{"id":74,"date":"2016-03-03T18:20:11","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T18:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/flyingscotsman\/?p=74"},"modified":"2016-03-03T18:20:11","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T18:20:11","slug":"maryam-namazie-arguing-internet-criticizing-ideological-allies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/flyingscotsman\/2016\/03\/03\/maryam-namazie-arguing-internet-criticizing-ideological-allies\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Harris, Maryam Namazie and Criticizing One’s Ideological Allies"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I first considered weighing in on the frustrating debate<\/a> between Sam Harris and Maryam Namazie, I intended to try and rationalize the latter\u2019s atrocious\u00a0response to feedback on Twitter. After all, criticism undoubtedly feels more severe when you have tens of thousands of followers. If I write something contentious, I\u2019m likely to hear from no more than half a dozen aggrieved readers. For someone like Namazie, clicking on her notifications must be the social media equivalent of the Normandy landings. And no matter how politely you word the tweet, your opinion is a snowflake within an avalanche of negative feedback.<\/p>\n

Inevitably, some of that feedback will be truly hostile. Even if 90 percent is civil, it\u2019s tarnished by 10 percent of pernicious nonsense. It doesn\u2019t matter that you were cordial or presented a sound argument. You ultimately agree with those<\/em> bigots on this<\/em> issue, and there is insufficient time to parse every response. As a result, the recipient\u2019s first instinct isn\u2019t to be fair to those polite people who agree, however narrowly, with the knuckle-dragging idiots hurling sexist and racist abuse.<\/p>\n

As I said at the outset, the above defense was going to be the thrust of my post. However, my feelings have evolved over the past several days. While everything I said in the first couple of paragraphs is true, at some point it ceases to be an excuse for behaviour that continues to be egregious. If you exported the recent content of Namazie\u2019s Twitter onto Nathan Lean\u2019s timeline, very few tweets would look out of place. She has accused her critics\u2014as a group\u2014of racism, misogyny, and guilt by association. I don\u2019t give Lean a pass when he makes similar noises, so it would be hypocritical to absolve Namazie of blame. Here are just a few of her many tweets and approving retweets about her critics.<\/p>\n

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Sam is only responsible for his own Tweets as are we all. Night all. https:\/\/t.co\/IoZL9jSlck<\/a><\/p>\n

— Maryam Namazie \u0645\u0631\u06cc\u0645 \u0646\u0645\u0627\u0632\u06cc (@MaryamNamazie) February 25, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n