Why I am so passionate about speaking out against feminism.

[John V]

And when the rest of the world thinks of atheists, they get the impression of the person who does the best at drawing attention to themselves and their atheism. It's not fair, no, but it is what it is.

I disagree. For example, I think that most people understand that the Muslims who are getting lots of press by beheading journalists are not representative of most Muslims. Do you think most Muslims support beheading journalists?

But I think what bothers me about moderate feminists is that it's so damn rare to see them say anything to the crazy feminists who say crazy things.

This depends on the point above. If you're correct, then I understand your frustration. If you're not, then there's no reason to expect moderates to speak out about the crazies, as it's understood that most people can distinguish the difference. I'm not waiting for a billboard by Muslims denouncing beheadings. Are you?

And so many of them do get all defensive and bent out of shape when we do talk about the extremists. Why is it that the moderates are never concerned with the crazies in their own camp, but they get really upset by outsiders responses to those crazies?

You haven't demonstrated that it's typical for moderates to get upset about outsiders' criticisms of the fringe. I don't see CHristians here getting bent out of shape about atheists' criticisms of Westboro Baptis, for example.

The best example I can give, again, comes back to religion. You know religion has been one of the primary sources of homophobia, right? And it's led a lot of GLBT people to feel hostile towards religion in general, especially Christianity. And instead of getting upset and demanding that gay people acknowledge that not all churches are homophobic, there have been churches who have actually gone and done things like this:



Now, I still have no plans to ever convert to Christianity or any other mythology, but I'd say this is a damn nice gesture. It isn't taking the defensive, it's acknowledging my feelings and acknowledging what people in their group have done. Seeing similar sentiment from feminism would go a long way, but it seems to be pretty rare.

Sorry, but I see no need for the moderates (not sure that's the case here) to apologize for the fringes. Again, I don't need a billboard to understand that moderate Muslims are against beheading journalists.