Melinda Barton: Bigoted sack of shit, incredibly ignorant asshole, or just a

[Strong Atheist]

Poll question: Melinda Barton: Bigoted sack of shit, incredibly ignorant asshole, or just a

whackjob?

I am voting "Bigoted sack of shit"

And, no, normally I do not curse like this (check my posts), but this issue pissed me off and caused myself and others a lot of grief two and half years ago...


BTW: You can let her know what you think at her website



OOPS! Edited to add the BACKGROUND for those "out of the loop":

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/The_lefts_own_religious_whackjobs_0422.html

[cosmik debris]

1. I bought Futures in the straw market

And my stock goes up every time I see a straw man like this

Outrageous claim number 1: Atheism is based on evidence and reason and is philosophically provable or proven. Atheism is a matter of thought not belief. In other words, atheism is true; religion is false.

That's as far as I could read without barfing.

Normally I avoid Rawstrory like a plague, but just to answer your poll, I paid a visit to your link.

Now I have to take a shower.

[Strong Atheist]

2. Sorry 'bout that. I guess I deserve a

:spank: ing.

BTW, check your PM.

[laconicsax]

3. Well, her second blog post is a detailed explanation of why she intends to vote Mc*/Palin

That post alone takes her from incredibly ignorant asshole to the boundary with bigoted sack of shit.

[Strong Atheist]

9. Hello, thanks for the input!

:hi:

[rrneck]

4. I had to go whackjob

on that one, although ignorant asshole comes a close second.

Religion is inevitable in any culture. I can't think of any culture anywhere now or in history that did not have some sort of religion associated with it. I think that's because faith is inevitable, and whenever a few people of a similar understanding of their faith get together, they start a religion. It's just a physical practice of faith.

Religion doesn't get scary until those who don't choose to practice the faith get persecuted by those who do. That phenomena is almost universal, but not quite. Atheists have taken a lot of guff throughout history. They still do. But at least nobody is getting burned at the stake nowadays (around here...yet).

She's hard to read but it looks she is trying to stake out some sort of position that is neither fish nor fowl. The call to police the atheist extremists presumes some sort of powerful cabal actively trying to undermine religion. I am not aware of any such movement, but it should curry favor with whoever on the religion side she needs to suck up to.

[Strong Atheist]

7. Belated

Welcome to DU! :toast:

[Random_Australian]

5. I'll have to go with BSOS, it's the one that really says "Complete confidence is random assertions"

In my experience, the people who are really good at making something up and then convincing themselves it is a widely held, well supported belief that they did not just make up are bigots.

[Strong Atheist]

6. .

:hi:

[Random_Australian]

18. Hi!

I'm sort of around for a while, before honours starts. :)

[Strong Atheist]

19. And I am

back. Good to see you again! :toast:

[Random_Australian]

22. Well, I'm front!

;) Good to see you again as well. How are you?

[Strong Atheist]

23. Older. MUCH

grumpier.

[enlightenment]

8. Going to have to go with IIA, because I don't think she's

bigoted. She is intolerant and obstinate, but I really define her tripe as massive ignorance - particularly the bit at the end where she started ranting about how a liberal, progressive society has to disavow difference (atheists) because the majority are theists.

That made my brain hurt.

Now, if you'd replace bigoted with ignorant in BSOS, I'd find that a perfect definition!

Nasty piece of work.

[Strong Atheist]

10. Hello!

:hi:

Well, this caused quite a dust-up two and a half years ago, and some of us are STILL pissed about it. There was a LOT more to this, including non-apologies and active attacks by various of the principles involved, so I think I will stick with BSOS.

[enlightenment]

15. No problem. I remember the incident . . .

(I just don't post a lot - particularly when very high emotions are running).

She's a tool, for sure. I was just quibbling over word usage! Dyed in the wool pedant, I am . . . :evilgrin:

[Starry Messenger]

11. I voted BSS.

I can't believe people defended her here. Finding out she voted for McCain/Palin is not a big surprise to me. Her appalling rant about Obama at her website makes her sound like Harriet Christian.

[Strong Atheist]

12. Hi!

:hi:

Thanks for the support!

[Starry Messenger]

13. No problem.

I was just an atheist lurker when all that went down here. I read the threads, though. Now I remember why I have some folks on ignore. Hint: none of them are the atheists...:D

[Strong Atheist]

14. Oh, yeah,

I started using "ignore" at that same time. Those people will
*NEVER* come off that list. :grr:

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Hah! She turned out to be a foaming-at-the-mouth PUMA

As far as I can tell, the editor who has commissioned her piece, and defended her so enthusiastically, Avery Walker, left Raw Story not long after. Whether the amount of feedback that he got about insulting his readers had any bearing in that, I don't know.

[Strong Atheist]

21. Wow, I did not know about

Walker. Thanks for the info! :yourock:



Good riddance to bad rubbish!

:party:

[EvolveOrConvolve]

17. I didn't vote

because I can make a case for her being all of the above.

The posting of that story was about the time that I realized that Raw Story was neither Raw nor filled with great Stories. It was also about the time that I realized that most "progressives" don't give a shit about atheists - we're a voting bloc to be used, and very little else. Obama has only strengthened that view.

[Strong Atheist]

20. "I didn't vote"

That's cool.

"I realized that most "progressives" don't give a shit about atheists"

Yeah, I am very careful about revealing my atheism in the real world. It is nice to be "out of the closet" here, even if many so called "allies" would still hate me for being an atheist...

[beam me up scottie]

24. kick n/t