Richard Dawkins receives massive backlash after calling some kinds of rape worse than others - Polidicks

[QUOTE]Scientist Richard Dawkins has been branded a "monumental idiot" after saying some types of paedophilia and rapes are "worse" than others. The best-selling author used a series of tweets to explain that while one thing is worse than another, it doesn't mean you condone either. Unfortunately the examples he used to illustrate his argument did not go down well with the internet. In one tweet he wrote: "Date rape is bad. Stranger rape at knifepoint is worse. If you think anybody who said that would thereby be endorsing date rape, go away and learn how to think."[/QUOTE] [URL]http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/richard-dawkins-faces-tsunami-hate-3934706[/URL]

he's basically saying the more violent act is more wrong are people actually mad about that?

Richard Dawkins is a fucking idiot

He is right. A brutal gangrape that puts you in hospital and permanently cripples you is worse than a date rape which doesn't do those things. Both are still bad, but arguably one is much worse. I think if you're going to criticise Dawkins over this, you should probably look at why he is saying these things rather than what he is saying, I think that is where the debate should be.

God damn it could a mod please change kings to kinds?

[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;45572607]God damn it could a mod please change kings to kinds?[/QUOTE] i'm more of a baron of rape

Snip actually I'm not getting involved with this lol

dawkins has pretty much always been an utterly monolithic fuckwit tbh. it undercuts his points pretty hardcore when he says things like this in all honesty

[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;45572607]God damn it could a mod please change kings to kinds?[/QUOTE] From the title at first I thought this would be him talking about some of the most well-known rapists or something.

On the internet, you can be anything you want. Strange how so many people can choose to be stupid. But then again, such emotionally charged topics as rape do have widely differing viewpoints on what is an acceptable way to describe any form of rape at large.

I can kind of understand where he was coming from with regard to date rape and rape at knife point. Very badly phrased though.

[QUOTE=Cone;45572616]dawkins has pretty much always been an utterly monolithic fuckwit tbh. it undercuts his points pretty hardcore when he says things like this in all honesty[/QUOTE] Scientists aren't good at politics.

[QUOTE=Judas;45572604]Richard Dawkins is a fucking idiot[/QUOTE] his work in the biological sciences is decent though

Just another storm in a glass of water.

[QUOTE=Cone;45572616]dawkins has pretty much always been an utterly monolithic fuckwit tbh. it undercuts his points pretty hardcore when he says things like this in all honesty[/QUOTE] I feel like people are reading into what he's saying way too much so they can justify their already existing hatred of this guy what did he really say that was so terrible? He didn't condone jack shit. Are value judgements or observations themselves on this subject always wrong? or do you guys just want an excuse to further hate someone?

All of the backlash is stupid; [I]obviously[/I] instances of violent gang rape are by and large "worse" in many ways than date rape. Really people's response to Dawkins should be something to the effect of "so"? I don't really get what point he's trying to make.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;45572634]I feel like people are reading into what he's saying way too much so they can justify their already existing hatred of this guy[/QUOTE] You would think stating the opposite would be far more offensive.

[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;45572620]On the internet, you can be anything you want. Strange how so many people can choose to be stupid. But then again, such emotionally charged topics as rape do have widely differing viewpoints on what is an acceptable way to describe any form of rape at large.[/QUOTE] it's pretty clear having any opinion on it, any thoughts or commentary is "wrong" on a "Monolithic fuckwit level". I don't really get why

[QUOTE=Emperorconor;45572632]his work in the biological sciences is decent though[/QUOTE] Yep, but it's mostly been down hill since the Selfish Gene and he decided to get himself into atheist activism (and just, generally, political activism)

I blame a poor understanding on what an objective observation is for this whole incident, tbh

[QUOTE=Cone;45572616]dawkins has pretty much always been an utterly monolithic fuckwit tbh.[/QUOTE] no he hasn't. all this weird passive aggressive poking at feminist issues is a pretty recent thing

You want to make a point on a subject like rape and Twitter seems like a good medium to do so? Christ, it pays to think a little before you act.

[QUOTE=Robbobin;45572641]All of the backlash is stupid; [I]obviously[/I] instances of violent gang rape are by and large "worse" in many ways than date rape. Really people's response to Dawkins should be something to the effect of "so"? I don't really get what point he's trying to make.[/QUOTE] I think the backlash he's getting is sort of his point though. Objectively, he's not wrong, but it is impossible to have any kind of discussion about these kind of things because people seem to feel that by declaring something worse you are invalidating the one that is less worse.

the only people who are gonna get mad at this are people who WANT to get mad over something

[QUOTE=Craigewan;45572661]I think the backlash he's getting is sort of his point though. Objectively, he's not wrong, but it is impossible to have any kind of discussion about these kind of things because people seem to feel that by declaring something worse you are invalidating the one that is less worse.[/QUOTE] anyone who's mad about this is over reacting and spurring themselves on to keep over reacting. this is a non issue. He's literally only saying "Hey, violence being used makes something worse" and people here are actually ready to just jump on him and proclaim themselves better. No one doing that is better than anyone because they're not taking a fucking second to think for themselves and are just purely reacting.

[quote]people seem to feel that by declaring something worse you are invalidating the one that is less worse.[/quote] That's just their mistaken viewpoint. Rape is bad, no matter how it happened, and he doesn't deny that. But some sorts of rape will be much more traumatic on a purely objective level. You can't compare a date rape and a gang rape, just as an instance.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;45572634]I feel like people are reading into what he's saying way too much so they can justify their already existing hatred of this guy what did he really say that was so terrible? He didn't condone jack shit. Are value judgements or observations themselves on this subject always wrong? or do you guys just want an excuse to further hate someone?[/QUOTE] The comments are just redundant and stupid. Your comparing two awful things which you don't really need to compare. "Murdering someone with a gun is bad, but murdering someone with an knife is worse" Someone is still being killed in a horrific way, why compare the two? Whats the point?

[QUOTE=Zonesylvania;45572686]That's just their mistaken viewpoint. Rape is bad, no matter how it happened, and he doesn't deny that. But some sorts of rape will be much more traumatic on a purely objective level. You can't compare a date rape and a gang rape, just as an instance.[/QUOTE] be prepared to be hated on for relentlessly for such a thought. then again, you're not dawkins so people aren't going to just want to hate you for anything you say. [editline]2nd August 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=BusterBluth;45572688]The comments are just redundant and stupid. Your comparing two awful things which you don't really need to compare. "Murdering someone with a gun is bad, but murdering someone with an knife is worse" Someone is still being killed in a horrific way, why compare the two? Whats the point?[/QUOTE] except in this case it isn't like murder someone survives, one person with horrible traumatic memories of violence, and the other with less violence. Are you saying those things CAN'T or SHOULDN'T be talked about? Good, you're doing absolutely nothing of value by saying that though. You're just another reactionary who's declaring what can and can't be talked about. if you think a comparison validates one, then that's entirely on you. No one else.

[QUOTE=Craigewan;45572661]I think the backlash he's getting is sort of his point though. Objectively, he's not wrong, but it is impossible to have any kind of discussion about these kind of things because people seem to feel that by declaring something worse you are invalidating the one that is less worse.[/QUOTE] Or how about they're both terrible and neither is invalidated regardless of which is "worse"?

[QUOTE=Turnips5;45572655]no he hasn't. all this weird passive aggressive poking at feminist issues is a pretty recent thing[/QUOTE] well since he started that i mean. mainly i just don't really get why he had to even bring up rape to begin with in an unrelated topic, like did he intend to just make some weird little aside stab at someone or what? and like you said it's not the first time he's made a bizarre statement like this so the big uproar is fairly understandable as far as i'm concerned [editline]2nd August[/editline] like if someone you knew actually got date raped what would be the relevance of saying "well there are worse kinds of rape you could have been subjected to and traumatized by!" what kind of atrociously backwards, asocial, unlikeable individual blunders in with a statement like that?