February 25 – Monday – Three Days After Operation Buzzfeedfrenzy
- Lawrence Krauss has not yet issued any type of response to the allegations against him, even though he is being systematically deplatformed by the social justice wing of the atheist movement. This looks bad. Is he talking to lawyers?
- None of Krauss’s allies (Dawkins, Harris, Coyne, Shermer, etc.) have come out to defend him yet. They could be waiting for his response and coordinating their counter-attack behind closed doors.
- The social justice warriors scored another hit:
Auckland University of Technology has pulled its sponsorship of a show with celebrity atheist Lawrence Krauss following a raft of allegations he has been involved in inappropriate behaviour towards women.
Krauss is due to speak on a double-bill with Richard Dawkins at the Science of the Soul Tour in May in Auckland and Christchurch, but the promoter is undecided about whether the Australia and New Zealand shows will go ahead.
- Activist Steve Shives puts on the war paint:
Prominent atheists who are quietly circling the wagons around Lawrence Krauss and waiting for it to go away might be in for a rude awakening. People in this community are done fucking around with the likes of Krauss, Shermer, Carrier, and their enablers/protectors.
— Steve Shives (@steve_shives) 26 February 2018
- A slight set back for the social justice warriors:
Well, this is awkward.
After giving a "100% guarantee" that Lawrence Krauss would not be speaking or writing for them in the future, @americnhumanist says today they’re not ready to go that far.
— Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) 26 February 2018
The promoter of the Dawkins/Krauss “Science in the Soul” AU/NZ tour (Think Inc.) hasn’t uttered a peep about this issue on Twitter or their main website as of yet. They’re still selling tickets.
PZ Myers’ 26 February 2018 blog post entitled “If you’re wondering what the obstacle to change in the atheist movement might be, here it is” links to, and comments on, a 16 February 2018 Secular Women post, “A Statement About HEADS”.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2018/02/26/if-youre-wondering-what-the-obstacle-to-change-in-the-atheist-movement-might-be-here-it-is/
HEADS is “the leaders of the various disparate groups that make up the movement”, says Myers. And they are no longer allowing Secular Women, self-proclaimed “the only secular organization which focuses on the concerns and voices of women”, to attend their annual meetings:
If I understand it right, Secular Women were promoting “the concerns and voices of women” at past Secular Coalition of America conferences; the SCA response was to silence their voice by banning them.
A week after the Secular Women post — I note the pointed reference to #MeToo, the anti- sexual harassment campaign — and presumably not long after the HEADS’ decision the BuzzFeed article came out.
The SCA HEADS’ decision looks suspiciously like: Quick, someone’s campaigning against the mistreatment of women, let’s shut ’em up.
PZ Myers’ post tells us the Secular Coalition of America HEADS (leaders) include — on its Advisory Board, which is additional to its Board of Directors:
Project Reason had been effectively project-less for several years before the end of 2014, the time when the website became defunct. Dawkins ceased to hold the Simonyi Chair back in 2008, ten years ago. The information is ten years out of date.
The SCA’s stuck-in-the-past descriptions of its Advisory Board look like an apt metaphor — or a synecdoche — for its attitude towards women.
All I can tell is that I have a pack of yummy popcorn and a kitty on my lap.