What TJ (The Amazing Atheist) is basically trying to say is that people die because of tragic situations every day, and that focusing only on Amanda Todd diminishes the suffering of others. I agree that focusing on this one tragedy does diminish and ignores all the other children out there that die in similar or worse situations, but I also think that TJ probably could have done a better job of getting his message across. Regardless of my feelings on this subject, TJ has a right to express how he feels and I am not going to make this into a post about TJ and his unconventional methods.
Now PZ has his lady bloomers in a wad over what TJ has done and is trashing the shit out of him for not being 'near tears' about the Amanda Todd tragedy. Because according to PZ, 'Normal human beings will read about her and be near tears'. So if you are not near tears about Amanda Todd, you are not a normal human being.
I guess you can count the majority of the world population as being abnormal then, because most people do not cry for people they never knew. Sure we may feel bad and have some sort of minor emotional response, but most will not breakdown into floods of tears upon hearing something like the Amanda Todd story. Does that mean people are callous fucks? No, it just means they didn't have any personal connection to her and are not emotionally attached to the situation. That is actually pretty normal, and not what PZ has declared to be normal.
But wait, it gets better... PZ is tearing into TJ for not having any compassion and states the following in his post:
'All you have to do is look at people like the Amazing Atheist to see that some atheists, people who are convinced that there is nothing beyond ourselves, that we are dependent entirely on our fellow human beings and nothing more, lack that humanity that is our only source of unity and our only true reason for living.
Don’t be surprised that some of us want nothing to do with such sociopaths'.Really PZ? Well then I suggest that no one have anything to do with you because of what you wrote about the octopus and the Korean woman who was murdered by her boyfriend with it:
So let me get this straight PZ... You have compassion for a white middle class teen who committed suicide, but not a Korean Woman who was murdered by her boyfriend in a horrific way by being choked to death with an octopus? You have more compassion for the fucking octopus than this poor woman?
Wow... And TJ is the sociopath...
It's amazing to me he's using Todd's death as an opportunity to bash someone we already know he doesn't like instead of, oh, I don't know, calling for more civil discourse to prevent this kind of bullying? Of course not! He'd then have to look at his own practice of sending his hordes to attack people who disagree with him.
ReplyDeleteHmm, tricky this one. Of course PZ Myers and all the other FTBloggers lecturing other people about privilege from their white upper middle class thrones are hypocrites every time they question somebody else's ethics. It's almost by default.
ReplyDeleteBut I really have seen better things from the Amazing Atheist. When he sees somebody who is the target of a protracted bullying campaign, that someone then decides to kill herself because she has nowhere to turn to, and all the AA can come up with is 'other people have it worse', then perhaps he's missed a good opportunity to say nothing at all. He sort of came across like a slightly louder, slightly less slimy PZ Myers. A child is dead, because other children bullied her. Should be an incentive to be kind to children, not to revert to cynical dismissals.
Does that mean people are callous fucks? No, it just means they didn't have any personal connection to her and are not emotionally attached to the situation.
ReplyDeleteBingo. We attach ourselves to different causes/situations, and thus often react differently. Fuckwit PZ cant tolerate others reacting differently to how he does.
You have more compassion for the fucking octopus than this poor woman?
I have to disagree with you on the above point though. He mentions the (obligatory? cant tell unless you know the man) 'tragic and terrible', and focuses on something nobody else is talking about.. which doesnt really mean he's weighing the octopus higher. There really isnt enough information to decide much on this issue.. except that he's got some bizarre fascination with those creatures.
This is really the big problem with media analysis in general. There's no way you can possibly give proportionate emotional consideration to all of the potential anecdotes that might have been put in front of you, and the only decent approximation you have is the cold eye of statistical analysis. So naturally, when the media's selection of stories is very biased (as with "missing white girl syndrome") any attempt to mentally account for all the rest of society is bound to make you look like a heartless bastard.
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