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:
@ge_kaitlyn @DanielleMuscato @szvan @RichardCCarrier @michaelshermer @LKrauss1 @OpheliaBenson HEY! Please listen so you can hear what the over-correction sounds like and #metoo goes too far.
— David Silverman (@MrAtheistPants) February 19, 2020
@szvan @DanielleMuscato @RoySpeckhardt @MonetteRichard @RBlumner Anyone want to chime in on what I did wrong here? Please tell me how I'm the bad guy. I'm listening and hopeful for your replies.
— David Silverman (@MrAtheistPants) February 19, 2020
I mean, these are all Rebecca's friends, so they must want to jump to her side and defend her because I'm always bad, right? I'm SURE Stephanie will want to comment on her friend at the intersection of feminism and atheism. I mean, as an activist and leader in this exact space?
— David Silverman (@MrAtheistPants) February 19, 2020
Just wait Diana, soon these leaders of skepticism and justice will speak out about lies and systemic abuse of men by women using #metoo. They are leaders and will lead. Soon. They just need time because they are so very busy. But soon,because justice and humanism. Because brave.
— David Silverman (@MrAtheistPants) February 20, 2020
And the next day, because I didn’t respond to his negging about dropping everything for a nearly 40-minute video:
Didja ever notice how quiet some people get when they are faced with incontrovertible evidence that their mantra is wrong? @szvan Any comment at all on the Vitsmun video? Please tell me where I was bad. So I can learn. https://t.co/3rQiATddeB #leadership #publicfigure
— David Silverman (@MrAtheistPants) February 20, 2020
I was on day two or three of a migraine (I’ve lost track), but I had generated a transcript of the video. I compared it to other statements about what happened and made sure I understood the timeline. I collected my questions. Then I didn’t do anything, because I was also on a muscle relaxant. Until today.
Jesus fuck, dude. You have some serious entitlement issues. pic.twitter.com/FHc3mxmqFI
— Stephanie Zvan (@szvan) February 21, 2020
I’m switching to screen shots because WordPress got overwhelmed. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter from that last tweet. I tried to keep branching threads minimal, but they do exist.
Hmm. Never answered this one. For the record, I think “creepy” means creepy. People are pressured to underplay sexual assault and harassment when it happens to them. That means words like “creepy” get used sometimes when people are talking about assault or harassment, but they get used specifically because “creepy” means something less. Nuance.
The text of Silverman’s screen shot of Rebecca’s email:
To [AAI president, vice president], secretary, me, David Nathan
I was contacted by Gail Miller on Monday at 8:38 a.m. to tell me that there would be an announcement “shortly” regarding the man who sexually assaulted me while I was crippled and painfully trying to bend over, whom I am pressing charges of Indecent Liberties, a class B felony, against. Who was witnessed doing so by someone who he does not dispute witnessed—
From context, the Monday in question would have to have been December 16, 2019, as Silverman was suspended late Monday December 9 at earliest and AAI’s announcement of his resignation came Friday December 20. Per that announcement, Silverman resigned Sunday December 15.
The screen capture in the last tweet here is from the filing for a restraining order. It’s a quote from the interview Silverman did with Atheist Republic on YouTube in September 2019, shortly before being hired by Atheist Alliance International.
I have a rage in my veins that I’m quieting. I’m trying to reason it out, but I live with it. I feel it right now. Here. I—I’m trying not to let it consume me as it has. I’m trying to move past it so that I can move out of the depression. Um, but it’s not controllable all of the time. The rage boils in my blood. The righteous indignation. And the guilt and shame are still just fucking pounding me. The rage has never been like this. I’ve never been this angry. I’ve never been this crippled. Hobbled by a rage that so hard I can’t work. By a sadness that’s too hard to get out of bed. I don’t want to be the guy that does revenge. I don’t. But there is a piece of me that wants it so bad. There is a piece of me that lives there and I can’t, I am controlling it, but I can’t kill it. That is in. I mean, I’m feeling it in my legs right now. I’m feeling in my arms right…
I think that went well.
Wowsers.
Yeah, I’m going with entitlement issues.