Rick,
I tend to be optimistic. For over a decade, I worked with serious drug
addicts and ex-prisoners. Only those of us with abundant optimism
manage to do that work successfully-haha.
Darco seems reasonable and I hope he considers our criticism
constructively. I think it's out of character, and that is part of the
reason I snapped back at him.
I just dismiss tweets like Bill's and don't know anything about him
other than being a block captain. But I've noticed disturbing patterns
with some other block captains in our area. The current FOCP prez and
former Spruce Hill Civic Association prez became my block commander as
soon as he moved to West Philly! That experience has been terrible!
But I would certainly accept a sincere apology from Bill, without prejudice.
Unfortunately, I've been dealing with Tony since 2003 and his behavior
has always been consistent. I'm not sure how long you've been
subscribed to this list, but he has a long history here, and as the
leader of the FOCP Board. I haven't been the only target over the
years. Straw man is one of Tony West's favorite tactics. And he will
not stop, even when he should realize that he is making a fool of
himself. What I call his "Evil Ray" series is infamous!
I think he thought he was successful when he had a gang of people, who
joined him in a type of group straw man tactic on the list. Tony would
create the straw man, and then the group would post a series of nasty
posts at the target, as if they were all too stupid to understand the
meaning of the original post.
After their gangs' tactics were thoroughly exposed on this list, they
left and formed a separate list sponsored by the Annenberg school at
Penn. I believe you know this ucneighbors. They used the threat of
censorship to intimidate the other subscribers, who came from this
listserv. They were even caught bragging about their power to silence
about 5 of us, who told the truth about neighborhood issues. (A real
estate agent named, Melani, thought it "would be heaven" if I were
silenced with the power of Penn's computers-haha.)
After some of us made fun of them, they closed off the archives to the
public-haha. It was a violation of a couple of Penn's written policies.
(I informed the office of the President of the University that I
intended to expose this as widely as I could manage, and I believe they
were eventually kicked off the Penn system.) It still bothers me that
Penn allowed bold censorship against its neighboring community for such
a long time! (I spent years giving 100% for the reputation of Penn when
I worked for the addiction treatment research center.)
But Tony has continued to use these discredited techniques here, without
the ucneighbors back-up. I've often deconstructed his posts to remind
people about fallacious arguments and how they are used to bully. He
actually provides the list with great texts for study.
Take care,
Glenn
On 4/29/2011 9:42 AM, Richard Conrad wrote:
Dear Glenn,
I appreciate your gratitude and quite concur with your astute
identification of "straw man" bullying. I hope you are mistaken about
Tony's message being all about power and still hope that he will come
to his senses and apologize for his unfair behaviors in attacking you,
and then me, but I won't predict the future. The same goes for Darco
and Bill. If we intend to continue community growth and stave off
fascistic corporate medievalism we had all better seriously watch our
hands in dealing with those amongst our own ranks and neighborhoods.
Rick
On Apr 29, 2011, at 7:44 AM, Glenn wrote:
Ric,
I want to publicly thank you for confronting the use of a straw man.
One of the reasons that this technique is so ubiquitous is to
intimidate and silence everyone else.
Tony knows that he will never silence or intimidate me. He is trying
to send a message to the rest of the list and community when he
attempts these techniques. His message is all about power.
Anyone who dares to question the abuse of power is to watch how he
attempts to crush his target.
Confronting these techniques empowers others in this community to
stand up and speak out! In the end, bully's are exposed.
Thanks,
Glenn
PS: The other FOCP board members have left Tony unleashed to use
these tactics against this community for years. WHAT DOES THEIR
SILENCE SAY ABOUT THE FOCP BOARD????
On 4/29/2011 12:43 AM, Richard Conrad wrote:
You are reading in. You don't play fair. You just can't admit it.
Glenn does not say as Darco implied that "people were excluded from
the park" (and actually people have been - you and everyone else can
probably realize that people are routinely told to leave the park,
for sleeping overnight and other reasons). Maybe Glenn refers to
private Clark Park banquets with high priced entry fees. Maybe he
refers to private gatherings hosted by Penn where the public is
excluded. 'Penn Control' is something about which while Glenn has
held back from giving it ultimate vilification, he warns people to
be concerned. 'Secrecy' is the most difficult to prove (duh, it's a
secret), but in any case you ridicule by hyperbole, misrepresent his
remarks, and say things that are not true.
You now seem to be practically accusing me of being a Trump
conspiracy talk supporter. You clearly haven't read much of what I
have written (or you are resorting to damaging written public
falsification again).
I am actually a true "Balder" who believes Donald Trump can't be
Pres. because he can't prove his hair was born in the U.S.A. Here
is something of mine I posted to FB:
"Saying Trump appeals to masochistic dupes with no sense of
mathematics, to sadistic voyeurs who wish they had balls, or to
racist instincts in those of lesser intelligence, is all the same...
they're just the facts Jack!"
Bill Mahr did better: Bill Maher says, "Hey Trump, what's the
"biggest scam ever" NOW? I'd say its a guy with 3 bankruptcies
telling America how to get its financial house in order."
"Crackpot." That is what you say Tony, instead of answering others
criticisms! Surely you are big enough to deal with others concerns
and not to only resort to name calling. Be fair.
Rick
On Apr 29, 2011, at 12:00 AM, Anthony West wrote:
Richard,
I quote from Glenn's text, which Darco and I have read quite clearly:
"The master plan for 'revitalization' of Clark Park was always a
master plan for secrecy, exclusion of the public, and Penn control!"
Glenn has, for years, been publishing on this list false
allegations that various users were *planned to be excluded from
the park *by this nefarious conspiracy. Since none of them ever
were, in fact, excluded from the physical park, and there were, in
fact, no plans that any users should be excluded from the park --
he is now attempting to befuddle you -- as well as unsuspecting
newcomers -- by pretending some users were excluded from *planning
for the park. *And he's trying to muddle the two together with
murky conspiracy-theory language, where what we're talking about
shifts every time a claim of fact is contested.
Of course, nothing of the sort ever happened. (There wasn't any
"secrecy" or any "Penn control" either.) I looked into these
allegations very carefully in 2002-03.
Typical Trump talk, in my opinion. But if this is what floats your
boat, I sure can't stop you. Conspiracy-theory crackpots never run
out of gas, do they?
--Tony West
On 4/28/2011 11:28 PM, Richard Conrad wrote:
O.K. let's get real! Darco represents Glenn as saying something
he did not. Darco asks:
"do you have evidence of people being excluded from the park?"
Glenn did not ever say in his communique that people were excluded
from the park.
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