My Favorite So Far: ‘No, It’s Not Your Opinion. You’re Just Wrong’

photo of a child crying
My Mommy says I’m never wrong….

A link to the essay ‘No, It’s Not Your Opinion. You’re Just Wrong’ came across my Facebook feed the other day and I fell in love with it. If I could I would have the post’s babies. Writer Jef Rouner sums up exactly how I feel when someone tries to avoid being wrong by saying ‘It’s my opinion..’. I am saving this text for the future because I will need it.

Continue reading “My Favorite So Far: ‘No, It’s Not Your Opinion. You’re Just Wrong’”

Nobody Expects The Atheist Tone Police!

image of a man and woman arguing

A tendency with organized atheists that burns me up sometimes is the need to tone police other atheists. Basically someone will have a problem with how someone says something – especially if it’s provocative or might be offensive to believers or even other atheists. So it might seem ironic that I will tone police an essay, written by Ed Brayton, I read yesterday. I’ve been told for years that we need to tell people what we are for and not what we are against but that doesn’t seem to apply when speech is policed by other atheists. I just see far more ‘don’t do this’ and not enough ‘this is better’ essays. These police actions sap energy from organized atheism and actually doesn’t fix anything.

I want to state, out of the gate, that Ed Brayton can say and write anything he wants. I don’t have a problem with Ed or his viewpoints in general. I like his blog and he’s a credit to organized atheists** every where. I happen to disagree with a post:

Continue reading “Nobody Expects The Atheist Tone Police!”

First Twitter Argument and Win

I try to avoid arguments on twitter as the 140 character limit isn’t good for the kind of thought out rational arguments I like. Today I got into one by mistake and in the end the person agreed with me so it was a lot of heat for no reason.

This is how it started. A progressive I follow had this to say after the Glenn Beck “rally” farce:

Today, 8-28-10, we witnessed, first hand, the regression of our nation.

The word “regression” threw me off because the whites who fear minorities and change have been around for hundreds of years so the Beck rally was just proof that bigoted whites who hate change exist. So I tweeted:

Beckapoloza wasn’t proof of regression only confirms some white people afraid of change

Then my like minded opponent said:

Sorry but I disagree.The Teaparty is a sign of regression & actively promoting it;feeding off of ignorance & bigotry.

So I needed more than 140 characters to explain myself so I used 3 tweets:

it would be regression if it didn’t exist before but it has always been there under the radar during Bush but open now

Tea Party type people have always been bigots and voted against their best interest in the name of social issues

and the GOP and other conservatives have used the Tea Party types to win office

At first she agreed but then sent:

The regressive state of mind has a political movement now;it’s called the teaparty. Is there no RWNJ around to argue with?

Which I responded:

No argument just your word “regression” threw me thats all I don’t follow nut jobs because I don’t like talking to a brick wall

So she sent a final tweet:

For there to be regression there must have been progression. Definition: http://bit.ly/9PjXq9 You’re wrong, sorry.

It was at that point I just sent a tweet saying:

Okay Cool Thanks

Well I wasn’t wrong. She made my point. For the tea baggers at Beck’s rally to have regressed there had to have been progression. However the bigoted white minority who fear change have always been there. For it to be a regression they would have had to not been bigoted and afraid of change until Beck and his right wing pundits came along.

I don’t think it has gotten worse only more media attention makes it seem it is increasing in volume.

People who attended Beck’s “rally” are those who are the most committed people, who fall for his “Lonesome Rhodes” act. These people never venture outside their Beck bubble to become better informed about the issues. These people also seem to always vote against their own interests and the GOP and cheap labor conservatives like Glenn Beck feed on that.

Sorry twitter friend, I was right.