Thursday, November 3, 2011

Casual Slurs Against Atheists

Even some people who aren't targeting atheists for criticism are predisposed to reflexively view atheism as a bad thing, and the act of being an atheist as a regrettable condition. Consider the following line I stumbled across at a website called "Vibe Vixen." It's from a short article about actress Tasha Smith appearing on the cover of Essence magazine.
The cover should definitely be a great read since this Jersey girl has had a spotted life as an atheist and a drug addict.
An atheist and a drug addict? Apparently being an atheist is right down there with being a drug addict. Unfortunately, there are all too many people who would read that line without even thinking twice.

8 comments:

  1. My personal favorite (and a quote that influenced my early atheism quite severely) was from Ben Stein after 9/11. In reaction to it, he said, "I was crying so much I could not see, and the other diners joined in, and I thought, What do you do with such atheistic evil?"

    You know, because those atheists who flew the planes into the WTC were so godless.

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  2. The "a drug addict and an atheist" phrase strikes me as an interesting rhetorical device (maybe it even has a name...?) -- pairing something innocuous with something negative as if the two naturally go together, thus conveying the subtle message that the innocuous thing is negative, too. I'll have to remember that one.

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  3. "Posted by Niki McGloster on Nov 2, 2011"

    I clicked on Niki's link, and seems to have quite a sexist attitude as well, calling women "hoes" and such not.

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  4. I feel maligned. If I were a liberal, I'd say that I'm offended, too.

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  5. @Kelly

    Wouldn't that be called an Equivocation Fallacy?

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