Religion

Act_of_Reparation

(9,116 posts) Fri Oct 17, 2014, 10:53 AM Oct 2014

Salon writer C.J. Werleman accused of plagiarism

Oh teh noes.

C. J. Werleman (b. 1973, Wikipedia bio here) is a writer, commentator, and atheist who has lately used the pages of Salon to attack Richard Dawkins, Bill Maher, and Sam Harris for Islamophobia, misogyny, and other sins. These old privileged white males (Sam has been accused recently of “aging”) apparently don’t understand, as Werleman does, that the perfidies of organizations of ISIS don’t reflect Islam, but culture and Western oppression.

-snip-

The Godless Spellchecker website has previously accused Werleman of “dubious ethics, misrepresentation, and unoriginal hackery“, and from what I’ve read of Werleman’s posts, I judge him guilty on all those counts. But the new accusations are far more serious.

The latest post on the site is called “Is C. J. Wereleman a plagiarist?” I believe the Conventional Wisdom of such rhetorical questions used as titles is “No,” but in this case it appears to be “Yes”—given the Godless Spellchecker’s comparison of Werleman’s prose with that of earlier works.

I know I've seen this Werleman's nonsense before. I wonder where...

3 replies

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Salon writer C.J. Werleman accused of plagiarism (Original Post) Act_of_Reparation Oct 2014 OP

You have seen his articles here. Is that a problem? cbayer Oct 2014 #1

FFS trotsky Oct 2014 #3

If the Godless Spellchecker says it, it must be true. rug Oct 2014 #2

cbayer

(146,218 posts)

1. You have seen his articles here. Is that a problem?

Reply to Act_of_Reparation (Original post)

Fri Oct 17, 2014, 11:16 AM

Oct 2014

This appears to be part of the current pro-Harris/Maher vs. anti-Harris/Maher war. It also appears to be part of the "no true atheist" debate where criticizing on of your own will get you kicked out of the club.

This is exemplified by the statement "CJ Werleman is the atheist's Reza Aslan". Does anybody even know what that means?

I don't always agree with Werleman and think he can be extremely provocative. And he may have plagiarized.

But I am curious about what you have read that you would characterize as "nonsense".

trotsky

(49,533 posts)

3. FFS

Reply to cbayer (Reply #1)

Fri Oct 17, 2014, 12:13 PM

Oct 2014

There is no "war." There is no declaration of "true atheists." These are memes that you and a couple of other posters here continually try to push.

Dawkins is an atheist. Harris is an atheist. Werleman is an atheist. Chris Stedman is an atheist. Your husband, who compares gay marriage to marrying one's hamster or bicycle and tells women who are denied contraceptives to just "get their rubbers at the drugstore like everyone else," is an atheist. YOU'RE an atheist, even though you loathe the term and don't want it applied to yourself. You don't believe in gods, so you're an atheist.

Please note at no time did I deny ANY of those people were atheists - even the ones I don't like! So knock it off with the "no true atheist" crap already.

And there is no "war," but what there is, is a discussion. People are allowed to disagree. They're allowed to disagree with YOU, too! Oh, the horror!

rug

(82,333 posts)

2. If the Godless Spellchecker says it, it must be true.

Reply to Act_of_Reparation (Original post)

Fri Oct 17, 2014, 11:33 AM

Oct 2014

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I run the Twitter account @GSpellchecker, which I dedicate to seeking out misspellings of the words atheist/atheism. These are often accompanied with breathtaking ignorance of the most startling frequency.

I’m then kind enough to provide the correct spelling, and supply some feedback on the initial accompanying statement.

Reaction to this activity/service (free!) varies from amusement to violent rage.

http://www.gspellchecker.com/about/

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