Skepchicks Jump To Conclusions, Get All Wet

July 11, 2012 7 Comments

Noted skeptical author Richard Dawkins recently tweeted:

(Some background information: There is no love towards Dr. Dawkins from Skepchick. Dr. Dawkins is on the record as being extremely pro-vaccination, as is evidenced by a search on his web site.)

Instead of taking this as a ringing endorsement of the Hug Me I’m Vaccinated program, led by Skepchick Elyse Anders, the Skepchicks group-thinked themselves into a tizzy, assuming that the tweet was a sarcastic slam against Hug Me I’m Vaccinated:

Seeing that drama was somehow passing Freethoughtblogs by, Lousy Canuck added his two cents (1.961554 U.S. cents):

One can only imagine what is distracting Rebecca Watson (@rebeccawatson on Twitter) into only being able to retweet about the incident:

In response to this criticism, Dr. Dawkins then tweeted:

One would think that would end the scolding. One would be wrong:

Other tweets in response were in a similar vein. No apologies for misinterpreting what Dr. Dawkins said, just demands for more support:

Then, with a level of class unrecognizable to Skepchicks, Dr. Dawkins complies:

One would think that would bring on the apologies. Again, one would be wrong.

A couple of half-hearted thanks, both probably from the same person, is all Dr. Dawkins apparently deserves for being dragged through the mud for two hours by people whose agendas include “bring Richard Dawkins down”:

What’s next for the Skepchicks after a hard afternoon of unwarranted character assassination? Why, a good lie-down, of course!

Must be TERRIBLY exhausting, imagining offenses and then not apologizing for the misunderstanding after it’s all been explained to your obvious satisfaction!

This just in!

Lousy Canuck is still sore that his beloved home Freethoughtblogs got left out of this round of SkepDirt-worthy drama, so he’s blogged about his incredibly important feelings on this subject.

Filed under Elyse Anders, Lousy Canuck, Masala Skeptic, Richard Dawkins, Skepchick

7 Responses to Skepchicks Jump To Conclusions, Get All Wet

  1. Pingback: Pwned « Geoff's Blog

  2. inertpenguin says:
    July 11, 2012 at 17:09

    Dawkins included a lot of excess verbiage in his tweets that seems mystifying to those unfamiliar with certain online proceedings. Currently Skepchicks (and other Feminists) are advocating for the adoption of harassment policies which codify asking for consent before physical contact. It’s reasonable to assume that he’s mocking what he perceives as a contradiction in their thought processes using the “Hug Me I’m Vaccinated” campaign as rhetorical hostage.

    Not everyone jumped to the conclusion that such was his intent (but given his bad blood with the Skepchicks, that is a reasonable assumption), some of us asked him for clarification. He doubled down with another post full of thinly veiled mockery in response.

    There are appropriate times to criticize the Skepchicks and valid criticisms to dispense, but dispensing subtle digs againstthem while they’re serving the skeptical communities interests (both directly by protecting us from illness and lobbying for our ideals) is in poor taste.

    You don’t have to like everything the Skepchicks do, but hopefully you can see how Dawkins was out of line here while still vehemently disagreeing with a lot of their perspectives.

  3. barael says:
    July 11, 2012 at 17:13

    According to legend, Jason Thibeault’s writing has the power to make mortal men involuntarily check if their own scrotum is still intact.

  4. Gumby says:
    July 11, 2012 at 18:02

    Wow, first they didn’t get the reference, then they get all huffy because Dawkins doesn’t kiss Skepchick ass. Reading their comments throughout the last few months, it is painfully obvious that FTB-drones have built so many strawmen they label “woman-hating rape apologist fuckwits”, they don’t have the slightest clue what the opposition is actually saying. I’ve seen a lot on the internet over the years but the hysterical, unthinking, knee-jerk, rabid reactionary nonsense coming from the Freethought Blogs/Skepchick community totally mystifies me.

    They’re so brainwashed they couldn’t even see Dawkins’ joke – they automatically built this ridiculous “Dawkins hates vaccinations!!!111! strawman. These are the people who love to go around bragging about how intellectual they are? Wow. If these idiots are the future of atheism and critical thinking, atheism and critical thinking are doomed. Watching them “reason” is like watching creationists debate.

    • Søren Kongstad says:
      July 12, 2012 at 03:02

      What was Dawkins joke? I can’t see it?

      In which of the tweets is he making a joke?

      And why does he think that the hugging stunt was rule free? The policy was and is that anyone could refuse to hug or be hugged, which is kinda like a policy, or one could even call it a rule.

  5. John C. Welch says:
    July 11, 2012 at 19:10

    Dawkins has no bad blood with skepchicks, that’s ALL their own bullshit attention-whoring.

  6. bluharmony says:
    July 15, 2012 at 10:56

    He is subtly pointing out the hypocrisy and attention whoring, though, while still supporting their vaccination campaign. It’s quite brilliant, really. Plus, he’s human too; look at the way the Skepchicks have treated both him and now Paula.

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