Wednesday, August 12, 2009

A degree of hostility, or the beginnings of a great dissertation?

Yesterday I received a comment from an eloquent writer named Anonymous (a very common name among Whirled participants). Anon sent the comment as a response to my most recent post on phony college degrees. I have no way of knowing if it was something in that particular post that inspired such passion in Anon, or if it was just the blog in general, and the Faux-Degree piece was the last one this individual read before firing off the comment. But I felt inspired to share it with y’all. In the interests of what little decorum I try to maintain on this blog, I am lightly censoring and abridging the comment, but here is the gist of it:
Cosmic Connie, you are a f–g bitch...an idiot... I hope you die for what you wrote. You know f–k about what you write about on your blogs…I hope you die a horrible death…Whore. Bitch. Slut.
And so on.

My first thought was that this was someone who was simply bored and trying to provoke something – perhaps a junior-high school student with too much time on his/her hands. And that may very well be the case.

Of course there are other possibilities, though I seriously doubt that the comment came directly from anyone to whom I have paid tribute on this blog. For example, the fact that all of the spelling, punctuation and capitalization were correct would rule out someone like Melbourne’s Mini-Madoff or his teenage son, the latter of whom maintains a blog telling other teens how they can make money in ways both legal and not-so-legal. Both the elder and younger Schirmer seem to be seriously spelling- and grammar-impaired, and at least I can say that my fond Anon doesn’t seem to have that problem. It's possible that the remark was from one of the elder or younger's fans or pals.

It is also possible that this comment, if genuine and not simply a practical joke, is from a follower of one of the hustledorks whose own phony degrees I've snarked about here, but in no way do I think this is typical of such fans, as their general policy is to publicly ignore bad apples like moi. For the most part they are too busy fawning over their hustledork(s) of choice and perfecting their own derivative hustles to spend time or energy in my Whirled.

There is, however, the possibility that Anon’s comment was indeed a response to the post to which it was sent. Perhaps it was written by a person who has begged, borrowed, or hustled to obtain the funds for an advanced "degree" from a fine institution such as Belford University or the University of Metaphysics/University of Sedona. If so, then here is my advice to you, Anon: Take that eloquent comment and flesh it out a little – you need only add a few sentences – and then add some footnotes or endnotes, and perhaps a bibliography, and voila! You will have yourself a doctoral dissertation that may very well help you earn that coveted degree from the esteemed university of your choice.*

Never let it be said that I am not a big believer in eddy-cation.


*I’m talking, of course, about the universities that have the really high standards and actually require the appearance of minimal effort on the part of the student.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Melbourne Mini Madoff is a CON with capitals. He attempts to be as charming as possible and can't help but lie through his back teeth just to get peoples attention then when he has their attention he'll suck them dry because HE need the money. He is a guy whose ego is so big that even the people clostest to him has to yell just to create an echo for him to hear it. Wanker!

Wry14Ever said...

Connie,

Wow. That's a lot of vitriol to sling your way over a relatively minor snark. As a somewhat celebrity, you should take it seriously unless you know it is not a real threat. If you have never read "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin de Becker, I recommend you do so. Sometimes, these jerks can be a real danger. If you ever need some help, I "knows" some folks who can assist.

This is for you, no need to publish unless you want to.

Dave

RevRon's Rants said...

"If you ever need some help, I "knows" some folks who can assist."

What? And deny me the opportunity to vent all my Buddhist rage on some stalker? Not a chance, Dave, but thanks. :-)

Cosmic Connie said...

Anon: I think you've perfectly described not only Melbourne's Mini-Madoff but also numerous other New-Wage gurus and wannabes.

Cosmic Connie said...

Hi, Dave, and I appreciate your concern. I am still not sure whether this person was responding to that post in particular, or just to my blog in general. At this point I am not overly concerned, but you did get me interested in reading that de Becker book. Thanks!

Cosmic Connie said...

Ron, you are the main reason I'm not terribly concerned about these wankers. I love ya...Buddhist rage and all. ;-)