Why are the media so unfair in portraying atheists?

Cafe Society
1

The CFI (Center for Inquiry) is running a contest to do something about the distorted, unrealistic way atheists are depicted on TV (See http://www.centerforinquiry.net/news/no_god_but_funny/

More to the point, what should we do about the way atheists are portrayed in the media ?

Atheists are sometimes shown as evil or lacking morals, but in many cases the negative portrayal is much more subtle.

Even when the atheist is a lead character and generally depicted as admirable, they are nonetheless shown as being mechanical, robot-like and somehow lacking at the emotional and creative level. Just as Data on Star Trek, as an android, was incapable of understanding feelings, and of humour, the implication is that atheists are somehow lacking a soul and therefore incapable of “spiritual” functions.

A classic example is the character Temperance Brennan in the series “Bones”. She has all the classic traits of the “deficient, soul-less” stereotype. While Bones is depicted as very intelligent, she nonetheless has a lot of trouble understanding humour.

At other times, in spite of her high IQ, she is incapable of feeling empathy. For example, when she meets a “little person” she unknowingly makes him and others around him uncomfortable by asking point-blank what sort of dwarfism he suffers from. The implication in the scene is NOT that she is evil or cruel. It is that “godless” people must be lacking in the ability to think of others’ feelings.

Interestingly, there is a Simpsons episode in which Bart sells his soul (to Millhouse, I believe) and the result is much the same. While the episode does not say that Bart has become an atheist, the implication is fairly similar.

Just for starters, what other examples can the Straight Dopers think of in which atheists are unfairly portrayed? And what should we do about it?

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And also, why is nobody interested in discussing this topic?

3

Its been an hour. Sheesh.

Personally, I think the media’s portrayal of atheists is fairly accurate. Sure, there are some very nice ones out there, but most atheists IME do fit the cynical, sarcastic, nihilistic role in which the media casts them.

Besides, the bread and butter of most media is stock characters–the devilish rogue, the jock, the nerdy teenager, and so on. Yeah, maybe some ‘high culture’ features only characters with lots of depth, but most people don’t care for that. So foils are desirable because they’re simple and easy to understand, and thus we get a lot of them. If amoral atheists are a stock character, that’s just life.

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Because the Media is interested in making entertainment that draws the greatest number of eyeballs to the sponsor’s ads. At this time, they feel that showing an outspoken atheist as a sympathetic or exemplary character would not pay as well as ignoring or stereotyping atheist characters.

If it makes you feel better, presume that everyone you see on TV is a quiet atheist until they deliberately express a religious preference.

5

I don’t think we care that much how other atheists are portrayed. People seem to like me, despite my lack of religion.

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One of the earliest positive examples that comes to mind is Cybill Shepherd’s character on Moonlighting. She was casually atheist and not otherwise emotionally stunted.

Before that, though, was some kinda science nerd who had a one-shot appearance on The Waltons and shocked the family into silence by admitting atheism. The negativity of his portrayal was more due to his nerdiness, I reckon. Hollywood sucks generally at presenting smart characters. Them also being atheist is thrown in almost as an afterthought.

7

There are probably a few hundred million atheists in the world. When did you meet “most of them” to form your conclusion?

I wonder if your cavalier, “suck-it-up” advice would be the same if I were protesting negative stereotypes of African-Americans, Latinos, Roman Catholics, Muslims, etc.? Was Steppin’ Fetchit and “Feets don’t fail me now!” “just life”. Or were groups like the NAACP justified in protesting against things like Amos and Andy?

8

Isn’t most of the staff in Bones atheist (or at least strongly agnostic)? I’m no expert in the show but I remember an episode with a Muslim character saying that he doesn’t talk about his faith because everyone else always finds it bizarre that he could be both religious and a scientist. Something that wouldn’t be a question if the rest of the people were religiously inclined.

I’ll be the first admit if I’m wrong though. Maybe there’s episodes defining everyone else’s religious beliefs.

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Not only is what you’ve pointed out true, but atheism itself is very rarely allowed on shows that have a regular atheist character. By this I mean that, to throw a bone to all the religionists out in the audience, some obviously miraculous event will be written into one of the scripts that will cause the character to frown, say “Hmmm, I wonder if…nah, it couldn’t be!”, ignore the obvious, and wander off shaking his/her head. This allows the audience to think, “I guess that know-it-all doesn’t know everything, does she/he?”

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It’s a stretch to think someone who has sold their soul and then wants it back has become an atheist, more of a stretch when it’s a cartoon character.

The media is plenty unfair to people of various religious faiths, I don’t see any difference in the way atheists are treated. Stereotypes are the bread and butter of drama, saves the time of establishing three dimensional characters.

Think of it as a positive, atheists get the same kind of treatment as the religious characters do.

11

Mostly this because my knee-jerk reaction is “And no one is going to start a conversation about how horribly Christians are portrayed on TV? Or Jews?”

Hell the only religion NOT portrayed badly are Arabs because everyone is scared to bring them up

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Note to Sir T-Cups: “Arab” is not a religion. And not all Arabs are Muslim in the first place.

Wow. Confirmation bias much?

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Yes, I can’t tell you how often that plot device is used. The event is not clearly miraculous, but it is hard to explain, thus “showing up” the non-believer for the fool that he is and reassuring the theists that their ability to believe things for which there is no evidence (which amazingly enough is considered a virtue under the name of “Faith”) is actually a good thing.

Another plot trick when something miraculous or mysterious is discussed is to have a character say “But science doesn’t know everything.” Then everyone nods wisely and the audience are reassured that their belief is justified.

But** OF COURSE **science does not know everything! Did you honestly think there would come a day when a bunch of men with Albert Einstein hair and white coats would hold a news conference to announce that science now knows everything?

But what does that statement prove?

Q. Why do you believe crystals can cure cancer?

A. I believe it because science does not know everything.

When you put it that way it doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it? But when one of the characters says that tag line and everyone nods wisely, it supposedly proves something. Go figure!

14

Shit, you are 100% right.

Sorry for the mistake everyone, really.

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And statistically speaking, very few Muslims are Arabs.

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I’m making an extrapolation from limited experience, which is how humans make sense of the world. I haven’t seen the sky from every location on earth, and I’ve only seen the sun rise a couple times, but I can be extremely confident that the sky is blue and the sun rises in the east. Likewise, I’ve met many people who identify as atheists, and they are generally more grouchy than others.

I could just as well ask you “There are probably a few thousand television shows in America. Have you watched all of them and noted the portrayal of atheist characters to form your conclusion?” We’re both forming judgments based on our own experiences viewing the world, and that’s perfectly okay.

The meaningful difference is that atheism is a choice, something that can be changed. Other caricatures are offensive because they are based on intrinsic characteristics that can’t be changed.

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Sorry I was so impatient. Since we atheists know that our lives are limited, we are incapable of waiting. One of the many, many character flaws that arise out of our lack of belief in God.:rolleyes:

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I can name many shows that put religion in a very positive light, including several that feature characters that are actually angels(therefore leaving no chance for doubt about that particular religion). On no show that has a religious premise, if doubt is raised as to the veracity of said religion, is there any doubt about said veracity by the end of the episode.
On the other hand, on the few shows that dare to feature atheists, constant “evidence”(and sometimes even blatant miracles) are thrown in their faces, and almost always by the end of the episode there is some small doubt as to whether the incident was natural or supernatural in nature. This allows the audience to hope that the atheist will eventually develop into a “normal” human being.

19

WTF are you saying? That discrimination against “chosen” characteristics (like religious opinion) is somehow justified, because if I don’t like discrimination against atheists, I have only to start believing in God?

“If Christians don’t like being chomped by lions in the coliseum, they can just stop being Christians, I reckon!”

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Even granting the thread premise for the sake of argument, it’s not something I anticipate claiming to be victimized by.