Merry Christmas from Victor!

Just in time for the holidays, Victor Zammit has updated his "Michael Pisspot" post. This time, I'm glad to say, he actually uses my name (in addition to the sarcastic nickname). This is the first time he has ever identified me by name in all of his attacks, so I feel I am making progress.

Or maybe not. You judge. This is the revised post. I've put the new stuff in red:

MICHAEL Prescott - PISSPOT – He tries to stab Victor in the back. He's got blogs to try to denigrate, discredit and debase everything Victor stands for. He tries to take away Victor's credibility, integrity and honesty. He imputes dishonesty. He implies fraud and trickery in Victor's materialization methodology. He's not an empiricist, not a scientist, not qualified, knows nothing about scientific method, knows nothing about evidence - but he's negatively prejudicial against materializations. He shows he's full of hatred, jealousy and green with envy, exudes sewer-level information – someone who tries to attack me. Michael Pisspot - a closed minded loser defeatist is too silly to rebut the afterlife evidence, too dumb and negatively prejudicial to understand objective, repeatable evidence, too much of an imbecile to understand intellectual afterlife substance. This Pisspot who tries to attack me shows he experiences too much frustration in not being able to rebut my hard core evidence for the afterlife – so he does the next thing he knows: he throws mud at the source of his frustration and LIES and cheats to mislead the unthinking readers - one of America's greatest cowards! Wake up loser!

Does anyone else find it weird that Victor refers to himself in the third person?

Some readers have commented that it's awful for me to be subjected to this kind of attack. I don't feel that way. Although I was taken aback by Victor's first shot across my bow more than eighteen months ago, I've gotten used to his diatribes and have even learned to enjoy them. And believe it or not, I don't think he really intends any of this personally. He writes essentially the same thing about all his critics, even using the same words and expressions (loser, defeatist, imbecile, liar, closed-minded, lives in a sewer, throws mud, etc.). This just seems to be the mode that he enters when he feels he is under assault. He has certain catch-phrases that he starts blurting out.

I believe he's quite unconscious of resorting to the same (rather limited) arsenal of invective over and over. But the subconscious is wiser than the conscious mind, and it is letting him know. Notice that many of the insults he flings at others accurately describe his own behavior - "throwing mud," for instance.

I think he would benefit from reading Eckhart Tolle and learning how unconscious much of our everyday, conditioned behavior really is. Of course, I have no realistic hope that he will take my advice.

Anyway, Victor, if you're reading, there are no hard feelings on this end, mate. I get a kick out of your posts, especially when they're about me. Keep 'em coming! I wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy - nay, a world-shattering - New Year!

The same goes sentiment goes out to all my readers, even those who don't think I'm one of America's greatest cowards. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Comments

[Bryan]

Not weird at all MP.I think the reason he refers to you in the third person is because personally I think that post is at least partially written by his wife not by him.

Keep them posts coming ^^

[Bryan]

Sorry I meant refers to himself in the third person*

[Tim]

Senor Pisspot:

Not only are you one of America's greatest cowards, you are one of the WORLD'S finest cowards. I aspire one day to be as cowardly as you.

Feliz Navidad and a happy new year, man.

[Wax Frog]

Ooh! Pretty red text for Christmas! ;o)

Right back at'cha with the holiday cheer!

[Wax Frog]

OOH! Forgive the bad synchronistic pun, but isn't it a shame the name 'Noel Coward' is already taken?

[Kevin]

Signs of "progress"? Actually, I was hoping Mr. Zammit would have read through the entire thread from "Wake-up call(updated)" and absorbed my entry about subconscious behavior. It seems most likely true that VZ uses any criticism, no matter how well intended, as an illustration that he MUST be the custodian of unvarnished "truth", especially as regards the materializations of DT. It ALSO seems apparent that Zammit has failed to grasp the opportunity for personal insight his vituperations have offered, Michael graciously pointing out that VT's subconscious IS attempting to communicate intromittently. Seeds scattered in the desert, I'm afraid. Would a personality such as we've witnessed ever ask himself WHY he NEEDS to react in this way? Introspection is not the same as introversion, and I suggest the former would take Mr. Zammit a long way toward obviating the need for such embarrassing inveighing.

Whatever. I'll take this opportunity to thank MP for his blogging efforts this year, as well as thanking all those who have contributed so thought-provokingly to the threads. I hope everyone benefits in some way from the spirit of the season.

[Michael H]

Wishing one and all a wonderful holiday, even Victor. For that matter, even Dawkins, Randi and company!

And to echo Kevin, a special thanks to MP for providing a forum for rational discourse on the big questions.

Happy Holidays!

[Leo]

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

[Leo]

This to add something Victor has two things on his site one http://discovermagazine.com/2006/sep/20thingsdeath

the other here
A reminder of your own mortality.
Many people I come across act as if they are going to live forever. On this site, the Internet’s friendly reminder that life is slipping away, you can calculate how much time you've got left based on demographics.

http://www.deathclock.com/

What could Victor possibly mean by many people ace as if they are going to live forever I mean he's a supporter that there is an afterlife i guess the only thing he could mean is the hopes for physical immortality.

[Jess]

Happy Holidays!

[The Major]

Merry Christmas, Michael. Who knows what 2008 will bring?

[william]

When William Crookes was attacked for his coming out in favor of materializations of Florence cook I don’t remember reading that he really attacked back in such a manner. He was rejected by many of his peers but seemed to stay above the name-calling.

Often I email victor about the "attacks" on his creditability and tell him that he is in such good company as William Crookes and William James, etc. He needs to wear those challenging comments like a badge and not be offended by people whose paradigms cannot conceive of full-blown materializations.

I for one think they are possible but cannot of course guarantee that DP’s are valid. Just not enough data but the data does suggest to me something is going on that needs further research. Wear it like Rupert Sheldrake when nature magazine suggested his book should be burned.

You know you are on to something when the atheists, Darwinists, religious, or dictators want to burn your books.

[Cyrus]

Excellent point about Rupert Sheldrake and the book-burning statement in Nature. I was hoping to learn more about that. Do you have a link I could read?

This topic is reaching new levels of public acceptance and inquiry, and it's threatening the status quo. It is absolutely damning for the critics to get fired up, call for book burnings and other attacks. But what's damning for them is good for us, because their anger and frustration are signs that they are losing their holy credibility, and the so-called "fringe" science is beginning to replace the establishment. This has happened before in the past, history is repeating itself as it often does. :-)

We should all remain actively involved and organized, and accurate in our reporting and analysis of developments as they happen. If we are lucky, there will be a day soon when the condescending term "paranormal" dissappears from modern description of certain subjects, and is replaced by something more accurate like trans dimensional phenomena.

[Pat]

Thank you, Michael, for a wonderful year filled with interesting insights and thorough discussions. :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

[william]

http://www.wie.org/consciousness/

http://www.sheldrake.org/homepage.html

this might be a good place to start on nature stating that his book needs to be burned or something to that effect.

my memory of where I found this statement by nature journal has left me but that first link I think you will find this article very interesting reading.

only need to plug in a email address to access the article. expect some emails from what is enlightment but not many.

[Leo]

it's on the alternative science website that you will find the burning of rupert sheldrake's book the site is down at the moment

[MarkL]

The love and joy of life just shines through Victor's (and other super-skeptics) postings. Luckily, they would never unconsciously and irrationally project their fear and anger onto others. Oh well...

Michael, thank you for a great blog, interesting and intelligent ideas (from the comments too!) and I wish you all a joyous new year.

[Barbara]

That is odd that he refers to himself in the third person in that diatribe. He also seems to do a lot of name calling, not just of you but others elsewhere on his web page, and he makes a lot of judgmental remarks. In fact, based on everything I've read on that one page, I don't think his elevator goes all the way to the top.

I've found your blog extremely objective in the months I've been reading it. Keep it coming. And Happy New Year!

[william]

Michael I have enjoyed participating on your blog this past year. The quality of comments by you and the participants that post on this blog are exceptional. And to all of you who participate on this blog may the peace of Christ Consciousness be with you and that you find 2008 an inspirational year.

On a side note after reading pages 120 and 121 in the supreme adventure on what a soul looks like when it first leaves the body at physical death I have been given a picture by a fire chief that shows very clearly a hazy vapor like substance hovering above the body of a person several firemen are providing medical care for after being hit by a car. This person had died only seconds before the picture was taken as the fire chief (before he was the fire chief) was working on this accident victim.

This picture fits the description exactly what the supreme adventure states on page 120. It was taken by a professional photographer that worked for the largest local paper who happened to be driving by when the accident occurred. So the chances of this photo being a double exposure may be of low probability. Also I have asked several professional photographers to look at it and none of them said it looks to them like a double exposure or light interference. It is not an orb but the size and somewhat the shape of a human body.

This fire chief uses this photo to train his new people not to talk about a person they are working on even if they believe the person has died as the soul could be hovering near by and could hear them.

One more item this Christmas day that has to do with the supreme adventure I was doing yoga several years and a lady died of a heart attack and the lady next to her who was considered a energy healer and later I learned a sensitive told her mom who I knew well that she saw the soul leave the body of this woman through the head.

When I asked this person who was doing acupuncture on me what she saw she said nothing but she did not know that her mom had already told me her daughter had seen the soul leave this person’s body. Because I was her patient I suspect she did not want to talk about this experience with me.

I am finding the supreme adventure a very interesting and informative book to read.

[Larry Boy]

To be fair, the editorial in Nature didn't actually call for a burning of Sheldrake's book. The author did write that the book "is the best candidate for burning there has been for many years". However, what he meant was *not* that we actually should burn it, but that had there still been a practice of burning books this one would surely have been a likely candidate. In fact, the author explicitly stated that "[Dr. Sheldrake's] book should not be burned".
For more on this, see the editorial to "Sheldrake and his critics: the sense of being glared at" by the Journal of Consciousness Studies, volume 12, no.6 (2005).

[Dey]

Mike wrote: "And believe it or not, I don't think he really intends any of this personally. He writes essentially the same thing about all his critics, even using the same words and expressions (loser, defeatist, imbecile, liar, closed-minded, lives in a sewer, throws mud, etc.). This just seems to be the mode that he enters when he feels he is under assault"

I think it's true. Victor seems be a good guy, only a little bit "hypersensitive" of criticism against him or his works (maybe, because his experiences with hostile pseudo-skeptics). He responds to any persistent critic with name-callings and the same ad hominem expressions.

These days are to reflection and positive self-analysis. I hope Victor can take a time to consider Mike's criticisms of Thompson's seances and rebut them (or comment them) at the discoursive/argumentative level. It will be positive to all the readers and will enable all of us to get a common point of agreement to a rational, open, positive, productive and rigorous discussion of afterlife evidence.

I enjoy Victor's website, articles and weekly reports. His great website is a well-known reference/source on afterlife research and he has the support of many people for keep going with his work.

So, I hope he reconsiders his attitudes about Mike. After all, this blog is another exceptional and great place to open discussion of paranormal, psychic and afterlife evidence.

Best wishes my friends!

[Marcel Cairo]

Michael, I hope one of your Christmas presents this year was Blogging Buddy. A little leprechaun friend that stands on your shoulder rooting you on to write and giving you creative inspiration when you feel like your well is running dry.

I also hope to get Victor on my show this year to discuss the public criticisms of his research. Yes, wishful thinking.

Happy New Year, everyone.

[Hp]

Whe people speak of themselves in third party, it does sound strange but if you believe in spirit interference, it could present a reasonable arguement, but maybe we should err on the side overinflated ego and self importance.