Post by Maplin<snip>
Post by EtznabSo if Harold Klemp, the leader of Eckankar, isn't God and it's like a
crime to set someone above us? What is the problem with telling
Eckankar history like it is?...
There isn't a problem with that in itself, but certain people still have
a problem with it - I think the problem is, it shatters their carefully
developed illusions and constructs. Some people react so badly to that
that it may actually be dangerous to do it, such as the courtier getting
a little *too* close to uncomfortable truths the Grand High Poobah or
whoever it is doesn't really want to confront.
Here in internet land though, it's less likely to have any real
consequences. What's the worst that can happen? Some guy you've barely
heard of writes an upset page of text? Big deal! I would urge you to
keep going and pursue objective fact, regardless of who isn't
comfortable with it. Everything I've seen you post in regards to this
plagiarism issue is researched, referenced and thorough, and you're able
to defend it and stand by it. I would say, though, that you don't need
to give your challengers and the deniers so much air-time; your
plagiarism-in-Eck posts stand on their own merits, unlike some of the
challenges you've had to them. If someone wants to argue against your
posts but they don't have a cogent position, that's obvious to others
too. I wonder sometimes if you're too worried that if you don't walk
readers through the holes in these responses, they might be swayed to
support that false position (especially that "it can't be plagiarism
because since the revelations are so holy and beyond question, another
[holy] person would find the same words too - and if they don't, they
must be heretics!").
I think you've been posting good, self-consistent and provable stuff. If
someone might be persuaded to disbelieve it by way of a purely emotive,
non-logical and subjective rebuttal, I'd suggest you don't need to try
and win that person back. Or if they reject it purely because they think
a "holier" person demands it as a matter of faith, same again. You'd
only be arguing with someone who refuses to accept; neither will budge,
so what's the point?
The question of plagiarism needs to be properly dealt with if Eckankar
expects to continue, and that won't be by making people believe an
un-truth of convenience for the church. Again, I applaud what you're
doing and urge you to continue objectively and without allowing purely
emotional responses to sway you from a position you know makes sense.
We've mentioned plenty of SF authors before, I'm reminded of a line from
one of Robert Heinlein's books - "an emotional argument permits no
refutation". (ie "it just doesn't FEEL right!" - that's difficult to
refute). But you should never need to; that emotional argument is no
counter to your properly constructed essays on plagiarism. Good job!
SPeaking of scammers, I just need to unload about yet another breed...
taxi drivers who don't want to use the meter.
(PS did you know that the meter is called a "taximeter", with the
emphasis on the second syllable, and the cars are called taxi cabs in
abbreviation for that? As in, a taximeter-equipped motor cabin?)
Literally 3 times in a row, I hailed a cab to get home from my night job
in a busy night-time district. I guess these drivers assume everyone is
just another stupid australian drunk, and a lot of them are, but a
certain number are like me, they've been working and they just want to
commute home safely and conveniently. I guess all christians or whites
or aussies or something, all look the same ;)
The idea is, the driver says, "is 25 bucks OK?" or whatever price,
knowing that the metered fee would be lower. I've caught more than
enough cabs home to know what it costs on the weekends, about 18 bucks.
The 1st time, I just said fine (he actually offered 20 bucks fare), the
next one I said, whatever it says on the meter please and he kind of
deflated in despair, sulked and started the meter. The 3rd guy started a
long rant at me in Hindi or Buttfrickistan-ese or whatever, as I got out
and walked away. He shouted something at me as I did.
I booked a cab to get home from my other job one night last week and had
other problems with the driver, so I refused him and called back asking
for someone else. The next guy was professional and courteous and just
what you THINK you're paying for, at last.
Then, today, hailed a cab from the shopping centre because it was
seriously raining hard. This guy tried the "is 20 bucks OK" and the
meter off, I was only a few minutes from home and it would have cost
half that, so I said no thanks and got out. That's literally all I said,
and got a lot stream of abuse for it again. So that's actually four
hailed cabs in a row, and even one I booked (that's another story, I'll
post about it later as I need to get ready for work now)
So I called the taxi company and gave them his name, plate and license
numbers, car description etc, and took their advice and reported him
direct to the Dept of Transport too :) Heh.
In these times of competition they've never had before (Uber and the
like), this is the WORST moment to be pulling this stuff. I was wary of
Uber for years and wouldn't use them, now they're my preferred carrier.
You get a fixed price and pay in advance, they don't accept cash so
there's no haggling, and they are independent drivers so they appreciate
the business. I've never had a problem with them, except that late on a
Monday or Tuesday in the further-out suburbs you can't always get one
straight away. In which case I'll just walk a few km's to the next major
stop and have no problem from there. Luckily I haven't had this happen
on a rainy night yet.
It's like EVERYTHING is a scam now. Every industry, every category of
business, everything you try to do, some shark is trying to game the
system. I don't need to tell you guys about spam emails, dodgy websites
and the phone calls... the less said about that the better. So what will
be the ultimate result of that as it goes on that way? Eventually govt's
will have to act and crack down, and a lot of people will go to jail or
out of business, and everything you try to do will be locked up tight
behind ridiculous and ever-more-inconvenient layers of security, as is
happening already.
Which makes me think, it's a bad time to be a phony religion or
spiritual leader when all around the world there's pressure building to
increase scrutiny on everything.