VenomFangX
| Someone is wrong on |
| Log in: |
VenomFangX (often shortened to VFX or Venom) is a creationist Internet vlogger who makes YouTube videos mostly about religion, God, Christianity and creationism, particularly young Earth creationism. To this date, he holds the highest subscribers amongst Christian channels (at one point even more than the Vatican YouTube channel), however a very large portion of those subscribers are critics or people who highly disagree with him and only tune in for the lulz. VenomFangX is quite possibly YouTube's greatest "leaving and never coming back" champion, having closed and reopened his channel numerous times. His real name is Shawn Karon[1] and he hails from the land of Canada. He used to have a Wikipedia page, but it's been deleted three times, in 2007, 2009, and 2010.[2]
[edit] An internet troll rambling from his Mom and Dad's McMansion basement
VenomFangX came to (limited) cyber attention by posting pro-creation rants on YouTube. In his videos he made a number of outlandish claims about science and religion: dismissing scientists who ignored the Bible; arguing that he could prove the historical reality of biblical events (claiming, for instance that the Grand Canyon could have been formed in five minutes during the Global Flood); and calling the theory of evolution "evil". He claimed that Earth is the only source in the whole universe that contains water, simply unaware of the vast scientific discoveries of water on other planets and moons. As a result, he was given the nickname PCS (Posterboy for Creationist Stupidity) by his critics.
VenomFangX was often smacked down by atheists and theists alike, as well as his own parents and employers, too. Among the theists who eventually turned against VenomFangX was Jezuzfreek777 (at that moment, there was little hope for VFX), stonedcommander, UNFFWildcard, and Togetherforpeace. Venom often deletes his "very important" videos shortly after they are uploaded because he does not want to face criticism of the bizarre nature of his videos. Many of these deleted videos have been reposted and mirrored by his critics, allowing them to include scenes from this material for their rebuttal videos against VFX. He will often disable voting on his videos altogether; other times he disables the ratings right after he gets one or two quick high ratings (likely done by himself), giving the false impression his videos are well-liked. He also disables or heavily moderates the comments on his videos.
VenomFangX also has a arsenal of sock accounts.[3] One of Venom's sock accounts, IslamIsaCancer (channel), was used in an attempted blackmail of YouTube user dprjones.[4] Shortly after being busted, Venom deleted all his videos on his sock accounts, only later to claim that since he had removed the material therefore no one else had the right to post it or use it. However, under fair use, his critics could use his material for satire and criticism.
[edit] First departure and return
Shortly after positing creationist videos on YouTube, VenomFangX was met with numerous and excellent critics, most notably from the user Thunderf00t, who included VenomFangX in his popular series "Why Do People Laugh At Creationists" - a series of YouTube videos focusing on exposing and thoroughly refuting creationist claims. The criticisms against VenomFangX were very popular, and they drew in more viewers just to see creationists getting spanked. In July 2008, VenomFangX deleted most of his videos and announced he was shutting down his "ministry" because he claimed he was receiving death threats to him and his family. In a video posted July 2008 titled "VenomFangX Leaves the Internets for the First Time" he claimed to have contacted the "authorities and police." His reasons for why he was receiving death threats were from people "who hate God" and VenomFangX pointed the finger at two individuals he held responsible: theAmazingAtheist and Thunderf00t. He did not, however, close his channel. He continued to log in, rate, and favorite videos. In a few weeks, all was forgiven or forgotten, and then he returned to making videos again with no mention of the outcome of the alleged death threats. Many users agree that he never received any death threats; VenomFangX was only appealing to his viewers' emotions as a plea for sympathy and had no intention of leaving YouTube or shutting down his channel. The most popular explanation for VenomFangX's behavior was that he could not cope with the numerous videos that completely refuted his videos and material, and used the alleged death threats as an excuse to delete his refuted videos rather than simply and honestly admitting he was wrong. This act of VenomFangX of leaving and returning to YouTube fueled the imagination of "Christian persecution" and his supporters and well-wishers bought the whole scam.
[edit] Asking for a camera
Despite being a 22 year old adult while living in a fascinating mansion, owning a Wii, a huge HD TV, stereo, laptop, and more, on September 26, 2008, VenomFangX made a video painting himself as a starving student relying on the financial blessings of strangers. VenomFangX reached out through YouTube to his supporters and asked for one of them to purchase a camera to further help his ministry. He got what he wanted three days later when some anonymous supporter bought him a new $800 camera. Venom was perfectly capable of getting a job and, based on his luxurious environment, had no need to ask for money from strangers. What he did was use another person's faith as leverage to do as he asked to help improve his "ministry" - which did not exist. He was righteously criticized for this act, but it made little difference. This act sprouted a new agenda for VenomFangX to start a charity that seemed attractive to the faithful, but in reality it was a charity fraud constructed specifically for personal gain.
[edit] Batman and the Joker
In one video, VenomFangX dressed in a full Batman outfit. The video was directed towards bashing Islam. He would be playing as Allah dressed like Batman. Throughout the video, while posing as Batman/Allah, he gave YouTube its best tour of his mansion. VenomFangX tried to reveal Allah as miserable and idiotic, that his "creation" was corrupt, and in response would create Islam and the Qur'an. VenomFangX displayed Mohammad as a play-doh doll, and made Mohammad admit that he was a thief, rapist, liar, pedophile, illiterate and murderer. VenomFangX further portrayed Allah as not trustworthy and stated that all non-believers would be burned and killed, and finally nearing the last portion of the video, VenomFangX/Allah declared himself as Satan.
During VenomFangX's first DMCA crusade, he DMCAed YouTube user Thunderf00t. VenomFangX denied that he had filed the DMCAs against Thunderf00t, blaming it on an unnamed friend of his. A theist named TogetherForPeace (TFP) revealed private messages between him and VenomFangX that revealed that Venom did indeed file the DMCAs and lied that he was not responsible. VenomFangX made a response to TogetherForPeace, saying he was sorry that TFP "felt the need to disclose a private conversation that we had when I asked you not to" because it would reveal VenomFangX as a bald-faced liar "and I don't know if you are trying to be a back-stabbing slime ball, but if I had an award for 'back-stabbing slime ball of the month' you might actually qualify for it."[5] To diverge attention away from himself, Venom decided to make a video in September 2008 titled "Hear Me Out First, and Then Comment" and declared Thunderf00t as "dangerous" and accused Thunderf00t of wanting to cause him and his family harm. On one small video clip, VenomFangX accused Thunderf00t of calling him "a tool of Satan" and the "anti-Christ." To this day, VFX still denies that he filed the DMCA against Thunderf00t and claims it was done by TogetherForPeace (making TFP a liar).[6]
When Thunderf00t did not want to inflame this childish act to become a legal war, he decided to give VenomFangX an ultimatum: 1) face legal action 2) be reported to YouTube for DMCA abuse or 3) close his account and exile himself for a full year. VenomFangX's response to this was completely unrepresented and can be safely called a psychotic break. In a video posted on September 15, 2008 VenomFangX decided to do a Heath Ledger Joker impression by painting his face and doing a surprisingly accurate performance of the Joker. After viewing the ultimatum, VenomFangX accused Thunderf00t of blackmail. Actually, the definition of blackmail is someone who threatens to publicly reveal information about someone else unless certain demands are met, and Thunderf00t did none of this. On October 7, 2008 VenomFangX posted his "apology video" to Thunderf00t and all the Internet and admitted that he abused the DMCA laws. However, the only thing he was truly sorry about was being made to publicly admit his own dishonesty. In the apology video, VenomFangX clearly stated that he now understood the copyright laws and knew that filing a malicious false DMCA is a crime, and thus could not claim ignorance of the law in the future.
[edit] Venom's love
On February 3, 2009, VenomFangX posted a video entitled "Love" and openly whined about people on YouTube who hate him. He stated that atheists hate him because they do not have the capacity to love because they do not believe in the Christian God. VenomFangX claimed the hate he was getting was undeserved and said that he would never ever say such insults of any type to anybody. He openly said "I love you" to the atheist community, and stated that he would never hear that response back from any atheists. VenomFangX apologized for his previous bad behavior to the point of this new video, and said he hoped that he could become friends with the atheist community, but then he went on to say,
"...but we will never hear that from the other side because they do not uphold Christian values. Christian values. Which are from God himself, and that's how you know they are ungodly because our message of love... they do not have any love in them. They have no love in them, so all the science and whatever gibberish you want to spout at me, you do not have any love in you. You have no love in you, so it's all worthless."
The reason why this video is important is because it reveals several things about VenomFangX. First of all, while he claims to know what love is (in the truest sense of the word since it comes from the perfect infallible God), he repeatedly demonstrates that he has none himself - and yet accuses millions of strangers of being completely absent of love. Of course atheists and other non-Christians contain and express love in their daily lives, so Venom's remarks are not only baseless and demonstrably wrong, but also hurtful and shameful. It also demonstrates, not just VFX's ignorance of the meaning of love, but also his hypocrisy. While claiming to never insult any other person, he repeatedly has done just that in numerous videos (including this one).
Another important note, this video displays how easy it is for VenomFangX to dismiss empirical evidence, testable data, and logical arguments as "worthless." Only to the proud willful ignorant could such things like an observable and testable reality be considered "worthless." If VenomFangX respected the words of Christians over anyone else, then why reject the words and evidence of theistic evolutionists? Would VenomFangX trust the words of Fred Phelps over Gandhi simply because Phelps is a Christian?
Finally, what are Christian values? If VenomFangX is the reflection of such values, then based on VFXs actions Christian values are not worth much. VenomFangX has a track record of lying, stealing, and breaking the law by committing acts of slander and libel. Perhaps the laws of society mean nothing to highly religious individuals like VenomFangX, but how about to his own family? It has been demonstrated and proven that VenomFangX has deliberately lied to his own family, and (according to VFX) endangered the safety of his own parents numerous times. If Christian values are rooted in love, then does a Christian display love when they strip minorities of their basic human rights? And VenomFangX claims these values come directly from God?
There were several attempts by the atheist community to make friends with the theist community, and that includes VenomFangX. While several atheists and theists attempt to try to bond in friendship, some succeed and some fail. However, all attempts with VenomFangX seemed to immediately fail. As demonstrated in the below section with Laci Green, when an atheist handed VenomFangX an olive branch to engage in civil discussion (and possibly restore VFX's reputation), he took the branch and disintegrated it and told Laci she was bound for Hell. When another famous atheist YouTube user QDragon1337 (who is handicapped) offered to debate VenomFangX, VFX declined the offer because he did not want to humiliate QDragon1337 while noting "you've suffered enough" (referring to QDragon's current condition). What an immature and hateful thing to say. The statement that the atheist community on YouTube despises VenomFangX simply because he believed in God is far from true; instead they despised him for being a lying, narcissistic, hateful, willfully ignorant lawbreaker. When VenomFangX says that only he is the one who is full of love, the only person he is fooling is himself.
[edit] Expelled: No abuse of company resources and proselytizing allowed
VenomFangX posted a video (now removed, but mirrored elsewhere) on April 1, 2009 in which he described losing his third job, and sought work as an evangelist.[7] He described how he'd been working in a video store, and one day found himself enjoying Ben Stein's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Christians are of course persecuted, and VenomFangX is no exception, since he claims to have been fired for watching a video in which God is mentioned and for distributing his Kent Hovind DVDs to customers. He also went on to describe his employer as having some DVD burners, with which VenomFangX by his own estimate produced hundreds of DVDs.
VenomFangX complained that employers do not allow employees to spread the word of God, describing his video store antics as being the third job he'd lost for related reasons. The boy felt obliged to witness to the store's customers in order to save their souls, but perhaps his employers were concerned by his use of company time and resources to harass customers.
[edit] Charity fraud
During his time on YouTube, before allegedly being shut down by Muslim threats to him and his parents (because giving in to terrorism is always the answer), he ran a charity and asked for donations totaling $500 (possibly Canuck bucks?) per month. Donations above the goal of $500 were supposed to be donated to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. However, there were many suspicious circumstances surrounding his charitable appeals. First off, it is illegal under Canadian law to collect funds for charity without registering with the government. Moreover, he was quoted as saying that some of the money was to go to his car payments, tuition, and continuation of his "ministries".[8] Eventually, he stopped listing the amount of money donated, and said that no matter how much money a person donated, each donation was counted as one dollar (which should be a red flag right there).
In his original plan, a donation of $1000 would have met his overall target, resulting in $500 going to Sick Kids Hospital. Under the new plan, a donation of $1000 would only count as $1 towards his monthly goal; thus 500 donations of $1000 would result in VenomFangX pocketing $500,000 while contributing a grand total of $0 to charity. He claimed to have made this change in response to requests from his fans, but there is little evidence to suggest that his donors consented to this. PayPal closed his original account, presumably for a terms of use violation. According to the YouTube user lordhathor, VenomFangX went on to create additional PayPal accounts in order to continue soliciting donations in contravention of PayPal's terms of use, but PayPal subsequently closed these accounts.[9]
VenomFangX set up a PayPal account as a site for people to send him donations. However, VenomFangX encountered difficulties with Paypal, YouTube, and his parents. His Paypal account was shut down.[10] His YouTube account was closed. His parents then shut down his website and posted an apology which read, in part: "This site has been taken offline by the parents of VenomFangX, they don't support/share his views and apologize if he has offended anyone. This site will be offline for good in 3 days."
A video created by dprjones titled "Once Upon A Time, Part 2" posted on April 30, 2009 reveals the true intention of VenomFangX's agenda of keeping all the money over $500 for himself. The video shows an enlarged image the description box of one of VenomFangX's videos, which reads as follows,
"I need $400 a month for the car because my dad is the one paying for my school, my car, my cellphone, my house, my everything. He said that $400 a month would be a way of pulling some of my own weight and showing some responsibility. The reason why I didn't mention this when I asked for donations, is because my dad did not ask me for $400 a month until he found out I was receiving donations and preaching the gospel full time. I protested at first, but..."
As the last line shows, VenomFangX had not told his own family that he was collecting donations and was prepared to allow his father to continue to pay all of the expenses. Not only did VenomFangX steal from sick kids and a children's hospital, he was also willing to deceive his own family. And yet he still has the unmitigated gall to state that "I didn't steal anything. Don't believe everything you hear on the internet."[11]
[edit] Street preaching and GEERUP
Around April 2009, VenomFangX visited some local universities with his camera and evangelized to individual students. In one video posted April 20, 2009, titled "VenomFangX Street Preaching Week #3", Venom evangelized to a Muslim student. After taking the student through Ray Comfort's infamous and dishonest tactic Are you a good person?, Venom employed a more polite way to be offensive by posting Bible verses on screen and posting violent images done in the name of Islam as well as pictures displaying Mohammad as the Anti-Christ. Within a couple weeks, on May 5, 2009 VenomFangX posted a video, "Threats", in which he claimed to be leaving YouTube due to death threats from Muslims to insure his safety as well as his family's safety. In his text video, he proclaimed that he never intended to offend anyone or their beliefs, although no one bought VFX's lies.
Around this time, his website was taken off due to the wishes of his parents who claimed that they did not share their son's beliefs nor accept VFX's actions. To ensure that his channel still maintained his high subscription level, VenomFangx gave his YouTube channel to YouTube user GEERUP - another YouTube Christian creationist. VenomFangX declared that he was leaving YouTube forever; however VenomFangX is known to have a nasty habit of not keeping his promises. Three months later, coming as no surprise, he returned to YouTube to make an eleven-minute video to ridicule the debate between Thunderf00t and Christian creationist Ray Comfort.
[edit] The return of VFX and DMCA strikes back
In December 2009, Shawn returned to YouTube full time without mentioning what happened to those death threats that caused him to leave in the first place. Within weeks, he was back to his old habits of filing numerous DMCAs against the atheist community on YouTube. This time, he could no longer claim ignorance of the law and once again he was committing perjury (in so doing, he claims, to protect his family AND his image).
VenomFangX, of course, was met with much criticism and valid counters. If Venom's claims about the death threats against his family were accurate, why would he return and risk their safety? If he cared so much for them that he was willing to break the law, why come back to YouTube—the source that endangered him and his family in the first place? It is far more likely that the death threats were made up so he could leave YouTube without damaging his pride. Many tried to advise him to stop right away; however VFX did not listen and continued to file DMCAs, further enraging the atheist community. Everyone knew VFX was simply trying to silence his critics due to his narcissistic personality. This led YouTube vloggers to give him the new nickame of DMCA (Dumbass Motherfucking Creationist Asshole).
[edit] Dprjones and descent into insanity
- See a fuller timeline and coverage on the dprjones article
Towards the end of 2009 and early 2010 VFX served several Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaints against YouTube user dprjones. This was just over a year after a similar event with Thunderf00t which ended in VFX apologizing to the entire internet for his abuse of the DMCA. Because of this second offense, dprjones refused to accept a mere apology and demanded that VFX close his account permanently. On January 6, 2010 VenomFangX posted a video "Dprjones THREATENS VenomFangX" trying to appeal to his supporters' emotions by claiming the atheist community was posting personal information on him and his family, endangering them, and trying to get him off YouTube permanently as well as filing lawsuits against VenomFangX. VenomFangX said the atheist community was after "blood." In response, VenomFangX issued more DMCAs against dprjones. VenomFangX constantly stated that he knew more about science than scientists like Thunderf00t, but now was Venom going as far as to imply he knew more about the law than an actual lawyer? Dprjones and the atheist community saw through Venom's lies for exploiting the safety of his family to break the law. If VenomFangX truly cared about his family, then he would not be back on YouTube. A video posted by dprjones titled "The Ultimatum for VenomFangX"[12] showed the lies and hypocrisy of VenomFangX. The video showed an exchange between VFX and an atheist YouTube user, who kindly mentioned to Venom that he [VFX] might have accidentally slipped his whereabouts in a recent video. VFX responded to the message with the following,
If someone wants to come to my school to hurt me, let them come.
In short, by Venom's own admission, he was abusing the DMCA not for safety reasons, but for reasons other than that for which the DMCA was intended - and VFX was fully aware now what he was doing and that what he was doing was wrong. In the Ultimatum video, Dprjones gave VenomFangX a non-negotiable message: VFX had ten days to close down his account or legal action would be taken. No apologies will be accepted, but despite this, VenomFangX posted a text video proclaiming forgiveness several days later. VenomFangX could not bring himself to say the words or show his face in the apology video. The next day, VenomFangX left YouTube forever for the third time. VenomFangX closed his account on January 9, 2010, but could not resist getting in the last word.
In an increasingly bizarre series of events - played out for the world to see on YouTube - VFX became increasingly unhinged, leading many to suspect that he had genuine mental problems. The events took a turn for the incredibly serious with Shawn (who has since promised to drop the VenomFangX "persona") calling dprjones a pedophile and urging his followers and subscribers to report him to the relevant authorities. VenomFangX presented a video he edited as evidence; it involved dprjones and YouTube user Stefzula (who was 22 at the time). Dprjones dared Stefzula to show her breasts on live camera, which she did. VenomFangX had mistakenly assumed that Stefzula was 17-year-old Tanya (YouTube user GirlNextDoorDK). Even if it was Tanya, an adult lusting after a 17 year old girl is not pedophilia. Pedophilia is defined as the desire for sex with prepubescent children.
Dprjones made a video response, and revealed that the email address to report dprjones to the authorities came from VenomFangX's school - remember, VenomFangX moved out of his parents' house into a dorm. VenomFangX was digging himself deeper into a hole. Committing perjury against a lawyer was not enough; now he was guilty of both slander and libel. To make things worse, VenomFangX started giving out dprjone's personal information (obtained through the DMCA counter notifications) to anyone who wanted to file bogus complaints against dprjones - the very thing VenomFangX accused others of doing to him. This culminated in a long conversation that involved multiple YouTube users and VFX's parents.
Several YouTube users have been in contact with VenomFangX's parents: dprjones, Thunderf00t, and JordanOwen42. JordanOwen42 revealed he had been in contact with Venom's father for several months. Whenever VenomFangX would post a video, Jordan would consult Venom's father, who in response would consult VenomFangX to take the video offline. Jordan shared some emails and discussions he exchanged with Venom's father. It was revealed that Venom's father could no longer tolerate his son's unstable behavior to the point they could not let their son live in their house, so they moved him to a college dorm. It was also revealed that if VenomFangX was taken to court, his father would not financially support his son. While Venom's father loved his son and knew he meant well, he was sorry the YouTube community had to watch "his actions that have been at times immoral and at other times illegal." Shortly afterwards, YouTube user and Christian creationist SableChicken (GEERUP's sister) accused JordenOwen42 of spreading messages of Satanism to VenomFangX's father and family. With no financial support, VenomFangX finally decided to throw in the towel. About a week after Jordan shared his videos, dprjones posted a video message from VenomFangX on Jan. 17, 2010. VenomFangX (showing his full face and speaking directly to the camera) expressed his deepest apologies while informing the audience that he would be seeking help, and would forever leave YouTube and the "VenomFangX" persona. [13] However, he did mention that he was still ignorant or did not fully understand copyright law.
VenomFangX may have since briefly returned, using a hand puppet for cover and digitally altering his voice, as "Barney the Biblesaur," but the Biblesaur videos were taken down almost immediately with a (wait for it) DMCA—and a LEGITIMATE one. [14] Thunderf00t and dprjones, however, have not commented on whether or not they believe the connection after having vowed to draw a line under the drama back in January 2010.
[edit] The latest return
In late December 2010, VFX posted a video from his VenomFangX account announcing his return.[2] After this video, he posted six videos in the first two days after his return. Most of the atheist community welcomed him back, but they were still displeased because his return showed that Venom had lied AGAIN when he had claimed that he would forever drop the VenomFangX persona. This was a big disappointment since it left little or no hope for a progressive dialogue with him or a recovery of his reputation. To further damage his reputation, VFX promised to cease his ad hominem attacks in his videos and encouraged others—while in the same exact video making numerous insulting comments against atheists, revealing his hypocrisy.[15]. For example, he called the atheist community "too lazy to look at the arguments Christians make or they are trying to propagate through propaganda the idea Christians don't have reasons, or they're racists, or they are just sweeping propaganda style stereotypes -which of course does not surprise me as a Christian. Atheism is a vacant and utterly vacuous belief system." VFX goes on to display his childish notion of dismissing evidence outright: "who should I listen to after all? Some guy who makes videos on YouTube that are obviously fallacious with bad arguments or genetic fallacies with racism, with bigotry, with propaganda, or should I believe "we are all one"? If we are all one, why don't we all get along and move on, and just come to the table with our minds and not our emotions." The irony burns! Anybody remember the incident with Laci Green?
One of his first videos, posted two days after his return on Dec. 22, was "I believe in Forgiveness and Second Chances"[16]. In the video, VFX proclaimed that he was allowing all comments; however he would delete any comments that were profane or insulting. VFX promised that criticism would be allowed, but due to his past history that was not convincing. As many people are aware, VFX's definition of profane goes beyond its original definition: if any comment reveals him totally wrong, then it's good night Irene. Basically, he was returning to his old habits of censoring critics. VFX went on to declare his agenda of unblocking everyone previously blocked on his channel. VFX's block list had 13,444 blocked users, so he said it would require time but he would nonetheless get it done. VFX hoped that people would accept this second chance, and could demonstrate their forgiveness by possibly subscribing to him. While very few were willing to try to give VFX a new chance, he did not receive the results he wanted - for obvious reasons known to all except VenomFangX. For the large part, this was just another example of VFX's attention-seeking narcissism at work in the guise of forgiveness. Even after this promise, as many people predicted, VFX went back to blocking multiple users again (even ones who just typed the number "1."[17]).
Some of his new videos included a new intro, with catchy music and flashy effects. Sadly, that is the only thing in his entire videos that is worth watching. Interestingly in most of his new videos, VenomFangX decided to allow a "friend", Kyle, to join him in the films. Kyle hardly does anything except stand around, cross-armed (to show his muscles), and wear sunglasses to hide his eyes. Kyle does not bring anything new and rarely contributes; he more or less acts like a bodyguard. Many have speculated why VenomFangX included Kyle. Perhaps it was a plan to intimidate critics to stay away from him, although in reality that has zero effect because a bodyguard is useless through the internet. Others have speculated that Kyle is more than just a friend, based on two videos with VenomFangX in a shower towel complimenting a male YouTube user and another video with VFX gently feeling Kyle's big muscles. Kinky. VenomFangX also seems to be trying to re-build support by acting attractive or appealing. Apart from the bath towel video, he filmed himself while taking the time to point out he was in a bathrobe and he had his eyebrows done (he must think his viewers are blind or dumb). Unfortunately for VFX, things like this do not undo the past; he still remains guilty of charity fraud, stealing thousands of dollars from sick kids, falsely accusing another person as a pedophile, and such. This new style of making himself appear appealing only further reveals that his narcissism rules over his ethics or goodwill towards his fellow man. However, not all is lost for VFX; there is still one who seems to be attracted to VFX, someone called PWNAGE.
VenomFangX's newest videos have not improved in intellect, accuracy or honesty. His first attempt was to combat Scientism, trying to paint atheists and naturalists as supporters of scientism. Although his videos contained many flaws, and each were pointed out to him, it of course did not change much - since we know it is easy for VFX to dismiss evidence (see the above section "Venom's Love"). For instance, VFX does not fully grasp what science is. He thinks that all science is quantitative. Actually, science has both quantitative and qualitative aspects; some have more objective properties than subjective. Anybody who has taken a geology or astronomy class knows this. VFX tried to then paint science as a worldview while claiming Wikipedia agrees, but the actual Wikipedia article disagrees with him. It does not say that it is a worldview, just the most authoritative view in regards to human education. It also included several instances when the word scientism was misused, and that is exactly what VFX did.
VenomFangX, who in his earliest videos, virtually did nothing but parrot Kent Hovind seminars. His newest videos upon his latest return reveal that his methods have not changed a bit. In several videos in an attempt to prove the Bible contained ancient scientific foreknowledge that was completely unknown at the time, VenomFangX directly quoted word-for-word from Christian websites and Christian apologists like Ray Comfort. This just provided more material for Thunderf00t's "Why Do People Laugh At Creationists" series and more entertainment for everyone. (RationalWiki already has an article examining and refuting 101 supposed items of scientific foreknowledge revealed in the Bible.)
VenomFangX also made numerous appearances on the Magic Sandwich show to debate Thunderf00t, Aronra, dprjones and DonExodus2 (often all of them simultaneously). As everyone easily predicted, VFX was dramatically intellectually beaten, unable to admit that reality can exist independently without a deity of some sort, and often he was unable to give a straight answer. For example, when AronRa asked VFX how many types of cats did Noah take onto the Ark, after numerous headache attempts to get a straight answer, VFX finally answered that he was "not sure" but admitted he was hesitant to provide AronRa with an exact or estimated number because he feared AronRa would use it to refute the Ark story. While AronRa very well could have shown that (his phylogeny videos already demonstrate that Noah's Ark is a complete scientific impossibility), user DonExodus2 already has refuted the Ark with one single cat: the cheetah.[18]
[edit] Asking for Donations AGAIN
On September 28, 2011 VenomFangX posted a video "Thanks for your support" and was back to asking for donations. He made a video explaining this time it would be different, but many viewers remained highly skeptical. VFX put up a new Paypal account and said that he would be paying an income tax. Other than that VFX said "I have no intention for using the money for anything else other than whatever I decide I want to use if for. If you are comfortable with that, you can donate to me. If you're not, then don't." VFX is saying, basically, I need money. Just hand it over for me to burn as I please. Does VFX know what else we use income taxes for and treat as income? Income. The reward for hard work and responsibility. As of the moment, VFX lives on campus and does not appear to be starving.
VFX then tried to explain what happened last time he asked for donations (for those of you who are not aware of what happened, please read above before continuing). VFX recalled the last time he asked for donations was in 2007 (it was actually around April 2009). VFX says that he is aware that many people are uncomfortable giving preachers money, but he says there are some sincere believers who make their living off of donations all the while fully accepting the gospel. VFX tries to place himself in that camp, trying to distance himself from such religious people by saying that his viewers know that he "sincerely" believes in what the Bible says. Actually, what his viewers know is that VFX is committed to preach what scientific-illiterate and convicted fraudster Kent Hovind says about the Bible. VFX repeatedly testified and displayed him saving money to make DVD's of Kent Hovind's seminars and distribute them wherever and whenever possible, so is VFX asking for money to help him spread the gospel or is he asking people to pay him to distribute creation material people can download for free?
VFX announced that he currently is a full-time student while having a part-time job at a Bingo Hall. He said that back when he was receiving donations, he had more "freedom" to spread the gospel and not work part-time. He did not mention why he was fired from his last job: theft. So what is VFX's agenda here? Does he just want to quit his part-time job and live off the donations of others? If that is what he did last time, and given his chronic misbehavior that seems highly likely, what will happen again? (BTW, VFX working at a Bingo Hall—a gambling establishment. The hypocrisy burns. One can wonder, did VFX lose too much money that he now has to resort to begging for donations to get some back?).
When VFX finally got around to talking about his charity fraud he said the following (with a response to the right providing the real issue):
| "One of the biggest problems was that I had originally I said (and this was a mistake) I had said originally that I would donate to a very specific charity, and I unfortunately that charity happen to be right next to where I lived so that revealed my location. Shortly right after that I received death threats and prank phone calls and my family got involved and it turned into this drama, this heartache and it was problematic. So what I did was that I disassociate myself from my original intentions in order to -you know- protect my security and in so doing I enraged a lot of people. People thought I was being disingenuous and that just looked very bad. So I apologize for that, I think you can understand why I did that." | Wrong, VFX's biggest mistake was promising to provide money for sick children and not following through. When he started earning way beyond the $500 goal (which was the original deal), he decided to keep it all. He did not tell his parents. There is not one iota of evidence for the death threats (notice he mentions the Hospital but is quick to play the "poor old me" card), so what was the heartache? Perhaps it was the part when his father (VFX's provider for his tuition, car, food, EVERYTHING) decided to make VFX start lifting his own weight by using the money he was earning through donations. VFX protest this. Why? He wanted to keep the money, all of it. Dying children did not matter to VFX, nor did his family come first. |
| "There was also some other problems, but you know what, people who have accused me of doing wrong at what I was originally doing with the Paypal account are typically atheists who never supported me to begin with. The only people who felt that I had did wrong with the money are the people who didn't actually donate. The people who did donate, I explained what was going on, and they were very comfortable with that. I emailed every single person who donated to me and explained the situation and they gave me the thumbs up, and all those emails say it, so no one was wronged. The people who felt wronged were the ones who wanted to accuse me." | ''"There was also some other problems, but you know what, people who have accused me of doing wrong at what I was originally doing with the Paypal account are typically atheists who never supported me to begin with. The only people who felt that I had did wrong with the money are the people who didn't actually donate." This does not change the fact that what VFX did was wrong. VFX's own family shut off his website, but they are not atheists. Perhaps the first person to expose VFX and the Paypal scandal was YouTube user UNFFWildCard, a Christian not an atheist. Atheists were not the only people who refused to donate to VFX; this group included Christians. Even after VFX made this video asking for donations, Christian YouTubers like Nephtali1981 made a video criticizing him for asking for money to not only quit working but to spread "God's message" which is free.[19] All VFX is doing here is portraying atheists as selfish money hoarders who don't want to give to charity. The only thing atheists were doing was trying to make an honest person out of VFX, not censor him. In fact, atheists on YouTube every year host charity events, often multiple times a year for different humanitarian causes—Doctors Without Borders, breast cancer, etc.
"...and all those emails say it, so no one was wronged." No one was wronged? How about the sick children? Do they appreciate being used for profit gain that was not going to them? |
| "You know, in Revelations (12:10) it says that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. And why? Because Satan knows that if he can discredit the messengers, then no one is going to listen to the message. So Satan is very busy trying to make Christians look bad. If you just do a quick search of my name on YouTube, you will find countless videos of atheists who we know according to the Bible who are under the prince of the power of the air, who are energized by him. Yes, they accuse Christians and they - you know, I find it so hypocritical." | Now VFX resorts to his old tactic he used on Thunderf00t and the AmazingAtheist—calling them agents of Satan. You know, virtually all atheists on YouTube are convinced that VFX cannot sink lower, but somehow he always surprises them. Does he even notice the numerous Christians who denounce him and other creationists? For instance the Christian YouTube user TogetherForPeace who revealed that VFX did indeed file DMCAs, in which VFX made a video calling TFP a "backstabbing slime ball." VFX knows full well that Christians have made numerous videos denouncing him, so why exclude them and only bash atheists? Was it atheists on YouTube who filed multiple DMCA's, committed charity fraud, and falsely accused a lawyer of pedophilia? No Venom, the only one who is tarnishing the name of VenomFangX is none other than VenomFangX himself.
VFX blames Satan for getting him in trouble last time, rather than blaming himself or taking responsibility for the choices he made to break the law and commit charity fraud. Just passive-aggressive non-apologies, blaming others and shrugging off anything he's done. |
| "You know, when an atheist points his finger and says "You are a liar. You are a thief. You are a murderer." (not that I have ever murdered anyone) what are they really saying? They are affirming Thou Shall Not Kill, Thou Shall Not Steal, Thou Shall Not Lie, those are moral absolutes, divine imperatives, I do not see those coming in atheistic worldviews and survival of the fittest. If lying and stealing and murdering gets you to the top and helps you survive, then why not right? So it seems like they have to appeal to our worldview to accuse us of doing wrong int he first place. And that is what Romans 1 and 2 says. It says you know "you who accuse another, do you not do the same things?" And in accusing another, we prove that we are aware of God's moral law which proves that the atheists are sensible to moral absolutes, he actually isn't an atheist and betrays himself. I actually enjoy to some extent being accused by atheists of doing wrong, because right and wrong can only exist in ultimate standards of right and wrong - which is only possible in a biblical worldview." | Really, what do moral absolutes have to do with this? All VFX is doing here is trying to divert attention away from himself and try to paint his critics in a bad way to gain more sympathy from his viewers.
How about "You are a hypocrite"? If VFX believes it is morally wrong to steal, why continue to do it regardless? Does this mean that the Commandment is not absolute? Does VFX believe that exploiting sick children for profit is acceptable? For the record; Thou Shall Not Kill, Thou Shall Not Steal, Thou Shall Not Lie, those are moral absolutes. No they are not moral absolutes. There are multiple instances where righteous biblical characters steal, lie or kill. Jesus told his disciples to go into town and take a horse without paying for it. Rahab lied to the authorities. Jacob stole and was actually rewarded by God. Even VFX knows that these are not moral absolutes. For instance, if a person breaks into another's house and threatens to rape and kill them, is it morally wrong to kill him in the act of self-defense? When VFX claimed to be receiving death threats, when an atheist pointed out that VFX may have slipped some information that may have revealed his location, VFX replied "If someone wants to come to my school to hurt me, let them come." "I do not see those coming in atheistic worldviews and survival of the fittest. If lying and stealing and murdering gets you to the top and helps you survive, then why not right?" VFX seems oblivious that secular countries have far fewer atrocities, hardships and inmates in prisons than religious countries, and yet the secular countries do not subscribe to the "survival of the fittest" ideology that he thinks they all should by default. VFX is just spouting more slander against those who do not share his beliefs. Who did VFX claim earlier as an accuser of others? Oh yeah, Satan. "So it seems like they have to appeal to our worldview to accuse us of doing wrong int he first place." The Code of Hammurabi has moral laws the far pre-date the Bible, and yet the Bible seems to have taken plenty of them for its own. The ancient Babylonians had similar views before the laws of Moses came to be. So VenomFangX, how did this "worldview" suddenly become Christian when it was not yours originally? Point taken that VFX believes that the laws of right and wrong started several thousand years ago when the world started, but history does not support this position at all. Rather, right and wrong existed long before a "biblical worldview" ever came to be. |
| "And so that aside, I do not say that I did everything right in the past, that is not - I am not trying to justify myself. If I had done wrong by the Christians here on YouTube, I apologize. To an atheist, I do not see what your basis for - you first have to justify right and wrong in an atheist worldview, and I do not think that you can. That being said, I am hoping to avoid a lot of mistakes that I did make first time around. I am not making any promises regarding the money - other than I am going to pay an income tax on it and I am going to deal with the money whoever I want to and that's it. And so, your donation is based on your knowledge of me, your trust in my ministry." | VFX not once apologized to the sick children AGAIN. If he sees no reason to apologize to atheists, why apologize to Thunderf00t for the first DMCA abuse? (Remember, when Christian YouTube user TogetherForPeace revealed VFX lied about the DMCA, VFX called TFP a "backstabbing slime ball." When a Christian—someone VFX claims to know right and wrong—calls VFX out, he becomes upset about getting caught.) Is VFX sorry for falsely accusing dprjones of pedophilia and trying to get him arrested? It was already clear before this video that VFX was incapable of empathy.
Regardless what views atheists have about morals, VenomFangX claims that HE DOES. His standards tell him to apologize to those he wronged, and yet when it comes to his critics he acts like they do not apply or even exist. This is the same sort of attitude that religious zealots use—ethics towards their own people, but not to non-believers. |
| VFX tells his viewers to donate to him if they trust him and feel that his channel, website, and ministry are important to them—BUT he tells them to not put his ministry to a higher importance than their local churches. VFX said that he is expecting a backlash from the "atheist goons." | WOW, just WOW. VFX calling atheists names after they were the ones who forgave him for breaking the law, then forgave him for the second time, and rather than taking him to court they decided to get VFX help. They actually helped him. Was he not thankful for the help? Was he not thankful that the atheists did not take him to court? |
To all who read this, please do not give VenomFangX a dime. As this whole article demonstrates, he has a history of manipulating people for his own personal narcissistic needs and uses other people's faith as leverage. VFX made it clear in this video that he wants to receive donations to quit his honest-working part-time job to have more free time to evangelize... basically mooch off of his religious friends. If VFX continues to get into trouble with money, he may likely join his hero and convicted fraudster and tax-evader mister Kent Hovind in prison; therefore in order to help VFX in the long run, please do not give him any money.
[edit] Working with Jews For Jesus in New York City....and asking for MORE donations
On May 1, 2012 VFX posted a video explaining to his viewers and supporters that he was accepted into Jews for Jesus Missionary in New York City, and would be working with them throughout the summer in a summer camp (called the Summer Campaign, supposedly their most active time of the year). VFX was accepted for having a Jewish background (having secular Jewish parents) and accepting Christ as his savior. VFX says he will be preaching and reaching out to the Jewish people, who according to him have been "culturally and socially indoctrinated against the gospel." VFX says he will be a full-time staff member in September and will have to "raise support both financially and in prayer, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there."
Before VFX goes to New york, he must take a two-week course in basic training at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and then fly out to New York City for the six-week evangelical campaign. In order to do this, VenomFangX says he must raise $2,000 for Jews for Jesus. He provided links to make donations to Jews for Jesus (with VFX's name in the designation box), but said if donators were having trouble, they could send him [VFX] money through Paypal which he would forward to Jews for Jesus.
It seems after VFX's latest request for donations, he still was working part-time for the bingo hall. What is odd is why VFX must ask again for more donations. Furthermore, why did he mention his Paypal account? VFX, as this article reveals, is not trustworthy when he makes promises with money. For instance, he promised to send money via Paypal to Sick Kids Hospital; rather than keeping his word he sent large sums of money to Christian charities of his choice and not a single cent to Sick Kids Hospital. It must also be noted that VFX is applying to work for a group that has been called by ex-Jews for Jesus a "cult" and described it as a very abusive experience.[20] [21]
[edit] Links
- Video regarding his possible charity fraud
- VenomFangX
VenomFangX's channel, controlled by the YouTube user GEERUP in his absence, now returned to VenomFangX once moreClosed 9/1/10.lol, it's back up again VenomFangX's Most likely a mirror channelSuspended as well.- The next mirror channel watch it before it got suspended as well.
The webshite.Now closed, with an apology from "his parents".- VenomFangArchive A channel which contains both his old and new videos. It can be useful for those who want to keep up with his antics without subscribing to him.
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJbljV_NzrU
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ http://encyclopediadramatica.se/VenomFangX#List_of_Shawn.27s_sock_accounts
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg84ZWTGPz8
- ↑ http://youtu.be/cupYdCeFJzw
- ↑ http://blog.jforj.com/shawn-karon/2012/10/01/pray-for-eric/
- ↑ VenomFangX describes how he lost his job
- ↑ http://howgoodisthat.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/venomfangx-has-his-youtube-account-and-website-shut-down/
- ↑ lordhathor's history of VenomFangX's PayPal accounts
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L5agvxVwbw
- ↑ One of Venomfagnx's videos
- ↑ http://wn.com/The_Ultimatum_for_VenomFangX
- ↑ dprjones - A message from Shawn and his father
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJbljV_NzrU
- ↑ http://youtu.be/3ch-WW4z3XM
- ↑ http://youtu.be/aPAKlX1QsJY
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=FDGgTJjoFPs
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIlWKp44T50 Noah's Ark and the Cheetah
- ↑ Nephtali1981 "VenomFangX PayPal; Keep Your Job"
- ↑ Is Jews for Jesus a Cult?
- ↑ Used for Jesus