Posted by Hemant Mehta in Someone at UPI has a sense of humor.
When reporting on the threats that resulted in Lamar advertising moving the Cincinnati Coalition of Reason billboard, the article first quotes the CinCoR coordinator:
“Everything that has happened shows just how vital our message is,” Shawn Jeffers, co-coordinator for the Cincinnati Coalition of Reason, said. “It proves our point, that bigotry against people who don’t believe in a god is still very real in America.”
The article then quotes some random voice from the opposition… to keep it fair and balanced, I presume. Maybe they couldn’t find anyone who had a good reason to oppose the billboard’s message, because they ended up using this guy:
Jack Jones of Downtown told the TV station he thinks the sign should not be put up.
“It’s atheist,” he said.
That’s it. End of quotation, end of story, end of debate.
Eloquent, reasonable atheist. Followed by a wingnut.
Also, I didn’t know billboards could adopt a faith, but I learned something new today.
As we know, all billboards need to be converted lest they burn in hell.
Is “Downtown” the name of a show, or something, or are they just talking about some random guy they found standing downtown?
Anyway, I think the quote is more disturbing than funny. When you’re so hated that someone doesn’t even feel the need to articulate why they oppose you beyond simply stating, “You are a member of that group”, it’s kind of…scary, almost.
Yeah, “it’s Christian” would have evoked a much different image to most people. How do we turn the tide and make “it’s atheist” a good (or at least neutral) thing to the masses? Is it possible? We are working against thousands (if not tens of thousands) of years of inertia.
Let’s imagine for a moment that the billboard was different and the person’s quote was one of the following:
Not caucasian? You’re not alone.
“it’s African-American”
Not straight? You’re not alone.
“it’s homosexual”
Not a Protestant? You’re not alone.
“it’s Catholic”
Not American? You’re not alone.
“it’s Foreign”
Despite the fact that what the commenter said was true (it is after all, atheistic), it is inappropriate and discriminatory. I have a personal issue with this because I live and work in this fine city.
This one is probably safe.
I was wondering the same thing as Valdyr. “Jack Jones of Downtown” sounds like they just grabbed some homeless guy off a bench.
The annual award for “Stating the Bleedin’ Obvious” goes to Jack Jones of Downtown. That isn’t an argument, it is a start of a Monty Python Sketch.
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I find it helpful to replace a concept (atheist, gay, hat wearing) with a clearer concept to act as a check that the things people are saying are really as unreasonable as I think they are. In this case I chose “Jewish” but “black” would do just as well.
Yeah, that’s right, Jack. I equate your opinion to that of another group who also hated for no good reason.
Atheism isn’t a faith.
Sorry.
(end of pendatry)
I live in Cincinnati, and I can tell you first-hand that atheists are considered to be only slightly higher on the food chain than pederasts. This was exactly the reaction from the religious right that I expected.
Don’t be sorry, it’s an important point that can never be driven home enough. (well maybe someday it could, but I doubt we’ll live to see it)
Here’s hoping “That’s so atheist” becomes the big new thing the kids are saying in place of stupid…
It’s atheist? Well, good job Jack-y boy! I am so glad your 5th grade education allowed you to ascertain that much!
I can’t help but wonder if they didn’t choose that quote on purpose. I find it hard to believe there were no “they’re persecuting the Christians” etc. available.
It does kind of make the point of the previous quote.
I’m surprised the reporter could hear Jack Jones through his chew.
All billboards are born atheists; it’s only later that some of them become theists.
They’re just talking about some random guy they found in the city.
There is more that Jack Jones said….
“My thoughts? I think the sign needs to come down. Its atheist. Its going to cause problems around all the churches, not just catholic, but lutheran, baptist, all of them”
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/Godless-Billboard-Moved-After-Threats/W0iGN9STXUW0m6VF2g2Xeg.cspx
I think you guys are missing the blatant hypocrisy here, that some atheist wrote on a billboard once too, therefore all abuses by both sides are equivalent.
@3D: Who is writing on what now? They put up the billboard in one place, and moved it after the land owner said he was getting threats. Where does the writing come in?