When you operate the internet’s leading fan site for THE face of the skeptic community, you tend to get a lot of reader mail — most of it adoring, but quite a bit of it sexist, misogynistic, angry and bitter. Oftentimes, these correspondents want the Rebecca Watson Fan Club to answer for perceived slights Rebecca allegedly committed against them.
First of all, we wouldn’t dare speak for Rebecca herself, nor do we feel the need to respond to most complaints that come our way. That’s because not every 11th-rate blogger or Twitter nobody with a petty grievance deserves a response, and doubtless some people don’t realize Rebecca simply doesn’t have time for them. Sometimes, however, it’s in the best interests of everyone — Watsonistas, the wider atheist community, feminism as a movement — to dispel ugly rumors about Rebecca Watson and set the record straight.
That’s the case with this latest bit of fan mail from reader womenarecuntsmenrule@gmail.com:
“One of the first things budding young skeptics learn is to spot and avoid ad hominem attacks. We teach that attacking someone’s traits or misdeeds is a fallacious approach, and that a position should be argued head-on. It’s basic reasoning. So why wasn’t there an outcry when Rebecca Watson tried to discredit one of her critics by pointing out that he’s registered as a sex offender in North Carolina? I’m certainly not downplaying the seriousness of the offense, but isn’t that a classic ad hominem? How can a supposed skeptic leader get away with this?”
(The correspondent is referring to Drama 461 from Aug. 16, 2013, when Watson outed critic Cecil Fuson as a sex offender on her blog, posting a mugshot of Fuson as well as a link to a confirmation and summary of his offense.)
We Googled womenarecuntsmenrule@gmail.com’s email address upon receipt of his fan mail, and weren’t surprised in the least to learn he’s a divorced, probably balding father of two who frequently posts on websites that support societal patriarchy and white male privilege. He’s also likely overweight, with a browser cache populated by porn sites featuring girls not much older than his daughter. We’re not saying that’s a fact, just that it’s something you should consider when weighing this man’s claims.
EZ PZ hard-on squeezy. Fucking hawt.
Of course, his accusations against Rebecca Watson are familiar, and they’ve been discredited in the past by people who simply applied rational thinking. In July, a Canadian woman and self-described feminist named Katie wrote a disgusting blog post about Rebecca Watson, calling her “a cyber bully” whose “minions” “jump on you and eat you alive” if you disagree with Rebecca. (Drama 398, July 2013.)
“As an academic I value freedom of speech, good & rich discussions and logical conclusions; this is rarely found on the skepchick network,” the confused young Canadian wrote. “I don’t value hypocritical crap.”
Yawn. It’s the same claim misogynist Ben Radford made when Rebecca took him to task over a patriarch-centric article he wrote for the Center for Inquiry (Drama 356, December 2012), thematically similar to arguments made by CFI president Ronald A. Lindsay (Drama 367, May 2013), and by misogynistic Redditors (Drama 352, March 2013), as well as DragonCon supporters (Drama 706, September 2013.)
Yet ALL of Watson’s critics are writing from positions of privilege, passing judgment on Rebecca like George Zimmerman did to Trayvon Martin, with blogs instead of guns. Is it coincidence that all of the aforementioned critics are white men, with the exception of Katie, a white woman? Is it really that outlandish to point out that Ronald A. Lindsay is the white male president of an important institution, and it would be in his best interests to discredit strong female voices in the skeptic community?
And is it really a surprise that the privileged would fear a rising star like Watson, terrified she might knock them off their precariously patriarchal perches? No, womenarecuntsmenrule@gmail.com, this has nothing to do with alleged ad hominems, and everything to do with an establishment and power structure that’s been shaken to the core by Rebecca Watson.
REBECCA WATSON FAN CLUB 