Dayson Slams Stalker Gollum

[Martin Eisenstadt]

Immediately under the DD thread entitled "St. Regis DuckMen-- an occasional report" posted by notorious stalker George Gollin (George D. Gollin, George Dana Gollin), we see another thread by Bill Dayson aka Hungry Ghost posted a mere 59 minutes later entitled "Outing Degree Mill Customers."  

Coincidence?  I think not.  

Has Dayson grown a conscience?  Well, in his words, "kind of."  

Gollum-style stalking an invasion of privacy? "Not exactly."

Repeating the bogus "fake MDs, structural engineers" argument?  Well, nobody said he was capable of independent thought or able to fully grasp the obvious, such as why those trades are already heavily licensed and regulated.

But ever so magnanimously, Dayson is "inclined to be compassionate about other people's human failings if no damage is being done."

Gee, that's mighty generous of you, Dayson.  Willing to pass up a chance to publicly humiliate someone, destroy their career and ruin their life, just because no damage is being done?  Bear Blasphemy!!

Failing to seize an opportunity for self-aggrandizement at the expense of someone else?  Sainz Sacrilege!

Ignoring "harmless vanity degrees" because they are, well, harmless?   Dayson Desecration!!!

Keep that up Dayson and you might find yourself being drummed out of Klempner's Klone Kadre.  

I'm kind of troubled by posts that ridicule degree-mill customers.

I suppose that on one level, if somebody publicizes their degree-mill degree, then they've make that degree public and fair game for other people's comments. So it's not an invasion of privacy exactly.

And obviously, if somebody is using a degree-mill degree as qualification for a position in which they can do real harm (fake MDs, structural engineers and such), that's a matter for legitimate alarm. Fake degrees as teaching qualifications or service-provider credentials raise consumer protection red-flags. And using fake degrees to get additional pay from clueless or complicit employers is a corrupt and dishonest practice that might be worthy of mention.

But in many of these cases, the degrees look like harmless vanity degrees. They might be evidence of some sort of psychological weakness in the people that proudly pose with them, I suppose. But I'm inclined to be compassionate about other people's human failings if no damage is being done.

[Dickie Billericay]

Has Dayson grown a conscience?  Well, in his words, "kind of."  

Dayson seems to be going the Steve Foerster route, kind of.  

When the sharper pencils in the box begin to start thinking for themselves they tend to veer away from the Klempner party line.   Government enforced uniformity of thought is a notion most intelligent people find antithetical to academic and intellectual freedom.  

As the cartel drones and mind guards become more bellicose and vicious in their methods, more and more people are going to want to put an end to them.

Or as some wise men once wrote, "whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it..."  

[Don Dresden]

Jack Tracey weighs in, but seeing as how he's such a lightweight not much registers.  But he does take a back-handed swipe at Gollum too.  Developing trend?  One can only hope.

Once upon a time I stumbled upon an internet site where a guy was claiming a medical degree (MD) from a well known degree mill and I sent off an email to someone outing him. At the time I felt it was the right thing to do because it seemed clear that he was acting as a Physician without the proper training. I'm not now prepared to say that I was wrong. However, I do not surf the web looking for St Regis grads (for example) and sending letters to their employers. I may have a strong opinion but mostly I have a "live and let live" attitude in such matters.

At the same time I have absolutely no interest or concern with the concept of tortious interference. If I discover publicly available information on the web and send someone a weblink I do not believe that this is illegal or a violation of anyone's rights. If I'm wrong about this (quite possible - I'm no lawyer) then I hope that someone will show me the case law to prove it.

I'm still interested in knowing why HG initiated this thread.

[Armando Ramos]

Dayson seems to be going the Steve Foerster route, kind of.  

Steve Foerster going the Steve Foerster route:

I did something similar once. I noticed that a person listed as faculty for a school near me claimed a doctorate from a well known degree mill. I contacted the school and told them, and they responded saying they'd take swift action. Before long that person's name was gone from their faculty list. At first I congratulated myself for a job well done, having blown the whistle for truth, justice, and the American way. But in time I came to regret having involved myself in something that was none of my business. What if that person was actually an excellent instructor? What if there were some extenuating circumstance of which I was unaware? And I was going to get in someone else's business, why not contact the person and ask them about the situation rather than contact someone else about it?

Anyway, needless to say it's something I didn't and wouldn't repeat. Things may seem black and white, but without actually being in the situation, who knows what unknown factors there may be? Better to mind one's own business.

[ham]

They also claim one Athabasca teacher had a fraudulent degree. I could find no mention of it, but suppose it was true: that instructor is still there. There was another faculty member at another school listing his involvement with the fraudulent Sorbon franchise: he is still there, although the mention of Sorbon is gone.
In other words, calls from internet vigilantes will sack only small fry none cares about.
Try calling your local media and tell them that a possible islamic radical educated in a koranic school and named Barack Hussein holds a public office that requires to be born inland but he wasn't...
See how fast he'll be sacked...but don't hold breath.

[Little Arminius]

The RA or No Way Gang isn't all cut from the same roll of toilet paper. There are several distinct groupings.

- There are those like Bear, TCNixon and George Brown that make or have made their money providing DL advice to the public.
- There are bored, middle-aged academics with Walter Mitty-esque delusions of grandeur like George Gollin.
- There are the social misfits like Bill Huffman, Russ Blahetka, Abner, etc. who just need some type of morally superior group that they can claim to be a member of.
- There are those who don't want to think independently but would rather just follow the pro-establishment line. Many of these types tend to come and go frequently.
- There are the handful of thinkers (e.g. Dayson, Foerster, Andy Borchers, etc.) who, while generally adhering to the company line, will sometimes look at the bigger picture.
- Finally there are the opportunists like Gus Sainz and Chip White. Gus hasn't been around much the last few years but let's not forget how instrumental he was in polarizing the accreditation issue in various fora and stifling any free and open discussions.

[ham]

and don't forget that such people never change their minds for real, out of disinterested feelings. If they do, it is because they think the fashionable opinion to have may have changed, and they may be right or wrong in their assumptions. Good old world. You have no idea how many people bought a new armband and a bonnet of a more fashionable color after 1943-45, including South Africa's Botha, last apartheid prime minister decades later. I listened to SS volunteers claiming on TV they just followed sports and who considered their militant past as sort of misguided boy scout experience, whose ritual side was for mere entertainment purposes.