Re: Surrogate family

From: David Eather (eather_at_tpg.com.au)
Date: 02/20/05 

Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 01:40:16 +1000

guenther.vonKnakspott@gmx.de wrote:
> Rick Decker wrote:
>
>>> Aw, hey Shirley get off my back, will ya? I will respond to Harris
>>> as I see fit, and won't take your censorship into account. Use your
>>> killfile and behave like a big girl instead of whining like a
>>> little one.
>>>
>> I agree with Paul. One such response is slightly amusing. More
>> than that is childish. As I noted yesterday, as irritating as
>> James can be, one could hope (in vain, it appears) for adult
>> responses.
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Rick
>
> Well Decker I am truly sorry to be causing so much distress, no
> sarcasm here. I truly believe there must be some way to push Harris
> into getting a grip on his mind, and given my limited means I'm just
> trying this here strategy.

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At this point in time the answer is almost defiantly no. James has a
number of life strategies that prevent anyone reasoning with him
(denial, minimization of the respondent ("you are all stupid - I am a
genius") and a persecution syndrome (therefore your criticisms
regardless of truth are unjustified) . I had hopes that the
mathematicians that he engaged in discussion could do so - but no. I
made an attempt to enable some self-examination by introducing the
subject of hash function which is non-threatening to what he is
doing.

> Have you ever considered how exasperating your own way of handling
> him seems to others? You keep trying to argue mathematics with him,
> exhibiting infinite patience and ultimately always eliciting some
> psychotic response from Harris.

Psychotic is not correct. As to the "why try" it is the weakness of
the rational mind that it believes something can always be achieved
by logic and reasoning. When dealing with the irrational mind it is
not possible to reason. You cannot win an argument with this type of
person by reasoning, facts or appeals to social values (by pointing
out his atrocious behaviour and how that affects the environment
around him. From James's posts he appears to be almost totally
narsistic, with a belief he is superior to everyone. From what he
has posted it is difficult to tell if the delusions of grandeur are a
genuine problem or are themselves driven by an inferiority complex.

> I think, basically we both (and lots of others) are motivated by
> the will to get throught to him. And certainly though my humble
> efforts are of almost no value to the community here, compared to
> what you and others do, regarding the effect on Harris, I seriously
> adhere to the opinion that I might be doing as well as anyone else.
> Harris is
> definitely is past "normal" discussion.
> One last thing: I'm not telling Harris he's got nothing in order to
> be amusing. There is nothing amusing about that.
>
> regards.

As to dealing with the "James Harris Experience" I think abstinence
is the only virtue - at least James's posts will stop, and insulting
James does nobody any good (deserved or not - and I am as guilty of
doing more than I should ). As to those who claim it is "fun" - why
don't they go to the local mall and insult disabled people?
Sorry for dumping an ugly pgp signature all over this post.

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