--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@...> wrote:
>
> --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltablues@> 
> wrote:
> > 
> > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote:
> > >
> > > --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" 
> > > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote:
> > > <snip>
> > > > Combined with holding Maharishi as a teacher so special
> > > > we should never goof on him or point out his failings
> > > > with us
> > > 
> > > That isn't what he said. Here's what he said:
> > > 
> > > "I think you could write about MMY as far less than
> > > perfect, as many on here do, without the cheap shots."
> > > 
> > > Ooopsie. That pretty much cancels out a good portion
> > > of your indictment of Jim.
> > 
> > Actually Jim has a long history of attacking me personally
> > for saying things about Maharishi.  Although he made that
> > statement his many examples of going after me after I have
> > said something he doesn't like pretty much cancels out
> > your point.
> 
> Let's see an example (both of your remark that Jim
> objected to and Jim's objection).
> 
> > > I might as well stick in my response to your demand
> > > for an example of one of your cheap shots:
> > > 
> > > --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" 
> > > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > So what do you consider a cheap shot that I
> > > > have taken at Maharishi?  I can't think of
> > > > anything I have said about him that I didn't
> > > > sincerely mean. My shots are carefully
> > > > considered and not cheap at all.
> > > 
> > > Well, those are some interesting definitions of
> > > "cheap shot," especially the first. I've not
> > > encountered "cheap shot" used in either of those
> > > senses, i.e., not sincerely meant or carefully
> > > considered.
> > > 
> > > Here's a recent remark of yours that qualifies as
> > > a cheap shot in my book:
> > > 
> > > "Then after Unity you have leisha vidya which I
> > > suspect was one of his personal excuses for
> > > banging groupies."
> > 
> > Then you have missed a key ingredient of what makes a
> > shot cheap, its unfairness.  In this case we both have
> > adequate documentation that this was precisely the
> > behavior he did engage in.
> 
> I told you to do yourself a favor and not try to
> justify it. Here's the dictionary definition: "a
> critical statement that takes unfair advantage of
> a known weakness of the target."
> 
> "Adequate documentation" doesn't enter into it at
> all.

It isn't unfair if the guy literally did what I was writing about. Maharishi 
actually did bang groupies.  There is nothing cheap about mentioning it.  It 
was cheap that he did it.


> 
> > And my speculation that this may have been some of
> > his rationalization is probably not far off.
> 
> But it was gratuitous in that context:

Not to me.  I get it that you want to help Jim who failed to come up with any 
examples of cheap shots.  But my statements reference his actual behavior. 

> 
> > > One of the hallmarks of the cheap shot is that it's
> > > a gratuitously nasty remark that makes no 
> > > contribution to the context into which it's been
> > > shoehorned, as was the case here.
> > 
> > It contributed to the context of my understanding of
> > the term and how it might be employed by Gurus to
> > justify behavior.  It was not gratuitous to me and I
> > was the writer.
> 
> You were a writer who was attempting to communicate
> about a general principle to somebody else. You weren't
> writing in your diary.

So we disagree about whether it was a cheap shot. Perhaps this is in the eye of 
the beholder.  It seemed like one to you and Jim but not to me.

> 
> > > Do yourself a favor and don't try to "justify" that
> > > one. Just know that when we say you take cheap shots
> > > at MMY, that's the kind of thing we mean.
> > 
> > My objection with Jim is that when I say something
> > about Maharishi, he takes a personal cheap shot at me.
> > Aligning yourself with this behavior does not speak
> > well of you. 
> 
> I'm aligning myself with what he said in the post youe
> misrepresented.
> 
> > Maharishi is a dead guy.  There is not "shot" to take that
> > affects him.  When people here take opinions of him
> > personally it reveals poor intellectual boundaries. 
> 
> Oh, I forgot, you don't think there's any such thing
> as taking a cheap shot at a dead person. We'll have to
> agree to disagree on that point, if you don't mind.

I may have to rethink that in light of thinking that it may be nature that a 
cheap shot for one person is just referencing an aspect of the person for 
another.  It is sort of a judgement on the relevance of something.  For me a 
cheap shot might be to say that Maharishi was such a midget that he couldn't 
see over his table of flowers.  Who cares how tall he was.  But I do care that 
he presented himself as a holy many and then banged groupies.  For me that is 
not gratuitous to reference that behavior. Sometimes it is very humorous to me. 

> 
> > Your posturing of virtue would be much more effective if
> > you spoke out against Jim's cheap shots at actual living
> > people here.
> 
> You are in no position to accuse me of posturing about
> anything, given your unwillingness to speak out against
> Barry's constant demonizations of and blatant falsehoods
> about actual living people here, including me and Jim.

But I don't posture to you that you should.  I was just pointing out what I 
consider hypocritical.
 
> > But you don't.   So I can only conclude that when he
> > ridicules people for their lack of the self realization
> > he believes he is so full of, you are down with that.
> 
> And I can only conclude that when Barry demonizes and
> lies about me and Jim and others, you're down with that.
> 
> Little tit for tat there. Live with it.

So perhaps you get my point that I try to stay out of the way you and Barry 
choose to interact.  But in this post you have inserted yourself into how Jim 
and I are interacting.  But you are only selecting the bits that attempt to 
support him without speaking out against his use of spirituality as a one 
upmanship game.  I don't care if you don't speak out against a guy you consider 
an ally here.  And I hope you understand better why I feel the same way about 
getting in between you and Barry.









>


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