Is the following atheist tactic good sportsmanship or not?

[bobhikes]

"NORTH BERGEN, N.J. (1010 WINS) – An atheist group that has paid for a large billboard outside the Lincoln Tunnel reading “You KNOW it’s a Myth” says it is targeting “closet” atheists as part of its Christmas season campaign.

The large billboard featuring a silhouette of a traditional manger scene is located on the New Jersey side of the tunnel and sponsored by a group called American Atheists.

​

The billboard is causing some controversy among those in the Garden State.

“I don’t think it’s any good for the kids. I’ve got a 7-year-old daughter — she believes in Christmas,” one woman told 1010 WINS’ Terry Sheridan."
source


Video News report

​

Don't care much about the sportsmanship, but it is bad economics.

If it wasn't for Christmas retailers would be far fewer, job's would be lost and we would get one less holiday.

I will say I live 20 minutes from the sign and I only found out about it here in RF. I don't listen to 1010 am. Just Q104.3 FM radio. Looking online most NJ coverage is ho hum. Nobody here really cares. We do get upset when its to sexy though. They need a billboard showing atheists get better sex.

 

[Midnight Pete]

Likewise for the christian billboards?

No, some of them are actually quite tasteful and not in-your-face at all. But then again some Christian billboards are as bad as this atheist one. This billboard war is eventually going to cause traffic accidents. A billboard arms race.

 

[PolyHedral]

No, some of them are actually quite tasteful and not in-your-face at all. But then again some Christian billboards are as bad as this atheist one. This billboard war is eventually going to cause traffic accidents. A billboard arms race.

Now I want to buy a billboard that says "Keep your eyes on the road!"

 

[Magic Man]

I agree for the most part, particularly with the "ineffective" thing. Maybe I'm just a jaded Los Angeles commuter but I haven't paid attention to a billboard in a long time. They seem like such a quaint way to advertise, kind of like putting your crappy band on MySpace. Does anyone pay attention to either one anymore?

I guess I'm wrong since I just read that revenue generated by billboard ads declined last year but are still doing better than radio and TV ads, while internet ads are growing steadily.

Well, there's that, but I mainly meant that a different billboard could be more effective. I like the signs/billboards or whatever they were that said stuff like "_ million Americans are good without God. You can be, too.". I think that's much more effective for their purposes than this billboard.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Now I want to buy a billboard that says "Keep your eyes on the road!"

You can put it up next to this sign:

 

[Nepenthe]

I agree that the billboard in the OP is more puerile than persuasive but it's pretty harmless and inoffensive. I do look forward to the day when (or if) local real estate mogul Sonny Astani gets his wish to put up animated LED billboards in L.A.- can you imagine how much fun it would be to see a building-sized scene of the crucifixion as you drove by!

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I'm not sure about the billboard, but I think it's poor sportsmanship when atheists score a touchdown and gyrate too much in celebration. They should definitely get some type of penalty for that.

 

[Falvlun]

In general, I think atheists should just leave Christmas alone. Whenever they try to put up something clever, or block some tradition, it just backfires.

Put up pro-atheist billboards by all means. Just leave Christmas out of it.

 

[Midnight Pete]

I agree that the billboard in the OP is more puerile than persuasive but it's pretty harmless and inoffensive. I do look forward to the day when (or if) local real estate mogul Sonny Astani gets his wish to put up animated LED billboards in L.A.- can you imagine how much fun it would be to see a building-sized scene of the crucifixion as you drove by!

A building-sized scene of the crucifxion, some film-clip on a endless loop. At first, without audio. Then, with audio. Eventually these things would become 3D abominations. Eventually there would be a special billboard district, since car traffic would be out of the question. And after that, entire cities would be built just for the billboards, with no humans in them .......

 

[dogsgod]

The more posts I read the more I like the ad. As it turns out it is effective, and not only that, it's a nice picture of a myth.

 

[waitasec]

The more posts I read the more I like the ad. As it turns out it is effective, and not only that, it's a nice picture of a myth.

:biglaugh:
frubals to you

 

[waitasec]

i just saw the news footage
"christmas is about love and hope and promise....they'll have their fifteen minutes of fame but what is that compared to 2000 yrs of love and hope and promise"

ahhh, i guess these people either forgot history or are just ignoring facts of history

 

[Troublemane]

I think it is fair, I mean with freedom of speech and all. As long as atheists dont complain about people expressing their faith freely, I would think any atheist should be able to express their complete lack of faith just as freely.

 

[e2ekiel]

"NORTH BERGEN, N.J. (1010 WINS) – An atheist group that has paid for a large billboard outside the Lincoln Tunnel reading “You KNOW it’s a Myth” says it is targeting “closet” atheists as part of its Christmas season campaign.

The large billboard featuring a silhouette of a traditional manger scene is located on the New Jersey side of the tunnel and sponsored by a group called American Atheists.

​

The billboard is causing some controversy among those in the Garden State.

“I don’t think it’s any good for the kids. I’ve got a 7-year-old daughter — she believes in Christmas,” one woman told 1010 WINS’ Terry Sheridan."
​

Thank God we (USA and Australia) developed from a Christian heritage and because of this free-thinking and expressing one's opinion is part of our cultural mindset.

I'm yet to see an athiest with enough courage to post up a billboard depicting Mohammed, with words emblazoned below it "Don't have a cow...it's just a profile pic"

 

[Revoltingest]

Thank God we (USA and Australia) developed from a Christian heritage and because of this free-thinking and expressing one's opinion is part of our cultural mindset.

I'm yet to see an athiest with enough courage to post up a billboard depicting Mohammed, with words emblazoned below it "Don't have a cow...it's just a profile pic"

Courage?
It takes money...why waste it on the Avis of religions in America?
For that matter, why waste it at all?
The billboard seems useless & provocative.

 

[no-body]

Thank God we (USA and Australia) developed from a Christian heritage and because of this free-thinking and expressing one's opinion is part of our cultural mindset.

Oh please. If by "developed from Christian heritage" you mean the founding fathers looked at England and realized what a bunch of fanatical religious nuts does to government. Americas freedom comes from it being secular no matter how much you try to make that into a lie.

I'm yet to see an athiest with enough courage to post up a billboard depicting Mohammed, with words emblazoned below it "Don't have a cow...it's just a profile pic"

You could say the same thing about Christians a couple of centuries ago, you've just evolved a little more than Islam which isn't saying much.

 

[Matthew78]

True, but the other "team's" poor sportsmanship does not excuse one's own.

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not saying it shouldn't be allowed. But it puts me in mind of a quote from MythBusters: "It would be all too easy for [Jamie's team] to abandon the high road and cheat themselves.... So, that's exactly what they do."


Well, they've had more practice.

I agree! It's often tempting to give the "other side" a taste of their own medicine and see how they like feeling stigmatized but I believe that Humanists of all stripes should take the higher ground. It bothers me that billboards like that one about "lunatic atheists and their lawyers" exist because that minister is clearly looking for a fight and he's decided to take off his gloves and fight dirty. But I would not wrestle in the mud with such a person; I have better things to do with my time.

I believe in positive and friendly advertisements.

 

[Matthew78]

What's wrong with fighting fire with fire?

Fighting fire with fire may be good if it's the last resort but it's often the case that fighting fire with fire will only make a bigger fire.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Thank God we (USA and Australia) developed from a Christian heritage and because of this free-thinking and expressing one's opinion is part of our cultural mindset.

:sarcastic That Christian heritage was a lot less free-thinking before the secular Enlightenment.

I'm yet to see an athiest with enough courage to post up a billboard depicting Mohammed, with words emblazoned below it "Don't have a cow...it's just a profile pic"

Are you familiar with "Everyone Draw Muhammad Day"?

 

[Riverwolf]

Are you familiar with "Everyone Draw Muhammad Day"?

Ah, yes, the event that essentially played right into the terrorists' propaganda.