Atheism is no exception.

As PZ Myers has a tendency to do.

Gotta live that PZ. Minnesota nice, except on his blog where he breathes fire.

Posted on Oct. 12:

Some horrible little man murdered his girlfriend by stuffing a live octopus down her throat, and then claiming it was an accidental death by choking while eating a traditional Korean meal. It’s tragic and terrible, but I notice that no one is mentioning the other victim: the poor cephalopod murdered by mastication.

Hey, Korea: your practice of eating living octopus is cruel!


http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/10/12/blaming-the-victim/

Which is why he posts stories about cephalopods all the time.

And this blog was not humorous at all! Where did you get that interpretation?

From way back, when he was intentionally funny.

If you'd bothered to read the comments to that post by Myers' own fan club, a lot of them thought it was a lousy attempt at humor too. And I very rarely agree with that bunch anymore.

all right for us to post every "good Christian" asshole who makes a vile comment and infer that that is indicative of Christians.

Although I will note it appears to be less so.

Morally superior.

But until that happens...

The guy is an ass and he's been called on it.

The response of tu quoque is rather defensive.

When atheists start proclaiming non-belief as that which makes one morally superior, then instances of atheists being assholes would have importance. But since it's only believers that do that.....

his point remains valid. The news media has made itself the (utterly unqualified) arbiter of which lives are more deserving of memorial and which deaths are more deserving of attention, based on standards which are arbitrary at best and fairly disgusting at worst. And people keep buying into it.

The Amazing Atheist often makes his points in a rather rude manner, but he often has valid points. From what you posted it seems like he is pointing out the fact that the news media is far more likely to cover tragedy involving well off middle-class white children. The vast majority of national news stories involving kidnappings always deal with middle-class white children. I think TJ is trying to point out that the media has a bias here and they do. That doesn't mean the middle-class white child's death is any less tragic, but it does seem to get more coverage. All that being said the Amazing Atheist can be a total dick at times and sometimes I think he is controversial for the sake of being controversial.

So.... how IS her story "particularly tragic?"

People, I have noticed, tend to be either "personalistic" or "universalistic", focusing on tragedy on a concrete personal level or on an abstract collective level, respectively. Each tends to be offended by the other.

Though I must agree with my fellow Minnesotan Dr. Myers that Angry Atheist is an asshole.