I never had any formal plans to address the death threats I receive on a daily basis from anonymous commenters and emailers, but the cowardly, craven, gutless, fucktards have finally hit me on a bad day.
Normally I just assume that random death threats from impotent losers living in their parents basements just means that I'm doing my job. I'm an atheist blogger. I get it. I write about something many, many people find deeply distasteful. Receiving violent, hateful email from pathetic cowards who lack the intellectual or moral integrity to actually engage other human beings goes with the territory.
But I just have to ask - Why so angry?
I have received 11 death threats today. What terrible, controversial, existence threatening post did I write?
I asked for advice from atheists on how to deal respectfully with religious family members due to the fact that my grandmother died today.
Clearly that represents a grave existential threat that requires my immediate neutralization.
Seriously anonymous religionist douchebags, why so angry? What the fuck is wrong with you? I'm really curious. Because something inside your shallow, uncomprehending, feeble little mind, is well and truly broken. What is it that has gone so horribly wrong in your life that you would spend your time on this useless and wholly pointless drivel? How pathetic and pointless is your life that you would waste even a second sending anonymous threats to people you don't even know? You have to understand that your threats are meaningless.
Moreover, are you truly so incapable of defending your Faith that the only means you can think of to legitimize your belief is by silencing your opposition? Is your belief truly so weak and shallow that anyone with the temerity to voice a contrary opinion is worth of death? That is ignorance, tyranny and stupidity all rolled into one. It's pathetic.
And so I ask, why so angry? What has made life so miserable that you would spend a moment on such a fruitless activity? What has made life so meaningless that this is how you choose to spend your time?
In parting anonymous religionist douchebag, if your life is so shitty, small, pathetic and pointless that sending me death threats somehow makes you feel better, I suggest you start spamming your God, because He's the one supposedly in charge, which means He's the one who has made your life the trainwreck that it is - not me.
I'm sorry this happened to you after such a sad event.
ReplyDeleteI used to be a pretty devout theist. I imagine a lot of the people writing these letters have been bothered by some shred of truth and their conscience is torn. Sadly, they are on the kiddie end of the pool and react violently rather than rationally.
Internet bullies are without a doubt the most cowardly, sordid lot. They love to attack people so long as they have that blessed cloak of anonymity under which to hide. Probably not one of these miscreants has the balls to come to your doorstep spouting this trash. They are cockroaches and not worth your time.
ReplyDeleteTake care of yourself today and in the days to come. You are not alone.
My thoughts are with you as you cope with the death of a loved one. I am not to good with advice on coping with death as i've only experienced one loved one who i cherished die, my grandfather. We all watched him wither away mentally and physically with oesophageal cancer. My religious uncle was a complete bastard who had him hang on to life as long as he possibly could but I secretly wished he would die so his suffering would be over. It was easy to cope with his death because his suffering was so much that one could never wish anyone to endure such a thing.
ReplyDeleteThe only other person I know that has died is my father, who was a tyrannical psychopathic Christian who abducted me at the age of four and decided it was in my best interest to torture me till i mentally snapped at twelve. I felt a great sense of freedom on his death that can't be put in words.
So in dealing with or coping with death is a personal journey of grief that greatly depends on the relationship and the way that they die in my experience. I wish you well and you are in my thoughts.
As for the death threats... One can only assume that compassion and understanding is lacking in the Christian community, understandably so... How does one cope with that? with compassion and understanding of course. That is at heart one of the greatest human traits that religion can't seem to give to it's followers but as atheists we we know that it is a part of our make up. But it is understandable when under the stress of grief it is more difficult to access this capacity.
Sorry about your grandma mate,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure she has had a positive impact on your life at some point, some nice memories - lest we forget :).
Could these people possibly just be trolls (ie, not truly religious people - just fucktards), trying to piss you off ?
Regards,
Anonymous
Keep going strong Jeff; there are those of us who are appreciative of what you and the other atheist bloggers do. Without guys/girls like you, less theistic skeptics would be with some sort of help on their path towards truth.
ReplyDeleteThank. And yes, I suppose they could just be trolls.
ReplyDeleteSorry about your grandmother Jeff. Hope all is well.
ReplyDeleteThank you for creating such an useful and good blog as you have. I can't do much about the trolls since I am not licensed to prescribe them the proper medications. But I am taking the liberty of following your blog from now on.
ReplyDeleteThanks James.
ReplyDeleteThe more the merrier Mr. Sunstone. I too wish I could provide the Trolls with proper medication - clearly their Religion isn't enough and has not provided them with the kind of peace or happiness we all crave.
Hey Jeffrey,
ReplyDeleteCatching up on your recent posts and just saw this. Trolls or not, that's a lot of assholery for one day, especially a crappy one. Re your grandmother's death, room for two more cents? As the only atheist in a family with a lot of old people (my parents were born in the early 20s and procreated for the entire freakin' Baby Boom), I've faced your same situation. As other commenters have said, it's about listening and steering toward sharing memories and away from Grand Design speculation, to the extent you can do that gracefully. Talk about life and love, not death--those memories you posted about your grandma are lovely and that's the common ground you'll always share with your relatives, regardless of religion. Most important, I think: If your parent who is her kid is still alive, tell him/her all the great qualities of your grandmother that you also see in him/her or share something nice that your grandmother said about her child to you--in other words, all the stuff that you hope someone will tell you when your parents die. As for those uncomfortable moments when there's a statement or question hanging out there that begs for a religious response? Well, as an attorney you know the tactic of finding a way to answer the question you want to answer rather than the one that's asked, so I have no doubt your rhetorical skills will be up to the challenge. Take care.
@ Solipsista
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I know. I normally get two or three a day - I guess they just like to kick people when they're down.
I actually attended the funeral this morning and would like to thank everyone for their advice. This was actually my first funeral so I didn't know what to expect. What I found is that no one really wanted to talk - they just wanted to be held - and really, I can't think of anything more quintessentially human than that.
When it comes to death threats and being an atheist (which I am too). The only thing i can think of that you hit a nerve with the people that threaten you. The people that threaten you cannot seem to understand when they are confronted about their believes and they are wrong they get angry and religion teaches to act out in violence. Look at the Old Testament...ton of violence and killing of women, children and many innocent people. Jesus is not exception, he was violent. The threateners are a people that insecure with themselves and their lives.
ReplyDeleteEvery person on this board has said reasonable rational things. Things I would consider to be a normal reaction to this post. Man it is refreshing to find a blog where people are normal. Phew! Mr Myers.. Thank-you! You have made my day!
ReplyDeleteI hope she had a great life and passed happily.