--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> By the way, Andrew and I actually got to be mutually
> respectful (although never friends) via email in the
> end. What happened is that someone wrote to his bosses
> at the Journal of the American Medical Association and
> sent them a bunch of printouts of his Internet arguments
> with Judy, and asked that they fire Andrew for "disgracing
> their publication."
>
> Andrew wrote me because he suspected, based on our previous
> interactions, that I had done it. I convinced him that not
> only had I NOT done it, I thought whoever did was probably
> the biggest sleazebag on the planet. We came to a mutual
> agreement about who we both believe the sleazebag was.
Just as a hit as to who we thought was responsible
for the package sent to the JAMA editors, compare
the tactics and intent used in that attempt at
defamation to what follows. The only difference
is that the people being asked to read ten-year-old
Internet arguments and consider someone untrustworthy
on the basis of them is aimed at the readers of FFL:
> > Too funny. You'd have to have been there to know
> > what an extraordinary set of lies this is, on so
> > many levels. That's why Barry feels safe in
> > telling it.
> >
> > He has a good reason, though. He doesn't want
> > anybody to check out alt.m.t and discover how
> > Andrew repeatedly wiped the floor with him.
> >
> > Here's just a little taste ("Shoki" was the
> > handle--actually only one of many--that Barry
> > was using at the time):
> >
> > ------
> >
> > [Andrew wrote:]
> > Shoki, whose name is Barry Wright, is a disciple of Fred
> > Lenz, a.k.a. Zen Master Rama. Quite a number of former
> > followers are publicly claiming that Lenz victimized them
> > financially, psychologically -- and in some cases sexually.
> > So I'm not surprised that shoki insists blame should
> > remain with the victim. Such a view serves his Master.
> >
> > ------
> >
> > Since I strongly suspect this vitriol comes from a hired
> > gun, who's purpose is to discredit critics of cults on
> > the Internet, I take the above insults as flattering
> > encouragement. Obviously my postings have struck home or
> > else schlocki wouldn't be all over me like a hunger-
> > crazed deerfly....
> >
> > Schloki, is anyone paying you to slink along the Internet
> > and post libelous attacks on anyone who dares to criticize
> > cult-like groups? I see a pattern here, a pattern that
> > would be hard to explain in the absence of a financial
> > motive.
> >
> > ------
> >
> > Let's look at the real motiviation for his hateful postings:
> > This character, who goes under the pseudonym of shoki and
> > refuses to identify himself, was a long-time devotee of
> > Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He became disillusioned and left.
> > I'm told he went off to follow another guru.
> >
> > Now he's come back to haunt the TM newsgroup, claiming he's
> > now neither for or against TM. This is what I suspect:
> > Shoki's an egomaniac. He wants to be worshipped. He's here
> > hoping to recruit a following. He now knows there's no future
> > in being a guru groupie. Wealth and power only flows uphill
> > to where the guru sits.
> >
> > Like a vulture, he senses his former guru, Maharishi Mahesh
> > Yogi, is frail and soon to become *immortal* by dying,
> > leaving his followers in turmoil and dismay. So he's come
> > back to perch and wait while trying to win over TM lurkers
> > who are growing increasingly disillusioned (after all,
> > the Maharishi isn't flying all about the skies as they thought
> > he would -- he can barely hobble around the room on his own).
> >
> > Now let's listen to how well shoki thinks he's doing with
> > part of his game plan:
> >
> > [quoting Barry:]
> >
> > > How I chose to deal with it is admittedly juvenile, but
> > > effective. I let others debate him head-to-head on his points;
> > > they are good at it, he is good at it. The result seems
> > > a wash, and fails to make the point I wanted to make, that he
> > > is _heavily_ and very emotionally involved in this issue, to
> > > the point of it being an obsession. So I absolutely refuse
> > > to take him seriously, and to continue to prod him and poke
> > > fun at him whenever possible. His replies, like the one
> > > above, tend to reveal more of his true motivations than do his
> > > canned posts to the newsgroups he cultivates his reputation on.
> >
> > The amazing thing about shoki, is that you can play him like a
> > kazoo and he thinks he's the one making the music.
> >
> > As James Randi often says, hucksters are like rubber ducks.
> > You just can't sink them. They keep popping back up. The best
> > we can do is get others to laugh at them. I hope others are
> > enjoying shoki's toots and hee haws as much as I am. ;-)
> >
> > ------
> >
> > [Andrew to Barry:]
> > Speaking of looking sane, is it true that some guy posed
> > as a woman admirer of yours on the Internet and buttered
> > you upside and down with things to flatter your ego and that
> > you wound up spilling you guts to her.. I mean him? Tell me
> > that that's not true, shoki baby. Because if it's true, ...
> > Oh, God -- what a pathetic boob that would make you. I'd
> > have to start feeling sorry for you and treat you with more
> > kindness ;-) Tell me it ain't so, shoki. Tell me it ain't so.
> >
> > ------
> >
> > Andrew also caught Barry in a really, really
> > stupid lie. Barry had posted one of his "satirical"
> > pieces, then later, using a different pseudonymn,
> > returned to alt.m.t pretending to be somebody
> > else and *reposted* his "satirical" piece, claiming
> > he'd read it when it was first posted and saved it
> > to disk because he liked it so much. Andrew
> > recognized it and dug up the original post from
> > Barry, making him a complete laughingstock.
> >
> > It's no wonder Barry directs readers to Andrew's
> > slander site rather than to alt.m.t.
