From RationalWiki

“ ” I don't hate any race of people to be honest with you. I mean, except for the Eskimos. What the fuck were you thinking when you created Eskimos? . . . Uh, living in weird little ice huts and eatin' blubber. You know, that's my worst nightmare 'cause what if they see me, mistake me for like a baby seal or summin and start carving out my fucking fat stores? I don't need that shit . . . —TJ being TJ[1]

“ ” I don't know my opinion on any of this shit. Um, I'm just gonna ramble and stumble upon some wisdom or idiocy as I might. . . . Um, I'm basically your average everyday person, I guess. Except for the insanity and actual IQ. . . . And I've even seen some people more arrogant—you know, just all-around bastards—then I am. So I figure if these people can actually get halfway liked on Youtube, I have a chance too. Probably not, because I'm probably more arrogant than I even realize I am. —TJ introducing himself in his first video[2]

Thomas James "TJ" Kirk III (also known as TheAmazingAtheist and formerly by the pseudonym Terroja Lee Kincaid) is an atheist YouTube personality known for his aggressive style, incendiary comments about rape,[note 1] and harsh criticism of feminism. He has attacked creationist arguments with toxicity that people on both sides of the debate found objectionable. He has adopted an unremittingly anti-feminist stance in his social criticism, seeing feminism as somehow being a great danger and harmful to society. His views and character, such as whining about "SJWs," are often defended by reactionary assholes and Men's Rights Activists, although he calls these groups "retarded". He has harshly criticized Republicans and conservative social commentators such as Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, and Hunter Avallone.[3] He is currently undergoing a supernatural transformation into Vaush and will complete this process on the seventh day of the black moon judgment.[citation NOT needed]

Early life [ edit ]

TJ was born in Pasadena, California, being raised as a Louisianan. His father was Thomas James Kirk, Jr. (July 1, 1946 – January 3, 2008), who operated several fraudulent higher education organizations and served three years in U.S. federal prison and died in 2008. At the age of sixteen, TJ dropped out of high school with dreams of becoming an author (a dream that would come true). However, before TJ wrote any books, he began posting videos on YouTube in November 2006. His younger brother, Scotty, assisted with his YouTube content-making.[4]

On politics [ edit ]

“ ” I'm an extremist on both sides, apparently. I love it. —The Amazing Atheist[5]

TJ previously espoused libertarian doctrines such as "personal responsibility"; however, after his father died in January 2008 and he saw people queuing for the emergency room, he began to shift to liberalism, believing that social programs are sometimes necessary to help the needy. The focus of his videos gradually expanded to address political and social issues. He has also deleted some of the older videos from his libertarian period because YouTube's change in policymaking was made easier for his videos to be flagged.[6]

TJ has spoken out virulently against the idea of white guilt as perpetrated by modern conservatives.[7] TJ also trashed the shitfest over Star Wars VII's featuring a black character, which racists decried as white genocide.[8]

In 2012, TJ launched a campaign to raise funds for an organization that works to bring clean water to those who need it.[9] He set out to reach a goal of $10,000; in total, the campaign raised $12,765.[10]

TJ doesn't like "SJWs". He argues that they killed nuance,[11] which led to some humor.[12]

TJ supported Bernie Sanders during the 2016 Democratic Primary,[13] opposing Hillary Clinton as a corrupt insider who lies about everything.[14] In July of 2016, TJ announced his support of Gary Johnson,[15] hoping to see him run on the democratic ticket.[16] He confessed to actually preferring Jill Stein, yet still deciding to feel the Johnson anyways, as long as the more viable Johnson stayed ahead of Stein in the polls.[17] A few days later, he backpedaled on Johnson, exclaiming "Fuck. Jill Stein 2016. I'm waiting for her to sell out now so I can just stay home."[18]

In September of 2016, TJ produced a video in which he explained why his viewers might want to consider voting for Trump.[19] This created confusion in those who believed he genuinely supported Trump. In November of 2016, TJ released a similar video — but this time, on Hillary — in which he clarified that both the Trump and Clinton videos were satirical in their endorsements of both candidates, his actual stance being that "[Trump and Hillary] are both symptoms of the same disease".[20]

In August 2018, he was briefly suspended on Twitter[21] for a tweet in which he jokingly said white people are a disease (referencing the backlash to The New York Times hiring Sarah Jeong[22]):

WHITE PEOPLE ARE A DISEASE! THEY ARE AIDS! THEY ARE A POX UPON THE EARTH AND EVERY STINKING CRACKER ONE OF THEM SHOULD DIE OF EVERY DISEASE AT ONCE! So . . . @nytimes . . . how's about a lucrative job at your paper? I think I have demonstrated the qualifications.[23]

At the advent of the 2020 George Floyd protests, TJ's far-left stance became more evident with his sympathy for the riots, resulting in backlash from the right-wing anti-SJW segment of his fanbase and a sense of purification. This is also led to Styxhexenhammer666, who is basically just 2006 TJ in terms of ideology, to send a Twitter message that TJ interpreted as a death threat.[24] This was very spooky because Styx is into esoteric imagery and could put a black magic hex on TJ's ass.

On society [ edit ]

“ ” So, Weight Watchers dropped weight from its name, and now Dunkin Donuts (almost as if in response) is dropping donuts from its name. What the hell is going on? What's next? McDonalds drops Donald from it's [sic] name to protest Trump and just become Mcs? —TJ in contemplation of our civilization[25]

TJ really doesn't like otherkin, or other people for that matter. But especially otherkin.[26][27]

Bullying [ edit ]

One controversial video is "Bullies," uploaded in 2010, where he expressed the view that "being a bully doesn't make you a monster, and being bullied doesn't make you a victim," and called suicidal bullying victims "weak."[28] This led to a very mixed reaction amongst his audience; he responded to the intense criticism with a follow-up video, "Macho Trolling."[29]

This controversial attitude was again revealed in his view of the story of Amanda Todd, a teenage girl who committed suicide in October 2012, not long after posting a video on Youtube detailing her story of being subjected to a sustained campaign of blackmail, stalking, and bullying.[30][31] Upon hearing of Amanda's suicide, TJ posted a picture on his Tumblr blog of him holding a sign, similar to how Amanda Todd did in her video, saying "I am the other hundreds of thousands of people who died today other than Amanda fucking Todd."[32] A subsequent post had him dismissing her in light of unnamed people who died in "far worse" situations:[33]

And unlike Amanda, ... these people died against their will. They fought with their last ounce of courage to survive, and they still died. I find their deaths more worthy of tribute than some spoiled teenage girl that offed herself at the first sign of adversity.

That said, in TJ posted a video in June 2013[34] in defense of Coy Mathis, a transgender girl who was being bullied online by conservative websites for having won a court case giving her the right to use the girl's bathroom. This suggests TJ's position is nuanced inconsistent. Although he also dated a transman for a few years, possibly indicating that it was specific instead of general sympathy for bullying victims.

Vegetarianism [ edit ]

TJ dislikes vegetarianism and has devoted several videos to criticizing it.[35] He has stated that a morality that does not account for human nature is flawed,[36] and has expressed annoyance at "the way that a simple dietary choice is elevated to this great moral decision".[37] He has gone as far as to accuse most vegans of feigning their ideology to appear unique and holier-than-thou.[38]

Contrary to his previous beliefs, by June 16, 2015, he had become a vegetarian, in his own words, "to impress a girl".[39][40]

By 2016 he has announced that he is no longer a vegetarian and that he didn't enjoy it.

On upskirt photography [ edit ]

The "Sex" segment of TJ's book Scumbag: Musings of a Subhuman closes with the chapter "Tits vs. Ass: The Final Showdown," which features a helpful comparison chart of pros and cons, with such charming observations as tits being "hard to stare at without the girl noticing," while "you can take a picture [of her ass] and she won't be any the wiser."[41] We can only hope that this was indeed the final showdown of this subject.

On doxing [ edit ]

TJ Kirk has been an outspoken anti-doxer and has spoken out against Atheism-is-Unstoppable (Devon Tracey) and Brett Keane.[42]

Feminism [ edit ]

TJ "believe[s] in equality between men and women legally and in all ways. Every opportunity a man has a woman should have."[43] That said, he really really doesn't like feminism.[44][45][46][47][48][49] Examples:

He argued that female supremacy is feminism's real agenda, [50] which stems from the recent wave of new-age feminism that many have found to focus more on playing the role of a victim and aggressive attacks towards those who challenge them.

which stems from the recent wave of new-age feminism that many have found to focus more on playing the role of a victim and aggressive attacks towards those who challenge them. He once compared feminism to the KKK, suggesting that it had regressed into something pathetic, much like the KKK, and then apologized... to the KKK. [51] In this, he falls into the predictable MRA trap of decrying feminism as a big, scary movement that is simultaneously (and paradoxically) ineffectual and lame.

In this, he falls into the predictable MRA trap of decrying feminism as a big, scary movement that is simultaneously (and paradoxically) ineffectual and lame. TJ characterizes the feminist movement as overly politically correct, insensitive to men, and believes that Tumblr represents some gigantic central hub of the feminist hivemind. [52]

TJ uploaded a video called "There's No Rape Culture" [53] , where he did a point-by-point "rebuttal" of RationalWiki's rape culture article. Said rebuttal consisted entirely of personal anecdotes, insults against feminists as a group, and the MRA strawman of false rape accusers. Ironically, he described how rape culture actually works almost perfectly in his follow-up video, but damn if he's ever going to let those hairy feminists be right. [54]

, where he did a point-by-point "rebuttal" of RationalWiki's rape culture article. Said rebuttal consisted entirely of personal anecdotes, insults against feminists as a group, and the MRA strawman of false rape accusers. Ironically, he described how rape culture actually works almost perfectly in his follow-up video, but damn if he's ever going to let those hairy feminists be right. He also made exact duplicates of Thunderf00t's criticisms of Anita Sarkeesian, complete with the same overtone of "women really are weak". [55]

weak". TJ also believes that women are less funny than men, because Christopher Hitchens.[56]

TJ instead claims to support egalitarianism. He has made numerous videos claiming much of modern society is biased against men, often via tenuous-at-best examples.[57][58] TJ was a frequent commenter on the MensRights subreddit for years and was lined up to speak at A Voice for Men's 2014 conference, though it fell through at the last moment.[59]

Rape isn't fatal [ edit ]

As an example of his respect and care for his fellow humans, in his pompous and self-indulgent e-book with a self-aware title Scumbag: Musings of a Subhuman (2007), TJ writes:[60]

Rape isn't fatal. So imagine my indignation when I saw a chatroom called "Rape Survivors." Is this supposed to impress me? Someone fucked you when you didn't want to be fucked and you're amazed that you survived? Unless he used a chainsaw instead of his dick, what's the big deal? I don’t mean to be horrendously offensive and insensitive here, but everyone survives rape. The word survivor applies to people who are alive after being stabbed 73 times with an ice pick or mauled by rabid wolverines, not to a woman who gets dick when she doesn't want it. Just because you got raped, you have to rape the English language? You vindictive bitch! Also, don't you ever get tired of being the victim? How many failed relationships are you going to blame on a single violation of your personal space?

In his video "Rape, Feminism, and the Amazing Atheist", TJ attempts to explain his rationale behind writing this:[61]

This was a piece designed to motivate rape victims to not allow their victimhood to oppress them - to encourage them not to dwell on past events and move on with their lives. Why is it worded so offensively? Because when I wrote it I was a stupid twenty-two year old who had at this point only ever socialized with other people on online message boards, where this was simply how we talked. Not to mention it's supposed to be a humorous piece, in the same vein of shock humor as Bill Maher's party costume. In retrospect, I too find the piece overly callous and I would not write it today. But I did write it, and I don't apologize for it. It was how I felt at the time, and I really don't think the message of moving on from trauma is a negative one. I've been told by several rape victims that this piece actually motivated them to move on with their lives. I have yet to be told by one victim that it increased their trauma.

In the following section, TJ recalls a female acquaintance who rejected and mocked a guy for his small penis size. The anecdote culminates in TJ's hilarious punchline:[62]

I told her, "You’re lucky it wasn't me. I’d have busted your fucking nose and raped you."

Reddit meltdown [ edit ]

In February 2012, in a thread on the MensRights subreddit about a distasteful username on a feminist board, he made a "joke" about how he wanted to violently rape one of its users. When he was informed the person in question was an actual rape victim and called out by the said person for his abusive language and lack of respect for people with post-traumatic stress disorder, he complained about the very concept of trigger warnings. He posted further graphic descriptions of how he would rape her again in a deliberate attempt to make her relive her trauma.

Choice statements include "I will make you a rape victim if you don't fuck off." and "I think we should give the guy who raped you a medal. I hope you fucking drown in rape semen, you ugly, mean-spirited cow."[63][64]

Supposedly this was some sort of clever satire of... something.[65] He was taken to task by PZ Myers and others for his misogyny.[66][67][68]

TJ made the following private apology (emphasis added).[69] However, he returned to a belittling tone when asked to apologize publicly. He did this on YouTube much later.[70]

TJ: My comments to you were wrong and I regret them, not just because I’m getting shit for them but because they were genuinely out of line. I was angry and I said stupid things, thinking I was making a point. I realize now that the point I was trying to make was totally overridden by the crudeness and the cruelty with which I expressed myself. For my behavior, I apologize. I realize that you probably will not believe the sincerity of my, or will not accept it, but I apologize nonetheless. To TJ: I’d be more willing to accept your apology if you were willing to post it in a public space, on your tumblr or on your Facebook page or as a response to the video you made complaining about us. I do not, at this point, forgive you in any way, shape or form. If you are truly remorseful I would encourage you to make a public apology not only to me, but to the others that you might have hurt with your graphic descriptions of rape. Your comments were cruel, it’s true, but you have a chance to make things a little bit better by pointing out to your fanbase that what you did was unacceptable. TJ: I don’t normally let other people bully me into doing what they want. Sorry, but a private apology is the best I’m willing to do. I have already publicly stated that what I said was wrong.

Kirk has produced several videos criticizing misogynists Jefferson Bethke,[71] Jesse Lee Peterson ,[72] and Todd Akin,[73] and ran a fundraiser for The International Women's Health Coalition. This effort raised over $120K, though the wording of the fundraiser page (such as "daring to actually help women" and "bringing true feminism to woman [sic] and girls who suffer actual oppression and inequality") suggests this was at least partially motivated by spite towards feminists such as Anita Sarkeesian who focus on gender within popular culture.[74]

Abortion [ edit ]

TJ has said he's "vehemently pro-abortion", his motivation as he's expressed it seems to have nothing to do with women's rights and more with the perceived problem of overpopulation.[75]

Nutpicking victim [ edit ]

See the main article on this topic: Nutpicking

TheAmazingAtheist is perceived as the walking embodiment of an impacted tooth, both by the atheist community and by religious conservatives looking for convenient examples of famous atheists being assholes.[76][77] In addition to the blunders quoted above, he is equally tactless toward his debate opponents: other notable cases include his attacks on DonExodus2, a then-Christian who defended the theory of evolution, and Coughlan666, who said the atheists might "come around" to NightVisionPhantom while he was having a difficult time of his life, which TJ misinterpreted as an attempt to use NightVisionPhantom's vulnerability to deconvert him to atheism.[citation needed]

For a while, TJ made videos on the internet commentary site That Guy With the Glasses under the name of "Distressed Watcher." He wasn't exactly welcomed by the community with open arms, who petitioned to remove him as soon as he was announced. He caused some in-fighting over the promotion of his videos, where he publicly claimed that his videos were usually at the bottom of the new videos list if even listed at all. After his video "The Top Ten Gayest Music Videos" was rejected for publication on the site, he half-assed his content and missed a couple deadlines until he was ultimately let go.[78] The site has since erased all his content, and none of its contributors have maintained any ties with him.

E-begging and scams [ edit ]

TJ is an e-beggar,[79] and some of his e-begging campaigns have been widely deemed scams.[80][note 2]

Creationist Roadtrip: In 2008, TJ made many YouTube videos in which he asked for money for a roadtrip, during which he would meet and interview famous atheists and creationists and produce a documentary.[81] TJ took thousands of dollars in donations over several months. The trip never materialized. TJ has outright denied memory of plans for this road-trip.[82] The old version (visible through the Wayback Machine) includes now-deleted embedded videos about the roadtrip, a manifesto, donation buttons, a photoshoot, and various banners.[83]

FreeSpeechVids: In 2009, TJ proposed a website called FreeSpeechVids -- supposed to compete with YouTube, albeit with more lax restrictions. TJ ran a BlogTV session, in which he and friends asked for donations, and received thousands of dollars. In the session, people were kicked out of the room for donating but not quite donating "enough"; more problematically, one of TJ's friends threatened to shoot himself (unless they got more donations), threatened to cut himself with a knife (unless they got more donations), and actually cut himself on camera (unless they got more donations). Yes, really.[84] TJ did not know his friend was being serious (he had suicidal tendencies), and thought it was a stunt to get money. FSV did materialize, and was online for 16 months. However, it fell far short due to low bandwidth, lack of a dedicated server, and a lack of sufficient security. Upon the site's closure, TJ called all its members "fags"[85] and made no attempt to refund donation money. Both LodeRunner, a developer of the site,[86] and TJ's best friend accused TJ of misappropriating the donations.[87] TJ later stated:[88]

I don’t know how this notion began that Free Speech Vids never happened. Free Speech Vids was an active and fully operational website for more than a year. It closed down because we just couldn’t make it work. It failed because it simply wasn’t a good business model. Instead of focusing on entertaining content and a high quality website, it was focused on free expression. Unfortunately, most of the people who freely expressed themselves on it just weren’t very much fun to watch.

Not Productive: In August 2011, TJ reported he had started work on "Not Productive", another video hosting site, due to launch later that month.[89] In early 2012 TJ started a big donation drive, explaining that the idea was to showcase quality video makers that get "buried under all the YouTube crap". NP was to host its videos on Blip or YouTube and the comments on Facebook.[90] TJ set a donation goal of $20,000; in the end, it received over $17,000.[88] In January 2013, 1.5 years after the planned launch date, the site became publicly accessible for approximately 2 weeks. However, it was plagued with various glitches, was very basic in design, and all of its video makers were already popular. As of June 2013, almost 2 years past the planned launch date, the site was not up in any official capacity. The webpage now redirects to a YouTube channel,[91] which TJ claimed was the first phase of the plan all along.[92][93][94] It is extremely doubtful that TJ spent more than $17,000 on a website that was up for less than a month. However, TJ claims to have a legitimate excuse for this one.[95]

MGTOW [ edit ]

On January 10, 2016, TJ made a video where he answered several questions from his audience, including his opinion on MGTOW. While in a typical TJ fashion, using the opportunity to decry feminism, which he claimed largely "hates men", TJ condemned the MGTOW movement as "dumb", "silly", and "stupid". TJ announced that most women were okay and declared that MGTOW baselessly saw women as a threat.[96]

On this very article [ edit ]

In 2012, TJ wrote this little comment about the bias inherent in our system:[97]

[Q:] "Why is your 'RationalWiki' article so vile and slanderous towards you?" [A:] Because it used to be really nice and complimentary, so some trolls found it and trashed it. Henceforth, they’ve prevented anyone from fixing it, and because trolls tend to have twice the dedication of fans, they win all such encounters.

As you can tell from the above quote, he seems to hold the popular belief that we were "infiltrated" by SJWs at some point.[note 3]

Weird relationship with school attacks [ edit ]

After Columbine happened, TJ's school counselor interrogated him because he had worn a Marilyn Manson shirt and spoke about being a vampire,[98] that story allowing for some comedy.

In 2007, however, TJ made a warning video about the mental instability of Finnish 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen, but nobody listened, Auvinen going on to commit the Jokela school shooting and killing nine people.[99][100] Several months before the shooting, TJ had called for the authorities to investigate accounts with content on school shootings, including one used by Auvinen. A person named "Robin McVeigh" later organized a small but vocal community of online individuals who idolized mass killers (such as Auvinen) into slandering TJ, claiming he had bullied Auvinen, despite multiple attempts on TJ's part to reach out to Auvinen for emotional support.[101]

Later in 2015, the media mentioned TJ's name when they found out the perpetrator of the Trollhättan school sword attack was found to be a fan of Kirk and other similar YouTubers.[4]

See also [ edit ]

Notes [ edit ]