Other than some minor issues of not getting the who, what, when, where, why and how facts straight, I guess my biggest grievance is her portrayal the SFTS. As he states here, Shawn is not the leader of this group, but the Mill Ave Resistance and BetterThanFaith.com were his creations. He would hesitate to call himself the leader even of the Resistance; but apparently there is a lack of leadership here that he or someone needs to step up and deal with.

The reporter tries hard to reinforce the differences in appearances and associate them with intent. SFTS is shown as a bunch of in-your-face douchebags who love death metal and dress like hobos; therefor they’re a rude and anarchistic bunch of thugs to those to whom they “preach”. I find it funny that she mentions Dunkin’ Donuts so much…. especially since she brought the donuts in the first place. Describing the resistance as a “chaotic club party” where things get “out of control” and “disintegrate into anarchy” may be a fair assessment from her point of view and that is something to think about.

Putting Shawn as the “leader” of this rag-tag group she describes really pisses me off and I’m not sure if it was because Shawn was the willing patsy she was looking for or if nobody else would talk to her. Maybe she just wanted to use him to show conflict between the artist and the rabble “wanna bes”. I know he put a lot of time and effort into putting things together for her for this story, and to be characterized so unflatteringly is really insulting. It’s especially infuriating because I don’t think Shawn is out there trying to convert people to atheism and the way she portrays him as a gigantic wiener who has no control over “his” group infuriates me.

The way it’s written it makes it look like Omar is embarrassed by the SFTS and does not want to be associated with them. With the way the group is described in the article, I wouldn’t want to either.

So I guess enough bitching about the slant in the article. What needs to be done straight away is make changes that put SFTS in a much better light. I don’t think this means suits and ties, but it probably means not screaming at the preachers and turning things into a circus sideshow. Maybe put a damper on the death metal. Maybe be better organized. Maybe do something positive and support some local charities. Do SOMETHING besides showing up on Friday and Saturday nights to shout at the preachers.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-12-25/news/performance-atheist-omar-call-has-called-it-quits-on-god-and-thinks-you-should-too/

Omar Call may have quote “bookworm intellect” BUT
he most certainly does not KNOW Hebrew in the
real sense of the word KNOW – on this I am willing to bet
my chonies.

VM

PS – “OK” article, although I did sense a strong strand of HERO WORSHIP
from the author (whom I do nonetheless like and respect) …