On September 13, Ophelia Benson from Butterflies and Wheels included a post entitled “What trinioler said” and introduced what trinioler said by describing trinioler’s comment as “[a] powerful (and depressing) comment by trinioler on PZ’s excellent response to Ron Lindsay’s post.”
Who trinioler is, and why he or she deserves even 15 minutes of fame is not clear. He or she prefers to use a pseudonym while criticizing “a local CFI [in Canada] branch.” Moreover, trinioler’s comment is not “powerful,” but it is “depressing.”
What is powerful is Zena Ryder’s message to Ophelia Benson in response to trinioler’s comment. Ophelia Benson has posted Ryder’s message with the name of the CFI branch omitted: “Zena Ryder of CFI-[omitted for now] responds:”
I am one of the administrators of the [name omitted for now] branch of the Centre for Inquiry, based in [ditto], Canada. In response to trinioler’s comments about our branch, I would like to explain what has been going on over the last few months.
What follows is an eloquent, honest and clearly detailed description of what Ryder’s CFI branch and its volunteers do for and in the community and an explanation of how the branch handles controversy and inappropriate comments. Please read Zena Ryder’s whole message; it ends as powerfully as it begins:
CFI-[ditto is currently in the process of arranging a presentation by Desiree Schell, who will be talking with our group later this month about what the atheist movement can learn from the social justice movement. I sincerely hope that trinioler will join us. The more people with energy and enthusiasm working to get things done, the better.
Thank you, Zena for writing this response, and thank you, Ophelia for posting it.