Sunday 19 February 2012

OPINION: The Telegraph's attack on Richard Dawkins

It seems that the War on Reason, which has been becoming more and more vocal over recent weeks, knows no limits to which its proponents won't sink.

Richard Dawkins


Today the Telegraph, formerly a trusted right thinking broadsheet, became the latest Commander in the battle against science and atheism by attacking Richard Dawkins.

Now I'm sure that Richard Dawkins is used to being attacked by the loony right who reject climate change, maintain evolution is just a theory and support the nonsense of religious faith as if it is scientific proof. Oddly though, the Telegraph's attack on Richard Dawkins wasn't for anything he'd said or done or published. Instead it seems they had spent some considerable time researching the Dawkins family tree and managed to find that 400 years ago a member of the family had owned and sold slaves.

Well, who'd have thought it? Rich people, many centuries ago owning slaves. It's.... history!

This, according to the Telegraph, and their imbecilic journalist, meant that Richard Dawkins should apologise.

Really. It's not a joke, even though it is daft enough to have been an April Fool of the silliest kind.

They continues and suggested that because Richard Dawkins' great-great-great-great-great grandfather (that's five greats) had owned slaves he should pay compensation (though they're not clear about who this compensation should be paid to).

This is the sort of ridiculous nonsense that various governments have been doing in recent years. People who had nothing to do with an historical misdemeanour apologises to other people who also had nothing to do with the event. Utter nonsense. It's historical and sometimes history isn't easy to digest.

Maybe the Telegraph would like us all to spend our entire lives apologizing for all the wrong things our forefathers have done? After all, it could take some time.

Adam Lusher - disgraced journalist


Yes, it was unfortunate that, the other day, Dawkins failed to recall the full title of Darwin's Origin of Species (It's full title is On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life - snappy title eh? Thanks for that Charles!), but I wonder how many Christians can name, say, all the books of the New Testament in order. And the right wing, pro-faith press went to town with this. Clearly Dawkins is their target and they're determined to undermine what he says and what he stands for - even if that means trying to undermine him by researching the skeletons in the cupboard from his family tree.

By the Telegraph's reckoning the sins of the father principle would mean that nothing is ever forgiven and descendants inherit the guilt. So, all Germans are still Nazis and must keep apologizing, the Russians should be apologizing to the Polish for the Massacre of Praga in 1794, the Campbells should be apologizing to the MacDonalds for the Glencoe massacre, and all Christians are responsible for the Crusades. Oh whoops! I expect the evils done in the name of religion are acceptable. I suspect that the Telegraph's sins of the father selective?

Twitter has been buzzing with this story today. I've yet to see any support for the Telegraph or Adam Lusher, but I have seen plenty of people saying that they're not big fans of Richard Dawkins but feel that the "newspaper" (I use that in the loosest possible sense) and the disgraced journalist had acted idiotically. Let's hope they've learnt their lesson (I'm not holding my breath).

Richard Dawkins replied in a typically robust fashion and managed to totally belittled the snivelling little shit of a reporter whose career is surely now over?

But I do wonder what the next attack will be. Who will the religious loonies target in their battle to defend their bigoted belief system that has no place in the modern world?

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