Religion
Related: About this forumReddit Will Destroy Islam With Dumb Memes
Jun 25, 2012 5:26 PM
Adrian Chen
Attention Muslims of the world: Better get your Muslim-ing in ASAP because atheist users of Reddit have decided to "go after" your puny religion. Rest in peace, Islam. You had a good thousand-and-a-half-or-so years but you're no match for image macros and rage comics.
The atheism section of Reddit is a popular venue for insufferable non-believers to swap screenshots of the interminable Facebook comment flame wars they wage against their fundamentalist friends and Christian relatives. No religious-themed Facebook post will go un-commented on by these fearless logic warriors. But now Reddit's atheism brigade has turned the full brunt of its attention to Islam, after a user claiming to be an ex-Muslim asked for their help.
Finally, someone on the internet will criticize Islam!
Often these sorts of campaigns end up in a frantic fundraising drive, but it looks like the bus monitor lady has used up all the internet's money-raising mojo for the week. Instead, anti-Islam memes are flooding the front page of Reddit; Lolcats for people who sleep with a copy of God Is Not Great under their pillow. There's a "Scumbag Muslim" meme, and a "Most Interesting Mohammed" meme, and this cartoon about how Islam has been "raping children for 1400 years" that is like something your 75 year-old racist great uncle would forward to you in an email. In fact a lot of the memes that Reddit users have been voting to the front page in their supposedly witty "war" on Islam are predicated on the same gross stereotypes of Muslims as rampaging terrorist-rapists favored by the likes of the shithead Pastor Terry Jones. There's even a similar obsession with burning the Quran. (That last picture also happens to use a Hindu to represent a Muslim. But what the hell, they've all got turbans.)
http://gawker.com/5921199/reddit-will-destroy-islam-with-dumb-memes
cbayer
(146,218 posts)Sorry I went there.
rug
(82,333 posts)Infantile also comes to mind.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)GodlessBiker
(6,314 posts)ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)Funny. I know I have done my share over the years here on DU.
dimbear
(6,271 posts)or is it better to kill them straight off?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humayun_Azad
cbayer
(146,218 posts)daaron
(763 posts)Kids mostly, near as I can tell. Rather than develop their rhetorical might, they choose Facebook (!?!?!?!!!) and Photoshop.
In fact, when I compared 4chan/b/ Anons to skepticon geeks, /r/atheism was floating at the periphery for comparison, as well. In this case, non-belief by itself is used as a crutch for the damaged ego - "I don't believe because I'm smarter," is sort of that attitude. At least the skeptics often try to make cogent and even detailed arguments and rebuttals. /r/atheism has even more in common with /b/, in which cogent merely draws taunts.
rug
(82,333 posts)Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)I think its hilarious the overreaction of some people.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)Craig_Langford
(48 posts)I'm glad that Reddit has stepped up to the challenge.
islam & xtianity are a stones throw away from one another.