Having now got Harrigan to stop harassing me (I think!), I found that a couple of individuals are still following me around the threads at The Conversation website, making snide comments in an attempt to ridicule me. One of them said recently that I made "nasty, vindictive, personal attack on Dr Harrigan". This is the same individual I mentioned in passing in one of my previous posts on this blog. He has studiously followed me around, making one line statements which are obviously designed to ridicule me. Here are some examples, from the latest thread:
I'm surprised that Mrs Ng is here, given that there are no 'homosexualists' to deride!
Of course, we can all access the truth at 'truth2be.net', it's just so illuminating!
I thought it was craptacular, as did Mark Harrigan's solicitor!
So, complete nonsense counts as 'knowledege'. What unmitigated piffle!
So he simply communicates through what I assume he thinks are short, snappy but nevertheless (in what he imagines are) highly effective attacks against those he dislikes. Sort of like a crocodile. This sort of behaviour is not surprising, seeing that a crocodile has a brain the size of a 50 cents coin. So I think I'll call this chap Crocamey, a combination of Croc and the name he posts under.
Now, I tried to politely point out to Crocamey that he's got things wrong, since Harrigan harassed and bullied not just my good self, but others as well - I took the actions I did and wrote about that incident on my website because I was left with few other options. However, it appears that Crocamey may be a bit slow, since he can't comprehend even the simplest of concepts he has read in my writings, let alone a more complex explanation of something else. For example, he confuses homosexuals with homosexualists, and he accused me of 'hating' the former, when I actually dislike and I am actively advocating against the ideology and activism of the latter. He also takes things out of context, misquotes, and generally seems just plain uneducated, judging by the uncivil forms of expression and communication he employs. So it is probably no wonder that he can't comprehend the somewhat longer narratives I posted here, explaining the Harrigan saga.
Crocamey is a strange creature, indeed. Snapping away at things that he has no idea about can make him look sillier than a three metre lizard suffering from myopia and snapping at his own farts. Just lately, he snapped his way into a discussion I partook into, touching on the nature of human knowledge. Apparently, according to the church of scientism of which he is a proud acolyte, knowledge can only be scientific. Period, no further discussion else you are stupid and open to injurious snapping from Crocamey! When I tried to point out that there are other forms of knowledge we draw on, and that knowledge is a human construct anyway, he jumped in with this: "your 'other ways of knowing' simply amounts to anecdotes. This is the same sort of 'logic' that has women burnt as witches, and village idiots pilloried at the village gate". He later snapped at me again, this time stating that "Most kids in high school are aware of this" [this was referring to me not knowing that it takes three weeks for a vaccine to begin working!]. Gosh! What pathetic little snaplets, Mr Crocamey!
Okay, if you really, and truly-wooly wanna understand what we actually mean by 'knowledge', then you need to do a taddy-waddy bit of reading. Let me help you out with a reference, it's not actually much reading; if you concentrate really hard, then there is a chance of at least understanding that you're snapping can be improved. Here is the reference. Note that the authors state, right there in the abstract,
Now, I tried to politely point out to Crocamey that he's got things wrong, since Harrigan harassed and bullied not just my good self, but others as well - I took the actions I did and wrote about that incident on my website because I was left with few other options. However, it appears that Crocamey may be a bit slow, since he can't comprehend even the simplest of concepts he has read in my writings, let alone a more complex explanation of something else. For example, he confuses homosexuals with homosexualists, and he accused me of 'hating' the former, when I actually dislike and I am actively advocating against the ideology and activism of the latter. He also takes things out of context, misquotes, and generally seems just plain uneducated, judging by the uncivil forms of expression and communication he employs. So it is probably no wonder that he can't comprehend the somewhat longer narratives I posted here, explaining the Harrigan saga.
Crocamey is a strange creature, indeed. Snapping away at things that he has no idea about can make him look sillier than a three metre lizard suffering from myopia and snapping at his own farts. Just lately, he snapped his way into a discussion I partook into, touching on the nature of human knowledge. Apparently, according to the church of scientism of which he is a proud acolyte, knowledge can only be scientific. Period, no further discussion else you are stupid and open to injurious snapping from Crocamey! When I tried to point out that there are other forms of knowledge we draw on, and that knowledge is a human construct anyway, he jumped in with this: "your 'other ways of knowing' simply amounts to anecdotes. This is the same sort of 'logic' that has women burnt as witches, and village idiots pilloried at the village gate". He later snapped at me again, this time stating that "Most kids in high school are aware of this" [this was referring to me not knowing that it takes three weeks for a vaccine to begin working!]. Gosh! What pathetic little snaplets, Mr Crocamey!
Okay, if you really, and truly-wooly wanna understand what we actually mean by 'knowledge', then you need to do a taddy-waddy bit of reading. Let me help you out with a reference, it's not actually much reading; if you concentrate really hard, then there is a chance of at least understanding that you're snapping can be improved. Here is the reference. Note that the authors state, right there in the abstract,
The knowledge base of a person, it is now generally assumed, is made up of different types of knowledge. The most well-known examples are declarative and procedural knowledge, but more elaborate distinctions exist. Furthermore, the knowledge base is characterized by different qualities, such as level (deep or surface) of knowledge, generality of knowledge, level of automization of knowledge, modality of knowledge, and structure of knowledge.
[And then, please see how in the very first paragraph of their paper the authors state,]
Among the examples encountered are generic (or general) and domain specific knowledge, formal and informal knowledge, conceptual and procedural knowledge, elaborated and compiled knowledge, unstructured and (highly) structured knowledge, knowledge acquisition knowledge, situated knowledge and metaknowledge.
(de Jong, T and Ferguson-Hessler, GMM, 1996, 'Types and qualities of knowledge', Educational Psychologist, 31(2):105-113)
Now let me turn briefly to a misrepresentation put forward by Crocamey in order to ridicule me, apparently. This consisted of him quoting from my 'About' page on this website. He quotes this bit:
I am a spiritual person, I believe that the sanctity of life holds over individual wants, and that we are not merely animals but human beings. I hold strong values on freedom, the main one being that freedom is impossible without responsibility. I respect, have a high regard for, and value difference and the dignity of individuals, families and communities. I think that even when we differ on matters of importance, truthfulness, respect and tolerance are the way forward.
But leaves out the rest, including this bit:
At the same time, I am impatient with, and I don't easily suffer fools and liars, and I particularly detest those who resort to manipulation, misrepresentation and smear in order to forward political and activist agendas which restrict and demonise other views. Having experienced life under a communist regime as a child, I have developed an acute sense of what propaganda and political manipulation are. I hate these evils with a passion, because I saw and experienced what it is to be a powerless slave to ideology, and how it transforms otherwise intelligent individuals into instruments of tyranny.
If he paid attention to the whole thing, he might have realised that cherry picking bits out of it to misrepresent me, and then urging readers to visit my website makes him look like a walking handbag, perhaps with matching shoes. But then it's easy to forget that a snapping croc with myopia and comprehension issues can hardly be expected to realise he's laying on a muddy river bank, snapping at empty air.
Poor Crocamey, he is so pitiful, snapping away at his own farts. Please pray for him, he needs to know we still love him ... err ... that is, if he improves his understanding of what knowledge is.
Poor Crocamey, he is so pitiful, snapping away at his own farts. Please pray for him, he needs to know we still love him ... err ... that is, if he improves his understanding of what knowledge is.