Pimpin' Dawkins: the cast

PZ Myers has posted the funniest thing I can remember seeing since about, forever. This says as much about me as the quality of the video, but see what you think:

(Update: Youtube appear to have disabled remote linking to this video. You can watch it here.)

Somewhat embarrassingly, I recognise every single member of Dawkins' posse. In turn:


Evolutionary biologist Richard "Dick to the doc to the PHD" Dawkins himself. Outspoken atheist and author of The God Delusion amongst many other excellent books.

Dawkins is continuously active. Two of his most recent projects are the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason and The Out Campaign.

Apart from all that, what I want to know is: where can I get one of those hats?

Next we have the original gangsta Charles Darwin - but you got that one, right? I always knew those evil Darwinists were in it for the money - finally, it's been made explicit.

Of course, Darwin has been in the news a lot recently with Ben Stein's movie "Expelled", which makes the bizarre and utterly incorrect claim that Darwinism caused Eugenics and the Nazi killings. PZ Myers has a characteristically stylish smackdown of this sophistry.


Eugenie Scott is executive director of the American National Centre for Science Education. The Centre lead the fight for science in classrooms and have been absolutely key in all victories from the creation science cases in the eighties through to Kitzmiller vs. Dover Intelligent Design trials, where Judge Jones III smacked down ID in every conceivable way.

Eugenie is a truly brilliant and passionate person. I encourage you to check out her presentation at the Atheist Alliance International 2007 conference - it's informative and also really funny.

Pimp daddy Daniel Dennett is a philosopher at Tufts University. His current area of interest seems to philosophy of the mind - his speech at AAI07 was fascinating. His book Breaking The Spell was the first of the so-called "new atheist" movement, and is the only one I haven't yet read myself.

The rest of the posse, from left, are Sam Harris, the author The End Of Faith, PZ Myers of Pharyngula fame and journalist and author Christopher Hitchens.


These guys all write brilliant stuff, though I disagree with all of them on different things. I have to big-note Hitchens' The Missionary Position, however, as an excellent and enlightening read. Everything you knew about Mother Teresa is wrong!

A last point is the reference to "Expelled", the ridiculous "documentary" made by Ben Stein.


I'll leave you to Google that one if you're curious, suffice to say that Richard Dawkins' review is rather to my taste.