Author Topic: Niels Harrit - legal to call him a looney  (Read 24560 times)

Offline Allan F

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Re: Niels Harrit - legal to call him a looney
« Reply #30 on: October 21, 2013, 12:06:10 PM »
I got lost in all the wordage: is there anyone here that supports Harrit? I mean, even one person?

No.
Well, it is like this: The truth doesn't need insults. Insults are the refuge of a darkened mind, a mind that refuses to open and see. Foul language can't outcompete knowledge. And knowledge is the result of education. Education is the result of the wish to know more, not less.

Offline allancw

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Re: Niels Harrit - legal to call him a looney
« Reply #31 on: October 21, 2013, 12:17:01 PM »
Gotta love that answer: No.

If we could do this via skype you'd see/hear me laughing my ass off.

Offline Echnaton

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Re: Niels Harrit - legal to call him a looney
« Reply #32 on: October 21, 2013, 02:31:01 PM »
I got lost in all the wordage: is there anyone here that supports Harrit? I mean, even one person?

Why don't you chime in?
Do you support Harrit in this matter?
Do you think calling Harrit, or anyone else, a "looney" or equivalent is actionable slander?  If so why?
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline twik

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Re: Niels Harrit - legal to call him a looney
« Reply #33 on: October 24, 2013, 01:28:39 PM »
Gotta love that answer: No.

If we could do this via skype you'd see/hear me laughing my ass off.

If we were on Skype, you'd see/hear me sneezing. Allergies - hate 'em, right?

So, how about explaining your position, rather than wishing you were on Skype?

Offline Echnaton

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Re: Niels Harrit - legal to call him a looney
« Reply #34 on: October 24, 2013, 01:47:12 PM »
If we were on Skype, you'd see/hear me sneezing. Allergies - hate 'em, right?

There are a number of good reasons not to do this on Skype.  Things like bewildered head shaking at the daftness of some HB statements comes to mind.  It is better to keep those as far out of sight as possible. Ya, and the sneezing. 
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. —Samuel Beckett

Offline Allan F

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Re: Niels Harrit - legal to call him a looney
« Reply #35 on: October 24, 2013, 02:17:55 PM »
AND the possibility of people saying things they later deny. Or can't seem to remember.
Well, it is like this: The truth doesn't need insults. Insults are the refuge of a darkened mind, a mind that refuses to open and see. Foul language can't outcompete knowledge. And knowledge is the result of education. Education is the result of the wish to know more, not less.

Offline Noldi400

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Re: Niels Harrit - legal to call him a looney
« Reply #36 on: November 21, 2013, 06:06:14 PM »
It dawned on me just today why the name Niels Harrit sounded familiar.

(As you know, Bob...)  Robert Heinlein published a novel titled The Number Of The Beast in 1980. On one level, at least, the book is a long string of thinly disguised references to various people.

One of the 'Black Hats' we meet early on is a university professor named "Neil O'Heret Brain", regarded by some of his peers as a crackpot and sometimes referred to, behind his back, as "N.O. Brain".

Now, while "Neil O'Heret Brain" is an anagram of "Robert A. Heinlein"  (the book is full of self-referencing anagrams), that's still a pretty close resemblance, and casting the character as a crackpot professor...  well, it just makes one wonder.

Of course the publication, and Mr. Heinlein's later death (1988) were years before 9/11 and the various nutjobs claims, but RAH kept up pretty well with the research in various scientific fields and could well have known of Harrit in 1980.

Just sort of random thoughts...
"The sane understand that human beings are incapable of sustaining conspiracies on a grand scale, because some of our most defining qualities as a species are... a tendency to panic, and an inability to keep our mouths shut." - Dean Koontz