It was kind of inspired by the gay movement as an attempt to find a word for atheism that was more socially acceptable ie without all the negative baggage, and embracing/popularising it.
I think it’s an awful name, exactly on the grounds of having huge negative baggage. For me, at least, it has strong associations of smug, superior, condescending, and other such qualities.
Yep—correlating it with “being intelligent” seems to be a bit of a PR disaster… which the brights have tried to counter by calling non-brights “supers” .
Not sure if that’s worked at all… I keep occasional tabs on what’s happening in that community but don’t really consider myself an active member. I think the heart is in the right place—especially in the US where religiosity is at a much more fervent level. but not sure it’s really proven effective yet… but then I might be able to say similar things about this community :)
I’ve never been particularly fond of it, it always struck me as too self aggrandizing. It particularly upset me when my sister started identifying me as a Bright to other people without my permission.
I have, and even started to mention it, but figured that I was going too far afield. I think the problem there is that the established meaning of “Bright” as intelligent, overshadows the secondary meaning that is sought. I think “light” as a metaphor is promising, but the word “Bright” in particular, is inapt.
Have you heard of The Brights movement ?
It was kind of inspired by the gay movement as an attempt to find a word for atheism that was more socially acceptable ie without all the negative baggage, and embracing/popularising it.
I have heard of it.
I think it’s an awful name, exactly on the grounds of having huge negative baggage. For me, at least, it has strong associations of smug, superior, condescending, and other such qualities.
Yep—correlating it with “being intelligent” seems to be a bit of a PR disaster… which the brights have tried to counter by calling non-brights “supers” .
Not sure if that’s worked at all… I keep occasional tabs on what’s happening in that community but don’t really consider myself an active member. I think the heart is in the right place—especially in the US where religiosity is at a much more fervent level. but not sure it’s really proven effective yet… but then I might be able to say similar things about this community :)
I’ve never been particularly fond of it, it always struck me as too self aggrandizing. It particularly upset me when my sister started identifying me as a Bright to other people without my permission.
I proposed a new logo for the Brights in 2007 :-)
The images don’t seem to work there?
When I open the image in a separate window, I get a message that I don’t have permission to access it.
It took me looking at Brights on Wikipedia then a moment’s imagination to work out what he would have come up with.
I have, and even started to mention it, but figured that I was going too far afield. I think the problem there is that the established meaning of “Bright” as intelligent, overshadows the secondary meaning that is sought. I think “light” as a metaphor is promising, but the word “Bright” in particular, is inapt.