Apologetics Answers
Saturday, March 26, 2005
I Win the "Extraordinarily Silly Gentleman" Award from John Gorenfeld
LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARILY SILLY GENTLEMEN: John Gorenfeld (above, as seen on www.gorenfeld.net) considers Mark Kellner an "extraordinarily silly gentleman," but the usually verbose Mr. G won't say why.
The e-mail arrived in my mailbox with no fanfare, just an intriguing subject line: "You are an extraordinarily silly gentleman."
The message text:
"Yours sincerely,along with his Web address, phone and fax numbers and street address, all of which are omitted here, for obvious reasons.
--
John Gorenfeld"
I shot back a question: "To what do I owe this honor?" And I waited about 24 hours. Mr. Gorenfeld, a journalist who seems to claim a rather prolific output, hasn't responded.
I suppose he doesn't like my comments about Anton Willem Hein, who has approvingly quoted Mr. Gorenfeld's ad hominem attacks on a United States Government official, Amb. Josette Shiner of the U.S. Trade Representative's office. Ms. Shiner, you see, is a former Managing Editor of The Washington Times (disclosure: I'm in my 15th year as a freelance weekly computer columnist there) and a former member of the Unification Church. Mr. Gorenfeld, perhaps forgetting that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States" (Art. 1, Section VI, Clause 3, Constitution of the United States (scroll down to find the clause), felt it necessary to spread word of Ms. Shiner's apparently former religious views to all who'd listen, including the aforementioned Mr. Hein.
Most recently, Mr. Gorenfeld posted a short smirk to note that Ms. Shiner will not ascend to the top position in the USTR's office. Whatever her reactions, I would personally suggest that Josette Shiner, an acquaintance and a person of great integrity, has already achieved far more in her life than John Gorenfeld is ever likely to accomplish.
Ms. Shiner has long stood for freedom and human rights and has practiced exceptional journalism in many situations, not the least being a memorable interview with the late Kim Il Sung [corrected, Apr. 11, 2005], this despite her well-known anti-Communist stance. Mr. Gorenfeld has, well, picked on a girl, and called me silly.
I'll stand with Josette Shiner any day of the week, even though I'll also happily defend Mr. Gorenfeld's freedom of speech.
Post Script: Mr. Gorenfeld has responded on his blog, which I suppose is easier than responding to an e-mail. He says that I "misread" the attack on Ms. Shiner as religiously based. Perhaps, but Mr. Gorenfeld should remember that others, such as Anton Willem Hein, picked up on Mr. G's screed; Mr. Hein's primary interest is in religious matters.
And if Mr. Gorenfeld, as he now claims, was merely interested in whether Ms. Shiner retained earlier political-social views, WHY DIDN'T HE SAY THIS UNTIL AFTER MY COMMENTS WERE POSTED? (For those wondering, yes, I've e-mailed Mr. G asking this same question.)
Again, Mr. Gorenfeld has freedom of speech, and I'll defend it. I just wish he'd be clear, and up front about his motives and concerns.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Anton Hein's Failure -- Will He Now Back Down?
More than a year ago -- as seen in the unchanged e-mail below, quoted elsewhere in this Weblog, Anton Willem Hein, formerly of San Diego and currently, it is to be presumed, of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has had more than 365 days to live up to what he said:
">-----Original Message-----Nor have I seen any evidence of Mr. Hein's having the decency to withdraw his charges, let alone admit that my arguments may -- just may -- have some merit.
>From: Mark A. Kellner [mailto:mark@kellner.us]
>Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 11:49 AM
>To: AR-forum@apologia.org
>Subject: Re: [AR-forum] Hein's 'engagement' of Kellner's facts and data
>I'll repeat: If Mr. Hein cannot document his charges, he
>should have the decency to withdraw them.
Mr. Kellner, thou protests [sic] too much. As I have already indicated, your material will be dealt with in time. I will show it to be in error, full of logical fallacies and wrong conclusions, an example of shoddy apologetics, and an attack on Christians. You'll just have to exhibit some patience and self-control."
So far as I have been able to determine, Mr. Hein has utterly, completely and totally failed to document his claim, and his charges against me over my article in Liberty magazine concerning the Local Churches and their libel action against Harvest House Publishers and authors John Ankerberg and John Weldon.
Perhaps Mr. Hein will want to take refuge in the saying of Mark McGwire, the former St. Louis Cardinals baseball player, who admonished the U.S. Congress that he (McGwire) was "not here to talk about the past."
