Outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins says a lot of things that people find offensive, but apparently the last straw came when he dared to share a parody video that criticized feminism.
Dawkins’ retweeting of the video caused him to lose his invitation to speak at the Northeast Conference on Science & Skepticism. The invitation was rescinded “in response to Dr. Dawkins’ approving retweet of a highly offensive video.”
The NECSS didn’t specify that it was the video focusing on feminism that had done Dawkins in, but is the most likely culprit. In the video, feminists are compared to radical Islamists. Never once does the video suggest feminists are violent, however.
It also seems unlikely that Dawkins would have been disinvited had he retweeted something comparing Islamists to, say, Republicans. Some of the same groups that blasted Dawkins for his retweet have written that very article.
Dawkins even deleted the retweet when he learned that the caricature in the parody video was based on an actual woman and that she was receiving threats. He wrote: “Having learned that the woman in the joke song is a real person who has been disgracefully threatened with violence, I’m deleting my tweets.”
Still, Dawkins apparently went too far by making fun of feminism, and thus he must now be barred from respectable society. In a statement, Dawkins said his invitation was withdrawn without any discussion.
“I do not write this out of concern about my appearance or non-appearance at NECSS, but I wish there had been a friendly conversation before such unilateral action was taken,” Dawkins wrote. “It is possible I could have allayed the committee members’ concerns, or, if not, at least we could have talked through their objections to my tweet. If our community is about anything it is that reasoned discussion is the best way to work through disagreements.”
The kicker here is NECSS pretending to be for free speech, except for speech critical of feminism, of course.
“We believe strongly in freedom of speech and freedom to express unpopular, and even offensive, views. However, unnecessarily divisive, counterproductive, and even hateful speech runs contrary to our mission and the environment we wish to foster at NECSS,” the organization wrote. “The sentiments expressed in the video do not represent the values of NECSS or its sponsoring organizations.”
Dawkins has said things people found offensive before, yet somehow none of that was deemed “hateful.”
It is always telling when an organization says “we believe in X, but…” as a way to avoid appearing hypocritical. Dawkins could have and should have been questioned about his retweet and his past statements, as he always is. But disinviting him smacks of totalitarianism. It is the same thing that happens on college campuses, when speakers are disinvited for holding views that make some special snowflakes uncomfortable.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
