Atheist bus children
Nov. 21st, 2009 10:28 amI think I'm a little bit behind on the news, but it seems roughly what happened was that the atheist bus campaign paid for an advert asking for children religious parents (or anyone) not to be labeled with those beliefs. The pictures and story are here:
Bus: Don't label these children as Christian or non-Christian, regardless of what their parents believe.
National newspaper: Ooh! But I found those children and those children ARE Christian or non-Christian. Ahahaha! I got you there, didn't I? I'm so clever!
Bus: But... the advert is mostly ABOUT presumed Christian children? Did you even read it? It's only, like, ten words.
National Newspaper: Gotcha! Despite running an advert asking EVERYONE to be tolerant, we all really knew that what you really wanted was OTHER people to be tolerant.
Bus: Well, duh. I mean, we are us. We don't have to advertise on buses to be more tolerant, we just have to try harder!
National Newspaper: Hmph.
Bus: So, you only respect rabid hard-line fundamentalists, and if someone you disagree with and think OUGHT to be a rabid hard-line fundamentalist tries to be more moderate and open, your idea of a helpful response is not to encourage it, but to scream "hypocrite" until they give up?
I mean, you can argue whether the atheist bus slogans are a good idea, but religious and secular evangalisation both run a full gamut from "Here, have some free food, no questions asked" to "OK, I want you to kill all the people here until people agree with me", and things close to the first end are generally a good way to go!
Bus: Don't label these children as Christian or non-Christian, regardless of what their parents believe.
National newspaper: Ooh! But I found those children and those children ARE Christian or non-Christian. Ahahaha! I got you there, didn't I? I'm so clever!
Bus: But... the advert is mostly ABOUT presumed Christian children? Did you even read it? It's only, like, ten words.
National Newspaper: Gotcha! Despite running an advert asking EVERYONE to be tolerant, we all really knew that what you really wanted was OTHER people to be tolerant.
Bus: Well, duh. I mean, we are us. We don't have to advertise on buses to be more tolerant, we just have to try harder!
National Newspaper: Hmph.
Bus: So, you only respect rabid hard-line fundamentalists, and if someone you disagree with and think OUGHT to be a rabid hard-line fundamentalist tries to be more moderate and open, your idea of a helpful response is not to encourage it, but to scream "hypocrite" until they give up?
I mean, you can argue whether the atheist bus slogans are a good idea, but religious and secular evangalisation both run a full gamut from "Here, have some free food, no questions asked" to "OK, I want you to kill all the people here until people agree with me", and things close to the first end are generally a good way to go!