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.

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.”

The Church of @Scientology bends me over a slimy trash can and makes sweet, nasty love to my #cochlea!

First, I saw this (now removed due to a copyright claim by the Church of Scientology.  It had the words “One. God. Further. Atheism” at the end), courtesy of folks like Cult of Dusty:

Someone had declared to me, “Yay! An atheist super bowl ad!” I was immediately skeptical. Of course I was. Even if American Atheists, Atheist Alliance International, and every other atheist organization pooled their resources, I doubt they’d scrape together enough cash not only to produce such a high-end ad, but also pay for the air time during the super bowl.

Then I saw this, courtesy of the e-meter-ers:

Imagine my crushing disappointment. Sure, I’d been skeptical, but I’d also been hopeful. Yay! An atheist super bowl ad! What better way to let people know it’s okay to be atheist and out about it than during arguably one of the more “American” of events?

Then a friend commented on the “atheist” ad on Facebook. Words of encouragement. I corrected him on the origin of the ad. He basically said that hey, if it’s a great message and a great ad, he didn’t mind co-opting it.

That struck me. Does a message maintain its meaning if it’s co-opted by one group to essentially express the opposite of what it was intended to express by the originating group? I’m not sure. For now, I’m siding with my friend.

@seanhannity gives @MrAtheistPants (and the rest of us) free publicity!

American Atheists’ yuletide billboard

Oh, and Hannity proudly brandishes his ignorance of the Big Bang theory and the theory of Evolution.

So I really like this year’s billboard. It’s simple, to the point, and almost completely clear. I say “almost completely” because I took the “Keep the merry!” part as more general than just keeping Santa. To me, that means keeping all the fun, like egg nog, the gift exchange, the stockings, etc. I’m minorly annoyed that there’s been some confusion out there about the intention of the meaning of “merry,” as you’ll see below, but like I said, it’s minor.

Hannity keeps using words like “narcissistic” and “egotistical.” I don’t think they mean what he thinks they mean.

Anyway, either Silverman is getting better at this, or people like Hannity are getting worse. Even Hannity’s tiny ad hominems are starting to look desperate. I’m glad that Hannity brought up death and the above-mentioned theories because even though there was’t a lot of screen time devoted to them, it was a morsel of exposure for Silverman to discuss them.

Unfortunately, the interviews were pretty one-sided, so there’s below to give more:

@panonbelievers Pisses EVERYBODY Off or What’s in a Billboard?

I’m sure you’ve heard some of the controversy over the following billboard, now destroyed and removed:

Here’s one of the guys responsible for it, Ernest Perce, of American Atheists in association with Pennsylvania Nonbelievers (thanks to Brian Fields, president of Pennsylvania Nonbelievers, for the correction!):

I have VERY mixed feelings on this one. My first thought was, “Well, that’s what the Bible says; read the fucking thing.” But I had a second, less tangible reaction. One of those pesky, deep-down-in-the-gut reactions. I wondered why I felt a sense of guilt and remorse, especially over something I hadn’t done or endorsed. Then it struck me.

The image.