I got that off the antitheist forum. They were getting a kick out of it.

The idea of the "New Atheists" was mentioned a while ago. If I remember right a few of the more involved atheists (those that read books and went to atheist discussions and what-not) thought of the term "New Atheist" as a moniker coined by anti-atheist conservatives to put "THEM" in a catagory to create straw-man arguments with.

You know: kinda like "feminazi". A femi-nazi is an unreasonable feminist. So, pointing out how unreasonable femi-nazi's are can never be wrong.

I guess that could be said of almost any incendiary label.

It is an awesome video! :)

I am an atheistic Frank Zappa conservative and I do put the "new atheists" under the category of "them". When someone refers to the new atheists, the person isn't just refering to the ones that are "more involved." Atheists like Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, and Gene Roddenbery inspire me. Richard Dawkins (whose science I often enjoy but I am picking on) is the fucking Pat Roberts of atheism. He deftly argues that there is no convergence between religion and science and never has been. Yet, he completely ignores the fact that science in its infancy was just an incidental side-effect of witch doctors, astrologers and bored priests doing their job. Anyone who selectively ignores obvious and large portions of history for the purpose of championing a dogma, be it religious or arreligious, annoys me. Hence, why I don't want to be lumped in the same category as him. Kind of like the difference between conservative and Neo-Con.

Then again humans are contradictory creatures. Dawkins, I believe, coined the term "meme." As far as I am concerned the concept of memes is nothing but Platonic eidos garbed in scientific trappings. Pointing this out makes me a religion-appreciating "heretic", in the eyes of many who reject the concept of G-d and I don't mind it at all.

Oh and for the record...

Feminazi doesn't specifically mean unreasonable feminist, although it is used in that context. It was a term coined by Tom Hazlett and popularized by Rush Limbaugh. It specifically refers to militant feminists who make it an alleged goal to help facilitate as many abortions as possible. It originally had some tie to eugenics.

Personally, I am intrigued by the idea of Feminazi utopia where strong militant women have dominion over the penile-encumbered and humanity is extrerminated the peaceful way. Then again, I also believe that incendiary labels are there for the purpose of being co-opted and use for humor or empowerment. :)

Edited at 2008-03-30 12:44 pm (UTC)

what annoys me are the evangelical atheists.
those who say there is nothing out there (fine, to each his own), but want to convince beleivers to be atheist too, or who keep blabbing about how atheist they are (like its cool or something).


if you are atheist, does my being wrong in believing in God hurt you? if there is no God/heaven/hell, whats the harm in my fantasy?
if there is no God, what are you trying to save me from, if not the comfort i find in faith?
and if you want to destroy that faith which i find harmless comfort in, then what kind of evil are you?

it's like telling a young child santa is fake. to what end?
unless, of course, you fear you may be wrong as an atheist, and need to find comfort in convincing others you are right, just in case, cause you dont want to be all alone in hell.

a true atheist shouldnt be bothered by somebody eles's lack of atheism.



Gino

Bingo!