Rebuttal
Bill Grumbine said:
I posted a comment here about how much I liked the last journal and it has degenerated into this, with Mr. Mandell taking some swipes at me. Regardless of his "who me?" attitude, this has been the case in recent months and he knows it as well as I do.
I also believe that if someone is going to take a shot at me, then they need to stand by their words. Mr. Mandell chose to delete his words, so right now it looks like a very one sided conversation.
Mr. Grumbine,
I have waited to reply to your last post in this thread until after I was sure that you had returned from your demonstration trip to Canada. I would not wish to be viewed as posting something that you would not have the opportunity to see without delay.
I was, in fact, not taking “swipes†or “shots†at you, Mr. Grumbine. If you had read my reply to Ed Moore where I defended your right to express your opinion with “equal weight†to that of anyone else, perhaps you would have seen that I respectfully disagreed with you only as to what seemed your assessment of the entire AAW Journal Spring issue.
I removed both of my posts for two reasons.
First, in light your overriding vehemence, it was my view, expressed to one of the moderators at the time, that having them remain “posted†would most likely have been merely a continuing source of divisiveness which was not my purpose at all.
Second, and most importantly, I took quite seriously the previous apparently FACTUAL statements posted by you and others concerning a manipulative group of elitist individuals using, indeed possibly misusing, the AAW for their personal gain while possibly working to exclude others. Such activities, especially where there are annual dues being paid by more than 10,000 members, might well warrant an investigation by law enforcement if further specific facts could be developed. So I did, indeed, seek to have brought out specific backup for still unspecific allegations of wrongdoing that could be examined by AAW members and others. I did, however, also ask people to refrain from the use of hyperbole, personal opinions, and political generalities in connection with their evidence which would make it suspect and largely useless. Opinions are fine, but inappropriate where possible criminal (or defamatory) charges are being made. As Jack Webb’s most famous line went, “Please, just the facts, Mam.â€Â
With you naming me, a complete unknown in woodturning circles, to be part of the alleged group of manipulators in your vituperative response, coupled with your repeated interpretations of my post as some kind of personal attack on you, it appeared to me that any evidence that was likely to come forward in response to my post would be so tainted with personal animus as to make it worthless. I also did not want to prompt (or goad) someone into making some specific allegation on this public forum, all in the name of “opinion,†that might see that person wind up on the receiving end of a libel suit by a well known artist. I therefore rethought the core premise of my post and deleted it because it had become irrelevant and possibly damaging to a forum sponsored by the AAW.
If, however, you or anyone else who reads this post has specific charges of wrongdoing with hard evidence to back them up, you are free to communicate the details privately to me via e-mail. Any such information that is accompanied by full name, address, and telephone number of the communicator will be passed through my SpamBlocker, reviewed, and held in strictest confidence. I may ask some detailed questions in response. I’ll then be happy to forward the names of appropriate people and offices to contact if someone wishes to proceed further, or take some action myself as is my right as a member.
I come to this site to exchange information, maybe help others with what knowledge I’ve acquired over the 30+ years that I’ve been a practicing artist, and learn more about woodturning. I will continue to do so.
And that, sir, is NOT my opinion.
