Wow. This means that fundamentalist Islam has done more damage in the past month than all the abortion bombers since 1977!

Maher is a bumbling idiot and Dawkins is no religious scholar, so I wouldn't really consider their views to be representative of the general opinion of educated white men on the topic of religion. Still, I think it is a real problem that both these men were essentially given a free pass by progressives on their…

Yeah, we need Tomahawk missiles and F-22s to stop those picketers and those abortion clinic bombers. Moving on...

There is no getting around the fact that certain places are simply much, much poorer than others. Africa has the lowest GDP per capita of any inhabited continent. 9 out of the 10 poorest countries in the world are in Africa. The 15 countries with the lowest HDI scores are all in Africa. The 25 countries with the…

See, it's only getting worse.

Anger is a bigger problem than whatever you are angry about.

I think in this day and age (and especially in America) a distinction can be drawn between the general perception of Africa as poor, backwards, unsanitary, and disease-ridden (which is, unfortunately, a relatively accurate perception for the most part) and the racist view that Africans themselves are "dirty",…

Wow, I am genuinely surprised. Can the ratio actually be 2:1?

I fundamentally disagree. I don't believe that people should be insulted for having an idea, no matter how stupid. I also don't believe that people who are forming their opinions should decide not to hold certain views merely out of fear of people insulting them for having them. In my experience an idea that is…

No, it makes them angry so they actually defend their idea even more. Whereas if you responded constructively they would be less defensive about it and more receptive to what you have to say.

That never works though. Anger only begets anger, which is why it is always counterproductive.

Yes, but by your own admission your anger is not going to change the OP's mind. If you ask me it actually makes the OP more combative and less likely to consider what you have to say. If you responded in a constructive manner to his post (the urge to do the contrary be damned) it would not only shock the OP, it would…

Even if there's no hope of winning somebody over then insults still amount to nothing more than self-indulgence at somebody else's expense, and are thus inappropriate.

If you're only interested in keeping yourself and other jezzies satisfied then sure, you can be as insulting as you'd like. But if you want to win over somebody else's mind then wishing death upon that person (and others who hold views you find to be pernicious) is not the way to go. There's a reason why Betty…

First of all you have to realize that saying "the world would be better off without you" to a complete stranger is an extremely hurtful thing to say, even if done over an anonymous online commenting system. Secondly, I understand that it is extremely difficult to empathize with people who are attacking your views…

Bravo. This is precisely why after over half a century feminism is still not a mainstream view among men. A complete rejection of any form of criticism, absolutely no desire to even consider where the other side is coming from, and an utterly unassailable sense of moral self-righteousness. This is somewhat…

Meh, there've been more interesting guests at this venue...

In general, I'm not particularly interested in pushing women out of the "feminism club".

So when you can't find common ground with another commenter you label them a troll?

Strangely enough, it doesn't become any less of a private matter just because a lot of busybodies choose to believe otherwise.