# Why are the media so unfair in portraying atheists? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367 "2015-04-23T16:42:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/81 "2015-04-24T17:19:18Z")
> [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](#): > > 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. In what way can someone choose not to be an atheist? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/82 "2015-04-24T17:32:09Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Plenty of similar discussions were going on in the late summer and early fall regarding the first three Americans diagnosed with Ebola, who are all Christian missionaries. (Two of them have gone back to Africa, too! 🆒 ) I later saw a Facebook meme quoting a fundie preacher who said that Ebola is a good thing because it will rid the world of “gays, atheists, and sluts.” I replied, “That all the identified American victims to date have been heterosexual Christians (with one possible exception, and he’s most likely Jewish) blows this out of the water.” :dubious: > > One of my FBFs who has also been following the Ebola story from the beginning and in addition knows a lot more about world religions than I do PM’d me and gave me some links about the NBC cameraman, about whom he guessed correctly was the possible Jew. And ethnically, he is, but he’s a practicing Buddhist, as is his extended family, and on top of it, some people even believe that he is a deity in his own right. :eek: The official term is “Tulku”, and there’s a documentary with this title that was made by his half-brother for Canadian educational television in 2009, and is now on You Tube. He does not believe that he is, BTW; he’s just a man from a family that is prominent in the Tibetan Buddhist community. ETA: He also returned to Liberia for a while, to report on current conditions. IDK if he met up with the missionaries while he was there; they did meet on the “Today” show just before Thanksgiving. I later found out that the Time “Person of the Year” had already been decided, and they were actually there to make a video that’s on the Time website. > > My reaction to this? I had just taken a swig of water, and sprayed it all over my computer screen. 😛 Truthfully, the most inaccurate portrayals of Christians are the ones in those dreadful “Christian” movies, the kind that usually star people with the surname Cameron. The TBN channel isn’t realistic either; a local pastor self-published the story of his own faith journey, and he described watching TBN while high, and also while not high, and thought, “I was raised in the church, and I have never met anyone this weird.” Here’s another place where one of the missionaries, and the Buddhist cameraman, met. This is a Voice of America podcast that aired in November; some people have pointed out that Dr. Sacra didn’t seem to be firing on all his cylinders in the first interviews after he was released from the hospital, and that seems to be the case here too. It’s still worth watching if you’re interested in this kind of thing. BTW, his Christianity is never brought up, but the host asks Ashoka Mukpo about something that sounds like “voodooism”, and then I realized he was trying to say “Buddhism”. The video doesn’t seem to be up any more (although it’s on You Tube, albeit in sections) but the audio is. > **[Radio program - Straight Talk Africa \[simulcast\]](https://www.voaafrica.com/straight-talk-audio)** > > Every Wednesday, Straight Talk Africa discusses “what’s now and what’s next for Africa.” Discussions go behind the headlines to analyze the news and emerging trends shaping African societies. I’ve also heard the missionaries say that they’ve had people walk up to them and say things like “I’m an atheist, but I’ve been thinking good thoughts for you” or even “If more Christians were like you, I might consider becoming one myself.” They’ve said they appreciated the positive thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/83 "2015-04-24T17:39:30Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I’m not sure I buy the OP’s premise. > > Pop quiz: in a standard Hollywood action movie, a supporting character quotes the Bible and invokes God. What will we find out later: > > 1. He’s a brave idealist, who will save the world. > 2. He will give his life to save the movie’s main protagonist > 3. He will preach to the villain, and convert him to Christianity > 4. He will turn out to be a heartless villain who betrays and tries to kill the hero. “Okay, I’m the leader. Milhouse is my loyal sidekick. Nelson’s the tough guy, Martin’s the smart guy, and Todd’s the quiet religious guy who ends up going nuts.” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/84 "2015-04-24T17:38:51Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > It’s a War on Atheism! It’s yet another strawman response from **Shodan**! “Unfair” does not equal “WAR!!”, but I can see why you would rather drop one of your thoughtless responses then actually addresses any of the points made on either side of the issue here. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/85 "2015-04-24T18:22:49Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > River Tam “correcting” the errors in the Bible was much more entertaining. Indeed, though as a believer, I prefer Book’s ultimate response: > [@](#): > > **Book:** It’s not about making sense. It’s about believing in something, and letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It’s about faith. You don’t fix faith, River. It fixes you. Of course it could be read either way (Joss writes very well), but I have always taken it as how silly hyper rationalism can be, especially in engaging with religious texts. Speaking of Firefly, it’s one of those nuanced portrayal. You have Mal, an atheist, and Book, a believer, and both are good people with their own flaws. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/86 "2015-04-24T18:27:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It’s yet another strawman response from **Shodan**! “Unfair” does not equal “WAR!!”, but I can see why you would rather drop one of your thoughtless responses then actually addresses any of the points made on either side of the issue here. No one projects like **Shodan** , it’s his thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/87 "2015-04-24T18:30:08Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > River Tam “correcting” the errors in the Bible was much more entertaining. **Book** : “You don’t fix The Bible, River, The Bible fixes you.” River is mentally unstable, I’m not sure that’s a mark in the ‘win’ column for Atheists. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/88 "2015-04-24T20:05:36Z")
Number one, the media aren’t the product, and they aren’t being sold to you. Viewers are the product, and they are being sold to advertisers. Number two, if you can’t figure out why gullible and easily manipulated viewers are more valued by advertisers you need to start paying more attention. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/89 "2015-04-24T20:37:48Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > In what way can someone choose not to be an atheist? About 84% of the worlds population choose not to be atheist. So you can try and ask one of them. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/90 "2015-04-24T20:39:27Z")
Every human being who has ever lived either is, or at one time was, an atheist. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/91 "2015-04-24T20:43:28Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > And then there’s that Obama guy who shows up on the TeeVee a lot. I’m pretty sure hes an atheist and he gets \*lots \*of play. Nah, he’s a Muslim! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/92 "2015-04-24T20:48:43Z")
One more thing about the OP’s contention… I don’t necessarily think it’s a cabalistic scheme on the part of TV/movie writers and producers to actively portray atheists in a bad light. I think it’s a combination of them writing things for public consumption (and thereby more or less reflecting society’s views back at them) and using what I call “media writer shorthand” for their characters. By that I mean that writers use certain stereotypical stock characterizations to simplify and speed their writing in TV shows and movies; hooker with a heart of gold, bad corrupt cop, good cop, military martinet, tough but fair NCO, etc… The atheist portrayals I tend to see fall into some of those characterizations. Every now and then you get a Thomas Jane (“The Mentalist”) or someone else who turns out to be a good character with incidental atheism, but it’s only when they’re trying to make a point of things. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/93 "2015-04-24T21:19:22Z")
I wouldn’t consider atheism a choice either. I can’t make myself believe in god anymore than I can make myself believe that the glass of water I’m drinking is actually grape soda. Atheists in movies and such usually seem to be portrayed as broken, damaged people that had a personal tragedy that made them doubt god’s existence such as in the movie Signs where the priest played by Mel Gibson loses his faith because of the awful way his wife was killed. The other portrayal that seems fairly common is the militant atheist with a chip on their shoulder that hates the god that they don’t believe in. :rolleyes: In reality there are a subset of atheists that are very militant and vocal that I agree with sometimes and other times not so much. I don’t believe in things like having the Ten Commandments displayed on the courthouse property, but other things like buying advertising space on billboards to promote atheism is so dumb and it’s like they’re trying to make a religion out of atheism or something. I think it’s especially dumb when atheists are treated as some organized megalithic entity by the media. If my next door neighbor turns out to be atheist too, we could still have completely opposing political beliefs and moral value systems. ---
**Author:** ![Valteron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f17d59/32.png) [@Valteron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valteron)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/94 "2015-04-24T21:31:58Z")
> [@bump](#): > > One more thing about the OP’s contention… I don’t necessarily think it’s a cabalistic scheme on the part of TV/movie writers and producers to actively portray atheists in a bad light. When the hell did I say that in my OP? ---
**Author:** ![Valteron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f17d59/32.png) [@Valteron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valteron)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/95 "2015-04-24T21:50:29Z")
I thought this would be a light topic for Café Society. Sheesh! I still stand by my contention that the media often depict atheists as grumpy, God-hating and incomplete humans who lack humour and empathy. If you want to lighten up, go see the Center for Inquiry’s Atheist Cat mascot at: > **[Outlook – free personal email and calendar from Microsoft](https://outlook.live.com/owa/)** > > Get free Outlook email and calendar, plus Office Online apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Sign in to access your Outlook, Hotmail or Live email account. Or my favourite atheist cat story which is actually an atheist dog story I guess. A Muslim asked me if I was a Muslim, and I replied “No, I am an atheist”. To which he replied, “Then you are no better than a dog.” “How do you figure?” “Because dogs do not believe in God and atheists do not either.” “Do you drink?” “We Muslims do not drink alcohol.” “So you are no better than my cat, because my cat does not drink alcohol either.” This is a true story. Swear to (_non-existent_). ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/96 "2015-04-24T22:32:17Z")
> [@pool](#): > > I don’t believe in things like having the Ten Commandments displayed on the courthouse property There was one highly-publicized case where a solid stone monument was removed from a courthouse lobby, and it vanished from the news when it was revealed that the real reason was because an architect discovered that the floor could not indefinitely support the load. ---
**Author:** ![pseudograph](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pseudograph/32/19768_2.png) [@pseudograph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudograph)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/97 "2015-04-24T23:25:31Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > In what way can someone choose not to be an atheist? It’s very simple. You do what many theists do: pay lip service to the deity of your choice (best to choose one popular in your area) and then go about your life as usual. And the on-topic portion of the post. Atheists are portrayed about as well or poorly as any other group in the media. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/98 "2015-04-24T23:43:54Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > There was one highly-publicized case where a solid stone monument was removed from a courthouse lobby, and it vanished from the news when it was revealed that the real reason was because an architect discovered that the floor could not indefinitely support the load. If it was highly-publicized, then you should easily be able to provide a link to it, right? ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/99 "2015-04-24T23:51:32Z")
> [@Valteron](#): > > Or my favourite atheist cat story which is actually an atheist dog story I guess. A Muslim asked me if I was a Muslim, and I replied “No, I am an atheist”. To which he replied, > > “Then you are no better than a dog.” > > “How do you figure?” > > “Because dogs do not believe in God and atheists do not either.” > > “Do you drink?” > > “We Muslims do not drink alcohol.” > > “So you are no better than my cat, because my cat does not drink alcohol either.” > > This is a true story. Swear to (_non-existent_). Tonight, on That Atheist Show: trapped in a snowed-in cabin, the gang reminisce about their triumphs over various proselytising religions throughout the show. Coming up at 8.30: How I Punched A Buddhist. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367/100 "2015-04-25T01:06:52Z")
Britta on _Community_ is an atheist, and while in some ways she’s a negative stereotype of a _liberal_ she’s definitely not cold or robotic. Kurt on _Glee_ has already been mentioned, and again while he’s a stereotype in other ways (gay boy who loves fashion and showtunes) he doesn’t match the unemotional/uncreative atheist stereotype described in the OP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-media-so-unfair-in-portraying-atheists/718367.md?page=6)