[STEVE:] So, that was The Amazing Spider-Man.
Now I don't regret waiting so long to see it.
[WILLAMEANA:] I feel bad for sleeping through
half of it, but only because I wish I'd slept through all of it .
[MILLICENT:] It was of poor quality, even
considering it was a human movie.
[STEVE:] Yeah.
It's gotta be, like, only the fifteenth best Jamie Foxx movie
I've ever seen.
[WILLAMEANA:] Out of curiosity, what's the best
Jamie Foxx movie you've ever seen?
[MILLICENT:] Any answer that is not Collateral
will not be accepted.
[STEVE:] I didn't know you liked Collateral,
Millicent.
[MILLICENT:] Who doesn't like Michael Mann?
[STEVE:] Point taken.
Um, I think my favorite Jamie Foxx movie is Django Unchained.
[WILLAMEANA:] Oh, I've never seen that.
[STEVE:] You wanna watch it?
I've got it.
[WILLAMEANA:] No, we'd better not.
It's getting late and I need to get home soon.
Doesn't it have close to a three-hour running time?
[STEVE:] Yeah.
But I've got a fan edit that cuts out all the N-words that's
only like twelve minutes long.
[WILLAMEANA:] Well, in that case . . .
[STUFFY:] Hi.
I'm home.
Hi, Willameana.
[WILLAMEANA:] Hey, Stuffy.
[STEVE:] You're just in time.
We're gonna watch the "no N-words" cut of
Django Unchained.
[STUFFY:] Oh.
No, I think I'm just gonna go to my room and read for a bit.
I've had a rough last couple of hours.
[STEVE:] Did something happen at the meeting
of the Hagerstown Area Humanists and Atheists?
[MILLICENT:] HAHA!
[WILLAMEANA:] That's rude.
[MILLICENT:] Why?
That's the acronym.
HAHA!
I like it.
[WILLAMEANA:] What happened, Stuffy?
[STUFFY:] Well, this was the first meeting
I've gone to for awhile.
And when I showed up, I could tell something
was up.
There was this tension in the air.
When the meeting started, I found out why.
There's this atheist YouTuber, Lawfully Logical.
[STEVE:] Oh yeah, I remember him.
He made a response video to a video I made
about Ham Sarris awhile back and so many of his shitty followers
flooded my comments section that I had to turn off comments on that
one.
Fuck him to hell!
[STUFFY:] Right.
Well, he'd been an invited speaker at the H-A-H-A--
[MILLICENT:] HAHA!
[MILLICENT:] Look, I just watched a
two-and-a-half-hour Spider-Man movie.
I'm a little punchy.
[STUFFY:] It's okay.
Anyway, Lawfully Logical has been an invited speaker for the HAHA a
few times, but after his last appearance several of our members
brought some of his videos to the attention of the board, including
one about trans women in sports that was incredibly transphobic.
[STEVE:] I heard about this.
The board said they didn't know about the
transphobic video before they invited him, and they issued a
statement disavowing him and apologizing to the trans community.
I thought it was pretty cool of them to do that.
[STUFFY:] It was.
Except after they did, Lawfully Logical made a video complaining
that the HAHA had treated him unfairly and wrongly labeled him a
transphobe.
[STEVE:] Yeah, I saw that.
I didn't watch it, but YouTube kept recommending
it to me.
Didn't it have a thumbnail where he showed himself
being burnt at the stake?
[STUFFY:] Mmm-hmm.
Specifically, he photoshopped his head onto the body
of Giordano Bruno, the philosopher and cosmologist who was executed by
the Catholic Church for heresy.
[WILLAMEANA:] Kind of obscure, isn't it?
[STUFFY:] I agree.
Comparing himself to Galileo would have made for a more
recognizable reference, but somebody already did that.
[STEVE:] So what happened at the meeting
tonight?
[STUFFY:] The board voted to rescind its
disavowal and issued a formal apology to Lawfully Logical for
mischaracterizing him and branding him a transphobe.
[MILLICENT:] Hmmph.
Typical human cowardice.
[STUFFY:] They aren't all humans.
[MILLICENT:] Any huskies?
[STUFFY:] No.
[MILLICENT:] Same difference.
[STUFFY:] Anyway, after the vote most of the
volunteers resigned in protest.
A bunch of the members quit, too,
including me.
It's really upsetting.
They were the best local atheist group, and I
thought they were serious about being inclusive.
Apparently that's not the case.
[STEVE:] I'm sorry, man.
But look at it this way -- you haven't been
participating in the group much lately anyway, so it's not like
you're really losing anything.
[STUFFY:] True.
But I'm mostly concerned about the trans people in the
community.
[WILLAMEANA:] I don't really know too much about
the atheist community, but is it really this much of a trash fire?
[STUFFY:] It's been this bad for a long time.
[WILLAMEANA:] Someone can make an intolerant
video and then get a credible organization to apologize to HIM
because he SAYS he's not actually intolerant?
[STUFFY:] Apparently.
[WILLAMEANA:] He didn't walk back what he said in
the video, or say that he was being misunderstood or taken out of
context or ANYTHING?
[STUFFY:] He promised to make an apology
video and insisted that his views have changed since the trans women
in sports video went up.
That was good enough for the H-A-H-A.
[MILLICENT:] HAHA!
[MILLICENT:] I just wanted to get one more in.
[STEVE:] (chuckling)
That's what she . . .
Well, who knows, Stuffy.
Maybe the apology video he puts out will be
good.
Maybe he'll say he's sorry, sincerely and without condition,
take responsibility for the false and harmful things he said, and
explain how he was wrong and why he's changed his mind.
[STUFFY:] Maybe.
We'll see.
[TOBY BENSON:] Hey, baby.
[STEVE:] Hey, Toby Benson.
What's up?
[TOBY BENSON:] Not much.
You seen Jack around?
[STEVE:] I think he was heading to Pete's a
little while ago.
[TOBY BENSON:] Cool.
'Scuse me a second, baby.
[STEVE:] You got it.
[TOBY BENSON:] Hey, Willameana.
It's Toby Benson, baby.
Is Jack over there?
[WILLAMEANA:] Sittin' right in front of me.
[JACK:] Oi, if that's for me tell 'em I'm
passed out.
Or in the shitter.
Tell 'em I'm passed out in the shitter!
[WILLAMEANA:] Did you hear that?
[TOBY BENSON:] Yeah.
Can you do me a favor and don't let him get too fucked up?
I need him for somethin' at the Stop
'n Chop later.
[WILLAMEANA:] Oh?
Are you gonna torch the place for the insurance?
[TOBY BENSON:] Nah, I'm teachin' a class for my
krav maga students who I'm tryin' to get certified to work security.
I need Jack to play the role of a belligerent drunk at a protest.
[WILLAMEANA:] And you want me to NOT over-serve
him?
[TOBY BENSON:] I need him straight enough to take
direction.
[WILLAMEANA:] Has he ever been?
[TOBY BENSON:] Touche, baby.
Just keep him from fallin' off the stool for me, would you?
[WILLAMEANA:] I think I can handle it.
[TOBY BENSON:] Cool.
I'll be over later to pick him up.
[WILLAMEANA:] Sounds good.
Bye.
Can I get you another whiskey with some club soda?
[JACK:] You can get me another whiskey with
some whiskey.
[TOBY BENSON:] You mind if I hang out with you
until it's time for me to go, baby?
[STEVE:] Not at all.
You wanna watch something?
[TOBY BENSON:] Yeah.
You got that fan cut of 300 where they took out all the
fascism?
[STEVE:] I do, but it's only six seconds
long.
[STUFFY:] Hi.
[STEVE:] Hey, Stuffy.
[TOBY BENSON:] Hey, baby.
You okay?
You seem depressed or some shit.
[STUFFY:] I watched Lawfully Logical's
apology video just now.
[STEVE:] It was not good?
[STUFFY:] It was not.
[STEVE:] He didn't say he's sorry sincerely
and without condition?
[STUFFY:] He attacked people who criticized
him and thanked people who were nice to him.
[STEVE:] He didn't take responsibility for
the false and harmful things he said?
[STUFFY:] He corrected a few inaccuracies in
that one trans women in sports video he made, but never mentioned
the other transphobic stuff he's said in other videos.
He also went out of his way to highlight the
fact that he has trans friends who don't think he was transphobic.
[STEVE:] He didn't explain how he was wrong
and why he's changed his mind?
[STUFFY:] He continued to frame his position
on the issue in a way that casts suspicion on trans women athletes,
so I don't think he's really changed his mind on all that much.
[STEVE:] Damn.
[TOBY BENSON:] Hold up, baby, I think I'm outta
the loop here.
Somebody's been talkin' shit about trans people?
Do I need to impose a sanction on
someone's ass?
[STUFFY:] Is that a euphemism for beating
someone up?
Because you just got out of jail . . .
[TOBY BENSON:] Don't worry, baby, I don't kick the
shit outta people for free anymore -- only for business.
But if this is somebody you need me to handle
for you, just say the word.
I got you.
Where's this asshole live, anyway?
[STUFFY:] He lives somewhere in England, but
he's in the U.S. for a few more days.
He's supposed to be at an atheist meet-up in Wilkes-Barre
later tonight, I think.
And, thanks, but I don't think confronting him would help.
He's too entrenched in his position now,
and there's literally no incentive for him to change.
Other than empathy and truth and basic
decency, which don't seem to be carrying too much weight in the
atheist community these days.
The worst part is, it's not only this one transphobic YouTuber and
this one atheist organization that's supporting him.
Three of the most popular personalities in the
secular community have come out in support of Lawfully Logical.
[STEVE:] Yeah, some people I follow were
tweeting about that.
Who was it?
It was the big guy who people thought
was cool but then he went for a beer with the transphobic guy and
was joking about how controversial he is -- what's his name?
[STUFFY:] Baron Amun-Ra.
[STEVE:] Right.
And then there's the guy with the good radio voice but
everything he says is lukewarm centrist horseshit -
[STUFFY:] Jeff Landruse.
[STEVE:] Yes!
And who's the third one?
The real big league asshole who hosts
the cable access show?
He got all pissy about people punching Nazis?
[STUFFY:] Matt Dillahunty.
[STEVE:] No, I mean the one who starts
fights on Facebook and then claims he's too busy to argue with people.
[STUFFY:] Matt Dillahunty.
[STEVE:] No, no, I mean the guy who talks a
good game about being inclusive and progressive but when push comes to
shove it turns out he really only cares about protecting his friends
and covering his own ass.
[STUFFY:] Matt Dillahunty.
[STEVE:] No, Stuffy, I'm talking about the
guy who went out on multiple speaking tours with men he knew had
probably committed sexual assault and only stopped when people
publicly complained and it was starting to make him look bad.
[STUFFY:] You're talking about Matt
Dillahunty!
[STEVE:] I guess I am!
[TOBY BENSON:] So what happens now, baby?
[STUFFY:] The same thing that always happens
whenever a popular atheist is called out for doing something
awful and refuses to change or admit what they did wrong: people
who support him or don't see the big deal will move on and forget
about it, and more good people who see the problem, or who are harmed
or threatened by it, will leave the community and never come back.
And I can't say I blame them.
I haven't been active in atheist
circles for a long time, myself.
This incident has reminded me why.
It's the same with atheists as it is with a thousand other groups.
The voices of the underprivileged will only be listened to so long as
they don't make the privileged uncomfortable.
And there's nothing I can do about it.
[STEVE:] So, I feel like I'm in the role
that you'd ordinarily be playing here, Stuffy, which is weird and
probably unwise for everyone involved, but maybe the only thing
you can do is what you're already doing.
[STUFFY:] Which is?
[STEVE:] Setting an example.
Drawing a line in the sand, saying "if you're
going to support transphobic people, I'm not going to support
you, no matter who you are."
Speaking and acting in a way that lets trans people know you're a
person they can trust and depend on to put their concerns ahead of
doing what's easy, or safe, or popular.
Showing that when you mess up you're able to admit you're
wrong and apologize and try to change.
[STUFFY:] That was pretty good.
[STEVE:] Yeah?
'Cause I was also gonna say if that wasn't good enough, you
could always find that transphobic YouTube guy and slash his tires or
something.
[STUFFY:] It's good you stopped before you
said that.
[STEVE:] Thanks!
[STUFFY:] The only thing is, I worry that
trying to set an example and be a good ally won't be enough.
There's so much wrong with the atheist
community, and I just don't think that I or anyone else can change
it.
[TOBY BENSON:] Maybe you can't change it, baby.
But that don't mean there's nothin' to be done.
Catch you later, babies.
[STUFFY:] Where's he got to go?
[STEVE:] Not sure.
He was on the phone earlier, and I overheard some of it
but I don't think I caught it all.
Something about fucking Jack in the shitter.
[STUFFY:] What are you reading?
[STEVE:] It's a collection of those
mini-comics that came with Masters of the Universe action figures.
This one's about Stinkor!
[TOBY BENSON:] Okay, drink it up and let's hit the
road, baby.
[JACK:] It's about bloody time you showed
up.
I've nearly had it with this "don't get too drunk" bollocks.
[TOBY BENSON:] How much does he owe you, baby?
[WILLAMEANA:] That's his bill for the night.
[TOBY BENSON:] Okay.
[TOBY BENSON:] There you go.
I love this digital wallet shit.
[WILLAMEANA:] We live in an age of wonders.
Thanks!
Pleasure doin' business with you.
[TOBY BENSON:] You're welcome.
Let's go, baby.
We got a long drive ahead of us.
[JACK:] What the hell are you babblin'
about?
Hagerstown is twenty minutes away.
[TOBY BENSON:] Yeah, but we ain't goin' to
Hagerstown, baby.
[JACK:] Oi, I'm givin' him until half past
and then I'm pourin' some rum in that milkshake and havin' it
meself.
[TOBY BENSON:] Just keep your shit together, baby.
Their meeting is supposed to let out in a few minutes.
Then I'll make sure he gets his milkshake.
[JACK:] I thought throwin' milkshakes is
strictly to splash the fash .
[TOBY BENSON:] It is.
But in this case I'm makin' a special exception under the
heading of "talk shit, get shaked."
[JACK:] "Milkshakes for shit takes" would
work, as well.
[TOBY BENSON:] Yes it would.
You take care of the tires on his rent-a-car?
[JACK:] Aye.
[TOBY BENSON:] Nice work, baby.
[STEVE:] Hey, folks!
We hope you enjoyed this special, unscheduled episode.
Before we go any further, Stuffy, is there something you want to say?
[STUFFY:] Trans rights!
[STEVE:] Stuffy says trans rights.
And you know what?
So do I!
Trans rights!
[STUFFY:] Virtue signaller.
[STEVE:] I know, I'm the worst.
Now, as you probably already know, you can help us to keep making
videos like this one by supporting this channel with a monthly
donation through Patreon by going to Patreon.com/[STEVE:]shives, and if
you're already doing that or you're thinking about starting to do that,
wonderful, thank you so much for your support, but there's something
special Stuffy wants to talk to you about, as well.
[STUFFY:] Right.
This episode's story was inspired by actual events in the
atheist/skeptic community over the last couple of months, events that
left quite a few people feeling hurt, betrayed, and even
threatened, especially trans people.
Because of that, we're going to ask all of you watching who can afford
to, to make a donation to a transgender charity.
If you have a favorite trans charity already,
great, please consider donating to it this month.
If not, we're suggesting that you make a donation
to Trans Lifeline, a peer-support crisis hotline available in the
U.S. and Canada operated for the trans community, by the trans
community.
You can learn more and donate to Trans Lifeline by going to
translifeline.org.
And if you're a trans person in need of support,
you can call the hotline at
877-565-8860 in the U.S., and 877-330-6366 in Canada.
[STEVE:] Stuffy and I will be doing our
part, as well.
At the end of this month, we'll be donating 100% of
the ad revenue we earn from this video to Trans Lifeline.
Unfortunately, "[STEVE:] and Stuffy" videos don't usually get massive
amounts of views, so it probably won't be that much.
So I'm donating 10% of my total Patreon earnings
for the month of June to Trans Lifeline, as well.
I'll post a quick video at the end of this
month or early next month to let you all know that I've made the
donation.
[STUFFY:] It's a difficult time for many
trans people, not just in the atheist community but everywhere.
We can't fix it overnight, unfortunately, but we can help.
So if you're in a position to do so,
please help us help.
Probably could have phrased that a little better.
[STEVE:] It's okay, I think they got the message.