I got this email from Joel who has been listening for a while and felt “inspired” by some of my “be a dick” rants.

Jake,

I’ve been a loyal listener for a few months now and I’m proud to say I seized a perfect opportunity to “be a dick” today. As I was boarding my subway, headed home from an afternoon in Manhattan, I saw three guys in suits carrying Bibles and pictures of a crucified Jesus. I thought, “here we go.” As soon as the doors shut, the tallest guy started talking and I interrupted him, shouting above him to take his religion away from a public space so we didn’t have to listen to them. This was met with approving glances from other commuters. One of the guys launched into the “the human eye is so complex that it must have been made by God” spiel, which I also rebutted, informing them they knew nothing about evolution. One of them jeered and said “we didn’t come from any monkeys,” to which I responded, “evolution doesn’t say we come from from monkeys, which further proves you don’t know the first thing about it.” These types of exchanges continued. I trotted out all sorts of evil from the Old Testament and the guy to whom I was directly talking said “Oh, that’s the Old Testament, you’re supposed to pay attention to the New Testament. That I forced him to utter that phrase aloud and admit that their brand of christianity picked and chose what to espouse was one of my most satisfying moments of the interaction. Yes, I was loud, yes I peppered my speech with the occasional expletive and even said something about being an intelligent gay atheist. But it was oh so satisfying. As soon as they got off at their stop, more than one person thanked me and said “Thanks, you said what all of us were thinking.” The subway car then returned to peace and quiet and I went back to reading my book.

Thinking about your “be a dick” rants helped inspire me to say something, and once that cork had popped there was no stopping it! Thanks again for the show, the interviews, etc. I’ve enjoyed the free bonus shows this month. it might be time for me to finally subscribe!

Do I love the fact people out there are kicking ass because of something I said? Does a bear shit in the woods?