A postscript to "what happened to me"

[vulcanlogician]

Do you applaud such statements?  Or are you the exception?

 I never applaud such statements. 

I don't think that I'm THE (definite article) exception. There must be lots of people like this left. Maybe none of them can stand to use the Internet.

Sometimes such statements are bullying and groupthink. Other times, someone is being a loudmouthed asshole that is bothering EVERYONE. Sometimes, in those cases, someone says something like, "Shut the fuck up, you loudmouthed asshole!" It's hard not to applaud that when it happens. But how to differentiate from groupthink? That can be messy and difficult work... sorting out the category into which one falls.

Things that get said on this forum fall in both categories, Belaqua. And despite my earlier criticisms about "this being the internet"... I do appreciate the fact that you speak up when you perceive groupthink to be afoot. As atheists, we really ought to be free of all intellectual convictions, especially socially perpetuated ones. But, alas, we are human beings, and (atheist or no) we come with a set of human-being-related foibles. A desire for social cohesion is one of them... and intellectual integrity will often take a back seat to that desire.

Atheists like to think of groupthink as "just a theist thing" but that's not true. I will say that theists often hold aloft groupthink as some kind of virtue. At least atheists have enough shame to try to deny that they are engaging in groupthink.

I get you, man. You're a gadfly. I happen to appreciate gadflies. But, keep in mind... I'm very much in a minority as far as that goes. And being a gadfly also has its social perils. But some people don't mind standing apart from the crowd.

They say hemlock is an acquired taste.