For the easily bored, here is why James Delingpole is attacking me this time.
I post this in case he decides to write about the events. Here is what happened without edit but occasional interruption from me. At no point did I name him or direct anything to him until he entered the conversation.
I saw this on Mo Ansar’s timeline
.@cake_not_hate Seems @jamesdelingpole is stirring up a Islamocentric hornets nest for ratings. Its about poor RE teaching. NOTHING more.- After tweeted this comment to Mo, no dot before the name, just to Mo and obviously seen by anyone who might follow both of us.
- So by this, I mean I take all these articles with a pinch of salt. I like science, so I appreciate doubt. Then this comes my way
@robinince @MoAnsar Yes Robin. You can bury your smug bien-pensant head in the sand and call my niece a liar. Or you can accept the truth.
@JamesDelingpole @MoAnsar I wasn't talking to you. my point is simple, I did not call you a liar- @JamesDelingpole @MoAnsar I merely said it always seems to happen to columnists (lucky you, gave you something to write about)
- @JamesDelingpole James, @robinince is right. As someone who carries out RE monitoring visits I've never seen or heard of such nonsense.
- @MoAnsar @JamesDelingpole I am not saying it didn't happen to JD, but I've never seen it, that is all.
- And this morning it leads to this (there were others as well. you can check my timeline if you are so bored to make sure I didn’t bother with ad hom attacks)
- @robinince You sad, devious, dishonest, and self-deluding man: why not avoid future discomfort by keeping out of my life?
So the conclusion is, even to make a comment about a columnist to a friend is unacceptable, while they are allowed to write publicly about anything and anyone they wish.
oh and this
- @robinince Stop wriggling. That was the only conceivable implication of what you said. Unless, of course, you were calling ME a liar.
- @JamesDelingpole it was a broad statement akin to "it's always bloggers like you who have this experience"
- @robinince You sad, devious, dishonest, and self-deluding man: why not avoid future discomfort by keeping out of my life?
what is odd about the “keeping out of my life” statement is that I never came into his life. every time he writes an attack on someone for publication, does he think “actually, I should keep out of their life”? It seems to be the request for a mind police that can ensure no one even has thoughts on words you have published.
The comment is barely about the article. It is about the number of pieces I used to read that declare “and they’ve banned the school nativity”, “they are only allowed to read in Esperanto now”, “my son is forced to wear a burqa” etc. I can only talk about experience of schools and teachers. I have never experienced much of what is written, so when it is written as if these things are rife, I think if they are so rife, why do I never see them in my life (there may be many reasons, but I hope you see my point). So what I have discovered is that to take certain journalists blog posts with a pinch of salt is repugnant, while ad hominem attacks, victimisation and (in the case of some journalists) writing conjecture based articles about me as if it were truth, is absolutely fine.
When Delingpole appeared on Horizon with Paul Nurse and some people found him laughable, i actually wrote to those I knew and suggested they didn’t include him by twitter name in their twitter comments about why they thought he had come across badly. As I have just found out, that would have made no difference.
NOTES
I am currently on tour and will also be doing a new show about Feynman and Darwin, all details here (well if you can’t use something negative and disturbing as plug…)
Share & notify
Notify
140
