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Think and Grow Rich with the Paracast - Nov 2nd 2008
- Thread starter Gareth
- Start date
Free episodes:
Blacknight
Seeker
Sorry, but I must admit to being confused, in what is my first and maybe last post. I didn't entirely understand what precipitated David's somewhat snippy reaction to Beckley (or walking off the Birnes episode or the impolite reactions to Paola Harris either). I also don't understand David's or Gene's reactions now. I get a sense that there's a general tension, mostly coming from David, over the last few weeks that is interesting but seems misplaced.
I'll give you an uninformed view of someone I don't know at all. David's a regular guy, a working class stiff who came late to the public table of paranormalism. He's devoting time, energy and a not insignificant piece of his personal life to a field that begs for answers that are never closer to being found and that is filled with phonies, charlatans and crazies. I frankly don't know why any "serious people" do it, subjecting themselves to all the negativity and futility it seems to entail. But I can certainly understand a building tension, a constant sense of running in place. However, that's the nature of the beast and it is unlikely to get better any time soon (maybe ever).
As to Beckley, he is certainly a character. But characters can be both entertaining and an untapped source of information; we can't all be Dolan's. In an arena such as this censoring or eliminating characters will result in a very small pool of possibilities. (With all due respect, David and Gene are not out of the realm of characterdom And Jeremy pretty much defines being a character, albeit a brilliant one!) Beckley's been around forever. He knows where all the skeletons are buried, and he's quirky as hell. He grew up with and in this silliness. So, I'd never vote to ban him. But I do think his participation needs to be focused and occasional, maybe on panels with Moseley and some of the other old time '"characters" where they can be given free rein to just be characters. After all these decades, it's clear they don't have any answers so why try to extract any from them. You wouldn't invite Shecky Green to deliver the invocation at the Inauguration, right?
I'll give you an uninformed view of someone I don't know at all. David's a regular guy, a working class stiff who came late to the public table of paranormalism. He's devoting time, energy and a not insignificant piece of his personal life to a field that begs for answers that are never closer to being found and that is filled with phonies, charlatans and crazies. I frankly don't know why any "serious people" do it, subjecting themselves to all the negativity and futility it seems to entail. But I can certainly understand a building tension, a constant sense of running in place. However, that's the nature of the beast and it is unlikely to get better any time soon (maybe ever).
As to Beckley, he is certainly a character. But characters can be both entertaining and an untapped source of information; we can't all be Dolan's. In an arena such as this censoring or eliminating characters will result in a very small pool of possibilities. (With all due respect, David and Gene are not out of the realm of characterdom And Jeremy pretty much defines being a character, albeit a brilliant one!) Beckley's been around forever. He knows where all the skeletons are buried, and he's quirky as hell. He grew up with and in this silliness. So, I'd never vote to ban him. But I do think his participation needs to be focused and occasional, maybe on panels with Moseley and some of the other old time '"characters" where they can be given free rein to just be characters. After all these decades, it's clear they don't have any answers so why try to extract any from them. You wouldn't invite Shecky Green to deliver the invocation at the Inauguration, right?