Building the FARMS Ziggurat

[_Daniel Peterson]

It's because you're so hot.

You're probably right. I really hadn't thought of that. (I'm almost as humble as I am hot.)

[_Mister Scratch]

I genuinely think that you're either a truly bad person or insane in some sense (I'm not a specialist). In either case, for reasons that I honestly cannot fathom, you're irrationally, unfairly, unceasingly, and absurdly hostile to me, personally.

I've told you why I've been critical of you: it's because I think that apologetics, as led by you, is really, truly an evil enterprise. It needs to be shut down. Also, I object to the way you treat others on the various messageboards.

I just can't make up my mind why you treat me the way you do.

And what are we to make of the ways you treat Mike Quinn, Robert Ritner, James White, Tal Bachman, Harmony, and countless other people? In the end, you'll just say, in some way, shape, or form: "They deserved it!" Well, so did you. You get what you give, Professor P.

And I haven't demanded that you leave, nor will I demand it even though I've apparently now fulfilled your conditions.

Yes, you have. And I'm a man of my word. I'll simply end by informing the rest of the posters here about your little "taunting" game some time back.

Back during my days posting on FAIR, I used to log in using a University of Southern California computer. (And no---I won't say whether it was as faculty, staff, student, or via one of the public-access terminals.) Apparently, this fact was looked at or "spied upon" by the moderating team at FAIR/MAD. Also apparently, the USC IP addresses terminate at the USC Gould School of Law (I'm guessing, anyhow). Well, it seems that this information was passed along to DCP, who thought that he would use it in an effort to taunt me and/or shut me up. You can search through his old posts for words like "trojan," or "gould," and so on. You'll see that DCP would drop these terms into various exchanges that we had. I later learned, thanks to Liz, that DCP believed that I had been a student at the USC law school (I never was), and he was using this information to try and attack me. Probably nobody noticed, but that's what he was up to. And, as people here know, I certainly never said anything publicly about myself. So: he was using ill-begotten information to try and shut me up, or to exact revenge against me. This ought to answer the question of whether or not he peddles people's in real life information in an unethical fashion. Again: this was totally private information that I'd never revealed to anybody.

Did I deserve this kind of treatment? Maybe so. But, it doesn't matter. In any case, thus ends Mister Scratch.

[_Trevor]

I'm just pissed that I'll never see a FARMS Ziggurat. That would have been AWESOME!

[_Trevor]

In any case, thus ends Mister Scratch.

So you will be revealing your true identity? Ending your crusade against Mopologetics? Or what?

[_Daniel Peterson]

I've told you why I've been critical of you: it's because I think that apologetics, as led by you, is really, truly an evil enterprise. It needs to be shut down.

We disagree, on many levels. I don't "lead" apologetics, for one thing. And I think it's perfectly absurd to describe the FARMS Review, let alone the writings of Jack Welch and Stephen Ricks and Kevin Barney and Brant Gardiner and John Clark and Blake Ostler and the scores of other "apologists" out there, as evil.

Also, I object to the way you treat others on the various messageboards.

I believe in vigorous discussion, but I've never fallen to anything like the level of many here on this very board for whom you've never had a word of criticism.

And what are we to make of the ways you treat Mike Quinn, Robert Ritner, James White, Tal Bachman, Harmony, and countless other people?

With regard to Mike Quinn and Robert Ritner, most of what you say about how I've treated them is pure fiction. With regard to Tal Bachman, I've never responded to him in the spirit with which he's treated me from the beginning, nor said even a portion of what I could. James White? A long history. He gives at least as good as he gets. Harmony? I'd finally had enough of her claiming that I was indifferent to the oppression of Afghan women, unconcerned about burnt-out schools, serene about murdered schoolchildren. I've never said anything remotely so horrific about her, and never would.

In the end, you'll just say, in some way, shape, or form: "They deserved it!"

I've done nothing to Quinn or Ritner or Bachman. Did they deserve my doing nothing to them? Probably.

Well, so did you. You get what you give, Professor P.

I've never done anything to anybody remotely like what you've been doing to me for the past three years.

I'll simply end by informing the rest of the posters here about your little "taunting" game some time back.

I'll admit that I had some fun with you. I didn't seek out any information about your whereabouts or identity, but it came to me unbidden. And after three years of your relentless Scratchoscopies, during which you criticized my employment contract, my personal finances, my income, and my taste in music and literature and art, and twisted my every word to make me look cruel and hypocritical, and the like, it was genuinely amusing to see how upset you immediately became at the mere thought that somebody might possibly know something about you. You plainly preferred to do your character assassination from deep cover. Yet I never outed you, never actually said what I knew, never revealed your whereabouts, nothing.

he was using this information to try and attack me. Probably nobody noticed, but that's what he was up to.

Hardly.

So: he was using ill-begotten information to try and shut me up, or to exact revenge against me.

Subtly dropping passing mention of an obscure and inobvious reference to the Trojans or to Gould Hall (or whatever it is) into a post isn't a very powerful method of shutting anybody up, let alone of "exacting revenge."

This ought to answer the question of whether or not he peddles people's in real life information in an unethical fashion.

I think it does. Had I actually wanted to reveal your in real life information, I would have outright said what I knew. As it is, I doubt that very many even noticed those obscure passing references in a relative handful of posts, and I doubt that, if they had, they would have known what to make of them.

Did I deserve this kind of treatment?

Oh, yes indeed. And then some.

In any case, thus ends Mister Scratch.

Well, I didn't ask you to leave, but I can't truthfully say that I'll miss you if you really do. I invited you to stick around and post on substantive topics unrelated to attacking me, but I guess that doesn't interest you. (Sadly, your reaction was predictable.)

I'll be surprised, candidly, if you really stay away. I expect that you'll be back, even if not under the moniker of Mister Scratch. If you do come back, though, your distinct hoofprint -- your intense personal loathing of me and of Mormon apologetics -- will be immediately apparent.




.

[_rcrocket]

Did I deserve this kind of treatment? Maybe so. But, it doesn't matter. In any case, thus ends Mister Scratch.

Too bad. You're an effective foil.

I have also come to believe you are more than one person.

[Guest]

I almost feel bad for saying it -- since I genuinely, really and truly think DCP's a decent fellow and happen to like him a good deal -- but if Scratch is really gone, heartbroken doesn't begin to cover it. I love Scratch. He's funny, clever, and incapable of being un-entertaining. And as a fan of the surreal and the absurd, Scratch certainly kept me fixed (no offense there, buddy). I'm much more a lurker than an active participant on this board, and it has always been Scratch that keeps me coming back. With him gone, I honestly don't know where I'll waste my workday. All the other boards suck precisely because Scratch doesn't post on them.

I'll be wearing a black armband on each arm and taking a week-long vow of silence in observance of Scratch's departure. Mister Scratch, please reconsider. But if this is it, just know you have a fan in Dwight Frye.

I'll close by quoting my all time favorite bit of Scratch's writing:

Well, this is all very fascinating. Really, it has caused me to push away from my keyboard momentarily as I nod gravely and press my fingers together in a steeple shape. In my mind, I say, "Yes, it's all beginning to come together now."

To borrow a line from Eugene Levy in A Mighty Wind, I know that I will always think of you fondly, dear Scratch, every time I see a rose.

Goodbye, Mister Scratch. God be with you till we meet again.

[_Trevor]

I almost feel bad for saying it -- since I genuinely, really and truly think DCP's a decent fellow and happen to like him a good deal -- but if Scratch is really gone, heartbroken doesn't begin to cover it. I love Scratch. He's funny, clever, and incapable of being un-entertaining. And as a fan of the surreal and the absurd, Scratch certainly kept me fixed (no offense there, buddy).

Yeah, I don't almost feel bad for saying it. I genuinely feel guilty for saying it: I adored Scratch's writing. I came to disagree with what he was doing, and sick man that I am I still found some of his writing hilarious. I'm right there with you, DF, on the whole surreal and absurd aspect. I have said it on multiple occasions, but I'll say it once more: it was like having our own Andy Kaufman on MDB. The departures from reality were just too sweet.

[_The Nehor]

In contrast to all the sobering reflection regarding the leaving of Scratch I'd like to offer this tribute:

Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead. She's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
The Wicked Witch is dead!

[_Yong Xi]

Did I deserve this kind of treatment? Maybe so. But, it doesn't matter. In any case, thus ends Mister Scratch.

Too bad. You're an effective foil.

I have also come to believe you are more than one person.

I believe DCP and Mister Scratch are the same. Daniel takes on the Mister Scratch persona when tightening his cilice.