Richard Dawkins is one of the principle founders of the New Atheism movement which is a form of militant atheism in terms of its rhetoric. In recent years, the prominence of the New Atheism movement has greatly waned (see: Decline of New Atheism).
The Elevatorgate controversy and Richard Dawkins' commentary about women and about Muslims have generated a significant amount of bad press and public relations problems for Dawkins (See also: Elevatorgate news stories and Richard Dawkins and women and Richard Dawkins and Islamophobia accusations).
Martin Robbins at New Statesman: Dawkins grasping for attention and relevance
See also: Elevatorgate news stories
In 2013, Martin Robbins wrote in the New Statesman concerning the public persona of Dawkins: "Increasingly though, his public output resembles that of a man desperately grasping for attention and relevance..."[1]
Recently, Richard Dawkins has been reduced to Tweeting provocative Twitter post in order to gain attention. After the predictable ensuing uproar, Dawkins half-heartedly apologizes for the provocative Tweets.[2]
Following of Richard Dawkins has markedly diminished
See also: Elevatorgate news stories and Blog posts on Elevatorgate
Although his following of Dawkian atheist has significantly waned post Elevatorgate and due to his generally abrasive manner, as noted above, he does retain a small cult following (See: Richard Dawkins' cult of personality and Atheist cults). In addition, Dawkins frequently faces accusations of engaging in Islamophobia (see: Richard Dawkins and Islamophobia accusations).
As noted above, Dawkins is a leading figure in the New Atheism movement. The movement was called a cult by the agnostic, journalist Bryan Appleyard in a 2012 article in the New Statesman in which he describes the abusive behavior of New Atheists.[3] See also: Atheist cults
Decline of New Atheism
See also: Decline of New Atheism
On November 6, 2015, the New Republic published an article entitled, Is the New Atheism dead?[4]
In 2015, the atheist author Joshua Kelly wrote:
| “ | ...since the death of Hitchens: angry atheism lost its most charismatic champion. Call it what you like: New Atheism, fire-brand atheism, etc., had a surge with the Four Horsemen in the middle of the last decade and in the last four years has generally peetered out to a kind that is more docile, politically correct, and even apologetic.[5] | ” |
In addition, New Atheism's abrasiveness/aggressiveness caused it to wore thin over time in terms of its public relations (see also: Atheism and public relations).
Google trends data on monthly searches for the term "Richard Dawkins"
Google Trends shows how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume. It provides Google search volume data across various regions of the world, and in various languages.
Below is a Google trends data graph related to monthly Google searches for the term "Richard Dawkins".
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Initial loss of web traffic to Richard Dawkins's website post Elevatorgate
In October of 2012, Rebecca Watson published a story about Elevatorgate and its aftermath in Slate entitled, It Stands to Reason, Skeptics Can Be Sexist Too: I spoke out about sexual harassment among atheists and scientists. Then came the rape threats.[8]
The web traffic was measured via Quantcast which directly measured Dawkins' website traffic via embedded code on his website.[9]
Web traffic of Richard Dawkins' website has seen a dramatic drop
The website traffic is measured via Quantcast which directly measures Dawkins' website traffic via embedded code on his website.[9]
Alexa ranking of Richard Dawkins' website
See also: Alexa rankings of Richard Dawkins' website
2021 Alexa rankings of Richard Dawkins' website
Coverage of Richard Dawkins speaking tour
In 2016, the Shadow To Light blog wrote in article entitled Fading Dawkins:
| “ | Dawkins has been on a speaking tour recently in the United States. On Nov 1 and 2, he had a “public conversation” with Sam Harris.
In the golden years of Gnu, there would have been a couple of news reports about this talk filled with some click-bait quote and I’d probably be blogging about something they said. But despite Dawkins’ return to the speaker circuit, and despite him teaming up with Sam Harris for two days, I can’t find a single report. No one outside that theater is interested in what two of the Four Horsemen had to say. Look, Dawkins and Harris will always have their place among the Madalyn Murray O’Hair crowd. But as far as breaking out into the mainstream is concerned, the fad has run its course.[11] |
” |
Compete.com web traffic data for Richard Dawkins website
Elevatorgate news stories
See also: Elevatorgate news stories
Below is a list of news stories about the Elevatorgate scandal which involved Richard Dawkins and Rebecca Watson.
- Richard Dawkins and male privilege By Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, July 5, 2011 10:30 am
- Richard Dawkins Gets into a Comments War with Feminists by Caitlin Dickson, The Wire, July 6, 2011
- Richard Dawkins Torn Limb From Limb—By Atheists by Remy Stern, Gawker, July 7, 2011
- Richard Dawkins: Skeptic of women? - Salon, July 8, 2011
- Richard Dawkins, check the evidence on the 'chilly climate' for women by Emily Band, The Guardian, July 24, 2011
- Atheists address sexism issues - USA Today, September 15, 2011
Rebecca Watson's article appearing in a news outlet
- It Stands to Reason, Skeptics Can Be Sexist Too by Rebecca Watson, Slate, October 2012
Subsequent articles mentioning Elevatorgate incident
- Richard Dawkins: Atheism’s asset or liability? by Kimberly Winston, Religion News Service, August 7, 2014
- Is Richard Dawkins destroying his reputation? by Sophie Elmhirst, The Guardian, June 9, 2015
Richard Dawkins and Twitter
See also: Richard Dawkins and Twitter
Despite the medical advice of his doctors, Richard Dawkins had a very active Twitter presence before his minor stroke (with a number of Twitter controversies) and numerous public controversies.[12]
Dawkins has accumulated over 30,000 Twitter tweets.[13] The Independent reported, "Dawkins also admitted he wasn't very good at managing Twitter and the strong reactions his posts tend to provoke. 'Twitter is very difficult medium to handle,' he said. 'I’m not much of a diplomat.'"[14] However, after his stroke, in May 2016, Dawkins gave up posting on Twitter and the tweets that appear in his name are done by his staff.[15]
Diminishing meme of Richard Dawkins and the rising memes of Jesus Christ and global creationism
See also: Global Christianity and Global creationism
Richard Dawkins coined the term and the concept of a meme. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a meme as "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."
Professor Eric Kaufmann told a secular audience in Australia: "The trends that are happening worldwide inevitably in an age of globalization are going to affect us."[16] See: Decline of global atheism
Johns Hopkins University Press reported in 2014 about global creationism: "Over the past forty years, creationism has spread swiftly among European Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Hindus, and Muslims, even as anti-creationists sought to smother its flames."[17] See also: Evolutionary indoctrination
Atheists declaring that Richard Dawkins is now a liability to the atheist movement
See also: Atheism and public relations
Post Elevatorgate and subsequent to his various embarrassing/inflammatory Twitter posts, many atheists are now asking if he is a liability to the atheist movement.[18]
See also:
Google search results reflecting Richard Dawkins' loss of public influence
See also
- Richard Dawkins meme
- Abrasiveness of Richard Dawkins
- Elevatorgate
- Richard Dawkins and women
- Decline of the atheist movement
- David Silverman's loss of public influence
- Atheism and public relations
- Instances of Richard Dawkins ducking debates
- Richard Dawkins and pseudoscience
- Atheism and cowardice
- Richard Dawkins, atheist atrocities, and historical revisionism
- Richard Dawkins' commentary on Adolf Hitler
- Richard Dawkins and Creation Ministries International
- Richard Dawkins and the origin of the human eye
- PZ Myers' loss of influence
Essays:
External links
- Richard Dawkins: Atheism’s asset or liability?, Washington Post
References
- ↑ Atheism is maturing, and it will leave Richard Dawkins behind
- ↑ The 12-Stage 'Evolution' Of A Richard Dawkins Twitter Scandal, By Paul Vale, The Huffington Post UK, Posted: 22/08/2014 02:06 BST
- ↑ The God wars by Bryan Appleyard, New Statesman
- ↑ Is the New Atheism dead? by Elizabeth Bruenig, New Republic, November 6, 2015
- ↑ Uproar Against Dawkins Is Sign of New Atheism Retrogression by Joshua Kelly
- ↑ 2012 has been a very BAD year for Richard Dawkins's website according to Quantcast
- ↑ Richard Dawkins' loss of influence
- ↑ It Stands to Reason, Skeptics Can Be Sexist Too: I spoke out about sexual harassment among atheists and scientists. Then came the rape threats by Rebecca Watson, Slate, October 2012
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Quantcast - Quantcast Measure
- ↑ Web traffic of Richard Dawkins' main website
- ↑ Fading Dawkins
- ↑
- Richard Dawkins says stroke caused by stress over controversy, Religion New Service
- The 12-Stage 'Evolution' Of A Richard Dawkins Twitter Scandal by Paul Vale, The Huffington Post UK, Posted: 22/08/2014 02:06 BST
- Richard Dawkins, delete your account: The prominent atheist implodes on Twitter (again), Salon
- 15 Of Richard Dawkins' Most Controversial Tweets, Huffington Post
- ↑ Richard Dawkins Twitter
- ↑ Richard Dawkins defends Ahmed Mohamed comments and dismisses Islamophobia as a 'non-word'
- ↑ Dawkins: I’ve Given Up Twitter.
- ↑ Shall the religious inherit the earth - Festival of Dangerous Ideas - Eric Kaufmann
- ↑ Creationism spreading in Europe
- ↑
- Richard Dawkins: Atheism’s asset or liability? by Kimberly Winston, Washington Post, source: Religion News Service, August 7, 2014
- The Closed Mind of Richard Dawkins, New Republic by John Gray
- Jennifer McCreight on the Twitter about the Elevatorgate scandal
- Down's Syndrome girl passes six GCSEs as dad calls Richard Dawkins 'an ignorant idiot', Mirror by By Grace Macaskill, Aug 23, 2014 15:41
- The 12-Stage 'Evolution' Of A Richard Dawkins Twitter Scandal by Paul Vale, The Huffington Post UK, Posted: 22/08/2014 02:06 BST