I'm working away from home at the moment and behind a client's eccentric firewall (one of the reasons why I am reluctantly operating comment moderation at the moment) so I'm not able to post as much as I would like. This post comes from an internet cafe in London.
Earlier this year a code of practice was discussed for Methodist blogging. To be honest I'm not certain I know what the final outcome was. I do know though that there was a bit of a moral panic about the way some discussions on some blogs were conducted.
In recent weeks the Methodist blogsphere has been enlivened by contributions form several other bloggers who actually know quite a bit more than the average Methodist about the issues surrounding Israel and Palestine.
One of those contributors has been Alec. Now I don't know if Alec is a Methodist or even a Christian but I have seen him develope some very interesting arguments. He has, on occasions disagreed with me. He has always been polite. He contributed to the outstanding discussion that developed on Dave Warnock's site (ignore the first five or six posts).
Which brings us to today. I'm not certain I followed the entire discussion but I was very disturbed by a reference to Alec on the semi-official anti-Israel, anti-Zionist Connexions site.
Alec had made a point and the Reverend Kim Fabricius responded (comment 40):
Alec is a very confused individual. As well as not knowing his ass from his elbow, he doesn’t know you from me........ [This] business demonstrates just how monomaniacal poor Alec is. Let’s put him on our prayer lists for the intellectually ill.
What an insulting way to speak about someone trying to engage in intelligent debate.
And what a blasphemous misuse of the word "prayer".
Now Kim Fabricius is the effective co-editor of the Connexions site. I gather that Richard, the blog owner, was one of the chosen few to comment on the proposed code of conduct.
Yet here we have a very unpleasant example of cyber abuse and bullying. As worrying is the misuse of the word "prayer" by a Minister of a Christian church to abuse someone who may be a non believer.
Now possibly Kim and Richard see this all as one great enormous joke. When I have dealt with abuse and bullying as a trade union official the perpetrators always say "I was only joking", "can't she take a joke?", "some of my best friends are Jews/Blacks/gay" etc.
I believe this nasty language is totally inappropriate and merely serves to bring Methodist blogging into disrepute. Sooner or later the behaviour of our professional blogger will have to be called to account.
Meanwhile Alec, you are welcome on the Methodist blogsphere and thank you for your thoughtful and insightful contributions.
God bless you. You and Joseph have been an answer to prayer. And I mean that.![]()
Earlier this year a code of practice was discussed for Methodist blogging. To be honest I'm not certain I know what the final outcome was. I do know though that there was a bit of a moral panic about the way some discussions on some blogs were conducted.
In recent weeks the Methodist blogsphere has been enlivened by contributions form several other bloggers who actually know quite a bit more than the average Methodist about the issues surrounding Israel and Palestine.
One of those contributors has been Alec. Now I don't know if Alec is a Methodist or even a Christian but I have seen him develope some very interesting arguments. He has, on occasions disagreed with me. He has always been polite. He contributed to the outstanding discussion that developed on Dave Warnock's site (ignore the first five or six posts).
Which brings us to today. I'm not certain I followed the entire discussion but I was very disturbed by a reference to Alec on the semi-official anti-Israel, anti-Zionist Connexions site.
Alec had made a point and the Reverend Kim Fabricius responded (comment 40):
Alec is a very confused individual. As well as not knowing his ass from his elbow, he doesn’t know you from me........ [This] business demonstrates just how monomaniacal poor Alec is. Let’s put him on our prayer lists for the intellectually ill.
What an insulting way to speak about someone trying to engage in intelligent debate.
And what a blasphemous misuse of the word "prayer".
Now Kim Fabricius is the effective co-editor of the Connexions site. I gather that Richard, the blog owner, was one of the chosen few to comment on the proposed code of conduct.
Yet here we have a very unpleasant example of cyber abuse and bullying. As worrying is the misuse of the word "prayer" by a Minister of a Christian church to abuse someone who may be a non believer.
Now possibly Kim and Richard see this all as one great enormous joke. When I have dealt with abuse and bullying as a trade union official the perpetrators always say "I was only joking", "can't she take a joke?", "some of my best friends are Jews/Blacks/gay" etc.
I believe this nasty language is totally inappropriate and merely serves to bring Methodist blogging into disrepute. Sooner or later the behaviour of our professional blogger will have to be called to account.
Meanwhile Alec, you are welcome on the Methodist blogsphere and thank you for your thoughtful and insightful contributions.
God bless you. You and Joseph have been an answer to prayer. And I mean that.
