tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543652813050186080.post1910431553354813059..comments2023-09-13T01:04:52.266-07:00Comments on THE WRENCH : With Facebook Friends Like These...: How a Self-Described "Ms. Witchdoctress" "Gets Rid" of GadfliesWendy Lynne Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17591185266607991768noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543652813050186080.post-77356597351582403232015-09-18T09:13:50.881-07:002015-09-18T09:13:50.881-07:00I knew you'd want the last word, and LIGAFF.I knew you'd want the last word, and LIGAFF. Tom Frostnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543652813050186080.post-59839688284156849132015-09-18T08:53:05.072-07:002015-09-18T08:53:05.072-07:00Mr. Frost--perhaps this variety of flirting works ...Mr. Frost--perhaps this variety of flirting works with the Witchdoctress, but I'm afraid you've really got no shot here.Wendy Lynne Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17591185266607991768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543652813050186080.post-44999876034406148102015-09-18T08:24:29.330-07:002015-09-18T08:24:29.330-07:00It must suck to have so few followers left that yo...It must suck to have so few followers left that you have to wait two months for people other than yourself and afraid-to-give-their-name cowards to come along and bother to do the stirring up of the comments section that you need for your latest narcissism-appeasement fix. Tom Frostnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543652813050186080.post-36238739975099547932015-09-18T05:39:35.299-07:002015-09-18T05:39:35.299-07:00First, thank you "Anonymous" for these k...First, thank you "Anonymous" for these kind words. Indeed, the self-profesed "witch-doctress" IS a charlatan of the worst sort--one who appears as benign and caring, but in fact is far more interested in projecting an image of herself as gifted with some special magical knowledge than she is in helping any other--including the animals in her charge. I had simply had my fill of this kind of horn-swaggle. There come a point where, if we don't take a stand to alert people to real dangers and potential harms, we become their accomplice. Such was the case here. <br /><br />As for Mr. Frost's latest bit of sputum, I have no idea what he's talking about with respect to "blocking," and the notion that there's anything in this frail anti-fracking movement I'm actually missing--that I don't have access and contacts--is, well, just silly. So, Mr. Frost--you're a bit late to this party. Wendy Lynne Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17591185266607991768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543652813050186080.post-22513757384589779982015-09-18T03:39:41.558-07:002015-09-18T03:39:41.558-07:00What a pity it is that, as a result of your deserv...What a pity it is that, as a result of your deserved receiving of some of your own blocking-coward medicine, you're missing the LATEST development, one that you'd REALLY have a field day about and on which I'd be on your side! Tom Frostnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543652813050186080.post-63799894463127957762015-07-09T19:31:38.817-07:002015-07-09T19:31:38.817-07:00Thank you Wendy Lee, you have written a courageous...Thank you Wendy Lee, you have written a courageous defense of reason, science and rationality. I have had direct personal experience with the results of nonsensical quasi-religious beliefs and they can get people killed. We lost a close member of our family – my mother’s companion of 7 years, as a direct result of magical pseudo-science. This was a good, loving man of only 75 years who could have lived well into his eighties. His death propelled my mother into an emotional tailspin and robbed us all of a great friend. Perhaps it was a function of a limited scientific education or perhaps it was the result of willful ignorance but this man, upon showing signs of illness, pursued a host of “alternative” interventions before finally being forced by my mother to see a proper medical doctor. Vital months were wasted with homeopathic “prescriptions”, acupuncture treatments, herbal remedies, and other procedures that prey upon human gullibility. What was particularly egregious is that he actually consulted with “professional” proponents of this quackery – people like the “Witchdoctress”. End result – a simple chest x-ray, something any true medical professional would have ordered months before, showed he had lung cancer. And here the witches, shaman, and botanical-crystal-chakra healers had misdiagnosed it as problems with bone alignment, fungal infection, or a disruption of chi flow. Unfortunately, his cancer had seriously progressed in the months he devoted to pseudo-science and he passed away during lung surgery as a result.<br />The irrational, internally inconsistent, delusional nonsense people like Julie Edgar promote can, and does, get people killed. You had a moral obligation to call out her melaleuca bullshit. I wish more people had the integrity to confront these charlatans. They disgust me.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543652813050186080.post-27231886678075670802015-07-09T10:57:53.340-07:002015-07-09T10:57:53.340-07:00I find it incomprehensible in the days we are in t...I find it incomprehensible in the days we are in that someone would solicit funds for personal use. This lady portrays herself as a savior of the environment and a slayer of evil frack dragons. There are people trying to raise funds for experts to win their lawsuits. There are people without good drinking water. They are desperate and have expended all personal means to help themselves and are in dire need of help. Yet this person has the unmitigated gall to let her kids suffer since February with ringworm, not get them dental exams so they are not reduced to an ER for a problem and turn around and ask the very people she purports to be helping for money because no job seems good enough for her. If natural cures were what this witchdoctress claims them to be, she should have made them go away with some plant roots and a chant. If it's really bad, maybe a shrine or two and throw in some incense for good measure. I don't diss all natural cures, but you get the gist.<br /><br />A couple of points here. I know many, many people that take jobs that they don't like and are underpaid for, but do so as not to be a drain on others, myself included. We are only entitled to our dream job if we work for it and make it happen. In the meantime, it is the responsibility of each one of us to do what we can to survive. <br /><br />My other point is that it appears that the only use she has acquired from her education is the ability to beg and beg well. Oh, and let's not forget the hashtags. She's good at hashtags.<br /><br />With all the problems of the earth due to our addiction to fossil fuels, my money would be better spent on helping those harmed or contributing to start up businesses for clean energy. I don't have much, but I do give and give often. <br /><br />It doesn't escape me that the majority of her supporters are men that seem enthralled with her, and I pity them for not admiring self supporting and independent women. In my darkest hours, I would never reduce my family to online begging for fear of what that is teaching my children. Posting nude portraits of oneself pretty much guarantees the men will be there when needed.<br /><br />Finally, I see this resulted in you be tortured by folks that didn't take the time to read what all started this was name calling of you which occurred basically behind your back, as you were trashed by her and blocked from the ability to defend yourself. If that is not childish, I don't know what is. In my mind I think she owes you an apology, a public one at that. Don't ever take the criticisms you received on this piece seriously. No one handed you that Phd, or was there an online campaign of you begging for it that I missed?<br /><br />One lesson that many activists forget is that you cannot help others if you cannot help yourself. You don't ever need to contribute money or goods to be a good activist. Being self-sustaining, knowledgeable in the matter at hand, respected by others, and most of all giving of your time to help is all that is required to be effective. <br /><br />Being a drama queen, and I've seen the posts filled with drama, only hurts those you pretend to help.<br /><br />Because I have a job to get to, I will not go into how it is inhumane to have animals you cannot support their health needs, nor will I post job openings in her area of which there are many. I also will not question where the money went. That is between her and her contributors. I'm just glad my vet isn't that expensive. I will just close with this. I would rather go work for something I truly despise than to ever be a drain on my friends. I'd respect her more if I saw her behind the counter at a local convenience store than to see what just occurred. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543652813050186080.post-89934181719477762632015-07-08T06:09:48.394-07:002015-07-08T06:09:48.394-07:004. There is much more to be said here--some of whi...4. There is much more to be said here--some of which I did include in the piece--about Ms. Edgar's claim, in effect, that there's just one variety of ecofeminism, and that it validates nonlinear thinking, a reclamation of mother earth images, the "witchdoctress" archetypes, and the like. That is simply and demonstrably false. In fact, there's copious criticism from WITHIN feminist theory and activism of images that in effect re-assert precisely the heteropatriarchal view of women from time immemorial--but as elevated. <br /><br />That project of elevation is a substantial failure; after all, ISIS claims to honor its women--so long as they fulfill their god-assigned roles as mothers and daughters--but I'll bet few in Julie's camp would be comfortable with that elevation. One commenter went as far as to say that I ought to be "ashamed" for having allowed a white man in my last iteration of a course in Feminist Theory. I would counter that THAT is precisely the rigid and stereotyping behavior feminists have long-resisted. This same commenter also insisted to another poster that she was privileged as a professor--though Latina. I suggest that what the commenter made very clear was her lack of understanding about what feminist theorists call "intersectionality," namely that without a grasp of the many INTERSECTIONS--race, sex, ability, age, veteran status, religion, sexual identity, geography, etc--that make up the warp and woof of any particular person's experience, such judgments are, again, merely reactionary.<br /><br />5. This all finally brings me to my last observation: the vast majority of the commenters seemed utterly uninterested in the ARGUMENTS I laid out in the piece. Instead, and in reactionary fashion--they went right for me. That is ad hominem--virtually no matter what they actually say. By making the piece about me and not about the arguments, they shift the entire set of issues away from what actually matters--whether any of us is entitled to believe just anything when our beliefs have consequences. Unable or unwilling--or just too lazy--to consider the arguments, they head for the cheap weapons--that switchblades of "you're just mean," "you've abandoned the sisterhood," "you just want attention," yadda yadda. The fact is that even if any of these silly claims were true, they're IRRELEVANT. Arguments stand or fall ON THEIR OWN.<br /><br />I deeply appreciate the thoughtful comments--including the critical ones--some of which I hope I have addressed here. And I also very much appreciate the supportive observations.<br /><br />Thank you.<br /><br />I am now going to repost the piece: With Facebook Friends Like These...: How a Self-Described "Ms. Witchdoctress" "Gets Rid" of Gadflies<br /><br />I welcome discussion about the arguments, the evidence. If you think you've got a good argument for nonlinear thinking, I'd love to hear it. If you think you can show me how consciousness alters reality, bring it on. Delighted. After all, it was a spirited and entirely respectful conversation about bee-sting that led Ms. Edgar to banish me--I can only gather that I had just gotten too close to disrupting her apparently fragile constellation of beliefs.<br /><br />But if the only way you can preserve your worldview is by shutting out critical evaluation of it--well, it must be VERY VERY fragile and crumbly, AND you must at some level KNOW that.<br />I will no longer respond to the name-calling, the ridicule, or the trashing of my academic credentials.<br /><br />Please enjoy the piece: <br /><br />http://thewrenchphilosleft.blogspot.com/2015/07/with-facebook-friends-like-these-how.htmlWendy Lynne Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17591185266607991768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543652813050186080.post-25114631827501266102015-07-08T06:09:39.278-07:002015-07-08T06:09:39.278-07:003. Among the most disheartening, but instructive, ...3. Among the most disheartening, but instructive, lessons of this particular thread was the lengths to which some commenters were willing to go to defend what was in fact a wholly unsolicited vitriolic attack by Ms. Edgar on me--intended to disparage my character--BEHIND MY BACK. That some called this simply a "personal" post on her "private" FB page is beyond absurd--and it too is hypocritical, as I have no doubt that they would feel themselves entitled to self-defense. This is a PUBLIC media--and that's it. That Ms. Edgar has now presumably unfriended and blocked me in no way means that she won't see THIS post. She will.<br /><br />More importantly is that her banishment and subsequent assault on my character generated virtually NO comment as an issue of free exchange. Indeed, Ms. Edgar's right to assault was defended heartily--and mine to self-defense ignored or made out to be a fault--of MINE. That too makes it no wonder that the gas industry finds this movement impotent--why shouldn't they trample our rights to free expression, right to assemble, etc when we take these rights so lightly? If WE can't resolve to defend the right to free expression when it involves critical review, why should they?<br /><br />Wendy Lynne Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17591185266607991768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543652813050186080.post-25001309280614224432015-07-08T06:07:37.734-07:002015-07-08T06:07:37.734-07:002. The anti-intellectualism of some of the comment...2. The anti-intellectualism of some of the comments is truly staggering. I make no apologies for having worked my ass off to earn a PhD. And to those who call this "privilege," and there were several, I have this to say: such insipid comments derive from nothing other than resentment and thinly concealed jealousy.<br /><br />Such comments seem to want to have it both ways: if an academic REALLY believes--as I do--that I have a moral responsibility to live my philosophical and moral principles AND work, as Karl Marx advised, not merely to know the world but to change it for the better, and I DO that, I am accused of "elitism," as if knowing were a bad thing. If an academic simply remains in the ivory tower, never reaching out to improve the human or nonhuman animal condition, we are equally accused of being "elitist," for not caring about anything other than our narrow niche of research.<br /><br />We cannot have this both ways.<br /><br />These "privilege" comments are also intended--though absurdly--to foster the idea that there are other "ways of knowing"--like the non-linear Mumbo Jumbo that doesn't require standards of evidence or empirical justification through rigorous experiment. But THAT is a prescription for "ANYTHING GOES!" Indeed, THAT is how we got creationism, climate change denial, and the denial that tobacco causes cancer. I find it richly ironic --and stunningly hypocritical--that people who LEAN on the science to support their claims against fracking--citing Ingraffia, Howard, big health studies, etc--promptly discard it when it doesn't fit their flavor of the day claims to silly bull shit like this idea that consciousness can alter reality. It CAN'T. It is NO wonder with so many anti-science voices in the anti-fracking movement that the industry makes mince meat of us. Indeed, we do THAT do ourselves. We don't get to cherry pick the science.<br /><br />If what demonstrates that fracking causes brain cancer also shows that consciousness is nothing more (or less) than a fancy schmancy brain process, then whatever else we might want to believe about some sort of consciousness that can survive death or move objects has to be forfeited.<br /><br />We cannot have this both ways either.Wendy Lynne Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17591185266607991768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3543652813050186080.post-53462160738597502172015-07-08T06:07:20.445-07:002015-07-08T06:07:20.445-07:00Posted as observations to the comments registered ...Posted as observations to the comments registered at Facebook:<br /><br />Dear friends and allies,<br /><br />Though, of course, considerable fallout could have been predicted over the critical piece I posted yesterday concerning Julie Ann Edgar, even I could not have predicted the vitriol with which the piece was greeted. There were indeed some very thoughtful comments, and some very supportive ones--but the balance was profoundly reactionary in ways both informative and worthy of despair about a paucity of respect for the sciences and the project of knowledge in general.<br />I have just a few observations to make about this.<br /><br />1. One very thoughtful commenter asks why, after I show that Ms. Edgar's apparent constellation of beliefs about reality, health, and medicine are insupportable (indeed, nonsense), I take her to task with respect to her on-line solicitations for money for things like rent and medical care for her children and cats. That's a very reasonable question, and here's what I think a compelling answer:<br /><br />We are all entitled to believe whatever we wish--no matter how silly, or voodoo, or unsupported by good evidence --UNTIL our beliefs threaten to do real harm to others, ESPECIALLY others who are in no position--children, animals, and otherwise vulnerable people--to resist that harm or seek council elsewhere. This is clearly the case with Ms. Edgar whose repeated posts about various and sundry "natural" remedies recommended for very REAL ailments or emergencies have no other support than her appeal to "nonlinear reasoning" which is mumbo jumbo for "'cuz I think so."<br /><br />The bee-sting recommendation for Melaleuca was simply the last straw. So, in laying out the case against Melaleuca on (a) the grounds that there is no reason to use this expensive oil instead of baking soda for non-alergic bee sting, (b) that it will NOT treat anaphylactic shock, that (c) its major sales outlet is a well-supported pyramid scheme of a fat right-wing charlatan, and (d) that it is a destroyer of wildlife and habitat in the U.S., I made the case for NOT doing precisely what Ms. Edgar DOES, recommend it to parents for their children.<br /><br />Imagine: Your kid gets a bee sting. They complain that it hurts. You douse it in the Melaleuca recommended by someone else who claims to have "saved" loads of kids with it. Your kid seems better--until you look across the playground and see them laying on the ground suffocating.<br /><br />Ms. Edgar's antipathy towards Western medicine has harmed her kids and her animals. Then--as in the case of the ringworm and her cat's respiratory illness--when things get REALLY bad, she heads for cyberspace solicitation of funds from other people to pay for what is NOW an emergency. At that moment, it's no longer a "private" or "personal" issue, as some commenters insisted. She's asking everyone for money. That makes it ALL of our business, and it makes her responsible to at a bare bones minimum to present receipts, etc --clear evidence--that she used the money for what she said she would. Better: ANYONE who would give money to someone who absolutely COULD have acted sensibly to treat the suffering of her children and animals is simply being a fool.<br /><br />What on earth gives Ms. Witchdoctress the right to expect others to PAY for the disastrous consequences of a belief system that is such malarky that it insures MORE suffering?<br /><br />She says she cannot afford health insurance--but I have no reason to think she'd use it even if she could. Why treat bee-sting with Epinephrin when you've got Melaleuca?<br /><br />Answer: because you want to SURVIVE.<br /><br />Another commenter says she's been trying to build a business for years. Fine. It's clearly not paying off, and what that means when you've got kids depending on you is that you just go get a regular old job like the rest of us.<br /><br />Wendy Lynne Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17591185266607991768noreply@blogger.com