Spotlight needed on Trevor Noah's anti-atheist bigotry

[trotsky]

http://www.mndaily.com/opinion/columns/2015/04/06/spotlight-needed-trevor-noahs-anti-atheist-bigotry

Trevor Noah, the replacement for Jon Stewart on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” was recently found to have made some tweets a few years ago that some people have interpreted as misogynistic and anti-Semitic. There has been much news coverage of this controversy, but the mainstream media missed the harmful tweets that Noah aimed at atheists.

Various secular bloggers unearthed and promulgated many of Noah’s 140-character criticisms of atheism last week. Unfortunately, these tweets were neither humorous nor thoughtful critiques — the posts merely lambasted atheists.

For example, shortly after the famed journalist and atheist social critic Christopher Hitchens died in 2011, Noah wrote that atheists “worship him” and therefore, “#WeAllNeedAGod.” He also claimed that “Without God, atheists wouldn’t exist” and asked why “atheists don’t spend as much [time] questioning satan’s existence.”

Disappointing. Yet not all that surprising, after all we're one of the last groups it's OK to hate.

[F4lconF16]

1. I won't be watching him.

The sexist tweets pissed me off already--there was no justification for them. They weren't debatable, they were flat-out sexist, and should never have been posted. I get that as a comedian you take risks, but they were way over the top.

Just one more reason.

[arcane1]

2. I see those as more cluelessness than bigotry. It's curious, though, that these weren't jokes.

Certainly no more bigoted than anything I've said about religious belief. Then again, I don't really apply that term when it's directed at beliefs; only when it's directed at people.

Come to think of it, I have no idea what Jon Stewart's beliefs are

[beam me up scottie]

3. But atheists have it coming.

I'm sure that'll be the reaction elsewhere on DU.

Of course you'll never see them saying the same thing about uppity women and lgbt people.

[Heddi]

7. You're a prognosticator. You should make money off that

Just a mere 50 or so minutes after you post comes this wordvomit (in another place....) that basically says that here is real violence and violations of civil rights in other countries towards atheist, but there is nothing like that here. To say such hyperbolic bullshit as atheists are 'hated more than gays' is insulting.

That person then goes on to notice that all of the prominent atheists claiming that they are a persecuted group in need of massive civil rights are mainly white, male, affluent, highly educated, and straight? There is always a need to maintain the separation of church and state that is the foundation of our country. The freedom to worship as one chooses and the freedom to not do so are inviolate. Secular and religious organizations can agree and work together on that.

They then state that these asses need to focus some of that anger, resentment, money, and time on helping atheists in other countries who truly are persecuted and less time listening to themselves speak on the internet and at circle jerk conferences."

Pearls of wisdom, even more pearly when they fall from the gaping maw of an Atheist, But!

Remember--it's not discrimination if you're not being beheaded.

Where have I heard that before....

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/04/02/sen-tom-cotton-thinks-copacetic-arkansas-hang-gays-iran.html
Arkansas Republican U.S. Senator Tom Cotton, the infamous author of the seditious Iran letter, thinks discriminatory “religious freedom” laws in the United States are no big deal, because at least we aren’t executing people for being gay.

Funny how those Atheist But's just love right-wing arguments. Discrimination isn't discrimination if you're not beheadded....gay marriage is just like marrying a bicycle or a hamster....who needs comprehensive health care and access to contraceptions when you can just buy rubbers at the 7/11 like the "rest of us"....

strange bedfellows, no?

[beam me up scottie]

8. Stop using those big words, I'm not a language scholar or a therapist.

I saw that.

And about those bad atheists, many of them have the loudest voices, but who do they really represent?

And how about those uppity women? They're not even a minority!

[Heddi]

9. Here, I have some reccommended reading for you

Now, for someone of my mental caliber and, well, let's be honest, my unmatchable pedigree of knowledge, these are more along the lines of "bathroom reading," or pamphlets...that kind of thing. But for a mental midj like yourself, you might have to take some time. Keep a dictionary handy for those $0.50 words :condescending smile:

À la recherche du temps perdu
Zettels Traum
Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady
Poor Fellow My Country
Sir Charles Grandison
(War and Peace)

...

now most of these I can thumb through in a matter of minutes, if I read real slow-like and take my time.

Once you get thse under your belt and write a 24-page essay on each, THEN maybe perhaps perchance we can talk. I think it's TRULY unfair to burden my awesome brain with your...shall we say...kindergarten-level treatise on life. Ahem.

Now, remind me what I was saying about arrogance and privilege? Oh wait...Jeeves...please bring me my monocle....

[beam me up scottie]

10. Do those have colour pictures?

The other classics I have on my Nook (I'm poor so I download everything from Project Gutenberg) are in black and white. Every time I'm done with one I have a bitch of a time getting all of the crayon marks off the screen.

What's a "de facto atheist"?

[Heddi]

11. De facto means

Duh. Of course. so a de facto atheist means duh, I'm an atheist but....

Oh and if you put your nook in the microwave for 30 seconds on medium it will take the crayon off. Promise.

[skepticscott]

14. I thought a defacto atheist meant

"I'm so much more sophisticated a thinker than THOSE atheists that I can barely stand to use the same label as they do"

[LiberalAndProud]

15. De facto. I think what it means is

truly don't like the word as it doesn't encompass what I truly think, know, and believe


As opposed to like, you know, when somebody says Christian ...

[beam me up scottie]

16. I just got done baking some bread so I put it in the oven instead.

Babka.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Act_of_Reparation]

12. Dear Muslima...

...because there are greater injustices abroad, don't you dare complain about lesser injustices here.

For a person who so dislikes Richard Dawkins, it would seem they both share an affinity for the same fallacy.

[AtheistCrusader]

19. Bingo.

I think he pisses them off because he's holding up a mirror.

[mountain grammy]

4. There's probably not a comedian alive who hasn't been completely

inappropriate at times in their career. Without twitter or other modern media tools, the insults faded away. I don't think comedians should be hung out to dry for every remark they ever made unless they are consistently mean and insulting, and then I think they will lose their audience. Trevor Noah will be judged for his work and, if he's good, he'll be accepted for who he is.

His atheist remarks seem more ignorant than mean. Some of his other stuff is really mean, but I've read a lot about this man and have decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. I want to see the Daily Show continue. It's important. It tells the truth.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

5. I tend to give comedians a pass since their goal is often to be funny instead of insightful*

But I won't be watching Noah's Daily Show because he's just not that funny.

* - although both Colbert and Stewart were both funny and insightful, I think it's a rare combination of traits that doesn't happen all that often.

[skepticscott]

6. Well, I would submit that the best humor is funny

because of how true it is, in ways that people generally don't recognize or acknowledge until confronted with it. George Carlin was a master.

[Act_of_Reparation]

13. And I would agree that the best humor is... well... funny.

"Atheists need GAWD!"

*crickets*

"I said, Atheists need GAWD!"

*crickets*

"Is this an audience or an oil painting?"

[AlbertCat]

17. Without god, atheists wouldn't exist

Y'know.... there's something Lewis Carroll-ish appealing about this statement.

[progressoid]

18. Ah, so that's what Stewart was talking about at the opening of tonight's show.

He mentioned a twitter controversy and then threw his support toward Noah.

[AtheistCrusader]

20. Let it go man. Just let it go.

Get the amazing writers assigned to new shows, and let it go out on a high note. You can't replace Jon Stewart. It's the end of an era. Appreciate what we had, do a giant, incredible, fuck off amazing last show, and let it go.

[Brainstormy]

21. I agree, and

you know that all of Stewart's writers will not be staying. The Daily Show, as we knew it, is over.