I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
— Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail
This is a post on an ongoing controversy I’ve had with TJ Kirk (The Amazing Atheist). Niki Massey has a good background here.
So, I thought we were done with the TJ Kirk (The Amazing Atheist) drama. Turns out we weren’t. Here’s his latest response, in which he strongly encouraged bloggers not to call him racist.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds7jYtqmljM[/youtube]
*sigh*
The most annoying thing in the whole Amazing Atheist debacle is that all TJ Kirk’s fans can see is the fact that I called him a racist. Had I known that he would be so sensitive to being called a racist, I likely would have thought twice. Not because I didn’t think he was racist, and not because my regular audience would not get the point — because they would. Most people who actually read my blog posts did see what I was saying, because they took the time to understand it. No, the reason I would likely have avoided the label is that The Amazing Atheist fans are largely cult-like in their devotion, and all many of them heard in my discussion is that I had dared call their Dear Leader a racist, a statement that so shook their consciousness that they didn’t stick around to hear the much more important reasons as to why.
Here’s the point I want to make absolutely clear. I don’t particularly care whether you label The Amazing Atheist a racist or not. What I’d like to say is that when The Amazing Atheist talks about race, he simply does not know what he’s talking about, and a lot of his fan base doesn’t, either. He’s an ignorant asshole.
And either one of those things is fine. I like ignorant people who will admit that they are ignorant, and I can stand assholes who actually have the intelligence and knowledge to logically back up their condescending tone. But the two of them together is as annoying as nails on a chalkboard.
And this combined with the fact that he is a hypocritical crybaby is grating. I can stand crybabies. Just be consistent about it. But the crybabies who go out of their way to label other people victim cults for hurting their feelings…and hypocritically sets up a victim cult of hundreds of thousands that caters to their every sniffle…. I’m sorry. I don’t get that.
That’s all I have to say, really. When it comes to race issues, he’s really not worth listening to. Atheism? Brilliant, oftentimes. Race issues? Ignorant as hell.
And losing. Yeah, there’s a majority demographic in atheism that is going to validate his echo chamber and fanboy everything he says, but in spite of the fact that he’s attracting them like magnets, the hard fact is that he’s losing, and the people who know what they’re talking about are, largely, not listening to him. And they’re the ones who are going to change things in the long run. I’m not saying he’s Donald Trump…but I’m not the only one who thinks he sounds like him. Like Trump, his ignorant-as-hell fanclub loves him, hundreds of thousands strong, but those who actually know what they’re talking about look at him in embarrassment.
So yeah. That’s really what I have to say. If you’re one of the members of TJ’s personal victim cult of whiners and your attention span has ran out, or you’re too “triggered” to hear another word of critique, you can go to the comment section and praise your Dear Leader without reading the rest of this. Most of you, by your own admission, only have an attention span of reading about this far anyway. You have your insults to go cry about: “Ignorant asshole” and (ironically) “Hypocritical crybaby.” Feel free to whine about it in the comment section all you like without reading more of this.
Now, the handful of you still here, who want proof — I’ll keep writing for you. At least you’re a little better than that. You’re willing to enter into a conversation. So let’s have it. Check out one of the links below or press the “continue” button to go to the first link.
P.S. I have a Patreon, if you want to help me do what I do.
CLICK HERE FOR A CRITIQUE ON TJ’S STATEMENTS ON PROPERTY-BASED RACISM AGAINST BLACKS
CLICK HERE FOR TJ’S MISLEADING DISCUSSION OF MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY, GAP, AND THE OSCARS