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From: "D. Spencer Hines" <>
Subject: Bennett Continues With Errant Gibbonspeak
Date: 1 Sep 1998 18:57:01 GMT


Vide infra pro phrenetico et risibus.

Bennett does not know how to write [or think] either History or Genealogy,
as he now starkly reveals. He does not know how to write an exposition of
an argument, clearly and logically. He does not know how to prove and
buttress his points by quoting from the sources and *then* interpreting them
in a convincing manner.

This is all quite elementary stuff. Seventh grade students should be taught
it. --- The requisite reading, writing and --- above all --- *thinking*
skills should be fully developed in the youngster no later than the
completion of the ninth grade --- in the American system that is at about
age 14. This is not to say that the desired result does in fact happen ---
in the case of many lost souls. Somehow Bennett has fallen through the
cracks and missed the boat on this fundamental learning experience.

This is why he continues to write unadulterated gibberish about something he
calls "Ptolemaic genealogy" --- yet he has no requisite skills in Egyptian
languages. So, his "Ptolemaic genealogy" is, in itself, a massive *non
sequitur*.

Yet, he still insists on lecturing us in this abstruse art of "Ptolemaic
genealogy."

Here are some of his more outrageous statements. He pumps out a great deal
of this sewage and one need not quote it all. This will more than suffice:

"You challenged this account, not by raising any specific issues, but by
stating that my opinion was of no value, and demanding quotations and
sources. I gave you a listing of most of the relevant major and peripheral
primary sources -- something that I would have died for when I started this
research, even if I didn't fully understand what they were. And, surprise
surprise, I'm now being abused for not having written them out for you,
presumably in both the original Greek/Demotic/Latin and with translation."

Chris Bennett 31 August 1998

Bennett tries to zig with a red herring here. "Listing" sources does not
prove a ruddy thing. One must build an argument based on an intelligent
reading of the sources, quoting the appropriate parts and then interpreting
them with reason, skill, due diligence and close attention to detail. This
is junior high school stuff. Again, simply *listing* a gaggle of sources
proves nothing. He must dive in there and show his audience the pony. The
burden of proof for demonstrating the truth of his own argument falls on his
shoulders.

It is not the responsibility of the reader to disprove his arguments or
"show him where he is wrong." This is a mistake that autodidacts often
make. Rather does the entire burden of proof for *his thesis* fall on
*Bennett's* shoulders.

"Now, it was no effort for me to summarise my views, and even to list the
primary sources."

Chris Bennett 31 August 1998

Exactly! He gets this one right. It was "no effort" at all. Hence Bennett
gets no credit for having done it! He has not done the scholar's task of
stating a thesis and then defending it in the Free Market of Ideas. No
effort, no gain.

"In Cleopatra's case, if my analysis is correct, then there are three
couples of which each partner donated 50% of her genes."

Chris Bennett 31 August 1998

Again, Bennett writes gibberish, also known as Gibbonspeak. He refuses to
admit that he bollixed this entire paragraph of his peregrination into
"Ptolemaic genealogy" and the alleged ancestors of Cleopatra VII.

So, if he wants an intelligent audience to have any faith and confidence in
his credentials as a "Ptolemaic Genealogist" he must either admit his
egregious error and make amends by restating his thesis, proof and
conclusions, with reference to the ancestry of Cleopatra VII --- or drop the
entire matter and retreat to puppy-dog land.

The latter course of action might well be the wisest one --- while he still
has some skin left.

D. Spencer Hines

Lux et Veritas
Fortem Posce Animum
--

D. Spencer Hines --- William Jefferson Blythe III [Bill Clinton] President
of the United States --- Peccatoris Justificatio Absque Paenitentia, Legem
Destruit Moralem. "Clinton's an unusually good liar. Unusually good."
Senator Bob Kerrey [Democrat, Nebraska]

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