Page 1 of 3 [ 46 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

dorkseid
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Jun 2020
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,354
Location: Tarkon Galtos

11 Sep 2021, 12:54 pm

I recently joined the Atheist Republic forum. I haven't been there a whole week yet. But all it took was one mention that I'm autistic for a whole thread to devolve into a bunch of ablist bigotry. And I don't want to judge an entire community by the conduct of a handful of members. But so far nobody has spoken up to counter all the rampant ablism.



timf
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Oct 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,040

11 Sep 2021, 1:36 pm

Some forums function by uniting their members with an exclusivity that can be hostile to outsiders. This may be why the ratio of lurkers to posters may run about 100:1.



CarlM
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Oct 2019
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 828
Location: Long Island, NY

11 Sep 2021, 7:23 pm

I'll head over there and see what there problem is. Yup, that's what I need, another time consuming forum :lol:.

I was unable to find the posts you are talking about. Can you direct me to them.


_________________
ND: 123/200, NT: 93/200, Aspie/NT results, AQ: 34
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fight Climate Change Now - Think Globally, Act locally.


ThisTimelessMoment
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 15 Apr 2021
Age: 50
Gender: Male
Posts: 324
Location: South Africa

12 Sep 2021, 2:46 am

To me "atheist republic" sounds like the type of forum that's likely full of ideologically petrified activist types. Activism is useful but being an activist typically means being deeply emotionally involved which is the antithesis of being rational.


_________________
Ever onwards and upwards!


Sweetleaf
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Jan 2011
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 34,440
Location: Somewhere in Colorado

12 Sep 2021, 5:23 am

dorkseid wrote:
I recently joined the Atheist Republic forum. I haven't been there a whole week yet. But all it took was one mention that I'm autistic for a whole thread to devolve into a bunch of ablist bigotry. And I don't want to judge an entire community by the conduct of a handful of members. But so far nobody has spoken up to counter all the rampant ablism.


Well gross, I am sorry you had to experience that. What is their freaking problem like plenty of people are bothered growing up in religion so just seems messed up an atheist group would act like that to disclude people. Maybe they should take on a tenent I agree with 'One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.' does not seem very empathetic or in accordance of reason to reject people on the basis of disabilities.


_________________
We won't go back.


naturalplastic
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Age: 69
Gender: Male
Posts: 33,881
Location: temperate zone

12 Sep 2021, 6:18 am

You can always get revenge by claiming that the competition is better, and that you will "take your business elsewhere".

If folks on GOP site dumped on you for being autistic you could just tell them "that you just turned me into a Liberal Democrat" ( or vice versa... if Dems descriminate against you just say "Trump/Reagan thanks you").

You could just make up a story that you "got more love and acceptance on that Pentacostal Christian site I was on". And then say "I thank you all for your great work in promoting faith in God by...showing how intolerant Atheists are". :lol:

Just to piss em off.

Am not particularly against atheists. I am just saying that you could get back against any group of folks who advocate any creed by claiming that a rival creed is "more tolerant and charitable than you guys". You could do the same with a religious group that treated you bad.



dorkseid
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Jun 2020
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,354
Location: Tarkon Galtos

12 Sep 2021, 8:11 am

Sounds kid of childish. Besides, atheists don't have a creed or any unifying attribute aside from not belonging to any religion.



Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

12 Sep 2021, 12:49 pm

I'm atheist but I don't like the way they treated you. :x


_________________
Female


PhosphorusDecree
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 May 2016
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,409
Location: Yorkshire, UK

19 Sep 2021, 6:01 pm

I have heard enough horror stories about the world of organised atheism to put me off getting involved. It has a reputation for being dominated by an arrogant clique who believe that all their opinions are objective fact because they have personally proven the non-existence of God with their mighty brains. In my book, this is not being a free-thinker.

Someone disagrees with you about agnosticism, group selection in evolution, the need for feminism in the modern West, or the best flavour of crisps? Respond by calling them a moron, and keep on calling them a moron. Richard Dawkins, who I used to quite admire, is the bad example they're all aping. A friend who used to moderate a Church of England forum said she'd actually seen a huge influx of atheists at one point. It wasn't that they'd converted, they just found it a more welcoming place to discuss atheism without the Dawkinite thought-police crushing them for deviating from the party line.

(I was genuinely shocked about 10 years ago by how Dawkins behaved when invited by New Scientist magazine to debate with some biologists who'd been working on group selection. He went straight for the ad-hominem, made no effort to address their points beyond calling them self-evidently stupid. Suddenly, my Hero of the Unfaith looked like a tarnished tinpot thunder-god to me.)


_________________
You're so vain
I bet you think this sig is about you


Something Profound
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

Joined: 23 Apr 2021
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 131
Location: New Mexico

19 Sep 2021, 9:48 pm

I tend to end up posting on a lot of Atheist FaceBook sites, not because I am an Atheist, but because I tend to agree with them more frequently than not. I am in a really strange and unique place in the theology department...

Atheist Republic tends to have people who are very politically minded, and in my experience that means they are going to be more abrasive in their discourse. Sadly, the vast majority of people (anywhere, but especially on social media platforms) are not sensitive to disability unless it impacts them in a major way. Saying, "I have a friend who..." or "I know somebody that is..." is a bad indication of being sensitive to these issues anyway, but Autism is in a class on it's own because of the way it presents, so people tend to be very bad at misconceptions.

And Atheist pages are not known to be kind to strangers. I get a lot of flak for my views on religion on these sites, but I also tend to ignore the insults and stick to the facts. I learned throughout my life that people find it harder to argue against facts, and so keeping my focus on what is relevant to the facts tends to get me by in discourse. It does tend to make me seem a bit bookish, nerdy, or stilted in encyclopedic info dump, but I have been called worse.

We Freakin Love Atheism seems to be a bit more mellow, but if you are looking for a page of likeminded Atheists to follow, David G. McAfee is one of the more approachable pages to follow on FaceBook. The Plus side is he claims to be on the spectrum himself, so there is some sensitivity there. Doesn't mean every Atheist you'll find there is sensitive to mental disability, but you are more likely to find people who are.



Hollywood_Guy
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 11 Nov 2017
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,283
Location: US

21 Sep 2021, 11:40 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
You can always get revenge by claiming that the competition is better, and that you will "take your business elsewhere".

If folks on GOP site dumped on you for being autistic you could just tell them "that you just turned me into a Liberal Democrat" ( or vice versa... if Dems descriminate against you just say "Trump/Reagan thanks you").

You could just make up a story that you "got more love and acceptance on that Pentacostal Christian site I was on". And then say "I thank you all for your great work in promoting faith in God by...showing how intolerant Atheists are". :lol:

Just to piss em off.

Am not particularly against atheists. I am just saying that you could get back against any group of folks who advocate any creed by claiming that a rival creed is "more tolerant and charitable than you guys". You could do the same with a religious group that treated you bad.


That sounds very clever and made me laugh a little. :lol:



Mona Pereth
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 11 Sep 2018
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,810
Location: New York City (Queens)

22 Sep 2021, 4:22 am

dorkseid wrote:
I recently joined the Atheist Republic forum. I haven't been there a whole week yet. But all it took was one mention that I'm autistic for a whole thread to devolve into a bunch of ablist bigotry. And I don't want to judge an entire community by the conduct of a handful of members. But so far nobody has spoken up to counter all the rampant ablism.

Did you report the bigoted posts to the moderators? If so, how did the moderators respond? Looking at their FAQ/Guidelines, it appears that they do aim (at least officially) to keep discussions civil. Dunno how that works in practice.


_________________
- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.
- My Twitter / "X" (new as of 2021)


dorkseid
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Jun 2020
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,354
Location: Tarkon Galtos

22 Sep 2021, 6:19 am

The person making the bigoted posts is the moderator.



Mona Pereth
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 11 Sep 2018
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,810
Location: New York City (Queens)

23 Sep 2021, 12:43 am

dorkseid wrote:
The person making the bigoted posts is the moderator.

Yuck! That is very unfortunate.

If you would like to strategize on how to respond, perhaps it might be a good idea for you to ask the mods to move this thread to the "Members Only" forum?

EDIT: Have you tried Atheist Zone? If so, is it any better?


_________________
- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.
- My Twitter / "X" (new as of 2021)


simonthesly74
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

Joined: 13 Jun 2020
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Posts: 88
Location: Michigan

23 Sep 2021, 1:58 pm

Man, that sucks to hear… but I’m not that surprised. Internet atheist culture often isn’t as progressive as one would expect. Like a few years ago, I believe, there was this whole movement of anti-feminist atheist/skeptic YouTubers (e.g. Sh0eOnHead).



mohsart
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Feb 2020
Age: 55
Gender: Male
Posts: 741
Location: Southern Sweden

23 Sep 2021, 4:34 pm

I personally don't see the meaning of connecting to other atheists, I by the way call myself agnostic rather than atheist but that doesn't matter too much in this context.
Atheists come in all flavours, some share my political views, some don't. And so on.
It's like just becuse I'm a heterosexual male, I'd go on a forum for heterosexual males. It makes no sense to me.

/Mats


_________________
Interests: Comic books, Manga; most things to do with Handicraft, wood, textile, metal etc, modern materials; horror, true crime; languages, art, and history to an extent
Uninterests: All things about motors; celebrities; fashion; sports; career; stock market
Feel free to PM me!