I predicted it, in my post (which was referenced by several other bloggers) Ron Lindsay's non-apology apology for his non-welcome welcome.
I'm guessing the CFI board is going to make him issue a proper apology, and he'll do it rather than lose the prestige of being CEO.I was able to predict this outcome because that's what happened after Larry Summers suggested the evolved female brain was primarily to blame for women having less distinguished careers in math and science. Although give Ron Lindsay credit - it only took him two tries to come up with a true apology. It took Larry Summers three tries.
The people who lionized Summers and Lindsay for their brave stand against the politically correct somehow forgot that Summers and Lindsay held/hold positions that are in fact political. And so of course their insulting remarks about women - especially at events meant to encourage women's participation in the organizations sponsoring those events, would result in a huge blowback.
Evolutionary psychology promoters are at the root of both controversies. Summers was only echoing Steven Pinker (who came to his defense during the controversy), and Lindsay's hostility, especially towards Rebecca Watson, was the result of the "elevatorgate" controversy sparked by Richard Dawkins' insulting response (and second response which made it worse) to a 3-minute video clip in which Watson recounted an incident that made her uncomfortable.
The evolutionary psychology-infused message is that women need to dial back their charges of discrimination because:
a. it's the fault of their own brains andPinker and Dawkins are not politicians - they are celebrity intellectuals who can get away with saying insulting things about women.
b. men's feelings have been hurt by the charges of male privilege.
Lindsay and Summers perhaps felt they were also celebrity intellectuals rather than of heads of organizations that included women they were insulting. Which makes them not only deluded but very bad politicians.
Perhaps it's a generational thing - Lindsay, Summers, Pinker and Dawkins are all old enough to remember the good old days when you could shit on women and totally get away with it because they're just women. So it must be quite a shock to all of them when women occasionally give them shit back.
After my prediction on the previous blog post I wondered:
Now will all his fanboys who considered him a hero start calling him a "mangina?" We shall see.
I really hope Rebecca Watson or the other skeptic feminist bloggers check in with the various Men's Rights types and report back to the rest of us if that happens - I sure don't want to visit the slymepit.
The awesome somegreybloke appears to be the creator of the excellent parody of MRA/PUA atheists: Dan Cardamon. Although it's only two years after elevatorgate, I don't know if the error is part of the parody or what.