In reply to MHutch:
> (In reply to Jon Stewart)
>
> The beauty of it is that now we know just how thin-skinned Dawkins is - he actually reads these comments and gets infuriated by them. It's like replying to a spam email.
He is human, even supposed 'clever' people have feelings and reactions and their supposed intelligence might not be in a way which allows him to rise above it. He also feels he is making a valid point
>
> It also staggers me that Dawkins can't understand the difference between a pointless rule and the fact that security employees have to follow the rule or lose their jobs.
I think he probably does understand this. While the whole 'just following orders' is a bit extreme for this situation but it is infuriating when the security staff impose stupid rules and use no common sense. It's even more infuriating when it is the rude, skinhead, grunt at Manchester airport
The article doesn't seem too petty to me. I personally think he is making a valid point. But as one of the comments rightly said, Dawkins has unfortunately riled so many people in the past that even when he makes a valid point people will have a problem with it just because it's Dawkins.