Rocky

Quite true. Carrying this idea further, Mike has not made any argument that would come close to suggesting Wierwille was obeying God by plagiarizing.

That sure sounds an awful lot like the logical fallacy, "appeal to authority."

Mike appears to be constructing an elaborate (fictive) scenario hoping to make sense of his specious claims. This construct is in the form of an argument but lacks substance. Waysider's supposition, that Wierwille's early followers may not even have known or realized VeePee had stolen the material seems more plausible to me.

Not sure Mike is still on the radio... but he's got a great voice for it and for narration.

That takes the form of an argument supposedly based on logic. However, it is based on suppositions and is not documented, at least not by you as presented.

Inevitably, it deteriorates, even IF it's agreed upon ahead of time. And for it to be valid, it would have to be agreed upon ahead of time by all parties that would be materially impacted.

Back at you, annio! :)

Might this be one reference you used?

Do you have any online citations that might help other readers here understand your methods and develop like skills? Please share.

How did you acquire your expertise at divining whether someone who posts here is "well-intentioned" or not?

How did you arrive at your expertise at determining what other people's motives might be?

I'm pretty sure that's not how forums work. In fact, that sounds like bullying passive-aggressively framed as politeness. What really is the way you can choose not to be a victim? Hint: it's not to try to control other people's behavior.

Do you now? How special.

Btw, Socrates, I think Mike is correct that you restated his "C" point in different words than he used, but it's the same concept.

Are you describing contrasting economic systems... perhaps socialism vs capitalism?

That's trademark veepee self-justifying rationalization. Well, it really wasn't originated with veepee. But it's something he did frequently. Hmmm... where is there posted a rule saying that any discussion of Wierwille must be limited to the About the Way forum? "TWI" wanted? Really, Mike? Who dreamed up the motto, "Word over the World?" Wasn't it, as Socrates says, "Saint Vic?"

Take a deep breath.

Isn't that special?! <3

According to Hayes' blog he served in the both chambers of the Maine legislature.

And what exactly is your point?

Perhaps a wise strategy. Btw, I read an interesting article about Billy Graham earlier today. I'd go into it and post some of it but it and BG's ministry got into politics pretty heavily so I won't.

Recently, one author connected some dots in American history (500 years of it) showing how America became a Fantasyland for new religions and the implications thereof. “A provocative new study of America’s cultural history . . . In this absorbing, must-read polemic, Andersen exhaustively chronicles a development eating away at the very foundation of Americanism.”—Newsday A reader said this about the book, Fantasyland is, as the subtitle says, a 500-year history of the United States, recounted through a particular prism, and I find the thesis convincing and compelling. Andersen's premise is that from colonial days on, America, unlike Europe, has been shaped by people who have been divorced from reality, whether through religious fanaticism (think the Puritans) or prospects of riches (think the Roanoke colony or Jamestown settlers). And that tenacious grip on fantasy over fact has largely guided our nation's history, with new examples emerging in every era. In the aggregate, this elevation of the impossible, the absurd and the unsubstantiated, has repeatedly destroyed lives and gotten us to the sorry place we are today... Fantasyland won't sit well with people who are deeply religious, as some of the other reviews suggest. Andersen takes repeated and precise aim at mainstream religion, as well as fringe sects like Mormonism and Scientology, He traces how various extreme elements and beliefs have come to influence politics, culture and education, among others. And he doesn't cut New Agey sorts any slack, either. But for those of us who reside mainly in the reality-based community, who believe in science and empirical evidence and view religious documents like the Bible as metaphorical, not literal, it is an important and valuable analysis of how we have come to the current pass.

I had an eye doctor try one time to give me a prescription where one eye was set for reading the other eye for distance vision... he did so without my permission. I made him change it. I don't believe that method helps at all. That might be why you get headaches from reading.