Behold @realanews’ 2nd anniv w/ @BrianAllenAptJ, #LeeMoore, @blairscott_AL, @ShayrahA, @steve_shives, @ReapSowRadio, @justinvacula, & me!

It took me forever to get onto this thing because Google+ for iPhone didn’t fucking work. And then Brian’s a jerk for suggesting I don’t know how to work the webbertubes. (I kid!)

Anyway, sorry to Chris Altman and Cody Jones for not including you in the title/tweet of this post. No room and I didn’t know your Twitter handles if you have them.

And a slight apology to Blair Scott for being so challenging in my American Atheists convention policies questions.

Oh, and to everyone who watches, I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with my voice, but I pronounce my Ss very oddly and I sounded really fucking nasal (Do I ALWAYS sound like that??).

Without further ado, the hangout. A good time was had by all!

Unrelated to the above, I’ll take this opportunity to announce my three-week hiatus from posting, videos, tweets, etc. due to a trip to Europe. Let’s face facts, though, and admit that I’ve posted so infrequently lately, I doubt anyone’ll notice.

I support @SecularStudents’ #SSAWeek because I was once a lost, collegiate heathen

When I was in college, the Secular Student Alliance didn’t exist. If it did, I sure as hell didn’t know about it. I’d recently graduated from the Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon, a private, non-sectarian K-12 school whose demographics were predominantly Jewish, then Christian, then Other. Because I was a deist in high school, I never felt left out, at least not in any religious/irreligious way. No one proselytized. No one made his religion an issue. In fact, religion barely, if ever, came up.

Things changed when I went to the politically liberal, liberal-arts Pitzer College in Claremont, California. I was losing my faith from the beginning of my time there, realizing I was an atheist the summer of my freshman year. Unfortunately, beyond the initial relief that such an experience brings, I found neither comfort nor solidarity on campus.

The fact is probably most people I knew at that time were also atheists, or in the very least didn’t care. But you wouldn’t have known it from the presence of groups like the Campus Crusade for Christ. I still clearly remember trotting off to the Gold Student Center for a veggie burger and hearing the circle-snging from upstairs. Sure, they had the right to gather and make merry, but I was irritated anyway. Why should the Crusaders have a place to go and not I?

I also clearly remember a less fortunate occasion in the dining hall. I was obnoxiously dressed in a sarape because I was still amid my Mexican-culture-co-opting phase. This girl dropped by my table, set a table tent in the middle, and went on her way. I’d been having a very bad day for reasons I don’t remember. With this bad day, I took a quick look at the table tent. It said some shit about Jesus and saving and who knows what else. In a burst of righteous indignation, I seized the table tent and tore it to pieces. I sighed with relief.

Then the girl returned.

Weeping, she quietly apologized, gathered the destroyed table-tent pieces, and ran away. Good one, Anton. Way to be a total fucking asshole.

But here’s the thing. Had there been a SSA on campus, an active SSA, I most likely would’ve let bygones be bygones, at least as far as table tent placement goes. Sure, I would’ve felt annoyed by the girl and her table tent, but I would’ve had a place to have taken my gripes. Or I would’ve had my own table tents to place!

I know. I could’ve found a secular group on-line. I could’ve formed my own. It never crossed my mind to do either. And for that, some poor table tent had to die.

Don’t let future Campus Crusade for Christ table tents suffer the same fate! Support the Secular Student Alliance!

Happy post-facto co-opted #Pagan fertility/spring festival day!

I had a tradition here at Atheist Asshole of writing some kind of snarky, mocking post on Easter Sunday about Easter Sunday. Sometimes it was about the history of beloved Easter traditions and how they’re all Pagan-based. Sometimes it was just a log (blog?) of what I’d done to celebrate. But at least it was something.

As is evident from the date of this post, I completely fucked it up this year. And I don’t even remember what I did on Easter, let alone whether it was specifically Easter-related. I do remember that I started Chuck Heston’s The Ten Commandments, but only got about a half hour in before the rest of the audience had already given up. Sorry, Chuck.

Yes, I know, watching even part of The Ten Commandments is Easter-related, but remember that in previous years, I’d usually gone out and done something. One year, it was a butt-load of mini-golf. Another year it was an actual Easter brunch.

The thing is, and this was brought up by A-News co-founder Lee Moore on his Facebook page, that even though we atheists lack a belief in gods, that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy a good time, even one that was at one time based partially or entirely on made-up religious bullshit.

Here’s the thing about holidays. As you may well know, yes, the origin of the word is much more literally religious-based. Holy day. But as any speaker of modern English will tell you, the “holi-” of “holiday” doesn’t in any casual, vernacular reality have anything to do with “holy” as in “god.” It’s basically just a “let’s have a good time” thing.

I don’t know about other atheists, but for myself, any excuse to have a good time is generally all one needs to justify doing so. Thus, even though the holiday in question is both Christian- and Pagan-based, in most ways inextricably tied (in some people’s minds) with Christ, just as it was co-opted by the Christians to suit their needs, so, too, it can be co-opted to suit mine.

With that, happy post-Easter no matter how you celebrated or what significance it holds for you. And if you don’t like that people like me stole your holiday for rounds of mini-gold thereby completely ignoring and trivializing what you consider to be the “true” meaning of it, well, tough shit.

Why @nonstampNSC, @BridgetGaudette, @Zjemptv, @SecularWoman, & @MaionnaiseJane are better than you are

This all started a number of weeks ago and I’d intended to get a few screen grabs so I could show exactly how it all went down, but now that’d involve probably hours of skimming Twitter timelines which I’m not gonna fucking do.

Also, it may seem like a conflict of interest to mention Bridget Gaudette now that I write for her Freethoughtify.com, but the encounter I’ll mention happened long before that.

I’ve been a fan of NonStamp for a couple of years now. I’ve posted a number of his videos on here. One of my favorites is Context!! When I saw he was on Twitter, I was plenty excited as I figured I’d get first-look niftiness on his vids.

Then I saw it.

I happened to notice that NSC had started writing for Freethought Blogs. It’s no small secret that I’m not a giant fan of a few of their writers. I was disappointed. Even though I knew that NSC’s involvement was neither a reflection on him nor on them, I still kinda sank inside. I told him that my comment wasn’t an attack, but that I was (half kidding) sad to see him there.

At first, he got defensive. He said something to the effect of my jumping on the bandwagon of FtB hate, talking out of my ass, all that sort of stuff.

But!

In only a couple of exchanges, we clarified our positions and he apologized for his brash tone and kind words were shared.

No fuss. No muss. Just regular, ol’ cordial exchange. We started from a place of difficulty, but then were both willing to be reasonable and civil and it all worked out.

I first heard about Gaudette through A-News’ interview with her. Then I checked her out a bit on SecularWoman and Twitter. At some point, she made some comment about sexism in society. I wrote her on Facebook and asked her about that.

“Fuck off,” isn’t what she said. No, no. We also had a cordial back and forth in which she answered my questions.

I don’t remember how I discovered Zinnia Jones, Queen of Atheism. It was probably some randomly encountered YouTube video. I enjoyed her straight-forward, facts-only style. And, as with NonStamp, I found her on Twitter.

At some point, the discussion of the definition involved in transsexuality came up. While I know a thing or two about transsexuality, I’m no expert. i asked about definitions, what made one trans, what that meant, all kinds of stuff. Jones answered everything with patience and (literary) poise.

Through my acquaintance with Gaudette, I became aware of Secular Woman. I think she was working for/with them at the time. I generally find them more palatable than another oft blabbed-about female-driven skeptic site which shall remain nameless. Not always, but generally. Well, along with that above trans discussion, I bumped into Elsa Roberts of Secular Woman. We had some back and forth not so much about transsexuality, but of more general feminist topics.

Not only did Roberts answer my questions and respect my right to disagree with her, but she also invited me to continue the conversation with her directly. I’ve not done so as of yet only because of a lack of time to commit to it, but i will soon (likely in a couple of weeks).

Finally, Marisa Gallego appeared in that darn trans conversation and with her, not only did I not see eye-to-eye, but at times I downright called her on her shit, or at least what I considered her shit. I feel like I was respectful in doing so, but that doesn’t change the action taken. Despite that, we maintained politeness throughout and with her help, I’ve learned a thing or two about her positions.

I have to say that with each of the above-referenced conversations, not only did I not expect anything going into them, but based on my conversation with my Best Friend and Biggest Fan (BFaBF) Ophelia Benson, I actually assumed that all conversations would end up in some kind of vicious, name-calling flame war. I’m so glad, then, that my initial fears were completely debunked and that some mutual insight developed.

If only it could be this way every time.

My new article “Respectable Spectacles and a Perfect Part” is live on @BridgetGaudette’s @freethoughtify!

So I’m in line to pick up my vanilla Chai latte ’cause I’m Oregonian and that’s how we roll. I’m wearing the hell out of my Dickie Dawk Out Campaign shirt and I’m so caught up in my in-line standing that I barely notice this woman nodding with approval at my shirt.

“Cool T,” she noddingly approves.

“No, but I look like him.” I think I’m being funny.

“No, your shirt. ‘We’re All Africans.’”

“We all are, though admittedly some of us less recently than others.” I think I’m being witty.

She smiles. “So you’re an out atheist?”

“Nah, I just like the color.” I really should stop trying to be funny.

“It’s black.”

“Oh, right. Hadn’t noticed. I’m colorblind. Well, not that colorblind. Sorry, I’m being difficult.”

She nods. Yes, you are. Being difficult.

“Yeah, out atheist. Since 19. And for some reason, I feel everyone needs to know.”

“That’s cool. Makes it easier for those who don’t feel as comfortable about it.”

“About atheism?”

“About their own atheism.”

“I take it you’re an atheist as well?”

“Nah, I just like the free coffee.”

I laugh. Mostly politely.

“Sorry,” she apologizes, “now I’m being difficult.”

“Yeah, well, I started it.”

“You going to the American Atheists convention?”

“I don’t really do conventions. The only one that ever interested me was the one at which Julia Sweeney spoke. But even then, I didn’t get to it.”

“She’s great. I love her de-conversion story.”

“Me too. I’ve seen it live. Twice. Oh, there I go bragging again.”

“You have a neat air about you. Sort of uber-faux-confident.”

“That’s what my wife says.”

“I wonder, would you be interested in writing for my site, Freethoughtify?”

“What’s the ‘-ify’?”

“You know, like ‘Storify.’”

I don’t know. “Oh, yeah.”

“I’m gathering less-represented atheist writers.”

“You mean us poor, straight, white guys?”

“Well, you did say you’re colorblind.”

“That’s true. I did. I’m Anton.”

“Bridget.”

That’s the literally true story of how I started writing for Bridget Gaudette’s Freethoughtify. The site is clickable through the above logo. My article is here. And soon it’ll be on the right under “My Articles.”