Elevatorgate

Richard Dawkins

Elevatorgate is a term commonly used to describe a scandal involving atheist Richard Dawkins' inappropriate comments made to fellow atheist Rebecca Watson. In 2011, Richard Dawkins was widely criticized within the atheist community and in various press outlets for his insensitive comments made to atheist Rebecca Watson about an incident which occurred in an elevator (see: Richard Dawkins' Elevatorgate comments). Specifically, Watson was invited for coffee and a conversation late at night by a man who was a fellow atheist. Watson was upset by this and subsequently blogged about it. Following this, Richard Dawkins wrote an open letter to a fictitious Muslim woman, satirically equating Rebecca's plight with that of abused Muslim women. Watson has written about perceived widespread misogny within the atheist community and she has received threats of rape. Prior to the Elevatorgate incident, Wired magazine made the observation that atheists tend to be quarrelsome, socially challenged men (see also: Atheism and women and Atheism and rape).

The New Statesman reporter and fellow skeptic David Allen Green said he believed Dawkins was a mysoginist and a racist. In addition, Green wrote: "Can Richard Dawkins still credibly pose as a champion of rational thinking and an evidence-based approach? In my opinion, he certainly cannot, at least not in the way he did before."

Rebecca Watson and Elevatorgate

As a result of Elevatorgate, atheist Rebecca Watson wrote concerning Richard Dawkins:

“

This person who I always admired for his intelligence and compassion does not care about my experience as an atheist woman and therefore will no longer be rewarded with my money, my praise, or my attention. I will no longer recommend his books to others, buy them as presents, or buy them for my own library. I will not attend his lectures or recommend that others do the same. There are so many great scientists and thinkers out there that I don't think my reading list will suffer."

”

Atheist Rebecca Watson and post Elevatorgate claim concerning harassment

See also: Atheism and women and New Atheism

At an atheist conference post Elevatorgate controversy Rebecca Watson claimed:

“

Hundreds of atheists have informed me that either they wanted to rape me, someone should rape me so that I will loosen up or that no one would ever rape me because I am so ugly".

”

Wired magazine made the observation that atheists tend to be "quarrelsome, socially challenged men".

See also:

• Atheism and women

• Women's views of Richard Dawkins

• Abrasiveness of Richard Dawkins

• New Atheism

Allegation that Rebecca Watson was behaving hypocritically

Amanda Read wrote in the Washington Times that she believed Watson was behaving hypocritically and declared:

“

The point is that because the issue is sexism in the atheist movement, perceptions of sexism are not based on absolute principle, but on relative emotion. Watson speaks out against the sexual objectification of women, but she apparently sees nothing wrong with the pinup calendars that she and her female atheist friends publish. Myers defended her views on his blog, but only last year he linked to an interesting interview with Nina Hartley, a feminist atheist who sees nothing wrong with women performing as sex workers. You see, sexism and the exploitation of women are not immoral to godless women as long as such things are on their terms.

”

Previous incident of Richard Dawkins being unkind to a woman

In September of 2010, Richard Dawkins became nasty towards a woman in an audience he spoke before.

For more information please see: Women's views of Richard Dawkins

Aftermath of Elevatorgate

Although major press outlets have covered Elevatorgate, most of the commentary surrounding the events of Elevatorgate has been in the atheist blogosphere.

Concerning post Elevatorgate events one atheist blogger wrote:

“

There was then lots and lots and lots of argybargy, and now it's being said gallons of misogynist men over the net are trying to shout down Rebecca Watson; that is explicitly so presented in this very recent broadcast on Citizen Radio featuring an interview of Watson (the part with Watson starts only a bit after 20 minutes into the recording, so skip the first 20 minutes).

”

Subsequent to Elevatorgate there was 3 weeks of infighting within the atheist community.

Uphill battle of Rebecca Watkins and female atheists combatting atheist misogyny

See also: Atheism and rape and Atheism and women

Another atheist blogger wrote about Rebecca and her fellow female bloggers at the website Skepchick:

“

The fatal decision was to extend the fight to tackle the greatest problem remaining in modern skepticism – socially awkward male nerds. “So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak - Sun Tzu “ The skepchick army, marshalling their forces, decided to attack the nerds their presumed weakest point – on the internet. Unfortunately, and apparently a surprise for some, the internet is the perfect natural environment of the socially awkward nerd.

”

As noted earlier, prior to the Elevatorgate incident, Wired magazine made the observation that atheists tend to be quarrelsome, socially challenged men.

Conflict at TAM 9

At "The Amazing Meeting 9", organised by skeptic and homosexual atheist James Randi, Dawkins and Watson walked out of each other's talks in protest at each other's behaviour during the incident. Dawkins also announced that in future he would pay for childcare at Amazing Meetings, probably as a dig at Watson.

Abundance of vitriol and a lack of calm and reasoned discussion post Elevatorgate

The blog Freethought Kampala described the aftermath of Elevergate thusly:

“

Elevatorgate is the unprecedented INTERNET WAR that erupted after Rebecca Watson (above) posted a video in which she discussed an ordeal she experienced in an elevator while attending the World Atheist Convention which took place in Dublin, Ireland, from June 3rd to June 5th, 2011. During the months of July and August 2011, the atheist-skeptic blogosphere was ablaze with accusations, counter-accusations, verbal fights, moral declarations and insults as hundreds of bloggers and millions of their readers tried to determine whose assessment of the events narrated by Watson best represented the facts at hand.

”

Subsequently the blog Freethought Kampala wrote in a blog post entitled Elevatorgate – Part 2 – The Failure of Skepticism:

“

You would think that being skeptics, whatever disagreements arising from how the events surrounding and following from Elevatorgate were to be interpreted would be done calmly, rationally, and above all, skeptically. But this is not what happened at all. My concern is not so much about whether someone takes one view or another with regards to Elevatorgate. Indeed, even among the members of Freethought Kampala, there are different opinions on various aspects of the matter. My concern is about how the matter has been handled, the poor quality of arguments that have been advanced, the astounding amounts of hypocrisy on display, and above all the intolerant attitude towards viewpoints that don’t tow the radical gender feminist line – all this, among people that call themselves skeptics.

”

Disharmony, factionalism and global decline of atheism

See also: Atheist factions

Jacques Rousseau wrote in the Daily Maverick concerning Elevatorgate, "Some might observe that we indulge in these squabbles fairly frequently." An ex-atheist wrote: "As an Atheist for 40 years, I noticed that there is not just a wide variety of Atheist positions, but there exists an actual battle between certain Atheist factions.

Decline of atheism and the explosive growth of global Christianity

See also: Global Christianity

In 2011, the American Spectator declared concerning research published in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research:

“

The report estimates about 80,000 new Christians every day, 79,000 new Muslims every day, and 300 fewer atheists every day. These atheists are presumably disproportionately represented in the West, while religion is thriving in the Global South, where charismatic Christianity is exploding."

”

See also

• Atheist leaders and immoral relationships
• Women's views of Richard Dawkins
• Atheism and women
• Atheism and rape
• Atheism and marriageability
• Atheism and bestiality
• Richard Dawkins, atheist atrocities, and historical revisionism
• Richard Dawkins and pseudoscience
• Abrasiveness of Richard Dawkins

Comedy and satire:

• Ponies vs. atheism - Ponies win
• The atheist and evolutionist helpline
• Does Richard Dawkins have machismo?
• Atheists say the darnedest things!
• 10 telltale signs you are on your way to becoming an atheist nerd

Essays:

• Atheism: A house divided and in global decline