Is Erik Walker a Hypocrite?
not judge unless you want to be held to the same standard
posted about 12 years ago
The TL:DR version. Does asking for people to provide sources for
their claims, yet refusing to provide your own make one a hypocrite?
While browsing a discussion recently, I noticed Erik Walker posted this statement in response to someone else's post.
""Didn't the Bible say something about not judging people?"
yes indeed. It says to not judge unless you want to be held to the same standard by which you judge. Thus, if you are not a hypocrite, there is no shame in judging by God's standards. Just a few verses after the one you're thinking of, Jesus says "judge with righteous judgment." Clearly, Christians are to judge."
I found this comment interesting for a few reasons.
Towards the end of last semester, there was a discussion regarding North Carolina's gay marriage amendment . While browsing the discussion I noticed an interesting claim being made.
"But homosexual murderers are more violent and obsessed than heterosexual murderers.
As a homosexual, you are more likely to die at the hands of another homosexual than in a 'hate crime' by a heterosexual. Even though heterosexuals outnumber homosexuals 40 to 1."
-Erik Walker
The claim struck me as odd for a few reasons. 1st, how exactly does one go about measuring levels of violence or obsession in a murderer. 2nd, the statistics seemed extremely unusual, to the point of being unrealistic.
I asked Erik "Can you provide specific sources? If so, then please do.". I received no response. Not sure if this was due to him not seeing my post (something which has occurred to me a number of times in the past) or if Erik was simply ignoring my claim (turns out he was) I asked again... and again. After 5 posts and 2 emails to Mr Walker I finally got a reply. Keep in mind this is around finals and a simple reply of "busy with finals, Ill do it later" would have sufficed . Instead he sent me a 468 word response stating that I had a
" transparent expectation that I should be your personal servant is at best, insulting and annoying, and at worst, indicate deep personal responsibility problems. Why should I do for you what you can do for yourself with a minimal expenditure of 3 Calories and 5 minutes of guided pointing and clicking?"
"... since you are a grown person with the obvious skill requisite to use a computer, I will not entertain your imbecilic demands to be spoon-fed information that you've made clear with your actions that you could honestly care zilch about. If you really wanted the source, you would have found it yourself..."
We go back and forth via email, resulting in him calling me a "walking contradiction" (an argument which I successfully refuted btw) and him telling me not to email him again.
Fine.. whatever... agree to disagree.
However, I noticed at the beginning of the semester that he asked someone for their source regarding a claim on water boarding. I asked "How does your request for a citation in this case differ from my previous requests?" which he (surprise!) never replied to.
Ultimately this raises a few questions in my mind.
1. Does this make Erik Walker a hypocrite?
2. Should the person making a claim provide their sources? Are people obligated (morally or otherwise) to do so?
The TL:DR version. Does asking for people to provide sources for their claims, yet refusing to provide your own make one a hypocrite?
I would love to hear Erik's side of the story on this... But he has asked me not to email him anymore. So anyone else interested in his response, feel free to let him know at werik1@umbc.edu
P.S. Erik Walker has yet to provide me with any source to back up his original claim regarding homosexual murderers
While browsing a discussion recently, I noticed Erik Walker posted this statement in response to someone else's post.
""Didn't the Bible say something about not judging people?"
yes indeed. It says to not judge unless you want to be held to the same standard by which you judge. Thus, if you are not a hypocrite, there is no shame in judging by God's standards. Just a few verses after the one you're thinking of, Jesus says "judge with righteous judgment." Clearly, Christians are to judge."
I found this comment interesting for a few reasons.
Towards the end of last semester, there was a discussion regarding North Carolina's gay marriage amendment . While browsing the discussion I noticed an interesting claim being made.
"But homosexual murderers are more violent and obsessed than heterosexual murderers.
As a homosexual, you are more likely to die at the hands of another homosexual than in a 'hate crime' by a heterosexual. Even though heterosexuals outnumber homosexuals 40 to 1."
-Erik Walker
The claim struck me as odd for a few reasons. 1st, how exactly does one go about measuring levels of violence or obsession in a murderer. 2nd, the statistics seemed extremely unusual, to the point of being unrealistic.
I asked Erik "Can you provide specific sources? If so, then please do.". I received no response. Not sure if this was due to him not seeing my post (something which has occurred to me a number of times in the past) or if Erik was simply ignoring my claim (turns out he was) I asked again... and again. After 5 posts and 2 emails to Mr Walker I finally got a reply. Keep in mind this is around finals and a simple reply of "busy with finals, Ill do it later" would have sufficed . Instead he sent me a 468 word response stating that I had a
" transparent expectation that I should be your personal servant is at best, insulting and annoying, and at worst, indicate deep personal responsibility problems. Why should I do for you what you can do for yourself with a minimal expenditure of 3 Calories and 5 minutes of guided pointing and clicking?"
"... since you are a grown person with the obvious skill requisite to use a computer, I will not entertain your imbecilic demands to be spoon-fed information that you've made clear with your actions that you could honestly care zilch about. If you really wanted the source, you would have found it yourself..."
We go back and forth via email, resulting in him calling me a "walking contradiction" (an argument which I successfully refuted btw) and him telling me not to email him again.
Fine.. whatever... agree to disagree.
However, I noticed at the beginning of the semester that he asked someone for their source regarding a claim on water boarding. I asked "How does your request for a citation in this case differ from my previous requests?" which he (surprise!) never replied to.
Ultimately this raises a few questions in my mind.
1. Does this make Erik Walker a hypocrite?
2. Should the person making a claim provide their sources? Are people obligated (morally or otherwise) to do so?
The TL:DR version. Does asking for people to provide sources for their claims, yet refusing to provide your own make one a hypocrite?
I would love to hear Erik's side of the story on this... But he has asked me not to email him anymore. So anyone else interested in his response, feel free to let him know at werik1@umbc.edu
P.S. Erik Walker has yet to provide me with any source to back up his original claim regarding homosexual murderers
(edited about 12 years ago)
This question hasn't been answered yet.
