If thou gazest long into the Pit, the Pit will also gaze into thee

It'd be bread and circuses all the way down, if politicians gave the mob what they wanted. My preference is that they are employed to take the higher ground. Indeed. If politicians act against what they believe is right for the country, then I think they're being irresponsible. Cowardice in the fac...

I've never really bought the generational argument I'm afraid - sure it's a bit of a tragedy that the generation who will be lumbered with it the longest, in general voted against it, but I think the older generations were entitled to vote how they wanted, and to my mind it doesn't invalidate the re...

You didn't answer my question. What percentage of Brexit voters want to retire to Spain? No idea. You're missing my point anyway. I was saying for the public to be consulted democratically, the actual options should have been presented to them plainly, by the government (who, after all, will be the...

I like how the arguments have migrated from "people will still be able to retire in Spain you idiot!" to "we never wanted to retire in Spain anyway!".

Yes, I realise you don't like freedom of movement. My point was purely that the actual ramifications of losing freedom of movement rights should be made clear to the public before they vote on it, if indeed it is confirmed that they will lose them (and whether or not they will lose them should be of...

You can go pretty much anywhere you want. Most places in the world will let you in, study, work, retire, as long as you haven't got a criminal record and have some way of supporting yourself i.e. a promise of a job or money in the bank. You just have to go to the trouble of filling out the forms. F...

But you (and VC and others) are right: Naughty Notung is barking right now... Honestly, perhaps I've got this completely wrong. I thought that without free movement, some people who (with free movement) would have been able to move to the EU to retire, or study, or work, will no longer be able to. ...

shoutinghorse wrote:Yeah cos all those poor Brits who own a villa in Spain right. :lol:

Yes, everyone who's not rich is poor, and the only way someone can reside in Spain is to own a villa.

Jesus fucking wept. You honestly think people won't be able to retire to Spain after we leave? Brits were retiring to Spain when Franco still the gaffer :doh: Quite right - for the pedantic I should have clarified "under free movement rules". Rich people will still be able to retire wherever they w...

No, over half the voters voted one way, less than half voted the other way, and the politicians interpreted the results the only possible way they could be interpreted. Some numbers are bigger than other numbers. That's not just a point of view. Yes, about half - my point is that the population is ...

If you are going to come up with arguments like that tell me how the general election would have had to turned out for it to unequivocally endorse Brexit? You can't - that's my point. The only way to consult the general public about Brexit would be to strictly define Brexit (i.e. out of customs uni...

Does that even make sense to you? That, having chosen to leave, everybody does a complete u-turn? And, having done something entirely contrary to their currebt wishes, they'd then accept something even the Remainers had previously opposed and even you can't defend: a unified currency? But it isn't ...

So you are committed to opposing Brexit but not to the extent that you'd actually vote for a party that opposed to it. FPTP often forces us to vote tactically (unless we want our vote to be useless). In my area Labour were the ones most likely to beat the Tories. If I'd have voted Green or Lib Dem,...

I think I'm going to have to back slowly away from you at this point as I can see we are arguing with someone who thinks Brexit is going to commit us to the Euro, and that the only way to avoid the Euro is to have remained in the EU as the sole country which did not adopt the Euro. What, by the way...

So what you're advocating is to just ignore the Referendum result and stay in the EU. you ask in a later paragraph "what about the 48% we can't just be ignored?" But you're quite happy to ignore the 52% 'THE FUCKING MAJORITY' What you also fail to understand (maybe you just didn't know) is that if ...

No offense to anyone on either side of this argument, but when anyone tells me they know how it will turn out I have to wonder how they know that, and how sure they are about their conclusions. One side will eventually be proven right, and whichever one it is will be unable to honestly take credit ...

A question for those who want Brexit to fail. Not those who think it will fail, with whom we can conduct a rational conversation, but those who actually want it to fail. Why? If your reason for remaining is (like mine) that you prefer a prosperous U.K. why would you want an unprosperous U.K.? For m...

It's not just how the UK copes, it's what happens in the EU. [...] you have to compare where Britain is with where the EU is then , not where it is now. Fair point. That said, us leaving could have an effect on the future direction of the EU. If we do end up leaving, we'll have lost what control we...

It'll be interesting to see which side turns out to be correct about Brexit. If Brexit happens and we end up being more prosperous, more "global", the pound recovers rapidly to at least where it was before, there are no issues with Ireland, no extra customs barriers, etc etc (i.e., it really was mer...

You can argue all you like, I would even fight for your right to do so but what you don't do, what you should never be allowed to do is force your will on the majority who voted for the other argument. Just because you didn't vote for someone or something doesn't give you the right to ignore the ma...

A general election is about electing a government, which includes an opposition. The Brexit vote was a referendum on a specific issue. If you dont think thats a valid way of deciding if we should be in the EU the vote to join doesn't count either. Let me know when we hold a referendum on Communism....

So you think 51.9% of the British people would vote for communism or do you think Corbyn would lie to get elected and then try to enforce communism? It was a hypothetical situation... nevermind. But perhaps Corbyn could put "let's not scrap capitalism completely" on a big red bus, then when he gets...

The point is that just because you lose a vote (that I didn't want, called by a PM I didn't vote for, that was designed in a way I don't agree with), it doesn't mean you can't still hope that your own political views get realised. That is fundamental to democracy, and the people saying we're no long...

But what if he had won with an enormous, overwhelming 51.9% of the vote? How could the tiny, insignificant 48% dare to try to subvert the will of the entire population?

So if Corbyn scrapes a narrow GE win and decides that actually full Communism is the way forward, you'll all be fine with that because will of the slim majority?

No it doesn't. If people are working for Brexit to succeed and you are working for it to fail then you bear more responsibility. [...] Deliberately fucking something up so you can say 'Ha! I told you it would fuck up!' just make you look like an idiot. You seem to be under the impression that I hav...

I voted Remain but the whole 'I hope Brexit fails' shit is getting on my tits. You vote. If you lose you try to get the best deal you can. Hoping Brexit fails because your ego needs feeding more than your kids is pretty contemptible. If you can't live without open borders fuck off to somewhere that...

Brexit is bad and I can't wait for it to fail.

Very sad to hear about John. RIP.

Wait. WAIT . Alison = RemieV. ??????! Yep, seems so. If anyone wasn't around when elevatorgate was happening, then know that RemieV was FIRMLY on the anti-RW/pro-RD 'side' of things: https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%40remiev%20%40pzmyers&src=typd It doesn't change anything regarding the acc...

Looooongg article on misogyny in the atheist/skeptic movement: http://www.buzzfeed.com/markoppenheimer/will-misogyny-bring-down-the-atheist-movement#4b83wni tl;dr, and not sure I'll enact that labor. Also, trigger warning: Hensley, Myers, and Watson photos. This one is notable because it names the ...

In his post on Dawkins, Myers says: Or you could read about how BÃ©rubÃ© schooled Peter Singer, and Singer did the right thing and changed his mind. Does anyone have a citation for Singer changing his mind? I looked for it but couldn't find anything. I could ask on the comment thread, but... ;) ...y...

The Internet Aristocrat put together a summary video of the issue. I generally enjoy his work. However, I feel like he seriously goes off the rails by jumping to the conclusion that she slept with several other writers, editors etc based on zero facts and evidence what-so-ever. A lot of it is good ...

PZ doesn't appear to have seen Tony's comment. Otherwise, surely he would have answered him? My guess is that if he and RD had had a reasonable conversation (i.e if Dawkins didn't blank him, ignore him, or whatever else happened), then the "Dawkins doesn't get it" post wouldn't have been written. I...

:lol: :lol: :lol: Is this a science experiment to make me explode with rage? :lol: :lol: :lol: I nearly wet myself laughing at this - probably the best example I've ever seen of someone determined to be outraged by something. https://storify.com/cissexist/conversation-with-auntysarah-saxbend-raavyn...

Hemant Mehta too - he took Stef McGraw's side IIRC. Then of course, Stef McGraw's post itself - and a few others. PZ posted "The Decent Human Beingsâ€™ Guide to Getting Laid at Atheist Conferences", after "Always Name Names" but before Dawkins' comment. So Dawkins had read at least 2 posts about it ...

1) He compares & contrasts "complaining" with "suffering". So, maybe he is sorry he SAID it, but he still SEES the discrepancy that led him to the "Dear Muslima" response. 2) Last sentence: If you insist all examples of a bad thing are equally bad, you're ignoring law and you're belittling the pers...

I believe he is saying you can evaluate and compare the actual injuries and traumas. I believe he is saying you should not participate in oppression olympics based on those comparisons. In that sense he can regret the Dear Muslima statement based on his (now?) belief something did happen and he in ...

I think Dawkins' latest article was a bit weird, and self-contradictory. He is trying to defend his contention that one bad thing can be worse than another bad thing from the charge that he's belittling the not-quite-as-bad as the other bad thing bad thing. In the first paragraph, he talks about his...

She's not lying - I googled the exact phrase (with quotes) and all I got was B&W, Justin Vacula's blog, and slymepit.com. That must be what she did.

I didn't expect Joss Whedon to come out as an opponent of universal suffrage...

SoylentAtheist wrote:Problem solved.

My point was more that this is probably what Avicenna is experiencing - rather than a purposeful ban.

My home IP changes from time to time, but I can get around it pretty easily with my VPN.

Whatever happened to Avi is also happening to me - when I'm at home I'm "permanently banned" with a block on my IP address. Can't even read the forum, let alone post. Sometimes I can get in but most of the time I can't. Often I can read one page and when I click to the next one I get banned and bloc...

According to my dad, Zippy once held me when I was a baby. Or Roy Skelton did. STILL COUNTS.

Dick Strawkins wrote:Rainbow beings/people in action.
[youtube]CgbcQIT7BMc[/youtube]

Just dropping in to say that's my dad behind the camera!

The only shock in the whole situation is that she turned out to be less annoying in the job than their other new recruit, Hannah Waters, (she of the "Bora nearly raped me! - sort of, I think..." kerfuffle) the writer of their SJW blog, Ladybits, - who seems to think that the quality of an article i...

I find Disqus really horrible for large comment threads. Yes, I know my blog uses it. But I don't get large comment threads ;)

But read the comments and you'll notice just what, or rather who, he has been prepared to sacrifice in order to follow his political leanings. Yes - but when reading the comments be sure to use the Wayback Machine to get them all: http://web.archive.org/web/20120202032913/http://scienceblogs.com/ph...

Well played, Darth Cynic!

One of my favourite scenes.

I had a look at her post and noticed that it's actually Notung who first uses the term 'Strawkins'. Bad Notung. :naughty: Sorry- wasn't actually a reference to you but rather modifying "Schmawkins" or whatever it was to reflect the fact that she's completely misrepresented Dawkins' position for an ...

The name and icon have changed now that Colgate-Palmolive bought them out (that's the transition in the three tubes). But the Chinese name on the package is: "Black Person Toothpaste." Just interjecting here to say that I brushed my teeth with this toothpaste this morning. The Chinese on the tube (...

Let's not forget that Cornwell is on the board.

I also recognise Tabash - for some reason I assume he'd take the side of rationality. Please, Eddie, I like you!

I love the bit at the end about how the board have to decide it. There's no way they could find him guilty as charged. The only thing 'at odds' with CFI's mission/civility pledge thingy was the North Korea bit. Which he's apologised for. It's perfect!

Btw I like Lindsay's apology. I think the North Korea bit is the sort of thing that might warrant an apology (although that's not to say that he definitely should apologise). He didn't concede any of the stuff (as a result of pressure - he's welcome to change his mind, of course) about shut up and l...

Really sorry to hear that news Abbie.

Loons make the world interesting. In any case, I fail to see any moral failure at AVFM beyond voicing opinions that make people uncomfortable. I don't see any coordinated malice or mass scale deception. I find it utterly ludicrous to equate AVFM to FfTB. Judging all involved in the basis of a handf...

Lucy Lawless discovers Dawkins and starts promoting his work on Twitter.

Guess who tries to poison the well against him?

Sounds like speech elocution lessons gone badly wrong. I know 'posh' people and they speak slightly differently although to the casual ear it would not be noticed. Well she just pronounces her 'O's a bit like the Queen. Possibly elocution lessons, but I know quite a lot of poshoes (Winchester educa...

I think it's more of a matter of standing against a smearing campaign based on what an organization with no authority whatsoever had to say about AVfM. Today is AVfM, tomorrow is the Slymepit, and next month is Richard Dawkins Foundation. You know how those things go. Well I don't mean to say "I do...

You guys seen that Paul Fidalgo's quit FTB? And yes, it was a result of the recent blow up. (An aside: why does everyone say they'll miss him? He's just moving his blog to a different site! It's not that hard to change a bookmark...) http://freethoughtblogs.com/nearearthobject/2013/05/21/a-guy-walks...

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