This cartoon comes from the hurter-of-women known as PZ Myers:
Quick back story: Someone emailed PZ and told him a big name in the atheist community sexually assaulted her. Without evidence, he named that guy. Then a bunch of other people named everyone under the Sun. Forget that these people either never went to the police or, for those that did, their reports were looked into and closed with no charges whatsoever. No, that isn’t important. What’s important is that someone has made a significant claim and that evidence is only important in philosophical and scientific claims. When it comes to Internet feminism, it’s irrelevant.
The reason the above cartoon is just so fucking stupid is that it ignores why people get these type of responses: Blogs are not the place to make criminal complaints. A person can’t expect to be taken seriously on sexual harassment when the claim is going through such a hugely wrong channel – a channel so huge that it is only reasonable to conclude that at least part of the goal is public shame of the accused, whether the claim is true or not.
I’m not particularly interested in the PZ Myers-style feminist attempt to destroy the fledgling atheist community we have, so I don’t think I’ll be addressing this issue again. I do, however, hope that the people who have made these accusations without first going through the proper channels are sued into oblivion for defamation.
Filed under: Atheism/Humanism | Tagged: Atheist community, Feminism, pz myers |
For the Sake of Science 
Haven’t you heard that Women Never Lie? Whenever a woman says there’s a problem, it must be assumed automatically and completely true, otherwise you’re a misogynist monster.
This is the core of skepticism–the ability to accept all claims at face value and without evidence. Surely renowned skeptics like PZ Myers embody this principle.
I’m going to re-phrase my last statement: I hope those who have made malicious and false claims* which are not protected by the First Amendment are sued into oblivion. I don’t think, as it so happens, that PZ qualifies as one of these people.
*By “false claims” I mean both claims which are, well, false, and claims of ‘rape’ where the term is being used to reference anything under the Sun, including mere piggish behavior.