MD, PhD, MAE, FMedSci, FRSB, FRCP, FRCPEd.
I should warn you, this is a somewhat unusual post.
Yesterday, I had a debate with someone in the comments section of a 10 year old post about Reiki. First I thought it might be interesting, then I realized that it was not a debate at all but that I was entertaining a troll. I usually stop at that point – yet, in this case, I carried on to see when he [I assume it was a male person] would stop.
The amazing thing was, he never did!
He kept on going and going and going. Eventually, I cut him off by no longer posting his attempts to provoke me. After that plenty more of his comments arrived which I then deleted.
Despite the fact that the exchange is only mildly amusing, I thought I copy the last bits of it. What comes out quite clearly, I hope, is the way a troll tries to gradually rope you in. Perhaps it prevents someone to fall victim of a troll.
It all started with me stating: “What will I call a billion people who believe in something absurd? I WOULD CALL THEM SERIOUSLY MISLED AND PERHAPS EVEN STUPID”. At first, others were involved but by the 24th it was between me and the troll.

Here we go, enjoy!

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Saturday 14 January 2023 at 22:34 (Edit)

More than a billion humans know and believe that the cow is “Kamadhenu” or God. One can be called a stupid, and two can be called a moron, but what will call you when a billion people believe in something? How about calling all the Indians that believe in the cow as god “Arrogant”? Will that cut it?
I might be arrogant, and i am ok with it. But you are dishonest and contradictory. I would rather be with an arrogant person than a dishonest, ridiculous, or contradicing person. Because I know the dishonest, ridiculous, and contradicting person will cause me more harm than this so-called “arrogant” person. There, I sent you away. Go home and come back tomorrow with a better argument that sounds morally good!

what will I call a billion people who believe in something absurd?
I WOULD CALL THEM SERIOUSLY MISLED AND PERHAPS EVEN STUPID

More than a billion humans know and believe that the cow is “Kamadhenu” or God.

To more than 6 billion people (i.e. rest of the world), cow is NOT god. In fact, a lot of them want to see it served on a plate. If we were to take a vote w.r.t cow’s godliness, it looses sorely.

You are not arrogant, you are plain stupid.

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 13:48 (Edit)

The arrogancy is not mine, it is the Westerners. I was actually supporting the statement that Reiki is not plausible by giving an example from India in which Hindus (there is a billion of them) “know” that the cow is a god. Does it mean that the cow is a god? You folks are very arrogant and no body can save you. Your civilization will definitely be the first one to be doomed. As for the others are concerned, it becomes a blessing that they do not have a civilization

Even at the time of death healing can help the dying person to ease the transition from this world to the next. Should one not be well versed in spiritual matters it can come as a bit of a shock to realise that one is no longer in a physical body.

Death, of the body, is not the end. Life goes on in another dimension. The ´dead´ miss us as much as we miss them. Imagine two big bubbles. You are in one and your loved one is in the other. You cannot touch each other and the bubbles are floating off further and further in different directions. There are a couple of ways in which you can communicate. You can take up telepathy or you can see a medium.

— Ralph Maver
[http://www.reikiwithralph.com/more-about-ralph-maver/]

Marvellous!

Only one other dimension? So we become straight lines with ni width or thickness?

Oh, in that dimension, thickness knows no bounds.

So it would appear!

@Ralph William Maver

You are an arrogant person.

Are you certain that you selected the right personal pronoun in this sentence?

I know that Reiki works.

Ah, you must be one of those persons who spent $4000 on a Reiki Level 4 Master Course (or whatever it is called), and are now trying their very best to protect and possibly recoup their investment.

You are one of those people who challenge what they don’t understand.

Sorry to tell you, but you are the one who fails to understand that ‘Reiki’ and all that other bogus ‘energy medicine’ stuff is just a con trick, a way to separate gullible people from their money.

Then again, having taken a look around your Web site, it may well be that you have been the one who was conned first, and are in turn now trying to trick other people – although not very successfully, by the looks of it. I almost feel sorry for you.

My bit of advice: go find another, more honest occupation. This reiki stuff doesn’t work for you. And oh, get a better Web designer.

I don’t have a soul.

Unless we count the Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield and all albums…

Next?

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 13:54 (Edit)

I said more than a billion people believe that the cow is god, and instead of reading the rest of the statement, you people, including Edzrad, jumped on me and started calling me names, if only you read the rest of my statement, you would know that I don’t believe in Reiki. But then you revealed your true colours. Truth always goes in hand with compassion, which I guess you do not have. You failed to recognize the racism in your own comment by calling 1 billion people (Hindus) stupid. It is not the stupid people that are destroying the world, but cruelty is spread by the in-compassionate fools. Now go, respond by doing a line-by-line grammar check of my statement. If civilization falls, yours will be the first to fall.

Edzrad, jumped on me and started calling me names”
TEMPTING! BUT I DIDN’T
Now try to spell my name correctly, if you don’t mind.

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 15:45 (Edit)

Your life and existence must be in this thread, so pathetic.

I intentionally misspelt your name expecting to reveal the “ego” component in your statements.
Do you really think a misspelling in your name is so significant? No wonder your country is a philosophical mess, caught in between two ideologies. My concern is that people with your attitude are destroying the rest of the world, like that guy in 1853, American Commodore Matthew Perry who forcefully opened Japan for trade. Not only are you arrogant, but you are also blind. May demise to your civilization come soon.

“Do you really think a misspelling in your name is so significant?”
No, and I did not claim it to be.

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:11 (Edit)

I am really not interested in this conversation anymore, yes, it does seem that you are ‘awfully triggered’ and conversing with me. because the replies are almost an instantaneous basis, like the insecure Donald Trump tweeting. “…Now try to spell my name correctly, if you don’t mind.” These are your words, and you now say that you really did not mean it. I am just getting tired as if I am giving directions to a blind and deaf person. I just came to your thread because as a massage therapy student, 8 years ago, I was having an argument with my students and lecturer that non-evidence based therapies should not be promoted aggressively, but with a note and disclaimer because the public are being taken advantage by scamsters providing sham treatment. Now all those things are lost but we are now in a different territory, I was giving the one million Hindu and cow example to demonstrate that sometimes things does not matter, but it has to be handled more in a human way. It seems that you do not have that big heart or genroisty, but instead it seems that you keep this thread live just for fun. And the more time passes, the more small you become in your replies, I am not sure maybe you died and it is your grandson that is maintaining this blog, who knows? Go to hell, do whatever you want. If you want a closure, please block me.

“I am really not interested in this conversation anymore”
By contrast, I never was!
It is you who foisted it on me.

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:19 (Edit)

Edzard on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:15
“I am really not interested in this conversation anymore”
By contrast, I never was!
It is you who foisted it on me.
I understand your need to feel good about your actions. I have a bigger heart than you. Hence, I am sorry.
bye bye

“your country is a philosophical mess”
which country are you referring to?

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 15:55 (Edit)

To be specific, I am an RMT, and I don’t believe in Reiki, but that does not mean that we go around insulting people. Why? Because it is not necessary. Only two types of people do unnecessary things (a) fools, and (b) malicious people. How do we know that you are not some sort of psycho living a pathetic life, and you are taking this opportunity to ‘bash’ people, in the name of reason and objectivity? Do you want us to trust you? You just put one billion people beneath by calling them stupid (and the other commenter who would rather see a cow on a plate, how insensitive that comment is? No wonder people hate America and Americans) Initially I thought you were arrogant. I take it back, because I think you are simply malicious (and maybe half your country)…one billion Hindus are stupid? (I gave that as a metaphor, I was born a Hindu, but I am not an hindu, now)

” I am an RMT”

RMT
[RMT] ABBREVIATION
(in the UK) National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers.

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:13 (Edit)

Yeah, I am a railroad worker, and I am from the UK. These things make you appear so petty.

“we go around insulting people”

When and how did I insult you?

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:14 (Edit)

That is why I said you are blind, and that is why I said that you must belong to a particular demographic. As I said, I am not interested in conversing anymore. I am more honest than you and made my intentions clear. You need not block or moderate me, But there is no point in coming back to this thread.

thanks for that!

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:23 (Edit)

The English have the power of speech and the tool of articulation. Using this, they conquer all the world without doing all the hard work or shedding blood, but don’t worry, justice may be late, but it will rule one day, what was got by simply using the tongue, will also be lost using the same tongue. In the end, they will be the most pathetic souls among all life forms:

Edzard on Sunday 15 January 2023 at 08:39
what will I call a billion people who believe in something absurd?
I WOULD CALL THEM SERIOUSLY MISLED AND PERHAPS EVEN STUPID

oh, I see: you think I’m English!

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:28 (Edit)

“oh, I see: you think I’m English!”
That was supposed to be an insult, I don’t really care who you are. I don’t care even if I am wrong. You should know that I am not making an effort to know you. I can google you in five minutes, but you are not worth my time. All I know is that you are a troublemaker (Like Donald Trump) who lives just for the fun of it. Trump uses certain things to disguise is contempt and selfishness, you are just using the war against alternative medicine to shield your general malice. You are not a good person, that I know. And I am sure that nobody would have told you that — greatest insult.

Troll: a person who antagonizes (others) online by deliberately posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive comments or other disruptive content

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:32 (Edit)

I may be a troll, but you are simply an abuser and maipulator of knowledge, power, and position. At best, I would have annoyed a few people. But you just called one billion people stupid, then guess what your real intentions might be? You have more power to damage the world then me, If I am a troll, you are simply a evil person

Edzard on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:30
Troll: a person who antagonizes (others) online by deliberately posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive comments or other disruptive content

… and I thought the troll had said ‘bye bye’ a while ago…

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:42 (Edit)

Really? What are you? an old man aged 70 years or more? Nothing much to do in life anymore?
Can’t let it go without having the last word? Lot’s of peeing match I guess!

Edzard on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:37
… and I thought the troll had said ‘bye bye’ a while ago…

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:34 (Edit)

I challenge you to keep all the conversations in between you and me so that people can judge what is going on. If you delete it, it would mean that you do not want people to know, let’s see how honest you are.

I have no intention to delete this comic relief!

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:39 (Edit)

Like I said, tongue they use to unleash their malice, by the tongue their souls will die a pathetic death

a characteristic of a troll is that he/she cannot quit easily

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:47 (Edit)

That’s right, senile, sadist, probably news does not excite you, so come back and read the comments to feel that you are indeed alive. So pathetic. Bye — If you really think I am a troll, then you probably should not reply, every internet user knows this. But if you are intentionally engaging with a troll, then it means that there is something wrong with you greater than that troll. Like I said, I might be a a troll, but you are even greater than that — an evil person (because you have power, position, influence) — don’t…

It’s not that I think you are a TROLL, you have proven it to us.

Sivalingam (Siva) Canjeevaram on Tuesday 24 October 2023 at 17:44 (Edit)

If you can call one billion Hindus stupid. I should not mind for you calling me a troll.
And this time, I am deciding to quit. What a bore!

___________________________________________

Re-reading this today, I am still amazed at the mindset of my troll. Perhaps I should by now have got used to it – after all, this sort of thing does happen regularly on this blog. The lesson, I think, is not to let it happen and tell the troll early on to go yonder and multiply.

 

 

17 Responses to What will I call a billion people who believe in something absurd? I WOULD CALL THEM SERIOUSLY MISLED AND PERHAPS EVEN STUPID

  • He is right about Western civilisation falling:
    1 Weaponised DOJ (in US: violation of the Constitution by lawfare)
    2 Thought-police arresting silent praying (UK)
    3 Mass lockdowns and Masking (apart from Sweden).
    etc.

    • one troll agreeing with another? how cute!

    • Presumably OB, the indictment obtained by Special Counsel Jack Smith offers a perfect example of exactly the kind of weaponization of the Justice Department you’re talking about. The only problem is that it was conducted by Trump and his allies, in an effort to stay in power, against the will of the American people.

      • Jack Smith is just a tiny part of the mass-corruption of: Destroy your enemy by accusing them of your own crime.

        The deep-state is trying to pervert the 2024 election by accusing Trump of perverting elections.

        The court-of-public-opinion will decide who is in charge: the Deep-State or Trump.

        • you are even more brain-washed than I thought

          • I am going to challenge you on your statement, EE.

            Bain-less cant get brain-washed. They are just brain-less.

          • Talker on Wednesday 25 October 2023 at 18:41 unconsciously said
            “…Bain-less…”

            So true, I thank ‘ee.

          • Talker on Wednesday 25 October 2023 at 18:41 unconsciously said
            “…Bain-less…”

            So true, I thank ‘ee.

            @Old Bob

            For obvious reasons, you failed to realize that I was trying to unconsciously walk in your shoes.

            Besides, I didn’t realize you are a big Trumpey. Aren’t you from UK? Your love for our orange ogre knows no borders, I gather.

          • Again “…no borders…” is subconscious – Trump is, as the saying goes, in the way because it is you (us) that is (are) the target, likewise with the covid-scam that is only a distraction, likewise “no borders” – Welcome to the Great Reset…
            “…But we in it shall be rememberèd—
            We few, we happy few, we band of brothers…”

          • You lost me, OB. Can’t tell if you are conscious, subconscious or in some other state of mind.

          • Old Bob is a zombie. He needs more BRAINS!!!

        • Isn’t it a shame when you have to manufacture truths in order to make reality conform to your delusions, Bob. Trump has been unable to show proof for any of his assertions. And the evidence against him stacks higher and higher.

  • Engaging with a troll is utter folly
    Especially one so far off their trolley.

    • Can I appreciatively and respectfully suggest, as a matter of no consequence whatever, that your little pithy couplet would scan better as:

      Engaging a troll is utter folly
      Especially when he’s off his trolly

      or

      Engaging a troll is utter folly
      When he is so far off his trolley

      Add two more lines – another rhyming couplet – and you would have a Clerihew…..

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