A few days ago I wrote about a blog entry by PZ Myers in his blog in which he wrote:
Once again, I have proven my ability to drive people into a frothing rage against me. Only this time it isn’t a mob of religious fanatics and anti-choicers who have called me pond scum who will go to hell, an insect souled vile man, a black-souled amoral monster, pure evil, morally depraved, with a depraved mind, descend[ing] down the various stages into madness, and so forth…but I have this time managed to antagonize a bunch of atheists. Feel my pain.
I noted that it was a pretty interesting perspective on the factions in modern Atheism, as Myers saw it. Nonetheless, I thought, and still think, it’s all about Myers being the center of attention.
But I missed a key word that was detonator among his fellow Atheist bloggers: hate.
Vjack, over at Atheist Revolution, has named him Idiot of the Week. He writes:
Not satisfied with antagonizing religious believers, PZ has decided to go after those of us who understand the meaning of atheism. We are "superficial," and he hates us. Rather than say that he disagrees with us or that he thinks we are wrong, PZ decided to jump directly to hate.
He says he hates people who disagree with him. Does he? His linguistic venom, often directed towards Roman Catholics and Creationists, suggests that maybe he really does. I’m not sure. I’m thinking it is all about ego.