Oh I see the “Global” Secular Council (populated exclusively by Anglophones from the US and the UK plus one Swedish guy) has a Twitter account. I just replied to its “We’re live!” tweet by asking what makes them “Global”. I don’t suppose they’ll reply but I would really like to know.
But also interesting is that in that tweet they included the original of the front page masthead photo that we’ve been talking about. It’s different, and different in an interesting way.
See there? On the opposite end from the Shermer-Rogers end, there’s Bill Nye – but apparently they like the Shermer grab so much that they feel it’s worth the price of not showing Bill Nye on the masthead. They want the first thing people see to be Shermer grabbing a woman and mugging like a frat boy, rather than Bill Nye not grabbing or mugging.
Strange choice.
Very. Strange. Choice.
Yeah I don’t get why they’d do that either.
Much rather see the Science Guy that the sleazy probably a rapist guy .
The full photo just makes the Shermer pose all the creepier. It really stands out, and not in a good way.
If anyone asks me what a smirk looks like, I am going to point them to this picture. Why would they crop out Bill Nye? He is far more recognizable than the 2 on the other end
.. In fact if I were running it I’d have Nye and I’d include Edwina Rogers but I’d leave Shermer out of the photo altogether.
Why didn’t they do that I wonder?
Shermer seriously looks like he photo-bombed the picture.
On a lighter note: I heart Bill Nye’s bright blue shoelaces.
Phew! Such a relief to see Michael Shermer’s other hand. I had been worried for Sam Harris who looks a little worried himself, come to think of it.
Surely RD could manage to have his trousers hemmed to the correct length?
It looks to me like Edwina Rogers is wearing a walking cast.
Why didn’t they do that?
My worst-case suspicion is that they did it this way on purpose – as an expression of unconditional support for Shermer, unwanted groping and all, and a fuck you to people who have a problem with known gropers being invited back to speak year after year after year.
That’s worst-case. I hope that’s not why.
It might not be so strange. I don’t see Bill Nye anywhere on the “Team” page, so maybe he was going to be part of the council at some point, but withdrew before they put the site up.
It amazes me that they must have done several takes, and this was the best photo. Was he just hanging off of Rogers the whole time?
I’m sorry? Are they actually claiming to be “the world’s great minds”? Very humble, that.
Obviously, no obviously non-white great minds were available to contribute.
Also, the links section is very blandly predictable, which doesn’t really bode well. Where is the global reach and ffresh insight, beyond those very well known international NGOs and Charities listed?
Global starts to take on a parochial meaning here, is this really just the World Series of Secularists?
Er, I meant ot post this on the other thread. And spell fresh correctly. Careless me.
The picture is awkward and amateurish at best. All three women are posed uncomfortably. The short woman in front of Nye looks like she’s about to be crushed. The white-jacketed women next to Dawkins is shielding herself with one arm. Rogers has Shermer draped around her like a vampire bat.
The men aren’t doing that much better: Nye is crowded in, Dawkins looks like an unmade bed, Swedish man is pushed into the background. Only Harris looks ready for the shutter.
The pose is neither the Group Portrait, nor the Casual Snap, that it seems to be trying to be.
I don’t see Bill Nye’s name (or photo) anywhere else on that website. Not among the ‘experts’ or ‘communicators’. Maybe he’s not associated with the group anymore, which would explain the cropping, but not the distribution of the original photo from which he isn’t cropped.
If so, they’re the 1919 White Sox.
“Global” isn’t the only word they messed up. The word “Council” has issues as well; I think “Hero Worship” would be more apt.
I was just looking at the GSC web pages and don’t see Nye there anywhere. Might it be that he backed out? AronRa of FTB, on the other hand, is a “communicator”.
Don’t you think it’s possible they just thought that cropping out the Executive Director might not be appreciated?
Also I had the same thought as jenBPhillips – I didn’t remember Nye being one of the “experts”. So I went back and looked again. There are more now, twenty-five (but still only five women) and none of them are Bill Nye.
Yes, the person on Twitter said Nye isn’t yet an official expert (whatever tf that means, but you get the gist).
Probably that they haven’t taught him the secret handshake yet.
The cropping choices in the vertical dimension are also interesting. Apparently getting boobs into the frame was more important than getting everybody’s whole face in.
@9. Ophelia Benson :
Yes. I hope not too.