For whatever reason David Silverman decided he needed my attention on Valentine’s Day.
Let's ask 3rd wave feminists thinks about @realamberheard and her taped admission of spousal abuse. Should we shun her forever starting now, or does amber get due process? They pushed against Depp, but now there are recordings. Tag your wokists @szvan how about some dialog?
— David Silverman (@MrAtheistPants) February 14, 2020
Is this it @szvan @hemantsblog? Do wokists protect admitted abusers like @realamberheard because revenge for other men? Is that bigotry? Is this social justice or vengeance? Let's discuss with civility (like the old days)
Please RT with your fave wokists tagged. let's talk. https://t.co/47fhUGgtXc
— David Silverman (@MrAtheistPants) February 14, 2020
My to do list says I was working on a meeting agenda. By the time I made it to Twitter, I had to dig through my mentions to figure out what was going on. My response:
Sorry, Dave, missed this. I was busy running my atheist organization.
But I'll pass. Domestic violence isn't something I've studied, and I don't think ignorant jawing about topics this important help anyone. You can stop tagging me.
— Stephanie Zvan (@szvan) February 14, 2020
Which eventually came around to this:
I told you to stop.
— Stephanie Zvan (@szvan) February 14, 2020
You said I could stop. But before I do, one more question:
Would you support a "more will be named" public list of women who make false allegations against men, thereby hurting feminism, metoo, and real victims of sexual assault? We need to protect society from bad actors, no?
— David Silverman (@MrAtheistPants) February 14, 2020
He’s not good with “No.”
I eventually figured out he thought I should have something to say about this because of the Reason Rally.
Hey @hemantsblog maybe write about the kneejerk expulsion of Johnny Depp from reason rally 2 when @realamberheard made that false allegation now that the recordings of her abuse are out? The atheist movement lost a huge innocent ally that day. Our wokism hurt us huh? Maybe?
— David Silverman (@MrAtheistPants) February 14, 2020
There are a few problems with this:
- I had nothing to do with the 2016 Reason Rally besides deciding at the last minute to attend and to volunteer for the associated conference. I helped out wearing someone else’s name badge.
- I didn’t say anything about the original allegations of abuse. I did mention Depp in 2016, but I noted that newbie atheist podcasters weren’t going to learn much from Lawrence Krauss talking in a workshop about how much he enjoyed working with Depp.
- There was a bunch of news coverage at the time.
One thing that happens when you put on an event designed to garner publicity and use celebrities to do so is that those celebrities get news coverage.
Lyz Liddell, executive director of the Reason Rally Coalition, a paid position she likens to a community-building pastor, says organizers were disappointed when Depp and Heard withdrew.
“We were like, ‘Wait! What?’” she says. They then learned about the abuse allegations, she says, and “we absolutely support Amber and hope they can both have success in their personal and professional lives.”
I confirmed with another Reason Rally board member that they have no recollection of a discussion about kicking Depp out. Silverman is offering to testify, but…well, I’ll get to that.
Silverman continued to tag me in gems like this well after being told to stop:
She's an adult who has NEVER done what I asked. Why do I need to heed her command when she is obviously hiding? Hiding is BS. She's a movement leader now and she has responsibilities.
We should all fight BS.
— David Silverman (@MrAtheistPants) February 14, 2020
Then came Wednesday: Continue reading “A Q&A with David Silverman”