Pope Francis yesterday used violent rhetoric about punching a friend if they insulted his mother. While I support the Pope’s right to use such rhetoric, in the context of a discussion about free speech, I disagree with its content. I think that it is unhelpful and irresponsible. I think that such language by a public figure […]
I have yet to receive a reply to my email of ten days ago to FreeThought Blogs, in which I asked about the procedures for bringing a complaint about PZ Myers to the attention of their Executive Committee. I have now written a follow-up email. I reproduce both emails below.
PZ Myers has again shown his inability to behave ethically, and his willingness to trivialise rape by casually making serious unsubstantiated allegations, by upgrading his already serious allegation that I defend and provide a haven for rapists, to the even more serious allegation that I also support rapists. Coincidentally, PZ did this shortly before the Freethought Blogs […]
We can hate harmful and unjust ideas and behaviours, without hating the people who believe those ideas or carry out those behaviours. That is an ethically nuanced position, and one that PZ Myers understands, because he sometimes articulates it himself. Indeed, it is the type of ethical nuance that you would expect from a previous Humanist of the […]
After I criticised PZ Myers and others for smearing the atheist movement and individual atheists, PZ responded by falsely accusing me of defending and providing a haven for rapists, and he has now refused for ten weeks to withdraw and apologise for this defamatory smear. In this article I will analyse, quote from, and link to […]
Like PZ Myers, who has repeatedly failed to substantiate or apologise for his false allegation that I defend and provide a haven for rapists, our pseudonymous commenter Theophontes has failed to substantiate or apologise for his false allegation that my “seedy past” involved being associated fascism. This is part of an ongoing pattern whereby PZ […]
Theophontes, a pseudonymous commenter here and on PZ Myers’ blog, perfectly illustrates a key point that I have been making about PZ and some his colleagues, and their reluctance to follow the Golden Rule. Instead, Theophontes switches between two modes of judging people, which I call Charitable Theo and Uncharitable Theo. In this post I […]
PZ Myers has responded to part of my recent post about what would happen if he judged others’ sexism as he judges himself. He responded in a comment on his blog, complete with his now familiar personal abuse (he calls me a fuckhead, an asshole and a demented fuckwit) and misrepresentations of what I have […]
I don’t believe that PZ Myers is sexist. I believe that PZ supports equality for women, and that in his own mind he is trying to advance that aim, using methods that I believe are unjust and hurtful and counterproductive to feminism, equality and social justice. But what would happen if PZ and his colleagues […]
In September 2014, I wrote a review challenging a pattern of misrepresentations and smears in the atheist movement that had started to leak into mainstream media. One of the main culprits, PZ Myers, responded by alleging that I defend, provide a haven for, and support rapists, and he has repeatedly refused to apologise for this […]