Peter Aldhous Profile picture
Science. Data. Journalism. Maps. Teach: @UCSC_SciCom Past: @BuzzFeedNews @ucbsoj @newscientist @Nature @NewsfromScience

Apr 20, 2021, 10 tweets

THREAD: Richard Dawkins was yesterday stripped of his 1996 "humanist of the year" award by @americnhumanist after this tweet. It's part of a long pattern of trolling.

Statement from @americnhumanist: "Dawkins has over the past several years accumulated a history of making statements that use the guise of scientific discourse to demean marginalized groups, an approach antithetical to humanist values."
americanhumanist.org/news/american-…

Dawkins tried to walk back the tweet as an academic point "misconstrued" as disparaging trans people. But there is indeed a long history.
2013:

Serial trolling from 2014:

2014 again:

2015:

2018:

Back in 2011, he dropped this comment on a blog. (The reaction eventually led to a rare apology.)

The latest Dawkins tweet has also been condemned by @AmericanAtheist:
atheists.org/2021/04/americ…
His own organizations, @rdfrs and @center4inquiry, have yet to comment.

A final note: This isn't the first time @americnhumanist has rescinded its "humanist of the year" award. In 2018 it stripped Lawrence Krauss of his 2015 award. That followed the fallout from this @BuzzFeedNews report:
buzzfeednews.com/article/petera…

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