Hey,
With all that's going on over at AC recently - particularly the excommunication of Terry - I get the feeling that there are a lot of folk who are plain fed up with Ray (and not just in the usual "oh that Ray Comfort, look at him being a twat again; bless his little cotton Jesus-socks" kind of way). Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but I think the air is right to invite some of the newly emerging lurkers and general theists that have cropped up since the Pity Party over here for some serious chat and tell Ray to stick it where the circling-Sun don't shine.
If I'm way off base with this, let me know and I'll Winston Smith this post so fast the Cambrian explosion will look like an epoch (oh, wait...)
I know many of us don't post there any more, regardless, but I think we could draw some new blood in anyhow. Thoughts?
In related news,
"The atheists are the fools, and they will embrace you because "an enemy of my enemy is my friend"...
...By your actions you are a false convert. You really need to let that sink in, but not let it blow you up, your rage is very ungodly....
...By going around and slandering LW for rebuking you, you are acting like a fool, instead of being wise and examining yourself to see whether you are indeed "in the faith"."
So we've got;
- The 'others' are evil and fools, don't trust them
- You're not toeing the line and therefore you were never one of 'us' to begin with
- Do not question the leadership
Cult?
Yeah, I'd say it's a fucking cult.
I think this post lends credence to the idea that Ray - or at least one of his minions - posts under false profiles to up the comment count and generally antagonize people, I have one thing to say to that:
Costly mistakes it seems Ray is making,
Ugly scenes with the fans he's forsaking.
Not able enough,
To rebuke or rebuff,
So he makes out like they were just faking.
Ok, Wee does it much, much better, but I still had fun writing it.
There's been some cracking stuff done while I've been away - it's taken me a while to catch up - so a massive thanks to all the Raytractors who have provided such entertaining reading over the past week or so, so good job all! Now lets steal Ray's readership and get some proper discussion on the go...
Matt
Posts
(I feel like a tool for bumping your post. Anyone know if we can boost it up?)
ReplyDeleteI think getting people from Ray's to come over for an uncensored forum to talk is good, I just don't know if Blogger is set in such a way for that to work as well without heavy moderation.
Well, I've been "struck", but I ain't sitting around crying over it. If there's some piece of Ray's bullshit that I want to respond to, I'll do it here. We know that Ray, or someone on his staff (on his staff, that would be Kirk, right?), or one of his believers keeps tabs over here.
ReplyDeleteThe infighting between the Christians reminds me of a couple of quotes;
"Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion -- several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight." -- Mark Twain
"There is no wild beast so ferocious as Christians who differ concerning their faith." William Lecky
Lately, most of Ray's posts have been so stupid, that I didn't feel like commenting them anyway.
ReplyDeleteBut for the moment I have a little project going on over there, that has nothing to do with Ray, and I'm just curious where it will lead me...
I'll happily join the strike, when I get bored of it.
Has anyone considered a Raytractors IRC channel yet?
ReplyDeleteI love the limerick, Matt - well done! And yes, it does feel good to write a little rhyme, kind of like getting free therapy.
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether some of Ray's lurkers or less enthusiastic fans may visit us here; of course they're welcome to do so but it's up to them.
Please edumacate me on this...are there places where we can set up a forum that has actual threads instead of just posts, where we can have theists make a thread of their own if they want? I know you guys know what I'm talking about, but it's 5am and I've been up since 3 so fill in the blanks where my mind isn't working yet.
ReplyDeleteAnd the forum needs to be free, of course, and we'd have to moderate it in some way...hey, I just have the idea, I can't work out the details.
NM,
ReplyDeleteSetting up a forum is simple. A good site to check out is proboards50.com
@ yeager
ReplyDeleteNo worries pal, the rate at which we publish posts; they'll both be buried before the end of the week!
I'd be interested in being involved in a forum - although I'm something of a Creationist when it comes to their existence (someone/thing must have magically created them because I can't understand how they could possibly come about by natural, technological means!).
Thanks Weemaryanne.
Rufus,
ReplyDeleteHow were you banned? Did AC just quit posting your comments or did you receive an official email from Ray? How do the Catholics excommunicate someone- shouldn't there be a ceremony of some sort from Ray to mark this solemn occasion?
NM,
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to have a place to have one discussion at a time. This blog moves so fast that by the time I think of a comment the post is way down at the bottom and no one is reading it anymore.
For example one thread could be Pascal's Wager. I can't believe how many times that comes up with Christians. I had that thought when I was 8 years old and by the time I was an adult I realized that it wasn't a very good argument. It would be nice to have a place to refer people to or to copy/paste from. No need to keep reinventing the wheel each time.
Anyway- I think it is a good idea!
You are not way off base- Ray deserves a smack down. I don't know all the circumstances but it seems like Ray and Living Waters treated Terry pretty badly. I think Terry needed to be reined in but you don't kick someone out to the curb that obviously has the issues Terry does. Nevertheless, I don't think we need an out and out strike. A slow down is enough. There are certain posts that should not be responded to- I can't give a definition but it's like pornography- I know it when I see it. I think Atheist Central may be teetering on the edge. If Terry is only a little bit right there is plenty going on behind the scenes and the fact that many fellow Christians are disgusted with the turn Ray has taken might bring the whole thing down. I think the blog has definitly gone downhill since our first strike.
ReplyDeleteMilo:
ReplyDeleteNo, it wasn't official. They just stopped allowing any post to go through, except one, which was later removed. When he banned Clos, he announced it. And usually when they've removed a post, It'll say post removed by administrator, but that time with mine, it didn't. I haven't tried since then. Oh well.
I also think a forum is a great idea. It is kinda hard to keep up here sometimes. It would also give us a chance to expand our topics if that interest anyone. Most forums have various sub-forums, for example there could be ones for religion, evolution, science in general,etc...
ReplyDeleteBut I really don't have any idea how to go about setting one up.
I'm a huge sucker for debate of this sort. When I'd graduated from college, I got heavily into alt.atheism - and spent so much time reading/posting I'm almost embarassed to admit it now.
ReplyDeleteMy problem is this: there are so many of things that need to be responded to on Ray's blog. Here, not so much. I don't always agree, of course, but this group seems to value "not writing stupid shit" enough that there isn't much controversy.
So, if y'all can recommend a good 12-step program, I'd be willing to give the strike/boycott a serious try :)
---
Matt, don't be so hard on yourself; that was spot-on :)
I wouldn't have any problem with a forum, or with a chat room. But with a forum, we might end up with the kind of folks that frequent sites like CARM; then The Raytractors would make it to Fundies Say the Darnedest Things, the big time.
ReplyDeleteOk, I'm going to investigate setting up a sister site that will house some regular discussion topics and also act as an effective archive for some of our favourite posts from over here (I'm thinking http://raytractors.blogspot.com/2008/08/piety-of-ray-little-web-sleuthing.html would have pride of place!)
ReplyDeleteThe Raytractors blog will still remain, of course, the Ground Zero of all things Comfort-Crazy, but it seems like there's enough of an interest to give this forum thing a go.
I'll report back after the weekend.
PS. did anyone spot the hidden message in my posting? [walks off whistling innocently...]
This site is quite prolific. I often come back to comment on a post and find it is now 3 posts down, so I don't bother. I'm not complaining, just an observation.
ReplyDeleteI don't think any Raycolytes will bother coming to the forum. Except maybe "Mike and Lizette's travels and thoughts", whom I'm really starting to dislike-a lot" I don't comment at Ray's, but I've been really tempted to lately. Something along the lines of:
Mike and Lizette's travels and thoughts,
Would you please remove the word "thoughts" from your profile. In the months that I've been lurking here I've yet to see you demonstrate a "thought". IMO, the only things I've seen you spout are condemnations and a slew of bible quotes. The spewing of bible verses is not thinking, it's regurgitation. You fail to notice the fact that your weapon of choice (bible verses) holds absolutely NO WEIGHT with those you are debating. My cat regurgitated a hairball this morning, I wasn't impressed with that either.
Have a great day!
Wow, I feel better just typing it here. I'm not going to do it at Ray's though. I've got much better things to do than argue with one of Ray's lobotomized lackeys for christ.
Liz,
ReplyDeleteThe only person there that bothers me more than Mike ' Liz is StoryTwatAhole.
I think I need a break.
NM,
ReplyDeleteStorytwat and Mike & Liz are just like all the Raytards. I'm fairly certain they all share one brainstem.
The new moderation is extremely frustrating. I have to wait all day for even a small portion of comments to show up.
The Raytards, god's greatest tools.
Looks like it was a site expansion, not a strike, that I could smell; I knew it had to be something Raytractorish because there was a distinct whiff of aborted fetus, virgin blood and lube.
ReplyDeleteCarry on then, nothing more to see here...