Of course, he’s probably going to be proud of beating the Pope and Chuck Norris for this one.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Of course, he’s probably going to be proud of beating the Pope and Chuck Norris for this one.
It seems to me that the purpose that has them all so animated is singular: spread your religion any way possible, whether it be by deceit or at the barrel of a gun. Oh, I suppose they could try to do it through honest discussion, though I’ve never seen evidence of this.
Thanks for the morality lesson.
Like a mosquito in a nudist colony*, Dinesh D’Souza is an annoying little prick.
* BTW, that is inspired by D’Souza’s stock opening line when he begins his response to his debate opponent, “I feel like a mosquito in a nudist colony, where do I begin?”
Yeah, and see what Sully has to say connecting him to Islamist/fundamentalist fraternizing. I was held up before when links were in my post, so just find his blog post about Siljander.
What frightens me is that people like D’Souza, Goldberg, Coulter, Malkin, Savage, Ponoruru, O’Reilly, Limbaugh, etc. are actually considered intellectuals by a not unsizeable segment of the population, and that they are treated as “serious” people not only by outlets like FuxNews, but also on daily newspaper op-ed pages and other talking heads shows that are, unfortunately, a prominent feature of our public discourse.
These people have not been bound by facts in any of their “work.”
We live in very stupid times.
I’m sure his mother must be SOOOOOO proud that he won this prestigious award….
Looks like Tom Cruise will be solidly in the running for next year, although Huckabee may be able to eke out a win – – depending on how more innane his speeches become.
Great minds must think alike.
Almost simultaneously, D’Souza also clinched the coveted Shitlord of the Year award for 2007, over on the Raving Atheists forum (http://ravingatheists.com/forum).
The award comes complete with an eloquently worded award letter (http://ravingatheists.com/forum/showpost.php?p=465597&postcount=104), composed by our own Philboid Studge.
Add Sully to my list. He wants in that club soooo bad, but he’s a faggot so they won’t have him.
More than one link in a comment is usually enough to have it held for moderation, Neil (been there lots of times.)
If you’ve got two or more, just post them each in a separate comment.
I wanted to find an appropriate way to honor the work that earned Dinesh this award, so I logged onto Abunga.com and banned all of his books.
We shouldnt really do this. DD feeds on this kind of attention. Actually he seems to feed on all attention – positive and negative. He is a little slimy attention sucker. I hate that little ‘suck suck suck’ noise that emanates from him when he shuts his pie hole.
Congratulations douchebag!
Hey doc, the Ravers honored D’Souza recently too. Shitlord of the Year 2007.
see
http://ravingatheists.com/forum/showpost.php?p=465597&postcount=104
(SLOTY 2006 winner: Deepak C)
BTW, in case you didn’t know, “Sully” is Andrew Sullivan.
Also, I do promote philosophically independent ideas of purpose behind the universe (anthropic food fights, heh) but only want to say here: I fully accept that Humanists can and do have fine values based on reasonable interaction and reflection on the world as it is available to us in experience. IOW, not needing “revelation” to find values, but note that strict positivists want to ban “meaningfulness” even of worldly moral notions. I entertain notions of there being more, but yet still get nearly teary over Leo Buscaglia’s “The Fall of Freddie the Leaf.” I wouldn’t have joined Unitarian Universalists if I had a problem with that. After all the scrapping over Why We Are Here, I’m glad I can agree a lot with so many commenters.
Do I earn any brownie points for giving the evo-devo response? (Probably not, because I’m already in the OM…)
“Everything is the way it is because it got that way.”
Do I earn any brownie points for giving the evo-devo response? (Probably not, because I’m already in the OM…)
“Everything is the way it is because it got that way.”
Some things in life are indeed reliable…
If “D’Souza” is in the title, the category is always “Kooks”…
Nice…
Well done, Dinesh D’Souza;
You deserve this fine award.
No real thinker would refuse a
Chance like this to serve the Lord.
You point out my lack of purpose
In an animated way;
It’s so nice that you usurp us
And the things we have to say.
When Dinesh walks in our shoes, a
Fellow really can’t complain;
What’s so great about D’Souza,
Is, he’s mongoose-shit insane!
D’Souza constantly appeals to the laziest kind of Like Comes Only From Like non-sequiturs, and a lazy public finds that appealing.
Of course atheists have no purpose or understanding of why humans can think. Purpose comes from purpose: if the universe itself has no purpose, then nothing in the universe can have a purpose. Not really. Mind comes from Mind: if Mind is not a basic structural component of the universe, existing prior to matter and brain, then nothing in the universe, including matter and brain, can have Mind. How would it get here if it wasn’t already here before? It just couldn’t.
I think Dawkins and a lot of the so-called New Atheists piss off lazy thinkers. They try to explain how something new and different can come out of something totally unlike it. Religions and gods, of course, appeal to our shortcut intuitions that grab at the simpler, handier, opposite view of the cosmos: it’s all a great big anthropomorphic conceit.
D’Souza’s favorite trick is trying to put across the idea that claims to the contrary are just so silly, facile, and arrogant. As Stephen Colbert said — “Imagine going through life completely duped into thinking that there’s no invisible, omniscient higher power guiding every action on Earth. It’s just so arbitrary!” Only, in D’Souza’s case, that’s not satire.
Speaking of the Pope, he cancelled his visit to Rome University after a protest by 67 professors (led by a physics professor named Marcello Cini) who objected to the Pope’s support for this statement by Paul Feyerabend:
“In the age of Galileo, the Church showed to be more faithful to reason than Galileo himself. The trial against Galileo was reasonable and just.”
http://dorigo.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/storm-over-rome-physicists-against-pope-ratzinger/
(BTW, Feyerabend was a 20th century philosopher who advocated “anything goes!”, scientific anarchism.)
While Pharyngula isn’t a physics blog, it is nonetheless a science blog. So, PZ and his commenters oughta be aware of this recent clash between faith and reason, specifically between the Catholic Church and theoretical physics.
Or PZ could just write a boilerplate “The Pope Says or Does Something Stupid” post and set it to upload about every three weeks.
Atheists have no idea why we exist, or how we think? D’Souza also has no idea why he exists (the “able to think” part being inapplicable in his case) — he just labels his ignorance “God” and proceeds under the delusion that he’s answered the question.
Hoop dreams.
Hi Fish. Love your work, and far be it from me to criticize, but D’Souza’s level of insanity extends far beyond that expected of mongoose-shit. It’s actually more like the kind of insanity one would find in someone who dry-humps a garbage truck.
Anyway, the odd thing I get from D’Souza is that he seems to be in search of a Christian-based caste system. Maybe he’s homesick?
Good news: The Minnesota Department of Education has dumped the remnant of Yucky Yecke’s pro-creationist influence.
“The religious tribe is made up of people who have an animating sense of purpose. The secular tribe is made up of people who are not sure why they exist at all. The religious tribe is composed of individuals who view their every thought and action as consequential. The secular tribe is made up of matter that cannot explain why it is able to think at all.”
That’s the whole problem. The “tribe” of religion really does think every stupid thought or action as consequential. D’Souza is self deluded enough to think he really matters to the universe. The connections he makes, like criticizing Dawkins for not being a speaker at the VTech memorial when he wasn’t invited (& the Godless Athiests that weren’t there; how does he know one when he sees one?), are hard to fathom. I have a strong sense of purpose and I’m pretty sure Dawkins and others like him do too & I’m pretty sure the secular tribe knows why it is able to think. It’s called a brain. He should go to ‘Brains-are-Us’ & get one next Christmas. I’d be willing to donate $.50 to the fund.
Dinesh D’Souza getting what he deserves would not be an award, not even this one.
Tommy@ 2 :”Like a mosquito in a nudist colony*, Dinesh D’Souza is an annoying little prick.”
Don’t you mean “Like a Dinesh D’Souza in a nudist colony, Dinesh D’Souza is an annoying little prick”?
Heh heh heh.
Cynthia @18,
Speaking of the Pope, he cancelled his visit … after a protest by 67 professors … who objected to the Pope’s support for this statement by Paul Feyerabend
Ratzinger was citing Feyerabend?! I realise that bullshit makes strange bedfellows, but holy smoke! What’s next? Lacan canonised? Steve Fuller for Cardinal?
Apparently a church here in Fresno is trying to get our local band of Atheists and Skeptics to debate Dsouza. Any suggestions on how to do so? If to do so?
Lacan canonised?
*runs screaming into the night*
all you have to do is go to Ddumbass’ website:
http://www.dineshdsouza.com/
and read some of his posts (you might check out the replies in the comments section as well, as he often gets entirely shredded in his own comments sections).
he uses the same lame arguments over and over and over again. sometimes, he will even rub his hands with glee and end up posting the exact particular lameass argument he plans to use for a specific debate.
just be aware, that no matter how badly you grind his nose in the dirt, he will end up claiming victory on his blog.
if that doesn’t bother you, then go for it.
Distort D’Newsia uses the same argument when he tries to argue that modern science is a natural outgrowth of christianity.
Distort D’Newsia uses the same argument when he tries to argue that modern science is a natural outgrowth of christianity.
more like how garbage disposals are a natural outgrowth of garbage.
… i should say instead that the best place to figure out D’dumbass’ game is his blog, in case you missed the link to it on his site:
http://newsbloggers.aol.com/bloggers/dinesh-dsouza
it’s usually the case that most of the commenters there can easily see through his idiotic nonsense.
Apparently a church here in Fresno is trying to get our local band of Atheists and Skeptics to debate Dsouza. Any suggestions on how to do so? If to do so?
I think you need to ask a couple of questions.
What would we hope to accomplish by engaging in it? If it’s one of those fundy groups trying to sponsor it, and it’s with D’Souza, you’re not looking at the most intellectual of folks. I avoid such events because he’s such a fool; so think about what kind of audience you will be drawing.
How would this event fit into broader goals? Would it?
What would be the conditions? where would it be held? Format?
I’m not a huge fan of these things. Dennett debated D’Souza where I teach last spring. Honestly, I couldn’t be bothered because D’Souza is just so fucking stupid. I went home and had Thai food instead; and I had a better evening for it.
There are a few videos of Distort D’Newsia in action online. I would suggest you watch at least one. The tactics are the same, he tosses out so many different charges against atheism that his opponent spends all their time trying to debunk them. In a limited time frame, it leaves him looking like he is in control while the opponent is laboring. Even Christoper Hitchins did not look that good against him.
You just have to figure out if such an event is worth your time and effort.
Dinesh D’Souza u da man!! Finally I have a comeback to my wife when she says “you view your every thought and action as consequential but you ain’t nothing but a dumbass greaseball in a wifebeater undershirt.” I can now authoritatively retort: “but dear – I am only being christian.” Now how can she object to that… how can anybody.