You may not appreciate the position Loftus is in right now.
He wants to make money off his writings and 'reputation', first and foremost. He wrote a post saying he was pulling out of the FT Blogs site because of the competition and that his hope there - to make money blogging - was not really working. Even among atheists, he doesn't have much appeal anymore.
He's not a scientist, he doesn't have much of an academic history (saying 'well technically if you squint and turn your head I may possibly have a PhD in a religion-related field' just sounds pathetic), his conversion story is terrible from a PR perspective, and really - he's not particularly sharp, eloquent, or even funny.
There's something sad about a guy who superficially dedicated so much time and energy to making more atheists, in the hopes that THIS would be his ticket to fame and fortune. And not only does that not pan out, but new and up and coming atheists are now the very competition making his life rough - they're willing to blog and rant as much and as often as he did, and if they so much as have a bachelor's in biology they'll be viewed as having more credibility than Loftus himself.
His deconversion "story" is so bad that he actually CHANGES the reasons in his New Edition of WIBA.
In the old WIBA he said there were THREE Main Reasons, TWO of which were emotional.
In the NEW Edition there is ONE somewhat different reason.
I can't wait to see his excuse for this! (But I suspect it will have something to do with is divorce and his "drinking himself to sleep" during the time he was apparently editing the New Edition)
Depends more on your attitude towards life than what tier you're in, or even if you're an atheist or not, imho. I posted at DC for years, and had some good dialogues with atheists and theists alike, but I found John's personality to be rather oppressive. And I know lots of Christians who are happy and tolerant. That doesn't bear on who's right, though.
You may not appreciate the position Loftus is in right now.
ReplyDeleteHe wants to make money off his writings and 'reputation', first and foremost. He wrote a post saying he was pulling out of the FT Blogs site because of the competition and that his hope there - to make money blogging - was not really working. Even among atheists, he doesn't have much appeal anymore.
He's not a scientist, he doesn't have much of an academic history (saying 'well technically if you squint and turn your head I may possibly have a PhD in a religion-related field' just sounds pathetic), his conversion story is terrible from a PR perspective, and really - he's not particularly sharp, eloquent, or even funny.
There's something sad about a guy who superficially dedicated so much time and energy to making more atheists, in the hopes that THIS would be his ticket to fame and fortune. And not only does that not pan out, but new and up and coming atheists are now the very competition making his life rough - they're willing to blog and rant as much and as often as he did, and if they so much as have a bachelor's in biology they'll be viewed as having more credibility than Loftus himself.
It's hard to be an aging, third-tier atheist.
ReplyDeleteOne that wears a silly-looking hat, no less.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to be an aging, third-tier atheist.
ReplyDeleteLOL. But it's a sad truth.
His deconversion "story" is so bad that he actually CHANGES the reasons in his New Edition of WIBA.
ReplyDeleteIn the old WIBA he said there were THREE Main Reasons, TWO of which were emotional.
In the NEW Edition there is ONE somewhat different reason.
I can't wait to see his excuse for this! (But I suspect it will have something to do with is divorce and his "drinking himself to sleep" during the time he was apparently editing the New Edition)
It's hard to be an aging, third-tier atheist.
ReplyDeleteDepends more on your attitude towards life than what tier you're in, or even if you're an atheist or not, imho. I posted at DC for years, and had some good dialogues with atheists and theists alike, but I found John's personality to be rather oppressive. And I know lots of Christians who are happy and tolerant. That doesn't bear on who's right, though.