This is my 50th for the week. I want to speak up in defense of Shemp. (This evening after the post count turns, I'll respond to Barry's dishonest tirade about the posting limits. He's made that same post so many times I could do it in my sleep.)
--- In [email protected], "Alex Stanley" <j_alexander_stanley@...> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], Michael Jackson <mjackson74@> wrote: > > > > who the heck was shempmcgurk? > > A right-wing coward who hid behind an anonymous ID in order > to sling invective at people. He made the mistake of trying > to post a particularly nasty, profanity laden diatribe in > response to Rick, but he was logged in with the Yahoo ID > associated with his real name, and it ended up being sent > to Rick instead of FFL. Rick forwarded the abusive email to > FFL, and shemp unsubscribed shortly thereafter. > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/message/244508 Alex, I have to object to your characterization of Shemp. He was a right-winger and could be very nasty in political discussions, but that doesn't summarize his contributions to FFL anywhere near adequately. He was extremely bright and wrote insightful, interesting, and often very witty posts on nonpolitical topics. He made some of the most thoughtful posts on the subject of TM/MMY/the TMO that I've ever seen here. I don't think it's at all fair to call him a "coward" because he used a handle, much less to claim he used a handle so he could sling invective. He was active on other forums but used a handle only on FFL (and on alt.m.t prior to that), which he had joined to talk about TM (he had been a TM teacher); politics was incidental. Many people have used a handle here because they wanted to be able to speak freely about TM without getting on any TMO blacklists (especially TM teachers). And Shemp's invective was pretty much limited to his political posts. Shemp could make you tear your hair out at times, no question about it, but there was also a great deal to appreciate about him. IMO, Rick should have redacted Shemp's real name on that email he got by mistake if he was going to make it public. It was obvious to most of us (and should have been to Rick) that it was from Shemp. He left FFL, I believe, because he assumed--understandably--that Rick had outed him purposely to punish him (for something Shemp had intended to post publically in any case). I don't blame Shemp one bit. It was a bad misstep by Rick that deprived us of a very worthwhile contributor to FFL.
