A few months ago, in October 2006, Wired News ran a story titled “The Crusade Against Religion” where the author investigated the re-emergence (or emergence?) of atheism powered by some very brilliant scientists and writers. Many people around the world have been involved with this New Atheism, but the most well-known and recognizable figure is Richard Dawkins who is a professor at Oxford University.
There is no “type” of person who might be an atheist, but if you look at Web 2.0 community sites like Digg and YouTube, you’ll see a growing number of users there who display anti-religion or pro-Atheism sentiments. I would go so far as to argue that without large tech-oriented sites like Digg and YouTube, the Atheism 2.0 movement would not have taken off as quickly as it has.
Earlier today, a story hit the Digg frontpage with the title “Murdered for being an atheist” and as of 3:15pm eastern it has over 1100 diggs and nearly 300 comments, easily eclipsing other stories that were made popular today. The first comment in the thread was made by the person who submitted the story:
“It seems like people who are deeply religious are prone to having hallucinations and delusions. This guy was completely insane and is probably better off in jail.”
That comment currently has +134 diggs, which for people who aren’t familiar with Digg comment threads, is a very large positive reaction to that comment. The second comment alludes to the killer liking God so much, that he should be executed so that he can meet his maker quicker while saving taxpayer dollars, and that comment has +127 diggs.
A few comments further down, Tekrat writes how any belief system can be dangerous if taken word-for-word by a radical, and how in his Christian beliefs he takes a particular view of the Bible as a whole and doesn’t just pick and choose. Tekrat is not excusing this person’s actions, rather he says “…this guy should never see the light of freedom again…he’s a picture of everything that has gone wrong with Christianity”, but his comment was immediately dugg down to an impressive -51 diggs. Tekrat also linked to a Christian Science Monitor article titled “Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history”, which has a very inflammatory and anti-Atheistic title, probably one of the reasons Tekrat’s comment was dugg down.
In the last 2-3 months, seven different stories have made it to the front page of Digg that had to do with Richard Dawkins, with 10-12 more about atheism or atheist-related stories. Would many of these news articles become popular on their own if it hadn’t been for the Digg community’s promotion? I don’t think they would.
Recently Newsweek published an article about how the New Atheists are taking to YouTube with their message, denying the existence of a deity in front of thousands of viewers. A video search on “Dawkins” or “atheism” reveals hundreds of videos about atheism, many with over 100,000 views and thousands of ratings. Without Atheism-related videos on YouTube making it to the Digg frontpage, I don’t think many people would be as familiar with Richard Dawkins and Atheism as they are now.
This article isn’t analyzing if there is a God or not, or if Richard Dawkins’ theories are correct, but that Digg and YouTube are extremely powerful devices to project a message to the masses. If you combine the two, as many people have in regards to Atheism, it becomes a veritable force that can sway public opinion like few other outlets can.
About Mike Rundle
Digg represents the democratization of news and the interests of the people. There are millions of Atheists, it’s just that mainstream media editors choose not to publicize these opinions as much because it can be politically and economically dangerous for large media corporations.
I’m sure Digg has more than its fair share of Atheists. But for the first time, they have a real voice, as journalists turn to listen to the voice of the people when selecting stories to write about (often I’ll see stories on Digg or BoingBoing before a few days before I see the same story in some mainstream newspaper.
More power to Digg and other vertical topic sites that give a voice to the people.
The problem with any religion or lack there of is the extremists. Be the muslim, christian, or atheist. The far ends of any belief are more or a less nuts. The moderates are less heard but the majority by a long shot.
Im positive more people go to Church world wide than surf digg and youtube. Therefore the church is a much more powerful device to project a message to the masses.
Next point youtubers and digg(ers) are technology people. Far more likley to believe in science and reality than some ancient rubbish.
Atheism 2.0 started on 9/11. Richard Dawkins himself pretty much said so.
Good article – nice to see an impartial analysis of digg comment threads and postings.
For anyone doubting YouTube’s effect or future effect on public opinion, I advice them to consider its growth rate:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=god%2C+youtube&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all .
If your records are from 2006 Q1 or earlier you should consider some new investments, maybe.
To those those who say without knowing, and know without questioning, I say pray harder than you’ve ever prayed before. Pray until your praying muscles snap. Pray until you break your prayers, and then wake up and realize you’ve been allowing others to fool you.
Whether you read digg or the bible for your information, remember one thing: consider your sources!
The reason Dawkins makes it to the front page a lot is because he’s a scientist, and argues well. Digg, like slashdot, is full of reasonably intelligent people who like reading about science and also like to argue.
Besides which, the most common religion amongst hardcore geeks is not “atheism 2.0″ but Neo-Paganism.
Still, never let “the truth” get in the way of a good story, or driving revenue from a lot of page hits, etc. eh?
As an active participant in YouTube, I can say there has been a wave of atheistic material flowing through the video veins. Most notably, the “Blaspheme Challenge” that encourages users to speak out about their belief in anything but God. (blasphemychallenge.com)
However, I agree with commenter “Ralph Dagza”: this wave is similar to a high school and doing what’s “in”. Everyone brace yourself for a wave of deep Christianity to follow.
I think this looking at the phenom backwards. It isn’t a “movement” of organized masses attempting to promote an agenda, so much as a democratic recognition of an ideal. People digg or bury based on their feelings, and Atheism resonates with a lot of people who have, historically, not had an outlet to express themselves in a religiously-minded-mainstream.
As a recovered Catholic, and Atheist, I know the perils of both organized religion and an absolute denial of anything we don’t understand now. There are universal truths and a wonderful philosophy in the Bible, but they are nested beneath the very straws of men trying to maintain power that have broken so many of our backs. There are wonderful new advances in our scientific understanding of the universe, but now that our science has begun to understand the subjective nature of reality it is foolish to think that all of our observations can be made empirically.
With that in mind, I think what we are seeing is not “Atheism 2.0″ but a democratically recognized need to reject our past superstition and find a new baseline to begin to explore existence as we move from our primitive past. I have confidence in my belief that many of the born-again atheists will find a need for spiritual edification; I sincerely hope they explore spirituality without dogma, such as can be found in Buddhism and Thelema, or they will surely return to their Christian-roots when their souls are too heavy and they need their old crutches.
Probably YouTube, Digg, as well as Mr. Dawkins will be exposed to be conspirators of the Vatican or some evangelical sect. I think religion is far more dangerous today and it really moves in mysterious (subversive) ways.
Timid Ignorance is definitely the norm – just look around. No reason, no progress.So called technological innovators as Apple are caught in a stock option scandal – it always boils down to money, greed, petty human traits.
T.S. Eliot is right, the world ends with a whimper!!!
“jesus would be ashamed” is a great thing to search over at my blog for a similar conclusion. well said chap!
Read “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins.
ANY rational thinking sensible being that can for once separate their EMOTIONAL attachment to a subject (i.e. religion) and read arguments in the abstract would quickly see how absolutely embarrassing it is to believe that your ONE, monotheistic religion (how pompous) or your even polytheistic religion is correct.
Many de facto atheists don’t believe that there is NO god, just that it is HIGHLY improbable. The arguments are there laid out in plain English…At some point rationality will trump all superstition and fear…
This so doesn’t matter. My faith and belief system will never change. Not that I’m some bible-whipping zealot, but I’m confident in my beliefs, and it is simple common sense that no one *truly* knows all the answers.
Athiests can claim whatever they like, but they don’t know everything (because science hasn’t figured out everything). Neither do Christians know everything (because God planned it that way).
well i digged those stories…why? because im a european post-religionist. i life in a post-structural world where i can be what i prefer to be.
modern christianity is mainly a u.s. thing. since DIGG has a international audience you should not be surprised to see some modern statements there.
is also not necessary to put all non-christians into one label.
i would recommend books like “mille plateau” from deleuze if you want to understand the cultural/spiritual avantgarde of europe.
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I think this is one of those “cool kids are doing it” scenarios where people just follow whatever is “cool” or “fresh”
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LOL.