At 01:33 PM 12/18/2012, OrionWorks - Steven V Johnson wrote:
Abd,
My take on all of this
and Iâm sure Jojo is listening inn
I believe you have assembled a reasonably accurate chronology of
Jojoâs posting proclivities. However, I suspect too many within the
Collective are missing the primary reasons why Jojoâs posts what he
posts. Too many miss it because they simply-respond to Jojoâs
arguments with counter-arguments of their own. Unfortunately, this is
precisely what Jojo wants us to do.
Thanks, Steven. People on this list commonly
assume that points are brought up here for
discussion. Some people come here with some
"agenda," i.e., to push this or that idea, but
the long-term participants are that way only with
highly related issues. We know Jed Rothwell's
position on cold fusion, pretty well. You
probably know mine (though mine is not
necessarily as fixed as it might appear to some).
When someone comes here with something off-topic,
there is a tolerance of some level of off-topic
discussion. I took Jojo's claims seriously, even
when they seemed preposterous to me. I found that
they had no basis. They were sometimes claims
that had been made at one time, when evidence to
some people looked that way, but the evidentiary
basis had long ago vanished, had been shown to be
misleading or just plain wrong. He keeps
asserting these things, and essentially ignores all contrary evidence.
In one sense I wasted a lot of time tracking
these things down. (Jojo makes assertions that
are highly provocative, but has stated that he
deliberately avoids posting links or citing
accessible evidence, because he wants people to
"check for themselves." So I checked, and there was no there there.
In another sense, I now have a better
understanding of the "birther" movement and why
it may have gathered steam at one time or
another, but has almost completely died, except
from those who have buried their heads in the muck.
There is no discussion with Jojo. There is only
response to provocation, and with escalation if
one actually responds directly. That's harmful to
the list. I'm pretty sure that it drives some
readers away. (That alone would not be a reason
to act, it would be a question of balance.)
Steven, you went on to speculate about the origin
of Jojo's character. You might be correct, but
it's not really relevant. You've taken the
occasion to give him advice, and I'd echo your
advice, but ... Jojo shows no sign of having the
capacity to listen or to respond to that kind of good will.
From his childhood, he dug a very big hole for
himself, it seems, and he's responsible for it
because he is the one primarily suffering from
it. No matter whose "fault" it was in the first
place. I can wish him well in his struggles at
the same time as I wish to see this list
protected from the flame wars that arise.
