Richard Dawkins loses award for wrongthink

[Roegerland]

I do in fact believe that some cultures are indeed better than others. I consider myself a Western cultural supremacist who believes in the inherent superiority of liberal ideas such as democracy, human rights, LGBT rights, freedom of speech, freedom of belief, and so forth.

Based.

[National Capitalist United States]

I consider myself a Western cultural supremacist who believes in the inherent superiority of liberal ideas such as democracy, human rights, LGBT rights, freedom of speech, freedom of belief, and so forth.

Based!

Also I wonder how Twitter would react to this.

[Infected Mushroom]

How can you withdraw what’s given? There’s no invisible timeless all power hand that allows AHA to alter history.

If Darwin puts it on his CV what’s AHA going to do, sue?

Medals, awards and honors are withdrawn all the time. The US Congress revoked hundreds of formerly-awarded Congressional Medals of Honor. The award was the AHA's to give out, it's the AHA's to take back.

So if I were to give you something for Christmas, I can just take it back 10 years later unilaterally?

[Heloin]

Medals, awards and honors are withdrawn all the time. The US Congress revoked hundreds of formerly-awarded Congressional Medals of Honor. The award was the AHA's to give out, it's the AHA's to take back.

So if I were to give you something for Christmas, I can just take it back 10 years later unilaterally?

Awards and gifts are separate things.

[Glorious Hong Kong]

I do in fact believe that some cultures are indeed better than others. I consider myself a Western cultural supremacist who believes in the inherent superiority of liberal ideas such as democracy, human rights, LGBT rights, freedom of speech, freedom of belief, and so forth.

Based.

I consider myself a Western cultural supremacist who believes in the inherent superiority of liberal ideas such as democracy, human rights, LGBT rights, freedom of speech, freedom of belief, and so forth.

Based!

Also I wonder how Twitter would react to this.

I'm reminded of this old gem by Bill Maher, also an atheist

[Clarence Thomas]

Eh never mind.

[Toronina]

I could be wrong, but if this is the person I think it is, hasn't he made an entire career out being controversial and edgy for the sake of being controversial and edgy? It was always going to backfire on him, and its about time someone knocked Dawkin's down a peg. I hate that he and his followers are the sterottpe of all atheists

[Glorious Hong Kong]

I could be wrong, but if this is the person I think it is, hasn't he made an entire career out being controversial and edgy for the sake of being controversial and edgy? It was always going to backfire on him, and its about time someone knocked Dawkin's down a peg. I hate that he and his followers are the sterottpe of all atheists

I think you're confusing him with Milo Yiannopoulos. Dawkins is most famous for his book The God Delusion, not for "being controversial and edgy for the sake of being controversial and edgy". He is considered to be one of the Four Horsemen and Women of the Apocalypse. I'm not too familiar with Dan Dennett, but I do consider Ayaan Hirsi Ali to qualify as a Horsewoman in Dennett's place.

[Toronina]

I could be wrong, but if this is the person I think it is, hasn't he made an entire career out being controversial and edgy for the sake of being controversial and edgy? It was always going to backfire on him, and its about time someone knocked Dawkin's down a peg. I hate that he and his followers are the sterottpe of all atheists

I think you're confusing him with Milo Yiannopoulos. Dawkins is most famous for his book The God Delusion, not for "being controversial and edgy for the sake of being controversial and edgy". He is considered to be one of the Four Horsemen and Women of the Apocalypse. I'm not too familiar with Dan Dennett, but I do consider Ayaan Hirsi Ali to qualify as a Horsewoman in Dennett's place.

I know exactly who Milo is. And I know I'm not confusing him with the God of all edgy atheists.

[Uan aa Boa]

I could be wrong, but if this is the person I think it is, hasn't he made an entire career out being controversial and edgy for the sake of being controversial and edgy? It was always going to backfire on him, and its about time someone knocked Dawkin's down a peg. I hate that he and his followers are the sterottpe of all atheists

To be fair, Dawkins made a career out of being a professor first of evolutionary genetics and later of the public understanding of science. In the 1970s he played a major role in advancing the theory that natural selection operates at the level of genes rather than of organisms, meaning that organisms are in a sense primarily vehicles for genes. He went on to write a number of excellent books explaining evolutionary theory to a non-specialist audience. Later on, as GHK said, he wrote The God Delusion and became involved in what was known as New Atheism and the Four Horsemen.

He does now spend quite a bit of time and energy on edginess and controversy for its own sake, but it's less a career and more a hobby in retirement. This incident sums up the path he's followed. He used to be an entirely plausible nominee for humanist of the year for his contributions to promoting awareness of science (he received that award 10 years before The God Delusion and 5 years before 9/11 prompted him to become outspoken on the influence of religion) and now people don't want to be associated with him because he's like your embarrassing bigoted uncle.

Degrees in particular should never be revoked for unrelated crimes or disgraces. Only if proof emerges that the graduate cheated in exams or paid bribes: ie that the degree wasn't honestly earned at all. Revoking a degree as a public statement of disapproval, should only be possible if the graduate was convicted of a serious crime, AND if the institution pays back all fees, with interest, to the graduate or whoever else paid them.

The degrees that get withdrawn are honourary degrees involving neither fees nor exams. They're far more like awards than like actual degrees. The whole point of having the status of a university is that an institution gets to issue (and withdraw) its own degrees autonomously.

[Toronina]

I could be wrong, but if this is the person I think it is, hasn't he made an entire career out being controversial and edgy for the sake of being controversial and edgy? It was always going to backfire on him, and its about time someone knocked Dawkin's down a peg. I hate that he and his followers are the sterottpe of all atheists

To be fair, Dawkins made a career out of being a professor first of evolutionary genetics and later of the public understanding of science. In the 1970s he played a major role in advancing the theory that natural selection operates at the level of genes rather than of organisms, meaning that organisms are in a sense primarily vehicles for genes. He went on to write a number of excellent books explaining evolutionary theory to a non-specialist audience. Later on, as GHK said, he wrote The God Delusion and became involved in what was known as New Atheism and the Four Horsemen.

He does now spend quite a bit of time and energy on edginess and autonomously.

I admit I've never really heard much about his career. I was born around the turn of the century, his career ended way before my time

[Ifreann]

I could be wrong, but if this is the person I think it is, hasn't he made an entire career out being controversial and edgy for the sake of being controversial and edgy? It was always going to backfire on him, and its about time someone knocked Dawkin's down a peg. I hate that he and his followers are the sterottpe of all atheists

I think you're confusing him with Milo Yiannopoulos. Dawkins is most famous for his book The God Delusion, not for "being controversial and edgy for the sake of being controversial and edgy". He is considered to be one of the Four Horsemen and Women of the Apocalypse. I'm not too familiar with Dan Dennett, but I do consider Ayaan Hirsi Ali to qualify as a Horsewoman in Dennett's place.

Nothing says "I am a serious academic, not a 12 year old edgelord" like having an edgy nickname about how dangerous and destructive you are.

[Uan aa Boa]

It's rather shocking to me, to be told universities have a kind of eminent domain over the degrees they issue. Particularly with modern fees, and the career value of degrees, presenting unis as hardly more than a service, to think that a degree earned is anything but a quid pro quo, ugh, it invokes great distrust in these institutions who have monetized their reputations but are still somehow allowed to reverse contracts years after their natural expiry date. It offends my socialism, and my free-market contractual sense, at the same time!

I'm a little confused here. Is the withdrawing of earned academic degrees even a thing? I know of no examples. Do you? As far as I can tell, by way of example, when James Watson (identifier of the structure of DNA) had public attention drawn to his views on race and eugenics he lost a large number of honourary degrees but not his actual academic degree. A doctor struck off for malpractice can no longer practice medicine but still has a medical degree. Am I missing something?

[The Ghost Lands]

Very stupid. He was only stating a scientific fact.