Simcha Responds

By · October 17, 2012 · Soap Box ·

Friends are sending me various links and emails from a variety of so-called scholars whose idea of scholarship is vicious, ad hominem attacks on people they disagree with generally, and yours truly specifically. Beware of people who keep referring to themselves as “scholars”. These so-called scholars find a free press intolerable. They especially don’t like someone who calls their bluff. So they call me a “clown” (I guess this is in lieu of “peer review”), they keep referring to my overwhelming desire to make money (so far no mention of the size of my nose), and one of them has even dragged my mother into it (I’m not kidding). None of them answer the substantive arguments i.e., how can someone forge something after 1997 which was already reviewed by two scholars in 1982? Time travel?

The good news is that my criticisms are getting to them. The more they attack me personally, the more they demonstrate the weakness of their arguments. Simply put, the motley crew of so-called scholars that resort to a never ending litany of insults are running out of steam. Their tactic of scaring, insulting, demonizing and marginalizing people that disagree with them isn’t working on me and it’s driving them crazy. I call on “A-list” scholars to get involved. I call on you to raise the banner of the Morton Smiths of this world, and to reject the tradition of the John Strugnells, a devout anti-Semite who led the DSS group until hubris led him to publish his anti-Semitism openly. It’s time for the level headed to push aside the hate mongers and create an environment where true scholarly debate can occur in an atmosphere of mutual respect and a pursuit of the truth.