…and this is a 
Another edition of “As others see us”
Category: Personal
Posted on: April 21, 2007 9:56 AM, by PZ Myers
To my surprise, I opened this week's edition of the university newspaper, and there was an article about me (it's near the end, on page 18). It's complimentary, if you think words like "scathing" and "godless" are high compliments, as I do, and it's also good to see what some of the students think. However! Yes, I say, However!
Those who know the mild-mannered Myers must surely wonder where the fire comes from in his blog. He is perhaps best summarized as a writer who demands an empiricist understanding of truth, disdains misrepresentation of his views, and insists on a fair shake for atheists. There is also an element of thrill to his writing, the thrill of really nailing some idiot.
Aaaaigh. "Mild-mannered?" I also did a phone interview yesterday with Jason Rennie for his podcast (it'll air in about a month), and he said afterwards that I sound much different one-on-one than I do on the web. I have got to do something about this horrible image problem — it's the Wizard of Oz effect. On the web, I'm this giant disembodied head with a stentorian voice, with flames erupting everywhere … and then these people keep insisting on pulling back the curtain and exposing the ordinary, dithering old man with soft-voiced professorial airs.
<sigh>
We are who we are, I guess. It's just that I wanna be a pirate when I grow up, and my career track seems to be leading me towards the kindly ol' granpa job, instead.
Comments
Wait--you mean you aren't a giant, diembodied head wreathed in flame?
Damn.
How about Bob Park? Is HE a giant disembodied head wreathed in flame?
It's so hard to find good idols these days.
Can I at least assume you have ichor-dripping squid tentacles?
Hey, maybe all who look upon you go instantly mad, and that's why they think you're just a mild-manner tweed jockey.
Steve "What a great thing rationalization is" James
Posted by: longstreet | April 21, 2007 10:09 AM
pay no attention to the little man behind the curtain.
Posted by: roger | April 21, 2007 10:12 AM
Did you know about Pyratecon in New Orleans this weekend?
http://pyratecon.com/
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/21/pirate.convention.ap/index.html
Posted by: Jeb, FCD | April 21, 2007 10:18 AM
I am sure that your "Mild-mannered" nature is just part of your secret identity. It to hide your superhero status.
Posted by: Tony P | April 21, 2007 10:22 AM
I had a similar reaction to hearing Richard Dawkins on Fresh Air. He was such a mild-mannered, soft-spoken person. How on earth did he get painted as such a raving ideologue?
Posted by: adamsj | April 21, 2007 10:28 AM
Shrug. Nearly all of us are mild-mannered in our interactions with others in person. Why? Perhaps it's because those who tend to be jerks aren't as likely to pass on their genes. Not that we can't be more like pirates if opportunity beckons, but that's not our default setting as a social animal.
Posted by: David Wilford | April 21, 2007 10:31 AM
Huh, and I always pictured you as Mr. Peabody. Go figure. ;-)
Posted by: TWood | April 21, 2007 10:48 AM
Well-phrased by Eagan Heath.
That pretty much sums up 49 % of my motivation to come here. The other 51% is the DevBio & EvoDevo.
Posted by: amph | April 21, 2007 10:50 AM
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN.
Posted by: quork | April 21, 2007 10:50 AM
This is pretty damned disappointing. First it was the melting witch and now it's the not-really-a-giant-flaming-head. Damn. We flying monkeys may need to find other employment.
Is Dawkins hiring?
Posted by: Zeno | April 21, 2007 11:06 AM
Eagan writes:
"This week's entries mock prominent moron Dinesh D'Souza."
So much for journalistic neutrality. Way to opine, Eagan!
Posted by: CalGeorge | April 21, 2007 11:07 AM
Yeah, right. I tried to interview some flying monkeys for a lackey job, and what did I get? A lemur with diarrhea and a flying squirrel with delusions of grandeur. You don't fool me, Zeno.
Posted by: PZ Myers | April 21, 2007 11:13 AM
You are a modern-day pirate. (That's a good thing, I think)
Posted by: Scholar | April 21, 2007 11:20 AM
Have you seen the video of firefly squid that's up on the BBC News site? Amazing.
Posted by: iain | April 21, 2007 11:42 AM
Speak softly and carry a big cutlass, I always say.
Posted by: K. Signal Eingang | April 21, 2007 11:48 AM
Concerning Professor Myers' response to Mike Adams, Heath wrote:
No, no, no...! He writes responses dripping with insults, but that's not the same as ad hominems. He doesn't dismiss their arguments by calling them idiots, he rips apart their arguments and shows that they're idiots.
Posted by: Skemono | April 21, 2007 11:52 AM
So is Moran also a pussycat in the flesh?
Posted by: Ian H Spedding | April 21, 2007 11:58 AM
I believe biology exists: not only because I see PZ Myers, but because by him I see everything else. Mild-mannered as he may be :)
Posted by: John Danley | April 21, 2007 12:09 PM
I have to battle being perceived as "goth-y" and dark and brooding... for some reason. I'm actually quite happy and upbeat so I don't know where they get it from.
Maybe it's my fascination with skeletons?
Posted by: Daniel | April 21, 2007 12:14 PM
Well PZ, I see that you were out getting a little pyrate practice, but how did you manage to sneak off to Romania without anyone noticing...
Posted by: justawriter | April 21, 2007 12:21 PM
PZ needs to get together with Bob Carroll of Skeptic's Dictionary fame -- articles on him strike the same note. Bearded, mild-mannered, soft-spoken college professor in person; fire-breathing, take-no-prisoners defender of scientific rationality in print.
Perhaps the two of you can form a club and hold meetings at the Randi convention every year. Penn Gillette can give all you gentle academics some tips on "how to come across like a real skeptic."
Posted by: Sastra | April 21, 2007 1:17 PM
justawriter, if that guy grew a beard, he'd look exactly like me. Now I know where to go to get a body double.
Posted by: PZ Myers | April 21, 2007 1:30 PM
Like a tractor pull with Bertrand Russell.
Posted by: John Danley | April 21, 2007 2:55 PM
Virginia Tech being used and abused by the faithheads. : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9uNtvFSxYM
No comments, no video responses!!!
A few of us co-operated online to make the following response.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_z9WgV5jkQ
If you think it is a good one,
please help to promote it in whatever other fora you frequent.
We should not have to sit idly by, while this juvenile drivel is spouted as truth.
Posted by: Brian Coughlan | April 21, 2007 3:25 PM
PZ, I've done this on your blog a few times, please if you mind do let me know.
Posted by: Brian Coughlan | April 21, 2007 3:26 PM
About the pirate/kindly grandpa thing: no, see, there you're assuming that the mild-mannered guy that journalists see is the real you while the giant flaming head isn't; but it could just as well be the opposite; in fact I would say the opposite is more likely.
Posted by: Ophelia Benson | April 21, 2007 3:34 PM
Yea, you really can't pull off true malevolence in your current form. So until you schedule a horrific lab "accident" that gives you a diabolical look and supernatural powers, I'd recommend using the right accouterments.
I'd suggest an iron mask and emerald green tunic with matching cape and hood. Oh, and a voice changer. Something that booms with diabolical intent.
Best of all, you can simply remove your disguise when you wish to prevent being mobbed by the paparazzi. That's also good for keeping price quotes low when you take your Squid Mobile in to the auto mechanic.
Posted by: Calladus | April 21, 2007 3:36 PM
Poor PZ! He can wield a big cutlass, and swoon for a cuttlefish lass, but at the end of the day he appears more cuddly than cuttly.
It's not entirely his fault, you know. A few of my acquaintances in the pews have approached me with something like outrage over the 'New Atheism'. Whenever they attempt to describe folk like you as imps, folk like me demur and say that you are merely imp-ious.
I think I've done enough damage for today...:)
Posted by: Scott Hatfield, OM | April 21, 2007 3:59 PM
OK, but what did you have for lunch?
Grilled cheese?
Posted by: CCP | April 21, 2007 4:31 PM
Would you rather get comments like this on your blog:
I do. And then I get to explain why I think they're clueless suckers.
Posted by: Norman Doering | April 21, 2007 5:10 PM
Prof. Myers: You wanna badass rep, you gotta walk the walk.
1) YOU DON'T SHOUT ENOUGH!
2) D. Imus has spare time now; ask him for oratorial tutorials.
3) Emulate The Rude Pundit at every opportunity.
4) Black leather. Lots of black leather.
5) Beating up insufficiently obsequious interviewers is not optional.
6) BANG POINTS!!!
7) File your teeth.
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | April 21, 2007 10:54 PM
Perhaps you should set your sights on velvet-voiced assassin instead, PZ?
Nice line in sinister, that.
Posted by: tigtog | April 22, 2007 3:42 AM
It's a good cover. They never suspect the mild-mannered quiet ones, do they?
Posted by: Carlie | April 22, 2007 2:22 PM
Well, if you want to lean how to project complete evil in relatively normal clothes and speaking quietly, I'd suggest watching Viggo Mortensen's turn as Lucifer in "The Prophecy".
Best movie line by Lucifer yet: "God is love. I don't love you."
Posted by: Graculus | April 23, 2007 12:20 AM
Have you seen the video of firefly squid that's up on the BBC News site? Amazing.
Please. Firefly squid are not amazing. They are "shiny".
Posted by: ajay | April 23, 2007 9:32 AM
I thought the "giant disembodied head" category on this end of the blogosphere was taken.
Oh, I'm getting mixed up by that old "either/or" versus "both/and" thing. Sorry.
Posted by: jackd | April 23, 2007 11:12 AM
Please. Firefly squid are not amazing. They are "shiny".
Oh, you have no idea how much I needed that laugh this morning!
Posted by: rrt | April 23, 2007 11:14 AM
at the end of the day he appears more cuddly than cuttly.
Too funny! I imagined PZ as a bearded baby squid trying to look fierce.
Posted by: Inky | April 23, 2007 6:01 PM
This:
7) File your teeth.
is a common misconception. Most people with pointy teeth (as a means of looking fierce, etc.) get their teeth that way with percussion, not filing.
It's usually done at the same time as circumcision. I suppose one distracts you from the other.
Posted by: Greg Laden | April 24, 2007 12:37 PM
"Those who know the milde-mannered Myers must surely wonder where the fire comes from ..."
The fiercest dragons have the deepest dens.
Posted by: Greg Laden | April 24, 2007 1:08 PM