Meet someone I disagree with so much that my disagreement gland hurts.
(Found via CamelsWithHammers, of course!)
Let me introduce you to Nica Lalli, a pink atheist! Her hobbies include reinforcing gender stereotypes and being ignorant and judgemental while pretending to be NIIIIIIICE. How fun!
Recently, with the rising voices of atheists everywhere, it is easier for me to say that I am a non-believer. The many books that have come out in the past few years have helped strengthen my resolve in non-belief and have made me feel less isolated.
These atheist writers are mostly men. With titles like The God Delusion, or Why God is Not Good, there can be no mistaking their message: religion is bad and un-provable, science offers better answers than gods, and anyone who is religious is misguided. I call these guys the Navy Blue Atheists.
This paragraph can be summed up in two words. Those two words are “HOW MEEEEAAAN!1!1!!!”
I am pink for the simple reason that I am a woman. But the reason that a pink atheist is different from a navy blue atheist is more complicated than a gender difference.
Yeah, ’cause all women like pink! Also, ignorant gender stereotyping is fun! GROUP HUG NOW DARLINGS <3<3<3
I have no scientific degree.
Well, OK, me neither.
I know nothing about biology, neuroscience or sociology.
WROOOONG! Having no degree doesn’t mean one can’t educate oneself about the basics.
I have no interest in telling anyone what they should or shouldn’t believe in.
Huh? Where did that come out from? Somehow, I suspect arses were involved. Because, which one of the atheists has got such interests? The evil mean Dawkins? Haha, not so. It’s fun to misrepresent other atheists, and be a self-hating non-believer who wants to show how NIIIIIICE they are at the expense of other members of the same minority though, right? THAT’S JUST SO PINK! AND NIIIIIICE!
All I really have to add in the dialogue is my story of how I came to be comfortable with being nothing, which means having no religion.
“Comfortable with being nothing”? How remarkably Freudian! Guys, this is how a NIIIIIICE pink atheist person feels about themselves. Nice!
So I became an atheist, no more hiding behind the “maybe” or the “who knows” of the agnostic. But I am not interested in disproving anyone’s god.
Well, no prob, since there’s nothing to disprove, duh. And are you supposed to spell it “god” when you’re in the middle of showing everybody how NIIIIICE you are? I believe not. I also believe that “God” also isn’t quite obsequious enough. Please go with “GOD” from now on.
Also, adding sparkly text might be a good idea.
So I’m pink because I favor the personal narrative instead of the cold, hard-edged logic, and because I seek to bring people together rather than separate everyone out. When that’s combined with my lack of religion and the fact that I am content and comfortable with that lack, I become the first pink atheist.
Of course, no logic for the silly irrational wimminz! Because we are silly and irrational, right? And emotional, and nice, and never swear, and don’t wear trousers, and want everyone to be nice and pink and happy and GROUP HUG TIME NOW DAAARLIIINGS <3<3<3<3
(I wanted to insert a huge caps lock NO done in sparkly text, but decided it would be an overkill. Just so you know)
I just want to be able to coexist with the believers. As a person who values community, I would rather focus on our commonalities than on our differences. As a person who values other people and wants to know, wants to listen, wants to understand, I cannot make a blanket statement of who is right and who is wrong.
Yeah, like anybody is making such blanket statements. But you know, if you don’t misrepresent atheists’ arguments, if you don’t say Dawkins is mean at least five times per essay, the theists won’t like you, so there.
From my pink point of view I see a happy world where everybody gets along despite their religious differences. There are no wars and no conflicts or petty disagreements. Just harmony: pink-tinted and delicious.
Projectile-vomiting NOW!
(BUT ARE WE JUST LIKE THOSE MEAN GIRLS IN HIGH SCHOOL?)
The world is still full of conflict and hatred, much of it over religious beliefs, but for that moment you feel hopeful, the candy brings you back to the child within: curious, open to ideas, wondering and sure that best is yet to come.
Yeah, and it’s OBVIOUSLY atheists, and most of all, Dawkins, who are responsible for all those religious conflicts, SURE.
At least, Nica Lalli proved one thing: she certainly has no idea about logic, and certainly is irrational. Nice.
But look! She’s got followers.
I will extend this to say that atheism seems to be dominated by the often strident voices of men and feminists (not mutually exclusive).
Oooooo. Guys, we’re strident. HOW NOT NIIIICE. This statement is somewhat in conflict with this line a couple of paragraphs down:
I am a feminist.
So, are you a feminist or are you nice, darling?
n__n
n__n
n__n
It’s all right :D ! I know, as a woman, you don’t wanna have anything to do with this evil masculine logic!
Further proven by this gem:
I realize that feminism and femininity are usually considered at odds, but I am both, and I think they can be compatible. Atheism is usually accompanied by feminism, and therefore lacking in femininity, a lack that hurts us.
OH WOW. But, duh, everyone* knows that feminists are butch lesbians who only shave their moustaches and wear stained flannel shirts and old jeans all the time. DUH.
This statement would of course make warped sick almost-sense in a world where femininity means always conforming to a set of very traditional and heteropatriarchal stereotypes, such as:
– women never say no,
– even when they don’t agree with something,
– or especially then,
– and even if they do, they don’t really mean it,
– this is because an opinionated woman is a harpy who won’t ever find a husband, and nobody will like her,
– women don’t have opinions,
– they also don’t have sexual orientations,
– an opinionated men is intelligent, a woman with an opinion is a screeching harpy,
And so on, and son on.
But I need a feminine atheism too. I like talking about things like love and souls and feelings without having to pin them down and frame their perimeter with facts. When I go to the bathroom to have a cry because I’m really stressed out, what I need to say is “ow”.
Here’s me, vomiting. In the bathroom. Because I’m stressed.
Hint: not all women like to talk about “souls” and “love” and “feelings”. You have no right to tell them their version of femininity is less feminine than yours.
Christianity, more than atheism, has a place for both masculinity and femininity.
I admit, I laughed out loud here. It’s obvious how women-friendly Christianity is from this entire post. Look what ideas about femininity she’s got: they didn’t come out of nowhere.
Atheism, being reason-based, doesn’t have as much of a feminine side, or a friendliness towards femininity, perhaps seeing it as antithetical to rationalism.
Yes, we women are irrational. Either that or masculine.
(My feminine, emotional side has one thing to say at the moment, and this is DIAF, pink atheists.
Yeah, I know, this isn’t very rational. But then, what can you do? I’m just a silly irrational wimmin here!)
I can think of many different interpretations of what that might mean, and I really hope that other feminine atheists will speak out and say that the masculine voices that dominate the atheist scene don’t always speak for us.
Only, they bloody do speak for me. Stop invalidating my experience just because it disagrees with your patriarchal stereotyped version of femininity.
Obviously, there’s nothing feminist about pink atheism. Obviously, it’s nothing more but a pathetic attempt by some sort of “cult of nice**” to appropriate an entire genders’ experience and turn it into a vomit-inducing, coddling pile of pink*** sparkly**** goo.
Congrats! You managed to succeed! GROUP HUG TIME NOW DARLINGS <3<3<3<3<3
(Damn, and I was supposed to be sauteing Tom Estes, gee)
* Fundies, bigots and morons.
** Those two posts, by the way, are eerily reminiscent of the whole Nice Guy trope.
*** And I like pink D:
**** And I like sparkles even more.
梅雨眠中 