Soda In My Glass Of Rage With A Lemon Wedge Of Sadness

I LIVE! And I live twice as hard because I'll post tomorrow. Slowly, but surely, my will to do anything that isn't "drink beer" or "lie in bed" is coming back. A greater act of heroism, I've never seen. Anyway, here be the pent up fury.
David Silverman, you god-damned wanker. Everybody hates you. EVERYBODY. For the uninitiated, Silverman is the president of American Atheists, and he is the poet laureate of douche-baggery. Now, this is a hard, nonsensical gig. Being the president of an organisation that need not exist in the first place is hard enough, but using such a superfluous position to alienate virtually everyone but the most fundamental, contrarian nonbelievers takes chutzpah. This is a man will not go to bed until he's pissed off someone, he's just so dedicated to his craft.
Yes, that was a masterclass in poisoning the well, but let me explain: There was a piece of rubble found on WTC ground zero that looks vaguely like a crucifix. Now, the plan is to use said piece of rubble as part of a memorial for the victims of the tragedy and to use it as a symbol for their bravery or whatever. Personally, I find the whole thing tremendously pointless, but people seem to like remembering horrible tragedies, and it'd probably be a tourist attraction, so whatever, go for your life. However, David "The Mighty Douche" Silverman has, on behalf of American Atheists, issued a statement wherein he lets everyone know just how much sand is in his vagina over this horrible offence. Apparently using this artifact is pro-christian and spits on the memories of all the non-christan victims of September 11, thereby marginalising decent folks and turning America into a theocracy blah blah blah. This is knee-jerk nonsense I'd expect from the likes of Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly.
First of all, it was a fucking cross-beam. They're pretty common in structures everywhere. To the christians thinking this is some divine revelation of God's will: That's moronic. That's so fucking dense it's threatening to collapse into a black hole. I'll let the whole "thousands of innocents had to die in order for a random piece of steel to slightly resemble the symbol of your particular belief to be present thereby demonstrating the love of your god" rubbish slide for a bit and stick to the far more petty argument of "it doesn't even look that much like a crucifix." Seriously, the arm on the left is basically sliced off into a triangle shape and the proportions don't match. I don't know if the standard christian knows what (or can spell) "confirmation bias" is, but there literally could not be a better example of it. It's a random chunk of metal that happens to look kinda like a pretty common shape that occurs in both nature and architecture. Nothing more.
Secondly, to quote Jon Stewart: "David Silverman... why do you care?" For a group of people that prides itself on being reasonable, rational and logical, you're sounding awfully whiny, pedantic and stupid here. This is a fight you shouldn't have entered and were never gonna win anyway. The average person, religious or not, will think this is a dick move. The average person is going to find this an overly aggressive argument that is grabbing for attention by being controversial. The average person is going to side with fundamental christians now because they're coming off as poor, persecuted victims who are just trying to respect the dead while the big bad atheists piss on their parade. In one fell swoop, Silverman has alienated basically every fence-sitting average joe through a sheer, dumbfounding lack of eloquence.
Let the baby have it's fucking bottle, for god's sake. If they want to use a bit of iron for a memorial, go nuts. If christians want to associate it with their all-loving murder machine, let them go. If the state wants to associate it with their all-loving murder machine... well, you probably have grounds for a rational, calm and well worded argument against that. But even then, it's something that must be handled delicately. That is, if you want people to believe what you believe. I've said it once and I'll say it again, atheist organisations make no sense and are unnecessary. You may as well have an "I Believe The Official 9/11 Story Association" or "The No-Bigfoot Club." By having a set of beliefs and setting up an organisation only for people that share those beliefs, you're different to a church... how? As a support group for a minority belief, sure, but realistically, you're actively promoting the myth that "atheism is a belief, just like any other." "Atheist organisations" that support "atheist positions" and serve the "atheist community" MAKE NO SENSE. Silverman is a wanker, the WTC memorial is not the first steps towards a christian theocracy and it is possible to be an irrational, pedantic atheist, as our friend Dave proves. Good going shithead, I hope you piss your bed tonight.

P.S. This was meant to be one of those "I bitch about something for a paragraph and cover a bunch of little irks" posts but I really caught wind on this one. There may be a Wednesday post as well.