Saturday 23 June 2012

The great mojecosie mystery

One of the minor pleasures of my life lies in observing the many home educators on the internet who display the signs and symptoms of Paranoid Schizophrenia. I am of course aware that these characters do not represent all home educating parents, but their mad antics are still pretty entertaining. It's a bit like the old days, when one could pay to see the loonies in Bedlam. The great thing is; this is completely free! The expression ’Conspiracy Theory’ does not even begin to cover the deluded thinking. When the old Department for Children, Schools and Families reorganised their IT system a few years ago, half the links to documents and external sites vanished for a few days. Such things are not uncommon. When a home educator found that the 2007 guidelines on home education were no longer available, she started a panic on a number of lists and forums. It was clearly a plot on the part of the government to deprive home educators of their rights. Some readers might remember this nonsense. I did what any normal person would do and rang up the DfCSF and simply asked them about it. Hopeless to try and tell internet obsessed home educators the truth; they simply wouldn’t have believed it.


A similar thing happened on this blog yesterday. I have noticed in the last year or so that posts from here are turning up in all sorts of strange places. Perhaps because my style is so lucid, many people copy my articles here and use them for their own purposes. Here is an example:

http://friendshipessaystudentessayssynopsis.wtc.cc/175/home-education-heretic-early-childhood-experiences-and-their/

I suppose that I should be flattered. I don’t think that this sort of wholesale lifting of intellectual property is taking place with all blogs on home educating. Hard to imagine people pinching Maire Stafford’s or Niki Harper’s incoherent ramblings and trying to pass them of as their own work! I recently saw that an entire blog has turned up in Poland, consisting of nothing but posts from here;

http://mojecosie.blogspot.co.uk/

I noticed it and simply passed on and forgot it. Not so some of the sharp eyed folk who comment here! It was plain to them that this was obviously some cunning ruse of mine, for reasons that even the most demented of them seemed wholly  unable to explain. Perhaps I wanted my views to stand alone without comments? Well then, I could switch off the comments here. Perhaps the title ‘Home education’ is catchier than ‘Home Education Heretic’? Who knows? Why would I have chosen a Polish name for the blog and be promoting it only on Polish lists? Again, one can only guess. Never the less, it was clear that I was at the back of it somehow.


I also find it difficult to believe that someone else is responsible for this blog, http://mojecosie.blogspot.co.uk/ yet you claim to be mystified.


If it genuinely has been put up by someone else’


It makes even less sense for someone else to do it.

you might want to give someone a link to your work without comments (understandable after reading some of them), but still want to keep the comments here for your own entertainment

you've intentionally gone off on a tangent. It looks like a tactic to bring a halt to this discussion

Very strange. It would be very easy for you to set up the other account and transfer the articles and there are there are probably loads of good reasons for you to do so, but someone else would literally have to copy and paste over 500 posts individually and I can't think of a reason for it.


See what I mean? I was particularly enchanted to be accused of trying to bring the discussion of this madness to an end.  However, perhaps I was hasty.  I should I suppose give these people their opportunity.  Answers, on a postcard please, to the curious question of why I should set up a parallel blog to this one, containing only posts from here,  and instead of using my own name should pose as a Pole called Evadima. Let’s see those conspiracy theories roll, boys.

38 comments:

  1. Cool! There was me, just being nosy, and suddenly I'm a paranoid schizophrenic who has invented a conspiracy theory (involving one person?!?) and qualify for a blog post all of my own! Wow, either I'm far more important than l thought (delusions of grandeur, narcissistic personality disorder?) or it's a slow news day. Way to overreact! Many of your other posts make far more sense now. I've always wondered why the home educators you're met are nothing like the ones I've met. It's artistic license!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bloody odd that you're the only one who knew all about mojecosie....
      sure looks like you set it up just to make it look like Simon Webb has set it up?

      A clear case of he/she who smelt it more than likely dealt it.
      Either way the Smith family abuse/murder discussion was neatly diverted and no shit ever manages to stick to EO or the online HE gurus.

      Delete
    2. You seem to be attracting an increasingly childish audience, Simon. It feels like I'm back in school!

      Delete
  2. 'There was me, just being nosy, and suddenly I'm a paranoid schizophrenic who has invented a conspiracy theory (involving one person?!?) and qualify for a blog post all of my own!'

    Ther are two points to consider here. The first is that had it been pure nosiness, I would have been perfectly happy to clear the matter up. Using phrases like, 'I find it difficult to believe', is not nosiness, but rather suggests that you feel that somebody is trying to deceive you. As for qualifying for a blog post all of your own, well I know just how this sort of nonsense spreads among the less stable home educators. Who can forget when I was being cast as Graham Badman's brother or something of the sort?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Using phrases like, 'I find it difficult to believe', is not nosiness, but rather suggests that you feel that somebody is trying to deceive you."

      That people do not trust you is hardly news that requires a blog article. Why would you be surprised since you have said before that untruths are part and parcel of being a journalist/writer. At least, that's how you explained your (false) claim to be a school teacher in a newspaper article about how poor schools were.

      Delete
  3. I do wish people would stop using medical diagnoses about those who annoy them. Isn't it rather like calling someone who has less than graceful movements a 'spastic'? Also, when people accused you of having Asperger's Syndrome you were quite rightly offended.

    Hyperbole, I suppose, but still...

    Old Mum (V. grumpy today)

    ReplyDelete
  4. you and your daughter still in touch with crazy old Badman? what did you say to him when he met you and your daughter in your house?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I see that you're still stalking the Webb family.
      There are laws regarding online stalking.
      Then again, I'm pretty sure that Simon leaves you free to comment just to prove to everyone that you're an incurable twat.

      Delete
  5. I wish that home educators would stop pushing their
    political agendas and antisemitic NWO conspiracy theories.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Besides, most Home Educators can't wait to tell everyone that they're somewhere in the Autistic Spectrum.
      Some of them are almost certainly the modern day equivalent of the ol' village idiot.

      Delete
  6. that is bull crap about stalking if anything your stalking me come round to our house and say what you been saying about us/Peter? one thing i say about Webb on his blog is he does agree that you should be able to voice your view.

    I asked simple question is Webb and his daughter still in touch with crazy old Badman?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's not just Simon and his daughter who you stalk.
      You stalk Julie too...
      So, if I was to bump into you in real life what would you do?

      Delete
  7. 'At least, that's how you explained your (false) claim to be a school teacher in a newspaper article about how poor schools were.'

    I don't recollect this article, could you give a few details?

    ReplyDelete
  8. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/3337822/But-how-did-Romeo-feel.html

    "With younger children, there may be a place for such play-acting. As a primary school teacher, I have occasionally enlivened a history lesson in this way, allowing the children to act out historical tableaux."

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh. I've just seen a previous discussion about this and it looks as though you really, really, really don't want to say if you have ever been a primary school teacher or not. So to avoid all risk of repeating such an excruciatingly long winded, boring and ultimately futile conversation, I think I'll leave it there!

    http://homeeducationheretic.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/no-longer-home-educator.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. 'a newspaper article about how poor schools were.'

    "With younger children, there may be a place for such play-acting. As a primary school teacher, I have occasionally enlivened a history lesson in this way, allowing the children to act out historical tableaux."

    Yes, I thought this was the piece you meant. This says nothing at all about schools being poor, but is actually an examination of a particular teaching technique known as 'collaborative learning'.


    'Oh. I've just seen a previous discussion about this and it looks as though you really, really, really don't want to say if you have ever been a primary school teacher or not. So to avoid all risk of repeating such an excruciatingly long winded, boring and ultimately futile conversation, I think I'll leave it there!

    http://homeeducationheretic.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/no-longer-home-educator.html
    '

    Thanks for providing this, Anonymous. This was one of the most enjoyable exchanges which I ever had on this blog with anonymous adversaries! I remember it clearly, because the chief anonymous commenter was using words like 'utterances' and accusing me of 'transgressions'. I believed then and still think today, that only that most notorious of pompous windbags, Mike Fortune-Wood, could possible be using language in this way. I have never, before or since, heard anybody in real life use the word 'utterances'; apart that is, from Mike Fortune-Wood himself. I am obliged to you for a pleasant stroll down memory lane!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, that old guessing game again. I'm the one you've incorrectly accused of being three different people at various times. I don't think you're very good at that game, Simon.

      Delete
  11. Why on earth would anyone be embarrassed to admit that they had been a primary teacher? I don't understand. It's a noble profession.

    Old Mum

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's the question he's still avoiding, Old Mum. He appears to be embarrassed about being a teacher our embarrassed about lying that he's a teacher.

      Delete
    2. Correction, that he used to be a teacher. Don't want to risk slipping into that old avoidance technique again.

      Delete
    3. You and I might think that it's a noble profession. I recall that MF-W and others who don't hold that view have been extreme and outspoken in their opposite opinion.
      More often than not their opinions against primary teachers were unfair and spiteful.

      Delete
    4. I've not read this anywhere, can you provide a link? I've not heard him even mention teachers either in person or during talks, but this certainly sound out of character.

      Delete
  12. 'Oh, that old guessing game again. I'm the one you've incorrectly accused of being three different people at various times. I don't think you're very good at that game, Simon.'

    Anonymous, if you are indeed the person who talks of people's 'utterances' and 'transgressions', then in the interests of all those who care about the English language, I call upon you to identify yourself. You deserve to be recognised for the very special contribution which you have made to the usage of our mother tongue and why you still remained determined to hide your light under a bushel in this way is a complete mystery to me.



    'Why on earth would anyone be embarrassed to admit that they had been a primary teacher? I don't understand.'

    Had I been embarrassed aboout it, I would scarcely have revealed the fact to the readers of one the leading British newspapers. I was having a little fun with some particularly po-faced and humourless types who, while resolutely concealing their own identities, felt that I should provide chapter and verse for them about every detail of my previous employment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, I'm not that particular anonymous. So you have been a primary school teacher. Yet when someone on a HE list suggested that your old profession would make dealing with LA inspections easier for you than most, you denied that you had been a teacher. Since you think it's OK for local authorities to misrepresent their duties to home educators, you are at least being consistent, I suppose.

      Delete
  13. ' profession would make dealing with LA inspections easier for you than most, you denied that you had been a teacher.'

    There are two points here. the first is that as a result of my professional experiences and the awful way that I have seen 'ordinary' parents treated by teachers, social workers and others before I had a child of my own, I determined that if and when I was a parent, I would always represent myself to any professionals as being 'just a parent'. This is a phrase which I heard many times when parents were saying something blindingly obvious that had not ocurred to a social worker. As in, 'I'm just a parent, but I thought that..' The parent would then say something which cut to the heart of the matter, scything through the jargon and cant.

    It is this to which you refer; that I would always deal with my local authority as 'only' a parent, not discussing any details of any aspect of my previous employment or other activitites. That is why I did not have an easier time with the local authority than others, through virtue of my previous life, before I became a parent.

    The second point to consider is this. You will not even reveal your name and yet seem to expect me to give you all sorts of details of my past life. This is not in reason. Open up a little and tell me a little about yourself, as a bare minimum your name and previous work history, and I shall in turn tell you more about my own life. This is surely only fair.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So in your professional experience, 'ordinary' parents are treated in an awful way by teachers, social workers and others, yet you are perfectly happy to repeatedly advise others that home educating parents have nothing to fear from home inspections and have expressed bewilderment at the attempts of some to avoid such visits. It seems entirely rational to wish to avoid the risk of being treated in an awful way by strangers in your own home in front of your children. Why would you willingly take the risk when there is a perfectly legal alternative that avoids it? That would appear to be the irrational choice to me.

      Delete
    2. Sorry, the last line isn't very clear. It's meant to say that, choosing visits instead of a perfectly legal alternative that avoids the risk of being treated in an awful way by an LA visitor seems the irrational choice to me.

      Delete
  14. "I determined that if and when I was a parent, I would always represent myself to any professionals as being 'just a parent'."

    But the point was you had this extensive experience with teachers, social workers and others before you had a child of your own as well as the educational lingo they would recognise and feel comfortable with. That's the sort of experience that would help during visits. The last and often only experience many people had with these groups of people is during their school days when they were encouraged to fear them (and often they have no experience with 'social workers and others'). And LAs do nothing to reduce this lingering fear with their threats of SAOs, however unlikely they are to actually issue them (something like 3-4 per LA per year, I believe). So when you denied your past profession you denied these useful experiences.

    "The second point to consider is this. You will not even reveal your name and yet seem to expect me to give you all sorts of details of my past life."

    I'm not expecting you to give all sorts of details of your past life. I asked which version of those already put in the public domain by you was accurate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What do you mean by "educational lingo". I would love to know? Is it the ability to express and articulate yourself clearly?

      I have had very limited dealings with those in positions of authority, but have never found my lack of experience to be a barrier!

      Delete
    2. Bully for you! Unfortunately (or should that be fortunately) we are not all the same.

      Delete
    3. I appreciate that "we are not all the same". But respectfully haven't explained what you mean by the phrase "educational lingo"

      Delete
    4. Here you go, these may help:

      http://www.intereducation.co.uk/glossary.html
      http://www.schoolwisepress.com/smart/dict/dict.html
      http://www.teachers-direct.co.uk/teachers-information/uk-education-jargon.aspx
      http://www.education.gov.uk/a0013104/glossary-of-special-educational-needs-sen-terminology

      Delete
    5. Or if you are struggling with the word, 'lingo':

      Definition of LINGO
      : strange or incomprehensible language or speech: as a : a foreign language
      b : the special vocabulary of a particular field of interest
      c : language characteristic of an individual

      Delete
    6. Or was I right first time and it was a rhetorical question from a language snob?

      http://andythenerd.tumblr.com/post/5422122207/i-admit-i-used-to-be-a-language-snob-but-then-i

      Delete
    7. But, covering all bases, apologies if it was a genuine question!

      Delete
  15. I didn't think it was necessary to answer that question since the answer's so obvious I thought you were asking a rhetorical question. Which is why I just answered the last part of your message.

    ReplyDelete
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