Interesting. All Seattle P-I forum posts on PRT (or any subject) by Sole not shad to Hod Carriers and TransportEnthusiast have been deleted. Hey TE, what's the story?
gPRT
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Who ran crying to mommy?
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7 comments:
I think it was Ben Schiendelman. See here.
Ben is a perfect example of what I call an arrogant pseodo-intellectual. He thinks he knows more than the rest of us, and his forum posts are notable for their overtly condescending tone.
Unfortunately for him, that arrogance is also his weakness -- he is so confident in what he thinks he knows, that he no longer bothers to actually research a topic before commenting on it. This is what we're seeing in the PRT discussions.
Unfortunately for me, I don't think Ben wanted to debate me, so he went whining to the moderators. And the moderators acted swiftly; moderator types are easily seduced by the authoritative tone of pseudo-intellects like Ben.
But I saved most of the topics before they went away, so when I get some time I'll organize them and repost them on a blog.
Something tells me I'll be debating Ben again in the near future. I'm particularly annoyed by pseudo-intellects like him -- especially having had to deal with so many corporate middle managers through the years.
In my last post: "pseodo"->"pseudo". Should have previewed first...
By the way, check out this history entry on the Wikipedia PRT talk page. Apparently, someone (I wonder who?!) was going to make a big stink about the Denver baggage system not being mentioned -- until he realized that it is mentioned! So two minutes later he evidently realized his error and deleted his comment.
I have to admit, they're persistent.
There was no debate. You don't address topics as they're brought up, you simply yell. Moderators saw that.
There was no debate? You and I had just begun a rather interesting debate on whether it's better to bring transit to developed areas (PRT) or development to transit lines (line haul plus TOD). Then you whined to the moderators and the debate was conveniently cut off.
Yes, I do yell -- at the children on the forum who disrupt every reasonable PRT discussion with "fear tactics" and the dogmatic adherence to a number of talking points (many of them demonstrably incorrect)!
Remember those words, Ben? You should, because you wrote them about the tactics of monorail proponents. But, apparently, you have a remarkable level of tolerance for such tactics when they support your cause.
I ask you, Ben, where is your outrage against the fear mongering and dogmatism when it comes to PRT? There were at least four members (I think at least 2 of them were Avidor himself) spewing garbage uncontested. I called them on it, shouting at them to get their attention, and you come in and defend the dogmatists!
So what was it, Ben?
(continued from above... I accidentally posted before finishing)
What was it Ben? Was it just a lapse of judgement that caused you to defend a dogmatist in this case? Or are you just an out and out hypocrite?
Well, I have my answer. Back on Ben's blog, he's pushing the "PRT stalking horse" theory. Now he's not only defending dogmatists, he's actually participating in the propaganda campaign!
(See the comment section under his 3/7/06 entry of his High Frequency blog.)
But, he still wants to be considered an intellectual... so right after endorsing the stalking horse theory, he smugly challenges me with:
"TE, if you see me using fear tactics or not backing up my points with fact, please let me know!"
OK, Ben, consider this formal notification:
How about some hard evidence on the PRT stalking horse theory?
Apparently, SoulNotSold is back on the forums. And Ben Schiendelman is begging forgiveness for getting him booted in the first place:
"SNS: First, I want to apologize for what happened with moderation. I did not intend for your comments to be deleted, and I was unhappy to see that they used such a wide brush when deciding what to delete. I value your comments, and I think most others here do as well."
Apparently, Ben missed SNS's special brand of "fear tactics and dogmatic adherence to talking points".
I'm really surprised at the level of hypocrisy here. Say what you want about my involvement on the forums (I was very aggressive in my attempts to dispel the myths being propagated by SNS and others) but how can someone like Ben stoop to the level of apologizing to SNS?
It's truly astounding to me. It shows how dangerous this medium could be, if a dogmatist like Ben can so easily portray himself as an intellectual.
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