Atheism+, Skepchick, FtB feminists going all out in attempt to destroy the skeptic movement: Ben Radford and physicist Lawrence Krauss accused of sex assault, Bill Nye accused of harassment, DJ Grothe accused of misogyny, Michael Shermer ACCUSED OF RAPE by PZ Myers. This is beyond fucking insane.

Jesus_marley · 2013-08-09T12:32:46+00:00

This is what happens when people who claim to to be rational get co-opted by the new religion. Seriously, the level of hypocrisy here is off the fucking scale. People claiming to be rational, to be skeptical, to demand evidence, are running off the rails at the mere mention of rape, assault, or harassment and are throwing out hearsay as the standard of proof and denouncing anybody who raises an eyebrow at their ridiculous expectations as misogynists. Do they not realize just how fucking foolish they are showing themselves to be? And to top it off, they implement malware to block and report as spam anybody who dares to speak out against their cult of victimization. The stupid, it burns.

Everything_Is_Rape · 2013-08-09T17:10:27+00:00

Skepticism as a concept encourages people to "withhold belief without evidence"...this is inherently misogynistic as it inherently requires women to produce some "proof" before their sexual assault claims will be taken seriously.

Skepticism IS rape.

GenderEqualityKing · 2013-08-09T14:41:13+00:00

All I know is, once I set a few emails to a feminist "journalist" addressing some of my disagreements with her point of view. The feminist journalist's email was publicly available on her twitter page and on her blog.

She never responded but tweeted about my emails publicly to mock me and referred to me as a "stalker" for sending them "unsolicited" (her words, not mine). She sent me an email telling me not to contact her, and I haven't communicated with her since.

But is this really harassment? I've sent emails to political pundits, syndicated columnists, bloggers and vloggers (both males and females), but none of them ever accused me of sending messages to them "unsolicited," not when they made their contact information publicly available. Is the standard different for female journalists than it is for, say, political commentators generally? Or other activists? I'm asking in all seriousness because I find the whole thing a little confusing.

DavidByron · 2013-08-09T15:33:21+00:00

I haven't read all of them, but I don't doubt the sincerity of their claims. However, I do doubt the validity of them. Let me explain.

Over at FtB's, they have slowly turned into an echo chamber. Public spaces that openly listen to others tend to have a good appreciation for other views, and will generally fall into a fairly narrow and moderate opinion that is usually pretty close to being coherent with reality. The FtB and A+ communities are explicitly not public spaces which has resulted in them becoming an echo chamber. That has, both historically and in this case, bred a very extreme group-think opinion. It is the same type of community like RadFemHub is (remember, the forum that thinks boys should be exterminated). They are not far off from believing things like "any alcohol means rape" and "any hetero sex is rape because patriarchy". The above articles have me a little shocked that they have gone so far. I figured they weren't there, and may never get there, but it appears that I was wrong.

I'm sure that, at least in some of these cases, they believe it was rape in hindsight, based on the angry yelling and polarized views of the community. So I don't believe it is necessarily malicious, only ignorant. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." - Robert J. Hanlon

I was once an avid reader of PZ Myers. Then, one day, angered by a post he wrote (some christian was doing something heinous), that I just had to follow the original link (something I rarely did). After reading it, I found the person to be very mild, and PZ's characterization was nothing more than his own imbued narrative. I started following more and more links, and found that he was embellishing almost everything with a pretty ridiculous slant (think Bill O'Reilly or Glenn Beck for right wing examples of the same tactics). But I kept reading for the news about the community.

An aside: I came to atheism on my own. I knew no atheists, and didn't even really have the word in my vocabulary (I thought it meant something akin to satanist). When I was in a catholic Jr High, I came out in religion class and said "I don't think there is a god". That shocked everyone. They asked if I was an atheist, and I said "NO!" (I didn't know the actual definition until a few years later). I came to that conclusion based on my own reasoning (Who wrote the bible? How can we prove that? How do we know its not a fairy tale? How do we know Christianity is correct and not Buddhism or Islam? etc).

Then Elevatorgate... I started to really become irritated that a small group seemed to derail conversation and just began to shout down dissenting views. I didn't have any issue with Rebecca's original call, "don't do that". It seemed mild, and understandable. Sure, the guy was awkward, but did nothing wrong. Then the hive mind flipped shit and started screaming that he was a horrible misogynist. That's when I realized that many people aren't atheists for the same reason I am. Many are in it for the "social justice" as a way to work against a religion. Instead of coming to the conclusion based on logical reasoning, they come to it based on their feelings of social oppression. To me, thats a terrible reason; there are plenty of progressive religions, but to each their own.

After that whole fiasco, I was reading my feed one day and was presented with a PZ article that was no more than a sentence or two. All it said was "heres some woman's article, go read it". In my mind, I said, "here we go again, telling men how to behave. Telling good, moderate men that they are rapists. I don't need someone being condescending again". I opened it, and it was a nice, well written article about science, the very reason I started reading his blog in the first place. That's when it hit me, he only promoted women based on their ability to condescendingly shout down men. So few articles of any real merit were promoted by him if they were written by a woman. It was like he couldn't accept that women were able to contribute. And thats when I unsubscribed.

His blog basically gave his ego a giant boost. Now, he is just pushing people away that don't agree with him for the selfish need to self-aggrandize. I won't give him or his cronies any more consideration. We should be protecting these accused people, but not giving FtB any more of our time.

girlwriteswhat · 2013-08-09T12:39:49+00:00

After reading around, for being a community of skeptics they sure believe everything they read.

I rather wait and see how everything unfolds. It seems there's no evidence (or so it seems), so it's a quite tricky situation, especially when we're supposed to just believe 100% of what someone anonymous is saying (according to many comments I saw there). I don't discard that it happened, but we have to be patient and not rush to cast a judgement.

intensely_human · 2013-08-09T14:27:23+00:00

This is a gem. So, after vouching for his friend's claim that they were "raped" (already, we can see the sort of evidence that sways PZ) by Lawrence Krauss, PZ Myers says, "There were a number of Big Names in my field whose work I really liked, and I thought they were good people…and I didn’t notice at the time how the women grad students avoided being anywhere near them. It sunk in slowly, over a number of years."

I've run into this with women grad students as well. What PZ Myers is really talking about (it's easy to tell because he's a terrible liar) is that there is a women grad student's rumour mill whose time is taken up mostly in sharing clues about who does and who does not have "a problem with women". The information that gets released into these cabals mostly purports to be of the empathic variety, but in reality is a combination of wishful thinking, misunderstandings, manipulation, revenge, jealousy and other tortured pettiness. When pressed, these characterizations almost always cash out as as some minor grievance (often unjustified) that has been interpreted as an indication of a deep hatred of women.

If I went to the men grad students and complained about how some female professor has "a problem with men", I assure you, they would not be swayed without a significant volume of evidence. But, the same thing said of a male professor? Well, you know.

BeginnerSociologist · 2013-08-09T12:17:11+00:00

Wow, that Myers shit...

an accusation I can’t personally vouch for, except to say that I know the author, and that she’s not trying to acquire notoriety (she wants her name kept out of it)?

As if the only possible ulterior motive is notoriety. (But I thought making a rape accusation was a terrible re-victimizing ordeal that nobody would ever want to go through if they hadn't actually been raped? Never mind that it's not possible to re-victimize someone who was never a victim in the first place.)

In the comments:

I would rather believe the claim and cost Shermer some paid speaking gigs, than to assume that his accuser is a liar who gains nothing but years of abuse for daring to make the claim.

Yeah, that anonymous tipster is really going to get just so much harassment. It'll be an outrage, I'm sure.

PoliticalCry · 2013-08-09T14:48:42+00:00

That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.

That being said, Myers is looking for a lawsuit.

ThePigman · 2013-08-09T11:41:41+00:00

Wow, Myers is really asking for a massive lawsuit. His intellectual cred has long been dead, soon his wallet will follow.

2013-08-09T14:03:46+00:00

I'm beginning to wonder if there is a bigger picture here. The easiest way to commit character assasaination, is to imply that illicit sexual behavior has found place between that character and some percieved victim. It doesn't matter if the allegation is true or not; the other persons livelihood will still have been tarnished.

Whenever huge companies or governments want a group of people to shut up, or oppress certain thoughts or behaviors within a population, they find a way to undermine the ethos of leading figures within that movement.

The skeptic community has been growing, and has begun to inform peoples opinions and thoughts pretty heavily over the past decade. Now tell me: Is there really anyone in power, whether they be corporations, organizations, or politicians who are interested in having such a vibrant skeptical consumer/voter community?

A civilian who doesn't question, complain, think for himself, and just follows orders is a good citizen. How do these people: Karen Stollznow, Carie Poppy, Jeniffer McCreight and the others even gain any kind of foothold to begin with? Do they recieve funding, and if so - from where?

Accusation of sexual misconduct is the absolute best way to get someone to shut the hell up, and to shout a critic into silence.

sillymod · 2013-08-09T16:45:38+00:00

I am really confused... how can people claim to be "skeptics" and yet believe that they are in the correct position to judge an un-prosecuted accusation?

If I were told by someone that they were raped/harassed/whatever, I would console them and try to make them feel better, as any compassionate person would. If the story I am told seems credible, then I would encourage them to seek legal recourse. But it is not mine, or anyone else's place to try to ruin the life of someone by spreading the claims without the claims being true.

Look at what happened with Tawana Brawley. I hope these people get sued for defamation if the allegations prove false.

MegMartinson · 2013-08-09T17:25:14+00:00

I believe it began when PZMyers, SkepChick, et al took over RationalWiki and turned it into a heavily censored politically correct (PC) thing.

Some have said that it is an attempt to have feminism subvert atheism with feminist dogma.

From the looks of what is depicted in this post, it would appear that the takeover attempt is using some similar tactics attributable to scientology to discredit their detractors. Specifically: disparage their character. Form your own opinion on this.

You can find more at /r/atheism+

NichtLebenZeitToeten · 2013-08-09T15:10:28+00:00

God, I can't believe I used to read Myers on a regular basis. Of course, that was back when all he wrote about was creationists and evolution. I didn't think he could fall any farther than he already had, obviously I was wrong.

uuIIIllliu1100020000 · 2013-08-09T12:32:29+00:00

This is a new low for PZ and his commentators. "Innocent before proven guilty" means nothing to them.

Spyder_J · 2013-08-09T17:34:04+00:00

Wow, I hadn't heard about the Shermer thing. That's crazy. On Pharyngula, the consensus seems to be, "Fuck that rapist," which is perhaps to be expected, since P.Z. conveyed the info and we can assume that most visitors to the site are P.Z. fans. What I find most disturbing is how vague it all is. "Coerced me into a position where I could not consent, can't give any more details," and P.Z.'s assertion that he knows this person and one other corroborating person whom he trusts. Fair enough, but who the fuck is to say that I would trust these people? This sounds like some shit from high school. If you won't tell me anything about what actually happened, how am I supposed to make a determination? Then, of course, there's the hearsay from the accusing woman that 5 other women said he did a similar thing ... For all we know, this could just be some pissed off crazy woman who convinced P.Z. she's on the level, and now he's blogged this into huge prominence in the skeptic community. Very distressing.

Space_Ninja · 2013-08-09T14:25:17+00:00

The moment you saw a troll with nothing relevant to say like Rebecca Watson sitting next to motherfucking Richard Dawkins at a conference, you knew the skeptics movement was doomed.

What's with all these feminist men though? Are they that desperate just trying to hook up the dateless losers in the feminists movement? If you're a dude in the feminists movement, there's something really wrong with you.

2013-08-09T14:12:55+00:00

Dang I usually can count on integralmath to keep me up to date on that group but I guess he has finally had enough, can't say I blame him.

Can anyone recommend a currently active vlogger covering the atheism+ loonies?

BenInBaja · 2013-08-10T01:40:08+00:00

So I've been searching around for what this Lawrence Krauss thing could actually be about.

There's a rumor that two years ago Lawrence Krauss while a speaker on a CFI sponsored cruise asked a woman back to his room. The woman said no. There was never any allegation of harassment. Two years latter someone who heard an exaggerated version of this rumor wrote a letter to CFI demanding that Lawrence Krauss never be allowed to speak at a CFI event again and despite the demand being made Lawrence Krauss wasn't uninvited from speaking on the cruise in 2014. Some of the idiots over at freethoughtblogs are throwing a fit because apparently asking a woman back to your room is sexual harassment in their distorted view or reality.

javastripped · 2013-08-09T17:06:39+00:00

I was thinking about whether or not I should post this ... I think it should contribute positively to the conversation.

About 1.5 years ago I met a girl on okcupid. She had her profile pic set to her and James Randi.

I immediately contacted her and we started talking about the Skeptic community.

Long story short - we didn't work out because she didn't live in my state, had kids, and a somewhat complicated life (school, work, etc).

The conversation of the skeptic and atheist community came up... our plan was to meet at a conference and see how we hit it off.

She's a rather beautiful young lady and mentioned that she was hit on by a number of A-listers in conference scene.

I'm not going to name names but you've heard of them.

The difference... is she simply said "no thank you" and that was the end of it.

She wasn't offended. Didn't think it was an issue, and found it rather humorous.

And that's how a rational, well adjusted person should behave.

A simple "no thank you" should suffice. If they don't accept that speak loudly and firmly and make it CLEAR that they're barking up the wrong tree.

Literally EVERY woman I have dated has played hard to get at first. I've had to be aggressive. Women do this ON PURPOSE and I'm not sure why... I think they don't want to be perceive as "sluts" even though they are clearly interested.

The difference is that men DO NOT no the difference between faux resistance and real resistance.

Just say no... and be VERY firm and it shouldn't be an issue.

I have to agree that AFTER that point then it becomes harassment.

But if a man simply asks you to have sex, THAT IS NOT HARASSMENT!

It's normal human interaction. It's been happening for a millennia. This is how men and women evolved.

Don't like it? Then avoid all communication with men - and women. Women do the same thing.

And do you think men don't have to deal with this? I'm aggressively hit on by both men and women. I say no thank you and move on.

Clauderoughly · 2013-08-09T13:49:35+00:00

You let feminists into your movement / social group this is exactly what happens.

Every single time.

This is why I am all for the geek community fighting to keep feminists and fake nerd girls out of our social circles.

Social Justice Warriors fuck everything up, in their quest for attention and victim status.

kadivs · 2013-08-09T17:42:39+00:00

PZ has been a joke at least since elevatorgate. Maybe even before, diddn't watch the guy too closely

AndrewnotJackson · 2013-08-09T19:08:37+00:00

This is really good for us. The more crazies are in the limelight the worse their movement looks.

Funcuz · 2013-08-09T12:15:35+00:00

Can anybody actually be surprised by any of this ?

I mean think about it : Feminists basically believe the old Goebbels (that's who it's most commonly attributed to but I have my doubts he said it first) line that the bigger the lie the more likely people are to believe it. Moreover , as long as you repeat it long and loudly enough , eventually people will fall in line whether they actually believe it or not.

We're talking about people whose only contribution to Western civilization is to complain about it. Contribution is obviously not the right word here but it's how they best describe what they think they do.

They're actually the laziest kind of people because basically they think that if they don't like something ,it's not up to them to adapt but up to the world to change on their behalf.

rogersmith25 · 2013-08-09T16:13:18+00:00

I haven't really been following the whole Atheism+ controversy, so forgive me for putting on a tinfoil hat here...

But did all the major leaders of the Skeptic movement who opposed Atheism+ taking over Atheism... did all those guys get anonymously accused of rape? Like, with no legal action? Just anonymously named in order to discredit them?

Please tell me that I am misinterpreting this situation....

Kirkayak · 2013-08-09T15:45:14+00:00

Skepticism will survive.

And whatever is of real value within Atheism+, if anything, will also survive.

Unfortunately, false accusations tend to harm the accused more than the accuser, when the former is in the public eye.

Really_Puck · 2013-08-09T18:07:41+00:00

Who the fuck in their right minds would accuse Bill Nye of harassment? He's one of the nicest people ever. He's like the Mr. Rogers of science.

Of course, had these people been around in the 1980s I'm sure they probably would have been accusing Mr. Rogers of harassment too.

the_leander · 2013-08-09T13:20:14+00:00

The bearded Taint is going to be eaten alive if those allegations can't be substantiated. I've watched in fascination as PZ sailed ever closer to flat out libel, but this has been something else. And to think, he was considered one of the four horsemen once.

Between this a+theism's frankly disastrous showing on Newsnight its been astonishing just how quickly this has all gone Pete Tong for those courageous keyboard commandos.

2013-08-09T15:58:20+00:00

Wait. Krauss AND Bill Nye?

What the fuck?

EclipseClemens · 2013-08-09T16:19:26+00:00

Wait a second, let me get this straight.

They attacked Bill Nye the Science Guy? May I see the source to this please? I do not question that it is occurring, I wish to examine the evidence. Due to the seriousness of insulting Bill Nye (one of my personal heroes) I will give them the benefit of the doubt. If this is as fake as a feminist accusing people of shit like this normally is (meaning at least 50% chance of lie) then you may next hear of me when the manhunt starts.

Nutz76 · 2013-08-09T17:42:05+00:00

I'd love to see the following occur:

"You get a lawsuit! And you get a lawsuit! Everybody gets a laaaawwwwsuit!"

When the asshats are paying through their noses in damages maybe, just maybe, people will think twice about this sort of nonsense and it'll stop.

sun_tzu_vs_srs · 2013-08-09T19:39:48+00:00

Libel/slander laws exist. Seems like these would be great cases for these men to use them.

2013-08-09T21:40:02+00:00

"Freethought"blogs is home to more assholes than a room full of genetically engineered four-assed monkeys. Try to make a comment from outside of their little circle of assholery and you're immediately branded a sexist, misogynist, rapist, etc. I got pounced on once for daring to say that not all jokes that involved sex were sexual harassment, and another time because I said that internet trolls should be ignored (apparently radfems think that failing to respond to trolls is letting them win). Ridiculous.

mcmur · 2013-08-09T22:44:43+00:00

These people need to be barred from skeptic events/conventions.

They can have their own little gatherings while the rest of the world engages in actual intellectual discussion.

mcmur · 2013-08-09T22:49:16+00:00

"I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do, I can do no other. I will again emphasize, though, that I have no personal, direct evidence that the event occurred as described"

Then why are you slandering his name on a public website you shit stain?

PZ Meyers spreading rumors like a 15 year old girl.

GunOfSod · 2013-08-10T01:59:10+00:00

Fantastic, they finally "jumped the shark".

Mytecacc · 2013-08-09T11:43:34+00:00

This book is very relevant

http://www.amazon.com/Heterophobia-Harassment-Feminism-American-Intellectual/dp/0847689883

typhonblue · 2013-08-09T17:22:29+00:00

It is a horrible solipsistic cult and it is clear now that it is going to completely consume and destroy the skeptic community.

Meh. The reality is that the skeptic community will have allowed it to happen.

Moral cowardice at its finest. And like all moral cowardice it invites its own destruction through capitulation.

The feminists have won the day and they earned their ultimate ass-raping of the skeptic community, IMHO.

Nomenimion · 2013-08-09T17:26:52+00:00

False rape accusers seem to be the shock troops of feminism. By accusing men without proof, they are able to inflict catastrophic damage, thus gaining more space for women.

2013-08-09T17:34:06+00:00

They aren't just doing this in the atheist and skeptic community. They're also targeting the tech and hacker community. Dongle gate wasn't the only incident. They also harrased the German hacker community (creeper cards at the last CCC). Considering how anti-establishment, progressive and minority friendly the European hacker scene is, I just can't understand why they did that. Those kind of "feminists" ruin everything.

RockFourFour · 2013-08-09T19:03:05+00:00

I used to love reading PZ's blog...Then Rebecca Watson came out with her "if you flirt with a woman in an elevator, you're a rapist" bullshit. He white-knighted so hard that I could hear the clanging of his armor over the internet.

In review, I realized that Watson's contributions to the content of the Skeptic's Guide are a distant last and I just try to tune her out now when she talks.

The skeptical movement is under attack from an insane group of ultra left-wing whackos and I hope the movement as a whole sees them as just as dangerous, hypocritical, and ignorant as the far right.

Dronelisk · 2013-08-09T11:22:39+00:00

What's the skeptic community and why are they so important?

Offensive_Brute · 2013-08-09T16:02:40+00:00

The only thing worse than feminists are the men who buy into their shit. If you associate with feminists, you're asking for it. You don't play with shit, you flush it. Sorry handful of outlier, non scumbag feminists.

DarkestofFlames · 2013-08-09T23:59:39+00:00

Reading through this thread makes me glad I'm too old to get involved in arguing over "fake geeks" "fake gamers" and that I'm too old to feel the need to prove myself to anyone. I have met people who were trying too hard to come across as geeks. I never feel the need to question them because I just don't care if they are being phony or not. I fail to see how someone pretending to be a gamer or geek affects me in any way.

VideoLinkBot · 2013-08-10T00:04:13+00:00

Here is a list of video links collected from comments that redditors have made in response to this submission:

Source Comment	Score	Video Link
girlwriteswhat	75	Why 'Feminism' is poisoning Atheism Part 2
girlwriteswhat	75	Why 'Feminism' is poisoning Atheism Part 1
Hamakua	7	Mr. OpFor Kicks NC out of Allatum
753861429-951843627	5	Jamy Ian Swiss - "Overlapping Magisteria" - TAM 2012
753861429-951843627	5	Jamy Ian Swiss - Skepticism 101 at the Orange County Freethought Alliance Conference
cri_nge	4	Crazy Landlord Fakes Rape While Attacking Tenant
cri_nge	4	Warren Farrell protest at the University of Toronto - Full version
gthnk	3	DPRJones On Rebecca Watson
VortexCortex	2	Why 'Feminism' is poisoning Atheism Part 3
barbadosslim	1	About Mythbusters, Robot Eyes, Feminism, and Jokes
the_leander	1	BBC 'Men are raised to hate women'
Hamakua	1	Science Saved My Soul.
naderslovechild	1	Nothing to Prove - Geek Girls & The Doubleclicks

ahora · 2013-08-10T01:59:29+00:00

Feminism is literally satanic. An evil way to divide and destroy any social movement.

ShitLordXurious · 2013-08-10T12:52:14+00:00

It's probably being done on purpose. The atheism community was on the verge of becoming a viable political force, so is being sabotaged before it can gain more ground.

Look into Cointelpro. What's happening in the atheist community has all the hall marks of it.

xraetr · 2013-08-14T11:44:39+00:00

Mr. Deity's lesson in personal responsibility: http://31.media.tumblr.com/300f5925d338049b687453f8557491e4/tumblr_mripf8ZWmD1sfa3nfo1_400.gif

Vandredd · 2013-08-09T15:56:35+00:00

Question everything.....except completely unfounded rape allegation. Atheism is a complete joke of a movement

Stratisphear · 2013-08-09T12:31:32+00:00

I stopped following atheism when it became feminism by another name.

2013-08-09T12:51:18+00:00

False accusations are the primary weapon of the feminist.

DarthOvious · 2013-08-09T12:39:02+00:00

Feminism pretty much destroyed the Christian community. They are now aiming for you.

rottingchrist · 2013-08-09T13:44:34+00:00

Do the event organizers in the skeptic community need any more reasons to kick these fuckers out? They should've told twatson and her ilk to fuck off long ago.

onetenth · 2013-08-09T13:43:49+00:00

deleted

2013-08-09T17:18:50+00:00

Couldn't happen to a better community - I say this because when I left it, I told everyone they were 20 yrs behind and on the wrong side of history. These people who slander and divide the community until nothing was left.

DavidByron · 2013-08-09T16:55:18+00:00

All of this bullshit started a couple years ago with

It was started a little earlier than that at least. There was a blow-up about six months prior to Elevatorgate at a conference I went to that made national news (at least within the community) along the same aggressive feminist victimry lines.

robhelm · 2013-08-09T17:31:04+00:00

I am glancing at the comments in PZ Myers' thread and one has stuck out in particular to me, it is comment number 551 and the user is known as Butchkitties. If the user is to be believed have they not committed a felony?

2013-08-09T21:35:29+00:00

As an agnostic, what the fuck is atheism+?

4merpunk · 2013-08-09T22:20:11+00:00

Link to the bill nye stuff?

tarfogog · 2013-08-10T00:52:48+00:00

If all the effort that goes into internet slap fighting went into cancer research and eliminating poverty imagine the world we would live in. No no lets make crazy statments for other groups to analyze and bitch about.

Ma99ie · 2013-08-10T00:57:32+00:00

PZ Myers repeatedly raped me. I can totally back that up with totally un-disprovable innuendo.

rg57 · 2013-08-10T13:45:25+00:00

"Karen Stollznow accusing skeptic Ben Radford of the Center of Inquiry "

Half true. While those familiar with her work would know who was being talked about, someone like me would not have known. She did not name the man, nor the organization in the original article. Of course, that didn't stop her commentors, and various bloggers from doing so.

mhra1 · 2013-08-13T03:15:47+00:00

And remember everyone, we should only speak of this in congenial tones at a reasonable volume, so as not to offend anyone or make them feel uncomfortable.

IameAuhSomme · 2013-10-17T18:47:08+00:00

At least they didn't go after Tyson. That would be fucking barbaric.

allenahansen · 2013-10-23T22:30:43+00:00

I'm terribly late to this convo, but just heard of it and wanted to state for the record that I've seen Michael Shermer in numerous social situations over the decades and although men typically don't shy away from me, (and yes, I've suffered from unwanted attentions all my sentient life), he has NEVER, even once, been anything but a complete gentleman in my presence -- even bordering on the aloof.

In fact, he's been so standoffish, I'd pretty much come to the conclusion that he was either gay or celibate or both, and was absolutely flabbergasted to learn of this brouhaha.

I'm not saying I doubt his accusers, but this behavior is definitely not within the realm of what I've observed in the man. More to the point, the idea of him physically overpowering and sexually assaulting anyone (which is my understanding of the definition of rape) is beyond risible.

Accusations of sexual predation in this society require a higher burden of proof than resorting to snide insinuations and passive/aggressive "warnings" on a public forum. Moreover, they border on the criminal and worse, if true, effectively nullify the accusation.

I believe it was Mr. Diety who said something to the effect:

Predatory male: You're very attractive. Here, have another drink. Predated female: No thank you. Good bye.

See how easy that is?

besaolli · 2013-08-09T16:37:18+00:00

"solipsistic" - Good word! Nice usage!

2013-08-09T16:46:55+00:00

I hope these fucking pieces of shit go to jail for their false accusations.

Ding_batman · 2013-08-10T03:11:01+00:00

Skeptisism: A doubting or questioning attitude or state of mind; dubiety. From the free dictionary

Unless it comes to claims of sexual assault and/or rape that is.

stobix · 2013-08-10T13:07:05+00:00

I don't get it. The articles seem legit, they seem to have actual proof of things happening. Why the shitstorm? It it because we're not given detailed information? I don't see any reason to call this "beyond insane". Please, mensrights, what is this? To me, this reaction seems just as crazy as that of many crazy feminists. "destroy the skeptic community"‽ How?? I've just found this wonderful group - please don't make me lose faith in it by being irrational.

2013-08-09T15:57:53+00:00

Bitches be trippin

uncommonman · 2013-08-09T11:15:26+00:00

Comment to read later, at work.

PussyPass · 2013-08-09T17:01:40+00:00

These "women" are batshit crazy.

2013-08-09T19:38:06+00:00

I've been saying for years that PZ Meyers is a bitch.

PerfectHair · 2013-08-09T12:41:44+00:00

I think I'll put some popcorn on.

Grapeban · 2013-08-09T14:37:38+00:00

Forgive me if you consider this too radical an opinion, but, just maybe, the accusations are correct? I'm not saying they are correct, but isn't this something the police should investigate? Or do we just refuse to look into possible crimes now?

all_you_need_to_know · 2013-08-09T12:27:21+00:00

Please, don't sensationalize the title, you aren't helping anything when you do that.

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