Raise the Hammer

Hello Ryan McGreal,

Earlier today, I emailed you the copy of this blog post, with a simple request stating:

"Hello Ryan, Here is something you can publish - if it meets your guidelines. Best, Mahesh"

As in the past, you have emailed back with an yea or a nay, and that was that.

Given your present political predisposition, I am quite surprised and frankly thankful that you saw it fit to be even published here, in whatever form you have chosen to introduce it in.

The title of this post stated that it was not a press release. This post has already been published with the title in The Hamiltonian and on my FaceBook Notes.

So why the mockery with typing some words and then striking them out?

I think you do know by now, that I have been deeply disappointed in the manner in which you have chosen to take this very respected public platform - which was worth something to this community - and turned it into a grotesque shadow of its original self.

While this city frankly is indebted to you personally for having sustained the inquiring nature of this forum over many years - you are way too intelligent not to realize this self-inflicted damage.

So what went wrong since this summer?

I think you fell in love with an idea. That is what went wrong. Much like Fred did too, with an idea!

This in itself was not as damaging, as was your collective "fan following" - who I can almost with certainty tell you, has less than a quarter of your intellectual skills and rigor for logic and the pursuit of hard evidence.

I think this was indeed your "Summer of Love"! You got taken in by the adulation and screams of your high pitched fans. It led you to hand over the keys of this almost profound vehicle to others, while you basked in the glory of the screams.

It was this self love that did you in. Fortunately, this is not an irreversible condition. Painful as it is to watch someone suffer from it, it can be healed with some quite and retrospection.

I did ask you once before, and am compelled to respectfully ask you once again -- If you do love what you have created, it is high time to take back the keys from your fan club, and hand them over to someone who possesses the same intellectual rigour that you once did.

For, you have made the same fatal error as has Fred, and many others before him - that of surrounding yourself with some very small and weak minds. It can only get worse.

Typing something and striking it out is only a small manifestation of the rot that had already set in.

I do respect your abilities deeply, and hope to share a coffee with you someday soon, when you have managed to free yourself from this self-deception and are able to shine brightly once again.

Best Wishes, Mahesh P. Butani

Comment edited by Mahesh_P_Butani on 2010-09-20 22:36:53