Tarski wrote:Will is here and under this particular knife, again, because of his work in the apologetic arena, with particular emphasis on his Book of Abraham arguments and ongoing challenge to the Book of Abraham's critics.
Rubbish. (Are you ever right about anything? Anything?)
I'm sure you wish, very, very much, that it were.
No one is accusing Nibley of misogyny.
No. Nibley was accused of being a pedophile and of engaging in bizarre sexual activities with his own daughter. That received a great deal of traction here, and was defended staunchly (irregardless of its utter lack of plausibility) by some of the very same people now baying for Will's blood.
No one is accusing Hamblin of misogyny.
Why?
How many times have Hamblin, Gee, Rhodes et al been called liars, frauds, intellectual hacks, and mindless sycophants of the Brethren in this forum?
If it were some sort of misguided reaction to apologetic particulars then why don't we see personal attacks on these men of the sort Will has earned?
I've been seeing them for years here, and for the same reason - they're competent scholars and effective apologists, and they've had a number of people here feeling threatened and cornered for a long time.
The apologetic arguments as such are not at issue here and are trivial in this context.
Yes they are. This entire exercise is a diversion, just as are all the attacks on Daniel, Nibley, Gee, bc, me, or anyone else who defends the Church here effectively and consistently. Will's intermittent colorful personal hardballs thrown at various characters here are a red herring, and nothing more. I need do little more than look at beastie's attempts at the very same smear with me, even though lacking literally anything with which to substantiate her claims, to see the pattern.
I know Dan Peterson has not weighed in here (and who could expect it?) but I have some indication from him about his attitude about a couple things.
I hope very much he will forgive me for saying this but he has indicated to me that while he thinks Will is intelligent and that his theories are perhaps a bit better than the critics realize, he does not appreciate Will's descents in the realm of the vulgar and does not understand it at all.
While I'm not going to take your word here for what DCP thinks on anything, I will say that I agree with him that Will should work on other ways of expressing himself when he feels the need arises. I doubt - highly - that Daniel has labeled Will as a misogynist.
That's at another level, and that is where this thread began.
He also has indicated that Beastie is a mostly reasonable and certainly intelligent person (except perhaps, in his view when she seems to give some credence to the theories of Mr. Scratch.)
I think Beastie is typical of the contemporary western pseudo-intellectual; a person, very much like Scratch, with a very good grasp of the English language and who can manipulate and deploy words effectively, but without the philosophical depth, imagination, or creativity that is mark of the true "intellectual," which, for me at least, is not merely a clever and sophisticated wordsmith, or even a
sophisticated thinker (mere complexity of thought is not enough, and can mask intellectual shallowness and even guile) but a truly serious, deep - and self honest - thinker. She has a large background of education and knowledge that could be of value to her and others, but which has been deployed in a fervent fight against truth. I say "pseudo" also because I've found Beastie's arguments, over as many years, to be fraught with a consistent penchant with playing fast and loose with facts and the statements of others.
There is a deep tendentiousness to much of what she writes that is quite noticeable to others not beholden to her particular agenda.
So apparently, our Dr. Peterson, who we might expect to remain partisan just cannot admire Will's antics and certainly cannot be found describing Beastie as repulsive. In fact, I have a hard time imagining him describing anyone in those terms. I fully expect that the best of the apologists, those who take their actual religion seriously, cannot endorse this or many other of Will's obnoxious traits.
But, as I've shown, they're only obnoxious because their Will's. For some reason, the obnoxiousness sticks only to him, and not to the flaming, juvenile internet punks here, many of whom have long made up a significant section of the major posters on this board.
For my part I am extremely offended that Beastie or Harmony should be called repulsive.
Beastie is repulsive because she has stood out here as a stubborn character assassin of the same caliber as Scratch. I know because she has attempted it with me, an attempt which I took to be extremely serious at the time, given its subject matter.
Harmony is veritably one of the wolves within the flock so eloquently elucidated in the scriptures as a feature of the Latter Days, and which, when once encountered, can never be forgotten. It is probably the fact that she continues her pose and her pretense with such brazen, self righteous conceit that grates, not so much what she says about any given subject.
Its one reason I have not engaged her here in probably well over a year or more, having finially given up. My few words to her recently are the first in a very long time.
It angers me almost more than anything I have heard from Will. These are fine women who just refuse to be submissive in Will's presence (and really, why should they or any woman?)
Perhaps they are, in some sense I'm not aware of. However, in those senses of which I am aware, I find both of them rather unlikeable.
The fact that even now Droopy can only be found defending this crap shows how insanely partisan he is (as if we didn't know that already). Shame on you Droopy. Shame.
What have I defended, pray tell?
PS. Please stop saying unalloyed and unreconstructed so many times. Why aren't you smart enough to realize what an embarrassing impression you give with these little phrases? These aren't big words, nor are they examples of eloquence. Instead it comes across as a lame affectation of some sort.
Try licking some cupcakes Tarski. It might take the edge off.