1. Sex for diploma offer caught on tape

Comment #164251 by skyhook0 on April 19, 2008 at 8:55 pm

I also don't see what the point of this is. It's one random guy committing a crime. I'm a fan of Richard Dawkins because of a commitment to reason. Picking out this one guy and pretending it somehow proves anything is quite /un/reasonable.

2. Secular Fundamentalists: There is no such thing...and the AAI conference doesn't make atheism a movement, either.

Comment #88413 by skyhook0 on November 16, 2007 at 2:08 pm

Hmm... I posted my comments after a long day at the bar and I don't think I actually read the article. Not sure what I was trying to say... so, they are withdrawn.

3. Secular Fundamentalists: There is no such thing...and the AAI conference doesn't make atheism a movement, either.

Comment #88310 by skyhook0 on November 15, 2007 at 11:37 pm

There is such a thing as secular fundamentalists. It's obvious that there are some people among us who are unthinking adherents to a dogma - only in their case they happen to have chosen one that's correct. In /Genome/ or /Agile Gene/ - I forget which - Matt Ridley says that religion isn't heritable, but zealotry is. There are clearly some atheists who would be right at home in the crusades, but by what appears to be sheer luck, are in fact correct in their metaphysical assumptions. They are blind squirrels who have found a nut. I don't agree with this article, but I think all of us who wish to make atheism a publicly acceptable stance ought to think twice before giving a full endorsement to the RRS and the like. The "blind squirrels" will be every bit as unable to defend their position (though it happens to be correct) as any priest, because they don't have the intellectual chops. I've witnessed it. Those of us who put our "faith," such as it is, in reason, should avoid associating with them.

4. 1996 Richard Dimbleby Lecture

Comment #73001 by skyhook0 on September 23, 2007 at 6:24 pm

What exactly would a "show for atheists" be? It seems to me like every show that isn't about religion is a show for atheists. It's not a particularly interesting fact that there is no God, and I'm not sure how there would be a show about that. What matters is, there is no God, so now what? Every show that features history, science, or (good) philosophy is a show about the "now what" and should thus provide plenty of viewing material for atheists.

Also - Dawkins came down hard on the X-files - boo. That show was great and clearly took place in a fantasy world - there were aliens and vampire pizza boys, to name a few of its inhabitants.

5. Larry King Interviews Kathy Griffin

Comment #71351 by skyhook0 on September 18, 2007 at 1:43 pm

I thought this comment was fine. I'm pretty shocked to see this held up as an example of an "errant cat" on this website, which stands so firmly behind RRS etc. The "God made my football team win" attitude is one of the most disgusting parts of "faith," and also one of the criticisms of faith that is most easily accepted by the mainstream. This seems to be a fine example of lampooning an aspect of many people's faith that the average viewer can agree is despicable. I'm really at a loss for how this gets criticized while RSS gets lauded here.

6. Open letter to YouTube video

Comment #70392 by skyhook0 on September 15, 2007 at 9:34 am

I worked for the summer at a copyright policy group, this stuff happens all the time. Bad faith misuse of the DMCA like this ought to be severely punished.