[Vision2020] Doug or Douglas Farris? (Was: A few Sunday thoughts)

[Joan Opyr]

On Jul 3, 2006, at 9:08 AM, Michael wrote:

> Doug,
>  
> You misrepresent what Joan said.  First, she was speaking to Wilson’s 
> practice of stirring up controversies and poking neighbors in the eye 
> in order to get a publicizing response (a practice going back more 
> than 15 years from what I know); she was not speaking of your “silent 
> grace” of planting kingdom seeds.  Second, she said she did not care 
> about the theological issues; but she noted those issues she did care 
> about.  I appreciate your attempt to actually interact with what she 
> said; this seems an improvement.  But perhaps your lack of success is 
> in part due to your arrogant insults against her, someone who is 
> clearly more educated and experienced with public writing than you. 
> She is also the most enjoyable writer to post on V2020 (I’m sure 
> others would agree).
>  
> Michael

Thank you, Michael.  I appreciate not only your kind words but also 
your elegant attempt to get Doug Farris to address what I actually 
said.

I am puzzled as to why Doug insists on addressing me as Mary.  That is 
indeed my first name, but only my great aunts have ever called me by 
it, and then only in tandem with my middle name, Joan.  I'm originally 
from the South.  Double-barreled names like Mary Joan, Joe Bob, and 
Richard Earl are commonplace.  I suppose Doug is trying to annoy and/or 
insult me.  I have said before that I don't care to be called Mary.  My 
mother calls me Joan, and she has done so all of my life.  In light of 
this, calling me Mary is a bit silly.  No, wait -- it's juvenile.  A 
marked lack of maturity is the problem I originally identified among 
Kirk men who post to this list.  Indeed, it was the entire point of the 
first paragraph of my previous post, and here we see it fully 
illustrated.

[FYI: there was a kid in my elementary school who insisted on calling 
me Opyr-goat.  That didn't bother me much, either, as it didn't make 
any sense.  Opyr is the Ukrainian word for vampire.  See if you can 
make something out of that.]

As for your second point, you may not like it, Doug, but I am just as 
much a public figure as your minister.  No amount of "get over 
yourself" will make this not so.  I write; I publish; I have a reading 
audience.  I exist well outside the bounds of Vision 2020.  You know 
this, of course.  You're just being obnoxious.  If I were not a public 
figure, I might have some legal recourse when your friend, Dale 
Courtney, steals my photograph from New West Magazine and posts it to 
his website.  I write regular columns for several journals, and my work 
is reprinted in many others.  That may not make you happy, but it is a 
demonstrable fact.  I'm not happy that Ann Coulter has a reading 
audience, but damn the McCarthy-loving fascist wing-nut, she does -- 
and a big one, too.  I don't claim to have anything akin to Ann 
Coulter's reach, but my first novel is in bookstores and enjoying brisk 
sales, and a sequel is on the way.  I don't expect that you've read 
Idaho Code, and I certainly don't recommend it to you.  To judge from 
your posts, you wouldn't enjoy it.  You'd like the sequel, From Hell to 
Breakfast, even less.

If you're going to criticize me, Doug, please try focusing on the 
genuine rather than the imagined.  Try concentrating on what I've 
actually said and not on your own wishful thinking.  Ignore the straw 
(wo)man.  You are talking to -- or, rather, at -- a real person with 
real ideas, and those real ideas have real consequences.  I am not the 
bogeywoman of your fevered imaginings.  Would that I were.  I'd happily 
climb back into the closet just long enough to jump out at you and yell 
"boo!"  And I'd be sure to bring my digital camera.

A few real issues with which to begin?  Try explaining your pastor's 
"serrated edge."  Try telling us how your behavior on this list and on 
Dale's blog is exemplary of the true Christian spirit and furthers the 
spread of the gospel.  Would Jesus call me as Mary knowing that I went 
by Joan?  If so, would I be justified in calling him Chuck?  I have 
said that Christ Church has far too many "future men" in its midst, men 
who evince a decided lack of maturity and who rely on juvenile insult 
rather than reasoned debate.  Prove me wrong.  Try being mature.  If 
you don't want to answer me, then why not answer Michael, your brother 
in Christ?  When you do so, see if you're able to refrain from calling 
him "Mike-Dogg," or any other such nonsense.  Don't ask him if he has a 
fear of being naked.  Try to act your age.  Try not to make a fool of 
yourself.

You've made much of being the father of nine, Doug.  It's not fair to 
expect your wife to raise a man-child who's in his forties.

Joan 
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