Gnu atheists are people, too.

I think a lot of the heat from my comparison of Gnu atheists to the Soviet Union is coming from this sort of impression:  How dare he hint that we atheists might condone such actions, especially the killings?  We’re good and moral people and would never advocate such a thing.  To suggest that is just offensive!

Well, to understand what I was really saying, people need to understand this important thing about my overall view:

I am utterly convinced that there is no movement or philosophy, no matter how noble, that humans won’t find a way to corrupt and pervert into a way to seek their own power and impose their own views on everyone else.  History, to me, has proven — if it has proven nothing else — that humans can take even the best-intentioned view and turn it into something horrible and horribly oppressive.

This is a cynical view, but I don’t really see a counter to this based on history.  We’ve oppressed nations and forced puppets into wars over Marxism and democracy, which seemed to be as well-intentioned as they get.  Liberals justified censorship in the name of equality of the sexes, as well as in the name of tolerance.  I can’t think of an example of anything that just turned out good.

As I said, it’s a sad, cynical view … but it also seems to be correct.

So when I apply that cynicism to the Gnu atheists, all I’m really saying is:  I think that, fundamentally, you’re human.  Just like religious people.  Just like democrats.  Just like everyone else.  If you don’t want your philosophy perverted and corrupted, be very vigilant.  I still think you’ll fail, but you might have a chance.

In short, the Gnu atheists thought I was calling them immoral, when to me all I was doing was calling them human.

But then, again, I am very cynical about this.