like honestly the internet's getting older and i feel like it's worth really documenting how internet atheism gave way to the alt-right.
but long story short, it's an acceptable target for treating people like they're lesser. it used to be both safe and a shock-thrill.
okay maybe not actually shocking but at least edgy in a south park way.
it was rebelling without rebelling, and a way you could call people lesser without choosing a target that looks overtly hateful.
a lot of internet atheists developed the tactics used by the alt-right.
religion is such a dependably badly-argued topic that it really became about really more about humiliating people in a safe way - by not doing it to folks who care enough to react. Internet Atheists (and i use it as a term, here) liked to make it look as simple as picking an embarrassing bible verse.
if you know about shitheads like sargon of akkad, this is where those tactics were bred. you didn't need to try.
@heatherhorns It started a lot earlier than that, it started with Thunderf00t and his polemic series on creationism. Things seemed fine for a while, and then his favourite creationist punching bag got chased off the internet, and suddenly he's looking for the next target to hit.
He went after a muslim creationist, and someone who left school to be an autodidact, and he made himself look like an imperialist asshole.
