Former NSA Official Thinks A Blog Containing Nothing But His Own Tweets Is 'Defamatory'
from the hilariously,-falsely-accusing-someone-of-defamation-is-defamatory dept
Many people have varying ideas as to what exactly composes defamatory content. Some mistake statements of opinion ("this product sucks") for defamation. Some feel anything that doesn't describe their products or services in glowing terms is defamatory. Some feel any sort of criticism is defamation, even if the criticism is based on known facts.
But John Schindler (whose strange foray into Wikileaks/Snowden conspiracy theories we've covered here previously), former NSA officer and holder of a PhD in history (just ask him!) has gone far beyond any of these misperceptions. According to him, things he actually said are defamatory if published by a third party.
I have no idea how someone as self-assuredly brilliant as John Schindler would make this error but here's the chain of events. Schindler routinely berates anyone who questions his claims, calling them "stupid" and refusing to advance the argument past endless appeals to his own authority (the aforementioned PhD). Someone took notice of Schindler's tactics and crafted a Tumblr blog containing nothing but screenshots of actual Schindler tweets.
Here's a few of the tweets just to give you an idea of both Schindler's "conversational" patterns and the blog's content.
But when someone brought this blog to his attention, this was his response.
An ugly new defamation site against me has popped up. Why is @peterrneumann pimping it so hard? Like to know. pic.twitter.com/AGws5A1HPy
— John Schindler (@20committee) March 17, 2014
Nice defamation / RT @PeterRNeumann 24m
@EvansRyan202 @dandrezner The real John Schindler: worth looking at: http://t.co/BPaRmJ7njx
— John Schindler (@20committee) March 17, 2014
.@20committee "Defamation." You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
— Popehat (@Popehat) March 18, 2014
I can't imagine it's much fun to see your Twitter feed boiled down to little more than shouts of "stupid!" and continuous pointing to a framed piece of paper, but whether Schindler likes it or not, those are his words and those are his go-to rhetorical devices. For someone who frequently uses the hashtag #caring to show his contempt for the ire he provokes, he certainly can't seem to take having his own abuse heaped on his Carebear-surrounded head.
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Filed Under: appeal to authority, defamation, i've got a phd and you don't, john schindler, nsa, phd, thin skin
Reader Comments
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Tell me he challenged popehat, please do!
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Re:
More likely he tried the standard tactic for people like that of suddenly going quiet, and/or desperately changing the subject and hoping no one notices or calls him out on it.
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Popehat
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These seem fitting
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/ad-hominem
Also, called out by Popehat, hope he has fun pitting that PhD in history against a site full of lawyers, somehow I think they've got just a titch better idea as to just what constitutes 'defamation'.
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Re: These seem fitting
The ones who do are invariably the least capable ones.
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Re: Re: These seem fitting
None of them ever point out the fact they have PhDs, it only comes up casually in conversation years later.
"Hey can you help me with this coding problem I'm having? Oh, wow, you are really good at math! Oh, you have a PhD in the subject? So I should have been calling you "Doctor" this whole time? Hahahah! Another round?"
The only person I've ever met to incessantly point out that they had a PhD was the worst, most useless prof I ever had the misfortune of studying under.
Generally, people who are really good at something don't have to point out their qualifications, as their work speaks for itself.
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Re: These seem fitting
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George Carlin Already Covered This Whole Thing
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Dont get me wrong, most PhD's are brilliant in what they wrote their paper on, but it seems like so many of them turn in their common sense when they get handed their degree...
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brilliance
>>wrote their paper on,
From what I've seen, this isn't necessarily so. A PhD is supposed to show proof of added training in an area as well as an ability to carry out an investigation in that area. I've worked with a lot of PhD's in my career, and I wonder a bit about how well those two hold up. As for brilliance, if the frequency is higher in PhD's than the general population, I don't see it. I have known brilliant PhD's, but I have also known brilliant people that did not go on to graduate school. One belief that I do firmly hold is that, when a PhD holds up their degree as a proof of higher intelligence, then the individual is not a member of the higher intelligence PhD group.
FWIW, I have a PhD... in polymer science. So, I am no doubt unqualified to speak on this topic. It's what I see, though, in three decades of working in research laboratories.
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Re: brilliance
Gotta agree with you on this one. I have known and worked with many PhDs. The ones who cringe when you call them "Doctor" are more likely the best and brightest; the ones who volunteer their PhD or mention it out of context generally lack some essentials ... like breadth of common knowledge, self-awareness, stuff like that. (Like someone telling you how honest they are = red flag.)
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Re: Re: brilliance
If you feel the need to keep reiterating how smart you are when in a debate, you have already lost that debate.
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Wisdom: Knowing what to do when you get there.
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Genius: Never going to Walla Walla at all.
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Re: PHD
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Popehat's attention?
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http://www.panix.com/~tori/humor/50ft.html
Attack of the 50 Foot Grubor
I chuckled for days over that one.
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You give Phd's, a bad name
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PhD's
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Re: PhD's
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Re: PhD's
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This reminds me of the old joke about what a PhD REALLY means...
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SORRY
Im looking at this and cant figure out WHERe he gets this knowledge..
Dr. Schindler holds three degrees in modern history: a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. from McMaster University.
Then I see his title..
Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, RI, where he is a specialist on intelligence, terrorism, and European security issues. He is also a Senior Fellow of the International History Institute at Boston University.
HOW do you get a professorship in security??
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Re: SORRY
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I see a pattern...
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Lying shithead
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Careful what you wish for
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John Schindler
He also doesn't appear to understand the definition of the word 'defamation' - which is funny to me. Looking forward to the Popehat smackdown.
I enjoyed reading his own words over at http://schindlertweets.tumblr.com/
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Schindler's List (of Tweets)
Of course, that's just my opinion.
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Schindler
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I am not an attorney, but I don't think you can sue someone for defamation for directly quoting what you said. Perhaps I made a mistake in my initial statement, maybe he studied under him, and not alongside.
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We used to call this...
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Prof's Twitter Header
@tomob
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Yet another Israel first traitor
Google: Israel did 9/11, they cannot DENY the evidence.
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