warmongers trying to sweep as much of the world as possible into a “clash of civilizations” between apocalyptic religious armies so that they can gain a tiny measure of violent power on earth, and on the other hand we have the exact same thing.
One posse has qurans, the other bibles. Somewhere buzzing around the feet of the bible-based ones in feasty-eyed excitement are atheist and dominionist mosquitoes, doing their best to feed the narrative that stirs the most macho sauce in their reptile brains. Around the feet of the quran thumpers, the exact same shit in reverse – islamist terrorists and those who support them.
I recognize the toxic macho mentality, because I’ve tasted it. It doesn’t always feel like what it is. You can start with a good intention, a passion for justice or something right and good. I’m frustrated by endless tales of violence in the Middle East. It seems so hopeless and miserable and shitty, that Macho Iguana Satan starts to feel like violence is the only answer. Not earnestly, but enough to say some ludicrous callous shit to that effect (having trouble finding the link just now).
But at the end of the day, I keep seeing that the person who resists violence is right, even if they can’t fucking win. So you will find me in the section with the losers, one more shitty day.
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There’s this anti-Dawkins article by someone who is generally pro-theist, from what I gather, and I didn’t read the whole thing. But I did see this lovely line:
“Much of the atheist/humanist/secularist movement is now embarrassed by him, and repelled by the zeal of his cult of personality.”
...and it made me feel fucking fantastic.
Because I don’t want people to judge me as an atheist by the things RD says and does, but it seems impossible to break through the way his mug has become associated with the brand. This little item tells me that mainstream society just might be able to see that he doesn’t represent us all. More of this, please.
In some progressive quarters, every mention of the association of fedoras (/trilbies/whatever the fuck you wanna quibble terminology of) and regressive creeps – particularly MRAs, misogynist atheists, and their very round looking Venn diagram – draws vociferous cries of “Darn those guys for ruining hats! My hat is different!”
Guess what? They may have ruined any and all things that go on heads except for skin, hair, tattoos, and piercings. But these hats have always looked dorky as fuck. I used to wear ‘em too. Still wear a straw hat on a sunny day for my bald domepiece. But when I was into it? It was because I was a raging dorkwad. I still am, but I’ve learned a few things over the years. One of them? Brimmed hats on white geeks were never ever cool.
Unless you’re in the hundredth of a hundredth percentile of dapperest motherfuckers on the planet (if you’re wondering, you aren’t), THEY ARE DORKY HATS. WEARING ONE IS A DORK BADGE, like a utilikilt. You can dress how you like, just as you can say what you like. But you can’t make the words you say become truth if they’re lies, and you can’t make a fedora cool because it ain’t.
For my money, proper response to such a situation? “At least I know my hat makes me look like a dork, and I’m cool with that.” Or squall in denial, I guess it’s no big either way. But it seems kinda shit to me A) since you’re whining about women ripping on fashion – a reasonably harmless way for those victimized by misogyny to punch up, and B) weh weh.
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Johnboy Gregweiler
— April 30, 2015 at 8:45 pm
Great American Satan
— April 30, 2015 at 9:34 amIncidentally, this post was directed at my fellow progressives – people I should probably be more kind with, because they mean well. To all y’all, lemme drop a little love here. <3
To misogynist bully boys who love fedoras,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD XD
Johnboy Gregweiler
— April 30, 2015 at 10:36 am“I guess it’s just super weird to me that to some people, a few instances of violence during a protest is enough to delegitimize an entire movement, but piles of evidence showing sustained corruption and racism and literally hundreds of civilian deaths per year at the hands of the police is still not enough to delegitimize the police.”
And to make this post less articulate and more ragey, I add my own thought: When will the goddamn motherfucking media come correct? Fuck CNN.
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“Iron Spike” on Twitter – apparently a pretty successful artist and publisher in indie & web comics – said this thing I can’t find on their feed (so I link to someone else’s tumblr):
“The worst thing about nerds who become bullies is you’ll never convince them they’re anything but victims.”
This was about goobergate I think, but you can see it all over the place. The textbook case is Mike Krahulik, who I’m retroactively ashamed to say I shook the hand of one time in the ’90s. I haven’t identified with the labels “nerd” and “geek” in years, and there is no community of nerds I don’t look at with my Side-eye of Skepticism +5.
From blogger Dances with Fat,
Helpful Phrases at the Doctor’s Office
Changing the narrative to a more progressive one is an important goal. No one should have to defend their perception of their own gender and what they want to do medically or otherwise with regard to that, and it is right to fight against truscum (linked article less than ideal, proceed with caution), who act as self-appointed gatekeepers of trans identity. But there is a huge problem with the following article. A tumblr user wrote this:
The substance of this article was not archived. It is lost media. Those links do work on the Internet Archive.
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...Another form of incarnate madness emerged from a shadowed thicket uphill. It was an impassive cat, wearing only stripes and tiny sneakers. He pushed off with his skateboard and rolled casually over the crest of the hill. The world below called to him in a devil’s chorus, and he heeded the call with action.
His name was Mr. Fuzzybottom. He was trouble.
Sparks leapt from the cat’s trucks as he rode his board down a hand rail on a stairwell. Esoteric petroleum-based wheels left their trace in the chemical soup at the base of the stairs, a loud clack, a flying feline silhouetted against a streetlamp, and the roar of the wheels’ turn resumed.
The concrete sidewalk had eroded to a jagged sea of tiny stones, scoring the board’s wheels in a million tiny cuts. The cat was impassive. The board was to use, not to love. Love was nothing.
The cat roared past some timid humans, who seemed to sense that this was not a being to regard as cute. They shuddered, and resumed breathing tentatively....
I had a cat named Mochi. When he was young, he was rather attractive, earning him the nickname Mocherson Cooper (among many others). His face looked unexpressive to humans, but he had personality in there, inspiring writing such as the excerpt above.
He had a lot of problems. My poverty was one of them, though I did spend thousands of dollars on his healthcare over the years. My decision making was another of his problems – probably causing his last day to be much more painful than it could have been.
But he doesn’t have any problems now.
I should have let you go sooner. Sindios, dude.
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