Rebecca has a post about a Facebook clash on Saturday, in which Jessica Ahlquist posted a witty picture of herself imitating the emoticon
and a bunch of men came along to say she was hot and should go post on the “Sexy Atheists” page. Rhys Morgan commented that that was creepy, and the clash ensued. I happened to see it at an early stage so I chimed in, and soon afterward so did Rebecca. The usual thing – lots of squawking about humorless feminazi arglebargle blah – lots of guys posting 50 comments to say “why are you making such a fuss?!” The usual the usual; you could write it in your sleep. But Rebecca has a good analysis (and she has Jessica’s permission to post the whole thing).
I particularly like the opening paragraphs:
A lot of atheists who were once religious talk about their de-conversion as a metaphorical opening of their own eyes. Of course, those who find religion often feel the same way: “I once was blind but now I see.” This is an obvious way of describing what happens when you have a sudden realization that changes your entire outlook on life.
It would be wonderful if those who experience that change took as a lesson the fact that there may always be something big and obvious about the way the world works, that we may be missing. But instead it seems as though it’s more common that once someone has their particular realization, they assume that now they’ve got it all figured out.