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"Proud to hear that owning The God Delusion in Sudan is a jailable offence"

Humes fork

Banned
Humes fork
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Jul 9, 2011
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From the Dawk's Twitter:

Richard Dawkins said:
At lunch with the Ex-Muslim Council in London. Proud to hear that owning The God Delusion in Sudan is a jailable offence.
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Clearly very racist of Dawkins to write a book that the Sudanese government feels the need to punish people for possessing.:rolleyes:

On a more serious note, I hope Dawkins will continue to speak out against harmful religious delusions and continue to support ex-Muslims. In certain cases, they need all the support they can get!
 
Humes fork said:
From the Dawk's Twitter:



Clearly very racist of Dawkins to write a book that the Sudanese government feels the need to punish people for possessing.:rolleyes:

On a more serious note, I hope Dawkins will continue to speak out against harmful religious delusions and continue to support ex-Muslims. In certain cases, they need all the support they can get!
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Does he support ex-Christians as well?
 
And, typically, of all the problems faced by the Sudanese people in a war-torn third-world country ruled by a military dictator, Dawkins focuses on the one that's all about him.
 
A'isha said:
And, typically, of all the problems faced by the Sudanese people in a war-torn third-world country ruled by a military dictator, Dawkins focuses on the one that's all about him.
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That's not fair.

He's a speaker and author on religious/atheist issues, so that's the primary thing he talks about.

He's also spoken about Sudan before on various topics. Wiki confirmed my hazy memory that he spoke against the bombings under Clinton.

Now there's an aspect of the country that directly related to him as an author of a banned book, and mentioning it earns him a description as typically narcissistic. I don't think that's fair.
 
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Looks like he can't say anything about his books without people saying that is all he talks about.
 
Dear A'isha,

Prior to talking about his books Dawkins spent thirty years writing them.

Cpl Ferro
 
Humes fork said:
From the Dawk's Twitter:



Clearly very racist of Dawkins to write a book that the Sudanese government feels the need to punish people for possessing.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I'll see that and raise having worked with material that is now illegal in the UK.
 
CplFerro said:
Dear A'isha,

Prior to talking about his books Dawkins spent thirty years writing them.

Cpl Ferro
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He spent thirty years writing TGD and The Greatest Show on Earth and still screwed up the paleontology sections that badly? Sheesh! I could do better in a weekend!

As for the tweet, I'm surprised anyone's surprised. Dawkins' main product is Dawkins, after all--he's an okay science advocate on a good day (on a bad day he gives ample justification for dismissiing science advocacy as merely anti-theism), and it's becoming more and more clear that his focus on attacking religion has nothing to do with rationality (he's more than happy to use data any competant graduate student would discard if it supports his point), but rather with driving sales. I'm not criticizing; that's what press hounds do, and he's certainly got a market. I'm merely pointing it out.

I'm equally surprised that anyone's surprised that this tweet raises ire. This is no different than Justin Bieber saying he hoped Ann Frank would be a "Belieber" when he visited her museum. It's crass, it's uncooth, it's certainly not what one would expect from a serious researcher (there's an implied reason why the book is banned, but no data supporting it and no attempt at acknowledging alterantive explanations), and incredibly self-centered. There are, to put it mildly, more serious issues in that country. If it wasn't Saint Dawkins making the statement, everyone here would be objecting to it. I mean, imagine if it was Bush saying that about his memoirs.
 
A'isha said:
And, typically, of all the problems faced by the Sudanese people in a war-torn third-world country ruled by a military dictator, Dawkins focuses on the one that's all about him.
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Unfair. From the tweet:
Proud to hear...
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That suggests to me that someone brought up the issue and he commented thereon. Would you have preferred he remarked on the price of grapes?
 
Dinwar said:
I'm equally surprised that anyone's surprised that this tweet raises ire. This is no different than Justin Bieber saying he hoped Ann Frank would be a "Belieber" when he visited her museum. It's crass, it's uncooth, it's certainly not what one would expect from a serious researcher (there's an implied reason why the book is banned, but no data supporting it and no attempt at acknowledging alterantive explanations), and incredibly self-centered. There are, to put it mildly, more serious issues in that country. If it wasn't Saint Dawkins making the statement, everyone here would be objecting to it. I mean, imagine if it was Bush saying that about his memoirs.
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I know what you mean. I actually like Dawkins most of the time, but these are the kinds of silly tweets we could do without.

It's really the wrong reaction to have on hearing that his book is banned in Sudan. Instead of being shocked or disgusted that people are going to jail for having his book, he is proud.

I would think that if you are a true dissident, you can take pride in writing a book that might be jailable in your own country. Or, if you lived under the threat of death, you can be proud for having written a book that you will stand by, but this seems to miss the mark.
 
SezMe said:
That suggests to me that someone brought up the issue and he commented thereon.
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As an immediate in-person response at the event itself, fine. But to later make a "hey, everyone, guess what's happening in the Sudan these days!" tweet about it?

That's just crass and egotistical.
 
Dinwar said:
He spent thirty years writing TGD and The Greatest Show on Earth and still screwed up the paleontology sections that badly? Sheesh! I could do better in a weekend!
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That sounds interesting; I love Dawkins' book on biology (especially The Ancestor's Tale and The Selfish Gene; The Greatest Show is great as well). If you have any links or further comments on the paleontology issues I'd be glad to see it.
 
Humes fork said:
From the Dawk's Twitter:

Clearly very racist of Dawkins to write a book that the Sudanese government feels the need to punish people for possessing.:rolleyes:

On a more serious note
Click to expand...
Yes, that wasn't serious, unless Dawkins is imagined by you or anyone here to be guilty of racism on account of complaining about the religious abuses of a military dictatorship.
i hope Dawkins will continue to speak out against harmful religious delusions and continue to support ex-Muslims. In certain cases, they need all the support they can get!
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Will you permit him to continue to speak out against harmful delusions encouraged by religion in general, as he has so often done in the past, and which is the subject of The God Delusion?
 
Why would that be something he was proud of? That an entire nation of people, potentially victims of oppressive religion, weren't allowed to read his book?

Seems a bit odd to me.
 
arthwollipot said:
Why would that be something he was proud of? That an entire nation of people, potentially victims of oppressive religion, weren't allowed to read his book?

Seems a bit odd to me.
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It is indeed odd. And old. Six months old, in fact.

Humes fork, why is this breaking news?
 
arthwollipot said:
Why would that be something he was proud of? That an entire nation of people, potentially victims of oppressive religion, weren't allowed to read his book?

Seems a bit odd to me.
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I'd be proud if I wrote a book significant enough that a head of state representing the ideology my book criticized felt the need to ban it.
 
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