Monday, July 24, 2017

Berkeley berks


I see that Richard Dawkins (Atheist in Chief) has been "de-platformed" from speaking at Berkeley University (wherever that is?) after the radio program sponsoring a lecture/talk discovered that he's an Atheist and in the past has said some horrifically obscene and abusive things about Islam. Apparently, in "The God Delusion" book back in 2006 (you'd have thought they'd have guessed his position just from the title) Dawkins said that Islam isn't true and in politicized form (Islamism) represents a dangerous set of ideas. You may disagree, as is your right, but if you do it's likely that you've had your head firmly lodged up your bum for the last 10-20 years, or possibly even 1400.

Now, I'm not going to get on any high-horses about free-speech or what constitutes abusive talk, the lefties at Berkeley are entitled to do whatever they like on their own campus, including making themselves look like twits, but I will offer sympathy to those that brought tickets expecting to listen to one of the worlds leading scientific and atheistic writers. Ironically, at the home of the "free speech movement" they seem to have forgotten two important principals that back in the day they supposedly championed. Firstly the right of people to HEAR views and positions that may oppose their own and secondly, the importance of treating ALL IDEAS equally, i.e. able to be critiqued. 

Dawkins has said equally negative things about every religion I can think of at some point or other, so why the special treatment for Islam? For those that know the origin of the English rhyming slang "berk" it seems as though over the bay they're trying their hardest to look like a bunch of them.

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