The Melbourne morning was bright and clear. I got into town early, found my hotel, and got ready for a weekend of godlessness at the 2010 Global Atheist Convention.
The first get-together was at Chloe’s (link possibly NSFW: nude painting). Too many secularists to count, all shouting to each other to be heard above the din.
PZ Myers was there, of Pharyngula fame. He’s been a blogging inspiration for me. The man’s a machine. He must do at least four blog posts a day. I asked how he did it. His advice: “Don’t rewrite. Just get it out there.” If I could write like he does when he gets going, I wouldn’t edit either.
Unlike me with Good Reason, PZ gets nasty commenters and hate mail. I asked if it bugged him. He immediately said, “No. I relish my role as Internet meanie.”
He battles with creationists regularly, but doesn’t mind the fight. “It’s not as though we’re fighting intelligence,” he says. “It’s not as though we’re fighting knowledge. We’re fighting stupidity. That’s a great thing.”
Afterward, I trammed my way to the convention centre. The GAC officially opened, and it was time for registration and welcomes. A surprisingly high proportion of people I talked to were actually from Perth, and I’d never met them before.
The talks take place in an enormous hall. It was strange to see it crammed full of thousands of people, and to realise that probably just about all of them are atheists. I’ll bet everyone has a story about how they came to be an atheist. Probably a lot of deconversion stories there.
Tomorrow, the talks start in earnest, and I’ll try to blog as many of them as I can.
12 March 2010 at 2:18 pm
As an ex Melbourner, you guys could have picked a more fashionable bar, of many cool bars there.
Try a little harder to be cool next time…
12 March 2010 at 3:09 pm
Actually, that came across as rude. But Chloe's used to be a hangout for bikies and Westies…
I think it has undergone a facelift recently.
12 March 2010 at 4:17 pm
Daniel. I will be looking forward to the posts. Glad to have a correspondent there for all the best of the news.
Daniel and Jev.. excuse an american but what is a "bikies and westies"?
12 March 2010 at 8:01 pm
So cool!!!
I'm glad you got to meet him.
I got to meet him too, see here.
It's true that it's amazing that he posts so frequently. I'm constantly impressed that he can come up with this stuff off the top of his head — but it's clear that that's what he does.
Personally, I'd love to post more than I do, but every post takes me forever — first composing what to write, endlessly editing and re-writing it, etc.
12 March 2010 at 8:10 pm
And then, as it would seem, defending it.
13 March 2010 at 6:06 am
Jeffrey: it's not so easy to translate "Bikies and Westies" into Americana –
Bikies = motorbike riders
Westies = people who live in the Western suburbs of east coast Australian cities, ie, inland away from the beach and therefore in poorer, flatter and hotter areas.
But now I just sound pretentious!
14 March 2010 at 8:55 am
"We're fighting stupidity. That's a great thing"
Thanks for the grin on my face from ear to ear, the days tension just washed away 🙂
14 March 2010 at 9:03 am
Isn't that great? I've thought about that statement a few times since Friday, and it always makes me smile.