Phil Plait, "Don't Be a Dick" (Part 3 of 3)

This speech by astronomer and atheist Dr. Phillip Cary Plait was given at the TAM8 Conference which took place from July 8-11, 2010. Phil Plait is the author of _Death from the Skies_ and is President of the James Randi Educational Foundation as well as creator of the online blog "Bad Astronomy," hosted by discovermagazine.com. He served for a decade on the Hubble Space Telescope.

This video was obtained at this web address:
http://vimeo.com/13704095

The topic of the speech pertains to effectiveness of approach when involving oneself in the discussions related to "winning the hearts and minds" of the great majority of humanity to critical thinking, atheism, and science. It is an offer of constructive criticism and an examination of not only the counterproductive effects of employing needless insults and hostility as a methodology but also of the proper orientation one must take to the process of raising consciousness and both engendering and cultivating a society capable of scientific reasoning.

The ironic note is that he mentions Skepchick Rebecca Watson having concurrently published writings on the same theme. Watson presently is embroiled in petty inflammatory exchanges over her personal experiences and is campaigning for a boycott against the pioneering atheist and accomplished biologist Richard Dawkins for simply not "getting it," as she wantonly declares. Instead of taking an educational approach to the matter to raise consciousness and advance both feminism and atheism, she has chosen instead to antagonize, divide, and ultimately damage the atheist community and its most prominent spokesperson... and has in effect alienated feminists and feminist efforts therein.

As Dr. Plait states in this lecture, we're already facing tremendous difficulties in overcoming the resistance of irrationality. So infighting and "cheap point scoring" simply and needlessly add to the already daunting challenges we face as a members of a movement to enlighten and empower other minds.

Whatistobe

Disclaimer: The maker of this video is in no way associated with Dr. Phil Plait, The James Randi Educational Foundation, www.randi.org, TAM conferences, or vimeo.com. This video is intended for information purposes only.

Highlights from Part 3:
"When you're dealing with someone who disagrees with you on some matter, what is your goal?... To score a cheap point or... to win the damn game?... All being a dick does is score cheap points. It does not win the hearts and minds of people everywhere, and, honestly, winning those hearts and minds... is our goal."

"Don't confuse taking the high road with being weak and being passionless. It's quite the opposite... I've found it takes substantial strength and magnifies my passion."

"We're not trying to kill an enemy. We're trying to persuade other humans."

"We need to be more inclusive... Excluding people is a worse idea when they outnumber you 10,000 to 1."

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[philosopher3000]

I agree with everything he said, just remember that it is also the sign of a good diplomat when you know where to draw the line. It is OK to believe what you want, if it doesn't hurt other people, but when a creationist or an evangelical comes up to shoot an abortion doctor, or refuses to inoculate their children, or wants us to go into another religious war to conquer the infidels and bring on Armageddon, it is fine to be a dick, put yourself in-front of the tank, take a risk.

[DwknsDnnttHtchnsHrrs]

@philosopher3000 You're making a very good point. Plait is primarily speaking to the dialogue of atheists with other atheists or with general religious people. I do believe he would agree that severity is warranted at times. However, I'd only caution that most interactions are not going to require it. Not sure where I heard it, but a good assessment: 90% of your time will be working with your allies; only 10% is in actual engagement with the enemy. Plait is arguing for the quality of the 90%

[imslicc]

great. just one thing. there's no such thing as "Human Nature". we pass on eye color and skin, but regarding the personality - all is given you by the environment in which you're grown.

watch?v=hdanzXgtHMw

[A86]

@DwknsDnnttHtchnsHrrs - "It is no small fact that an atheist is less likely to "select and deny" evidence"

I don't know if I'd go that far. I've met plenty of atheists who embrace racism, deny climate change, still believe Iraq had nuclear weapons, etc. I'd say that atheists tend to be more rational with acceptance of scientific evidence but that's a single area of life. One can embrace science but be irrational on just about every other subject, or be rational on subjects except science.

[Azivegu]

This is a good video for people that comment on anti-religous videos on youtube. It would save so much time and internet space.

[PlateMailArmored]

It's not me that be a dick first, it's the religious people trying to convert me to their bullshit in the first place, THAN I get my dick over them for good!

[tidydannyboy]

@Duke1839 Why would you not classify Muslim terrorists as good people who were corrupted by religion? How do you know that? There are plenty of cases of people who HAVE been influenced by others into committing atrocities in the name of religion. It's easy enough to brainwash someone. Some of them are bad yeah but they would have been bad anyway. Religion just makes it easier for them.

With regards to the occupy movement, do you actually know why they are protesting?

[Duke1839]

@jaq074 I guess I was being a dick. I get that way when bratty freeloaders do millions of dollars worth of damage to a city park that the taxpayers are now on the hook for. Btw, you say that good people do bad things because of religion, I'm not sure I would classify Muslim terrorists as good people who were corrupted by religion. I think they are bad people doing bad things. They just happen to also be Muslim. Osama was a bad person, period.

[jaq074]

@Duke1839 A quote like that is opinion, not a fact that can be proven absolutely right or absolutely wrong. And the sentiment of the quote is that religion can influence good people to do bad things, and I'm sure that that is something you can agree with. Please understand that atheism and satanism are two very different things, by doing your own research on both of them, and also understand that using the phrase "occutards" makes *you* the person phil is asking to stop being a dick.

[Duke1839]

@tidydannyboy Weinberg's famous quote has been proven to be a myth. We know that good people do bad things for a variety of different reasons. Look up the results of the Milgram experiment. Most people don't set out to do bad things, they end up doing bad things because of a variety of pressures and sometimes rationalizations for the greater good. The Occutards in LA destroyed a park and probably killed some trees that couldn't be watered for a couple months, but they think they're "green".

[hardinmichael1981]

@Duke1839 the available evidence would seem to suggest that accident is more plausible than magic.

[tidydannyboy]

@Duke1839 Agreed. Phil has hit the nail on the head (without damaging the wood lol) here. If everyone is encouraged to think freely then religion will surely soon die out.

But it still doesn't take away the fact that religion has been the direct cause of so much hatred and violence over the years.

As steve Wienberg said "With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."