D'Souza on the gay/atheist comparison
Dinesh D’Souza has demonstrated yet again his refusal to let even the simplest research conflict with his already-made-up mind. His latest column is posed in the form of a question, but “Are Atheists the New Gays?” isn’t interested in finding an answer; instead, D’Souza ignores whatever evidence doesn’t fit his conclusion. He states flatly that “the whole atheist-gay analogy is quite absurd” without providing anything resembling supporting data, instead proffering this brilliant demonstration of ignorance:
Dawkins has also suggested that atheists, like gays, should come out of the closet. Well, what if they don't want to? I don't know if Dawkins would support "outing" atheists.
D’Souza is apparently too lazy to perform a ten-second Google search, or he would have been unable to overlook Dawkins’ announcement of the Out Campaign, which sympathizes with the “unfortunate individual not yet – or not ever – ready to confide in the world” and then clearly states:
Our OUT campaign will have nothing, repeat nothing to do with outing in that active sense. If a closet atheist wants to come out, that is her decision to make, and nobody else's. What we can do is provide support and encouragement to those who willingly decide to out themselves.
D’Souza also misrepresents Dawkins’ knowledge of atheist acceptance outside of England: “Dawkins, being British, doesn't seem to recognize that [outing] would not win many popularity contests in America.” In the announcement mentioned above, Dawkins notes that outing oneself:
…may seem trivial to people in parts of Europe, or in regions of the United States dominated by urban intellectuals where support and encouragement is unnecessary. It is anything but trivial to people in other areas of the United States, and even more so in parts of the Islamic world where apostasy is, by Koranic authority, punishable by death.
D’Souza, you’ve demonstrated time and time again that: a). You don’t know what you’re talking about, and b). You don’t care to learn. Please STFU until you remedy these shortcomings.