As usual, some of the cryos respond to legitimate criticism, with lies and personal attacks. In response to my playful comments, (see below), about the David Styles situation, Mathew Sullivan of Suspended Animation, (an LEF-funded organization, located in Boynton Beach, Florida), called me a "white trash bigot," (the CF moderator edited out those remarks). Mathew, and other cryos, then proceeded on a silly campaign intended to convince the public this was a case of religious discrimination. (I'm the most tolerant person I know...if one of my sons was to show up with a pink polka-dotted male Martian, who worshipped the gods of Alpha Centauri, I wouldn't bat an eye, before welcoming him into my family.)
I think anyone of reasonable intelligence would realize this has nothing to do with religion, or bigotry. It has to do with the manipulative, fraudulent activities of David Styles, (and others, who have assisted him in his fraudulent activities), and the risk to cryonics from the obvious (to most of us) public relations fallout that comes from associating with someone like Styles.
I feel sorry, for Styles, on some level. He's obviously a very bright young man, who will probably never be able to live up to his full potential, due to some very poor choices. When it comes to any sort of management position, most legitimate businesses will avoid him, like the plague, for many years to come. I think the only way he could outlive his sullied reputation, would be to step out of the limelight for a few years, get a proper education, and chalk his past activities up to youth.
His biggest mistake has more to do with his lies, than with his religious choices; I think he's already proven he is not someone who can be trusted to lead any organization, many times over. More than a few people have demanded he name the medical professionals he claimed to have scattered throughout Europe, yet he has yet to produce even one such person. Then, there were the lies and secrecy, related to his attempts to get a position on the Board of Directors, of Cryonics Institute. (An attempt, in which CI's president, Ben Best, appeared to be subversively assisting Styles, and attempting to manipulate others, at CI.)
While I am 1,000 percent in favor of religious freedom, I don't see how anyone can take the Church of Satan, or the Temple of Vampires, seriously. Too many of their former members have come out with stories that make those organizations seem more like cults and pyramid schemes, than any religion. Logically, any organization being sincere about a religion based on pagan principles, would have picked another name. In my mind, anyone choosing to include the Christian nemesis, "Satan," in their name, could only be pulling a publicity stunt. Isn't it obvious that only someone in dire need of attention, would make that choice? I'm not saying everyone involved in the COS and TOV are needy publicity hounds; some of them appear to be a rather fun bunch, engaging in the silly "frat-boy" activities of youth, while not harming anyone. (Look at photos of Styles hanging out with his COS and TOV buddies, and you'll see what appears to be a happy young man; look at photos of him pretending to be a leader of a medical science endeavor, and you'll see a very uncomfortable person playing out of his league.)
I'm going to end this edit with a quote from the Church of Satan founder, Anton LaVey:
"You cannot love everyone; it is ridiculous to think you can. If you love everyone and everything you lose your natural powers of selection and wind up being a pretty poor judge of character and quality. If anything is used too freely it loses its true meaning. Therefore, the Satanist believes you should love strongly and completely those who deserve your love, but never turn the other cheek to your enemy!"
http://www.religioustolerance.org/satanis1.htm
I'm with LaVey on that one, and anyone who tries to defraud the public with "a ticket to the future," and medical professionals that don't exist, or anyone who makes a mockery of REAL hypothermic medical science, is no friend of mine.
(This probably should have been a stand-alone blog entry, rather than an edit, but the original blog entry is below.)
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http://www.network54.com/Forum/291677/message/1291925953/Eucrio+deleted+from+CI+site
Vampire and satanists lose to a handful of conscientious cryonicists, (with a lot of help from one wild and crazy chef!) Maybe CI should now focus on getting rid of the resident evil...you know, the one who was letting the vampires in the back door.
On that comment mind-boggling bizarre comment, I think I should probably call it an evening.
This weekend, I will most likely make additional comments, on that insanity, and I will definitely make my last comments for Dr. Wowk, on this blog, (referring to our recent discussion on lesswrong.com). Dr. Wowk's ridiculous arguments have me feeling like I am "beating my head against a wall."
Dr. Wowk thinks it's acceptable, for Catherine Baldwin, to refer to herself as a "surgeon," because she didn't refer to herself as a "credentialed surgeon." I hate to tell Dr. Wowk this, but it is illegal in some states, to refer to one's self as a "surgeon," period. One does not have to add "credentialed," to make it illegal.
No matter what he writes, I'm quite sure Dr. Wowk is intelligent enough to understand why regulators, and authorities, might frown on Suspended Animation's case report, which was nothing more than an attempt to defraud SA's potential clients, by misrepresenting their personnel and capabilities. The same goes for Alcor, and their case reports, in which charlatans, such as Mike Darwin, have been referred to as "surgeon," and even "chief surgeon," (something that happens to be illegal, in Alcor's home state of Arizona, by the way).
