Home > Hate Mail Archive - Volume 5
| ||||||||
Hate Mail Archive - Volume 5This collection of mail to The Millenium Project covers correspondence received during 2004.
At least I haven't been sucked in to selling useless fruit juice through a pyramid scheme. That would really make me look foolish.
Thank you. The following was posted to the Alan Yurko kidney auction page. As it had nothing to do with that it was removed and reproduced here.
There are bad doctors. So what? This has nothing to do with quackery. Astrology has been used for centuries too, and it is still worthless. On January 19 another Benny Hinn supporter warned me that I am at risk of going to Hell. You can read the collection of Hinn fan mail here. People are praying for me, and I thank them.
The short answer is "You don't". This is a typical misuse of the word "theory" by creationists. The word has a specific meaning in science, and that meaning isn't "some untested idea". The electronics in the computer I am using are based on theories in physics, but the thing seems to work. The use of the word "prove" is interesting too, as it originally meant "test". It survives in this meaning in the aphorisms "The proof of the pudding is in the eating" and "The exception proves the rule", as well as in the terms "proof-reading" and the use of the word "proof" as a measure of the alcoholic content of spirits. I would also like to point out that gravity is only a theory, and John is welcome to doubt its veracity the next time he is on a balcony or a bridge.
I do not know which article is referred to by the words "this article" in the subject. The email was sent twice, to two different email addresses, seven minutes apart. From: "brett hogan" To whom it may concern, Hello I am writing in regards to your article on Advanced Allergy Elimination (http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/comment/aae.htm) and was wondering whether you have actually tried this personally or whether your comments were based on watching the A Current Affair program. Kind Regards, Brett ACA just alerted me to the scam. I was amazed that the show would promote such an obvious and transparent fraud. My comments about the AAE fraud are here.
From: "Thomas Walaszczyk" After reading your comments on CRA I must say you are the "know it all" type who knows nothing. Without CRA most of my patients would not have recovered from their illnesses which they came to me with as a last resort. When I read comments by ignorant wannabees like your self who has contributed NOTHING to humanity and then go out of your way to slander the genius of Dr. Versendaal is certainly the sign of a psychopath parasite trying to "be someone" of authority by making statements which they have no clue what they are talking about. I notice you don't identify yourself anywhere after writing this garbage. Dr. Thomas Walaszczyk, Yonkers, NY Dear Dr Walaszczyk, I assume you are referring to the article at http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/comment/cra.htm where I said "Sometimes a form of quackery is promoted with such a breathtaking arrogance, duplicity, and disregard both for the truth and for the lives and welfare of potential victims that it almost defies belief". Thank you for providing another data point. I have in front of me a book called "Contact Reflex Analysis and Designed Clinical Nutrition", subtitled "A Physician's Desk Reference for Alternative Health Care", written by Dr D. A. Versendaal and Dawn Versendaal-Hoezee. I actually do have a clue about CRA because I have read the training manual. It is difficult to imagine how anyone could have written this while maintaining a straight face, unless they were either depraved or seriously deluded. If I didn't know better, I would assume that this document was intended as a parody of the weird and unscientific thinking which abounds in "alternative" medicine. I notice that one of the people to whom the book is dedicated is B.J Palmer. It is informative that the dedication is not to the inventor or discoverer of chiropractic, D. D. Palmer, but to the person who worked out how to market it to the unsuspecting masses. Another surprising omission from the dedication list was Phineas Barnum, but perhaps that would have been too blatant. The reason that I didn't identify myself after writing the article was that I had identified myself before that. I have never made a secret of who I am, and my name can be found on the site with very little effort. You are not the first person to accuse me of not researching something while simultaneously showing that they lacked either the skills or motivation to do even the most basic research themselves. I assume you will not be the last. You can read the context for this here. From: "kmatchett" DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO A VIRUS WHEN YOU MODIFY IT AND PLACE IT INSIDE A PROTEIN CELL THEN INJECT IT INTO THE BLOODSTREAM OF A PERSON THAT DOES NOT EVEN KNOW HOW A VIRUS WORKS, WHEN THE PROTEIN CELL IS BROKEN IT RELEASES THAT MODIFIED VIRUS AND IT WORKS THE SAME WAY, BY MULTIPLYING THE SAME WAY A VIRUS DOES. HOW DO I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I HAVE ONE OF THESE MODIFIED VIRUSES AND I CALL IT MODIFIED TETANUS , THE MEDICAL PROFESSION CALL IT RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND I ASK ALL RHEUMATOID SUFFERES WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD A BOOSTER OF TETANUS. IT MIGHT OF BEEN TEN YEARS AGO BUT IF I CAN FIND ONE PERSON THAT HAS GOT A RHEUMATOID AND CAN PROVE TO ME THAT THEY CONTRACTED THEIR ARTHRITIS FROM NATURAL CAUSES I WILL REST MY CASE. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION USED TO BE EASY BUT NOW BECAUSE THEY KEEP MODIFYING DIESEASE THEY KEEP MAKING NEW ONES SO WHO ARE THE SMART ONES, THEY ARE THE ONES THAT WORK OUT WHAT THIER UP TO. THE NEXT THING IS WHO ON THIS FUCKING PLANET ARE GOING TO STOP THEM (THE GOVERNMENT) NO TO MUCH MONEY INVOLVED HERE. THEY WILL KEEP MODIFING DIESEASE UNTIL THESE BRIGHT SPARKS WALK OUT INTO THE REAL WORLD AND SEE WHAT THEY HAVE DONE AND SAY OPPS THESE CHEMICALS THAT THEY USE IN VACCINES ARE NOT MADE FOR HUMAN TISSUE THEY ARE FUCKIN DEADLY, I KNOW I HAVE USED THEM BEFORE ITS ABOUT TIME THE MEDICAL PROFESSION SHOULD GROW UP , OWN UP AND FUCKIN DO THINGS PROPERLY. From: "Jason Robinson" That's all there was. From: "Leanne McKnoulty" Dear Mr Bowditch I insist that you remove Dr Donohue's site from you list. As a medical professional myself I can assure you that he is a truely dedicated professional with benevolent and high scientific ideals who has helped many regain health and also saved lives. Have you ever suffered with CFS, MCS, ME or autoimmune disfunction and sought medical treatment? I think not. One shouldn't make judgements until you walk in another's shoes. I urge you to direct your energies into helping others in a more productive way rather than criticise what you have no real concept of. Regards Dr Donohoe (I assume that is the doctor Ms McKnoulty is talking about) may well have saved people's lives, even from psychosomatic illnesses like MCS, but if he gets his way with vaccinations then the numbers who will die will dwarf those saved by any individual doctor. Someone didn't like something I said about Network 21. From: "Alison Kershaw" Hi, Nice website, but you really do invalidate the people that have sussed it out for themselves, have all the facts, have no problem with the fact that Amway is the distibutor/supplier/wholesaler of goods and think its a pretty good idea. Fine to have your opinion but why don't you encourage people to do their own research and not just rely on your opionion? Your critique of Network 21 is not accurate and I encourage you to speak to some one in the company that is not an Amway IBO for the full picture. Perhaps you would not be so scathing about it if you do so. Cheers, A Kershaw. I am very impressed by people who "have sussed it out for themselves, have all the facts, ... and think its a pretty good idea". Every Amway "IBO" (or Network 21 salesperson denying the Amway connection) who has ever shown me the plan has told me that it is a simple matter to sign up five people in a month. If you joined up on January 1, 2004, you should now have 19,530 people in your downline. That is the lowest estimate and depends on "IBOs" only ever signing up five people each, not five each month. (It would be 38,880 if everyone was pulling their weight each month.) If you do not have at least this number in your downline then you are a pathetic loser and are obviously suffering from some really stinkin' thinkin'. You should go back to your day J.O.B. If you have achieved this easy target that any committed and motivated "IBO" can reach, your only concern will come in November. By then you will have more than 12 million in your downline and there are simply not enough people living in Australia to find the almost 50 million needed for the October recruits to meet their five-each targets for the next month. I am intrigued by your idea that it is somehow improper to warn people about possible problems with a potential activity, but that instead people should learn only from their own experience. Do you extend this philosophy to such things as health warnings about the dangers of tobacco, asbestos and unsafe sexual practices, warning labels on packages with poisonous contents, seat belt and motorcycle helmet laws, advice about drinking and driving, and teaching young children about hot stoves, stranger danger and how to cross roads safely? Should people only learn from personal experience, or is it occasionally acceptable to learn from the experience and advice of others? I must say that while I have long observed immorality among big pins and pyramid operators, it is rare to see someone come out and openly suggest amorality. You suggest that I talk to "some one in the company that is not an Amway IBO". I have done this on several occasions, and almost invariably I have been told lies about the association with Amway, the potential for success, and the penetration of MLM into the distribution of product in the marketplace. I can only assume that any further conversations with these people would produce the same results. There is also the obvious question of why someone would work for an organisation like Network 21 and not be an "IBO". The pretence is that these networks are there to support the workers in the hive, but anyone working in the office would soon realise where the money is being made and the futility of coming in at the bottom of the pyramid. If it is so easy to make money as an "IBO" and the paradigm of distribution is changing so fast then it would be madness for anybody on the inside not to be a full participant. The fact that there is anybody with inside knowledge who doesn't take up the opportunity is credible evidence that the system is a scam. You may wonder why I always put the abbreviation "IBO" inside quotation marks. It is because the vast majority of participants in multi-level market schemes are not independent, do not run businesses and have ownership of nothing. I am a certified consultant and an authorised reseller for several software and hardware products. I can open a retail shop to sell these things, I can sell them on eBay, I can walk door-to-door around the neighbourhood, I can ask retailers to stock them and computer builders to include them as packages with their machines. Within limits, I am independent of the manufacturing and distribution companies. Could I do any of these things with Amway products? The taxation authorities recognise my business as a business and allow me to claim business expenses as deductions, but they have explicitly stated that MLM activities are not businesses. Also, I am not expected to find and recruit competitors for my business. As for ownership, I can sell my client list at any time I like and there is nothing that anyone (except the clients) can do about it. At what level in the hierarchy can you sell your downline to someone else? If you can't sell it, you do not own it. The term "IBO" is just another lie put about by the confidence tricksters who exploit the dreams and trust of honest people. Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 07:02:39 +0800 Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It is what makes each of us unique and creates the diversity and richness that is this human experience. Thank you. It is always good to start out with a compliment. Seeing as you freely admit to never having been involved in network marketing, to ask you for advice or information is a bit like going to see an accountant for information about my health - don't you think? And if I want to know about maths, I would be best served by speaking to a maths teacher, if I want to be rich - speak to a rich person. What is your opinion of male gynaecologists and obstetricians? In a criminal court case where someone is charged with armed robbery of a bank, who should have the most personal experience of being a bank robber - the prosecuting attorney, the defence lawyer, the judge or the members of the jury? By the way, the next time you meet a maths teacher, get her to explain geometric progression. By the way do you mention how rich and wealthy you are on your website and do you explain how you 'made it'? I would certainly be interested in that. I fail to see how my financial position is of any relevance, but if you must know, the basis of my family fortune is that both my and my wife's maternal grandfathers were heavily involved in the shipping industry, and my father ran transportation and food distribution businesses before settling down to a career providing financial services to the defence bureaucracy. I started out doing still-secret research on defence projects, and for the last 17 years I have been an Independent Business Owner. Of a real business, that is. And if you are really wealthy and know how networking is so EVIL then you had better correct Robert Kiyosaki, Stephen Covey, Paul Zane Pilzer, Dr Charles King (who is running courses at university) and a bunch of other well known and respected persons who are by the way RICH! Stephen Covey made his money by writing books, which were, ironically and paradoxically, distributed through those old-fashioned distribution channels which have been used to sell books for centuries. Paul Zane Pilzer makes his money by writing books and being paid to talk about MLM to prospects and committed believers. While both of these people talk big about MLM, I have not seen any evidence that either of them actually do it. (I was in the third row from the stage once when Pilzer addressed a roomful of network marketers. His principles and morals would embarrass the audience if he spoke at a convention for used car salesmen or heroin distributors.) As for MLM being taught in universities, I am sure that this is done. When I studied accountancy I did an entire semester on fraud, and I spent a lot of time on ethics and morality in philosophy classes. You forgot to mention Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, George Soros, Bernie Ecclestone, Stefan Quandt, Larry Ellison, Lee Kun-hee, Ingvar Kamprad, Karl Albrecht, ... But what would they know anyway? Networking as a concept is a brilliant concept, it is merely another means of distribution. Don't knock what you haven't tried is my suggestion and I am sure you are no different than those that said flight would never take off, or that records would be around forever.... It's another means of distribution which has been tried for decades and has never made any appreciable dent in the marketplace. There has only ever been one successful application of the multi-level marketing model where a large number of people are encouraged to recruit others into the system and everyone either profits from those below them or covers part of the cost of their own product consumption. It is the distribution of illegal drugs, but even then the people at the top make by far the most money. As for not knocking things that I haven't tried, I only have to know the acceleration formula for gravity to stop me jumping off high buildings, and I only have to know what an exponential curve looks like to know that the vast majority of participants in multi-level marketing have no hope of ever making any money. Wealth, and dreams aren't bad things to want and there is always money to be made and there will always be those that do it immorally and those that don't. Please consider this before making such broad, absolute and all encompassing statements. Of course there is always money to be made. There are all those pensioners with their life savings just rusting in banks, countless schoolgirls who are not working for pimps or pornography film makers, and millions of people who dream of being a bit better off than they are who are perfect targets for glib confidence tricksters offering bigger and better dreams. So in your link about comment about your website it will be interesting to see if you would print this. The only ones I could find were inquiries by people who weren't yet involved...mmm wonder why and also see my comment above about who I would be seeking advice from... I always publish critical emails, and I am publishing this one on the front page of the site. I'm not sure which page on this site you were referring to, but my collection of MLM mail seems to contain a few things which could not be described as "inquiries by people who weren't yet involved". Mmm? regards On August 11, 2004, I was threatened by a lawyer acting for a quack who sells medical procedures with no scientific validity. My sin was to say that she sells medical procedures with no scientific validity. You can read what caused the disturbance, plus the legal correspondence, by clicking here.
No, I weren't, but thank you for your concern.
That's all there was. Need I mention AOL?
An anti-vaccinator had a lot to say. Read it here. From: "Brad Davis" You website is the worst knock off of Maddox i have ever seen. Who or what is a "Maddox"? As my site is well over five years old, I doubt that it could be "knocking off" anyone else. Take your opinions and shove them up your ass because no one cares. The several thousand visitors who come to the site each day seem to care. Start something origional; don't take something cool and throw your homosexual spin on it and call it your own. My site is original, or even "origional" if you like. Thank you for pointing out my homosexuality (not that there's anything wrong with that). I am surprised that you noticed it but my wife and kids didn't. From: "B. Tate" Hi, Not being a believer of the machine, I found the google search I did today brought up my name connected to some fairly unpleasant emails by other folks. Can you please take off my name as it associates me with this product? Please see last emails. Thanks Your original email made it quite clear that you are not associated with the QXCI scam. It did, however, accuse me of parroting Quackwatch and spreading bullshit. These are reasons enough for reproducing it here. It stays. It took Beth almost a year to continue our correspondence. Someone didn't like what I had to say about quack and thief Dr Stan Burzynski. Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 14:12:47 -0500 Dear Sir, It seems that you hype the conventional ways of treating cancer. Please have a look at www.ouralexander.org. This is an advertising site for Dr Burzynski. I was surprised to find that someone would use his own dead son in an advertising campaign until I found out that Michael Horwin was doing the PR for murderer Alan Yurko (he withdrew when the money ran out). Alexander went through the conventional way of surgery and chemotherapy for brain cancer. The last time I looked at the site it said that the Horwins were on Burzynski's doorstep six weeks after Alexander had been diagnosed. There was no possibility that he could have undergone all the claimed treatments in that time. Put another way, Michael Horwin was lying. Remember, this site was probably paid for by Burzynski, and you should not always believe what you read in advertisements. His parents wanted to go the alternative way with Dr. Bryzynski and the FDA denied them this. As it should. Burzynski's "treatment" had shown no effectiveness in the 20 years that he had been pretending to run clinical trials. The parents were promised the latest in chemotherapy drugs, which some of turned out to be over 30 years old. So what? I did a radio interview this week with someone who runs a school of complementary medicine. One of her claims for effectiveness of the pills and potions was that some had been in use for thousands of years. The father put together this site to warn parents about conventional treatments which have been proven over and over to be useless, toxic and mortal for children (look at the the quoted oncology studies on the site). The father put the site together because doing publicity and advertising was what he did for a living. Before you start putting others down, check and see what conventional chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation offers children, absolutely nothing. Other than an up to 80% chance for a complete cure. Burzynski claims to have treated more than 8,000 patients, but his supporters have told me that he does not claim to have cured any of them. Sincerely,
|
|
Millenium Project advertising policy |
| Back to The Millenium Project | Email the
| |
