It's very disappointing to hear this account of Richard Dawkins. I really enjoyed "The Selfish Gene," and (as an atheist) I thought much of what he wrote in "The God Delusion" needed saying, though in a less purposefully insulting manner. I was willing to grant he might have been going after shock value for effect, to raise consciousness rather than stir controversy just to sell copies.

But after he started wearing the "New Atheist" label, he started feeling something more like a cult leader than a leading public intellectual. Perhaps that's less on him than on followers he attracted who elevated him to an exalted status well above that of "very well educated biologist who also sometimes philosophizes." In any case, I grew disappointed with him and stopped looking forward to what he had to say. Not that I necessarily stopped listening.

To see him jump on an anti-trans bandwagon and attract that sort of crowd (build it and they will come) is more than disappointing. Dawkins is leveraging the respect he once earned over important contributions in his field to armchair-philosophize over something about which he lacks either academic or experiential expertise.

This time, it's pretty difficult to say he's not stirring controversy on purpose, for pecuniary purposes. Because this is not how a thoughtful public intellectual behaves, at least in my opinion.