Harassment and Hypocrisy: The Robert Boylan Experience

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Bill_Billiams
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Harassment and Hypocrisy: The Robert Boylan Experience

Post by Bill_Billiams »

This post is a bit long but I think it serves as an example of the way Robert Boylan behaves in an unhealthy and unhinged way. Some of this comes through second hand information but much of it I have seen as it was happening. My friend Travis has given me permission to write this and post it here.

About a year ago Travis (a Lutheran) was a member of a social media group that was focused on discussion and debate between Mormons and Christians. He was not an admin or a mod in the group and had no control over the group in any way. The group was civil enough until the page itself (anonymous admin) made a single post that was critical of Robert Boylan. Travis claims that up to this point he had never heard of Robert Boylan. For some reason, most likely vindictiveness, an amateur mopologist named Christopher Davis told Robert Boylan that Travis owned the page and had made the post. Boylan subsequently researched Travis (or anyone who had the same name) and posted a bunch of Travis' personal information on his vapid blog, "Scriptural Mormonism." As far as we can tell the information belonged to several different people named Travis. Boylan did manage to post the phone number of one of Travis' older relatives who has alzheimers. The post was up for a few months before a mutual friend found it and reported it to blogspot which removed the offending sections. Other than a few suspicious phone calls nothing happened which leads us to believe either no one reads Boylan's blog or the average Mormon isn't nearly as unhinged as he is. For better or worse, Travis decided to use social media to call out Boylan for what he did. This resulted in Boylan further harassing Travis and making more unhinged posts.

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Boylan seems to believe, based on absolutely no evidence, that Travis is supported by his wife. While this is not true, it is bizarre that Boylan would think this is an insult given that women are perfectly capable of earning money and having a career. Boylan's bigotry towards women is on full display here. Ironically, one of Boylan's best mopologist friends is completely dependent on his wife. Boylan appears to struggle with consistency.

Boylan has also falsely asserted that Travis is a Correctional Officer in AZ who makes $32,043 or $36,751 depending on which post you look at (Boylan struggles with consistency again). Boylan has said that COs are unintelligent, the job pays peanuts, and it's a dead end job. Travis is not a CO. However, it is a great example of Boylan's shoddy research efforts. According to the official AZ Department of Corrections website CO compensation is between $45,621 - $54,975 depending on experience with additional geographical stipends up to 15% (information found here https://corrections.az.gov/correctional-officer-careers). This means that a CO working at a remote prison makes $63,221 base pay before they work a shred of overtime. Further CO compensation includes medical/dental insurance, 10 paid holidays per year, 12 paid sick days per year, 12 vacation days per year, and a 25 year pension. Boylan claims to work as a research analyst for the B.H. Roberts foundation. According to information found online the pay for this position is $50,000 a year with unspecified benefits, if any. He also BEGS for money almost constantly with accounts set up on Patreon, Venmo, Paypal, and Go Fund Me. It appears he receives almost nothing from his begging attempts but I'll do a separate post on that later. Boylan makes less money and has fewer benefits than people he has disparaged and called unintelligent.

Bemusingly, Boylan also seems to think that his blog will leave a greater legacy than having children. He bristles at the fact that Travis pointed out that Boylan is little more than a blogger with an inflated sense of self-importance. To which Boylan responded, "Travis... likes to dismiss me as someone who is only a blogger, that is way better than some randomer on Facebook and youtube who will leave no lasting impression on the world when we [sic] dies and becomes a good Lutheran." I wonder what kind of miserable, desperate, and warped person you have to be to think that a blog is a greater legacy than a family.
dastardly stem
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Re: Harassment and Hypocrisy: The Robert Boylan Experience

Post by dastardly stem »

I kinda enjoy interfaith arguments and disagreements. Often, no blood lost there. Hopefully this Travis guy turns into the type of opponent Boylan's been searching for. If Boylan reels a couple of opponents in he might be looking to take over for DCP. He appears to have the disposition for it.
Last edited by dastardly stem on Thu Jun 01, 2023 3:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Harassment and Hypocrisy: The Robert Boylan Experience

Post by drumdude »

Does Boylan think he is leaving behind some lasting mark on the world?

The dude has to be firmly on the autism spectrum. The obsession with IQ, politics, and complete lack of self awareness.
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Re: Harassment and Hypocrisy: The Robert Boylan Experience

Post by Doctor Steuss »

Robert "I Beg Everyone for Handouts" Boylan has a bizarre fixation on the income of people.
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Re: Harassment and Hypocrisy: The Robert Boylan Experience

Post by dastardly stem »

Pay in Ireland per capita is about as good as it gets. Might be a cultural fascination.
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Re: Harassment and Hypocrisy: The Robert Boylan Experience

Post by MsJack »

drumdude wrote:
Thu Jun 01, 2023 3:08 pm
Does Boylan think he is leaving behind some lasting mark on the world?
A search for his name in ATLA / EBSCO revealed one result, a 2010 "book review" of Ross Anderson's book on the Book of Mormon for FARMS:

Image

Searching simply "Boylan, Robert" brings up a bunch of people in other fields whom I'm fairly certain are not him, so I tried searching under "Mormon," "theology," "patristics," "apologetics," "history of biblical interpretation," and "Bible." Nothing except the book review under "Mormon."

ATLA / EBSCO is full of errors and its indexing is imperfect, so it's possible he's written academic things that aren't on there, but so far it's caught everything I've published in an actual journal or book. Even the things that I wrote under my ex-husband's last name show up under a search for "Jeffries, Bridget."

I have nothing against self-publishing or blogging, by the way, but if people aren't actually discussing and reviewing your self-published works in academic journals, then your writing probably isn't having much of an impact.
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Bill_Billiams
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Re: Harassment and Hypocrisy: The Robert Boylan Experience

Post by Bill_Billiams »

drumdude wrote:
Thu Jun 01, 2023 3:08 pm
Does Boylan think he is leaving behind some lasting mark on the world?

The dude has to be firmly on the autism spectrum. The obsession with IQ, politics, and complete lack of self awareness.
He certainly has something wrong with his thought process. He actually has all the qualities of a lolcow if anyone remembers that old internet term.
Last edited by Bill_Billiams on Thu Jun 01, 2023 4:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Harassment and Hypocrisy: The Robert Boylan Experience

Post by drumdude »

Bill_Billiams wrote:
Thu Jun 01, 2023 3:58 pm
drumdude wrote:
Thu Jun 01, 2023 3:08 pm
Does Boylan think he is leaving behind some lasting mark on the world?

The dude has to be firmly on the autism spectrum. The obsession with IQ, politics, and complete lack of self awareness.
He certainly has something wrong with his thought process. He actual has all the qualities of a lolcow if anyone remembers that old internet term.
Indeed, we've been milking DCP for the better part of 15 years! :lol:

The ex-Mormon banner has Tapir Dan on it as a tribute to all he's provided.
Bill_Billiams
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Re: Harassment and Hypocrisy: The Robert Boylan Experience

Post by Bill_Billiams »

MsJack wrote:
Thu Jun 01, 2023 3:54 pm
drumdude wrote:
Thu Jun 01, 2023 3:08 pm
Does Boylan think he is leaving behind some lasting mark on the world?
A search for his name in ATLA / EBSCO revealed one result, a 2010 "book review" of Ross Anderson's book on the Book of Mormon for FARMS:

Image

Searching simply "Boylan, Robert" brings up a bunch of people in other fields whom I'm fairly certain are not him, so I tried searching under "Mormon," "theology," "patristics," "apologetics," "history of biblical interpretation," and "Bible." Nothing except the book review under "Mormon."

ATLA / EBSCO is full of errors and its indexing is imperfect, so it's possible he's written academic things that aren't on there, but so far it's caught everything I've published in an actual journal or book. Even the things that I wrote under my ex-husband's last name show up under a search for "Jeffries, Bridget."

I have nothing against self-publishing or blogging, by the way, but if people aren't actually discussing and reviewing your self-published works in academic journals, then your writing probably isn't having much of an impact.
The issue with Boylan, in my opinion, is that he tries to pass off his not peer reviewed self-published books and blog posts as scholarship to other Mormons. But when he gets challenged about it by those on the outside he denies claiming to be a scholar. I think a lot of mopologists do this kind of thing. I am unaware of anything Boylan has written that could be considered academic. Bizarrely, he does leave 5 star reviews on his own books on Amazon. Here is an example: https://www.amazon.com/After-Order-Son- ... eature_div

This just further highlights what a strange person he is.
Bill_Billiams
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Re: Harassment and Hypocrisy: The Robert Boylan Experience

Post by Bill_Billiams »

dastardly stem wrote:
Thu Jun 01, 2023 3:44 pm
Pay in Ireland per capita is about as good as it gets. Might be a cultural fascination.
That's certainly possible. It just comes off as deeply hypocrital to try to shame people for their income while also begging for money and claiming to be impoverished. Or maybe Boylan just isn't self-aware.
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