Please Tell Me Togas Will Be Involved -Dougie/Greece -Merge

[darkplumaged]

She's too young to have been a professor when Dougie's man was around and threatened by the ebul Marxists. Besides, they would love to throw in something about her 'sinful topic of study' or something like that (for those who haven't clicked the link, she researches LGBTQ history).

Dr. Meyer was there when I was at W&M (mid-late 90s) but was not chair at that time. (I wasn't a history major but took several classes in the department, so I remember some, not many, professors.)

I have absolutely no idea who Dougie is referring to and have always assumed that 1) his description of Potter's awesomeness and the professors' ebilness is wildly exaggerated and 2) the professors in question were before my time, since I figured Potter was in for his PhD decades ago. I guess there's no hard evidence of that, though.

[redcurls]

I try to bring up the BS with Potter's "ABD" regularly because you can never over-emphasize the fraudulent nature of Vision Forum (and its bogus "historians" like Bill Potter), and I live in hopes that one of these times someone who is or was in W & M's graduate history program will come across us FJ and fill us in on the back story.

The timing of this thread is perfect! Stories like wanna-be-Dr. Potter's story get around within the history field. I'll ask some of my professors this week if they've heard of this joke of a historian.

[Mary C Doates]

So where is VF heading next. Last year it was England and Italy, this year it will be

..............................................................drum roll please.........................................................................

GREECE!!

Please, please please with sugar on top let them be dressing up in togas. I am already drooling dreaming of the endless pages of LOLDOUGs. I don't think I can wait till September. :evil:

visionforumministries.org/events/greece2013/

There will be togas (but with white linen shorts underneath so as not to defraud the women, while still showing tanned, manly calves). And Birkenstocks, because they're so much more stylish than plain old sandals, and we know Doug (Phillips who is a tool) is very particular about that kind of thing.

The togas will, of course, also be linen. Hats...Doug (Phillips who is a tool) will need a hat that vaguely fits with the ancient Grecian theme but which still makes him look natty and adventurous.

The photos promise weeks of snark--can't wait...

eta: looks like the cost is $5700/person. So it would cost $57000 for Dougie to take the whole family of 10, well if they actually paid. Damn, how do the VF commoners afford this shit.

[Megan]

I'll chime in: my Dissertation Committee will be at least 4 professors - a dissertation committee chair from my department, (at least) 2 other professors from my department, and an outside reader. I will ask people to join my committee. I am uncertain whether the chair of the department has any say in whether my dissertation and defense are approved. I am also fairly certain my defense will be public.

As an aside, I am unfamiliar with History, but surely they have conferences and the like that Bill Potter, Top PhD Candidate would have presented at, were he actually a "top PhD candidate". I'm curious as to whether he ever presented in any legitimate forums.

Personal guess: he managed to pass courses by doing what he was told/sticking to real history. He then began writing revisionist history and the program axed him at that point. The department wouldn't want to be associate with that and neither would any individual historian.

I just reread this and realized I used "chair" for two separate people. Clarified above

[HereticHick]

I [heterosexually ;) ] honeymooned on Mykonos, which is indeed very gay-friendly. I'd guess that the guests at our hotel were probably half straight and half gay. And yeah, there are gay beaches & straight beaches, and mixed beaches-- and no matter what beach you visit in Greece, there may be topless women, and of course lots of guys in Speedos.

NIKE! NIKE! NIKE!

And those dirty postcards of ancient vase paintings are everywhere.

And yeah, there are lots of "In the Steps of Saint Paul" tours of Greece that are lot cheaper than VF.

[HereticHick]

I'm with hoipolloi-- BIIIIG Dog Whistle on the "overtly Christian AND SOUTHERN" scholar being denied his PHD. "Overtly Southern" = Confederate (and/or slavery) Apologist.

Whoever that "Marxist" professor at W&M was that kicked this guy out of the department--I'd like to buy him/her a drink.

PS Last time I was Athens, 2 years ago, I spent a lot of time navigating my way around protestors and riot police. Enjoy the molotov cocktails, Doug.

[samurai_sarah]

(snip)

I know something about the US system, being close with someone with an ABD in US history myself. In the US system (at least at big state schools) you take classes for the first 2 years or so (and you also are expected to teach classes to earn a tuition waiver an stipend). You will have chosen an advisor and a specialty, which determines what classes you take. Many students already know exactly what they want to research when they come in, but some only have a general idea, and those people will narrow down to a topic during those years.

Also during those years, you likely go to some conferences and make presentations in your area. You write some "small" (long magazine article length) papers, get published, hopefully maybe get cited. This stuff should be available somewhere, or found on old dead websites from conferences or whatever.

At some point, you have to pass a qualifying exam to advance to the PhD. If you don't make it, you are kicked out with a MA.

The qualifying exam in history is about presenting what your research topic is, why it's important, why you want to do it, and why you think you have the background to do it. It's a very big deal. You must have done a ton of basic groundwork research on your topic already. Unless a group of professors (including the advisor) signs on to the idea, you don't pass, and again, bye bye, enjoy the MA. Often there are basic tests about your general area too, plus some sort of language test if you need it (people studying Mexican history are going to need to pass tests in Spanish, for instance).

Once you advance to PhD status, you can stay around for a very long time (partly because the sad truth is the department desperately depends on teaching labor from PhD candidates) but you have to be actively progressing and doing real work. If you go off the deep end and start writing revisionist stuff or otherwise changing course without negotiating it with a very good reason, you're out.

Thanks for the info! I appreciate it. And now, I do suspect more than ever that he didn't pass his qualifying exam. In my programme, you had to be seriously bad/questionable in your methods, theory and preliminary findings to fail. And one of the few ways to fail was even your supervisors washing their hands off you. Up and coming scholar? I don't think so.

[HereticHick]

I agree samurai_sarah. I think he either didn't pass his comps ("comprehensive exams") or, passed his comps but never got his dissertation proposal accepted (probably because it was some batshit racist rant about how the south should have been allowed to secede and set up a Christian republic, with slavery just withering away on its own sweet schedule). My husband is a professor, and those are the big hurdles for the students. If the proposal isn't accepted, you don't get to write the dissertation.

[hoipolloi]

I agree samurai_sarah. I think he either didn't pass his comps ("comprehensive exams") or, passed his comps but never got his dissertation proposal accepted (probably because it was some batshit racist rant about how the south should have been allowed to secede and set up a Christian republic, with slavery just withering away on its own sweet schedule). My husband is a professor, and those are the big hurdles for the students. If the proposal isn't accepted, you don't get to write the dissertation.

Totally agree. W & M is a reputable school with actual standards unlike the "universities" that fundies pour money into enroll in such as the Witherspoon School of Bullshit and Toolishness Law and Public Policy.

Doug Phillips Is A Tool.

[Funtimental]

Got an email from Vision Forum touting their 2013 events including History of America Mega-Conference, Philadelphia Faith and Freedom Tour and an invitation to join Dr. Joe Morecraft, Bill Potter, and Doug Phillips on an "unforgettable journey ...as part of the 2013 Faith and Freedom Tour to Greece and Turkey". "Travel and accommodations for the journey will be aboard the Windstar, a sleek, four-masted private sailing yacht featuring four wide-open decks, allowing guests room for private moments or to simply enjoy the voyage". Sign up here: visionforumministries.org/events/greece2013/

[Kishiria]

Is this a men-only cruise to ancient Greece? Because the jokes write themselves.

[Arete]

This is AWESOME on so many levels. First of all, Greece has very strict laws against proselytizing, and there are few things that put a smile on a Greek's heart as quickly as the thought of calling the cops on an evangelical christian trying to gain converts. Yes, they are taken to a police station, let out with a warning the first time, and immediate deportation the second. That's why the American Mormon missionaries never ring the doorbell twice. :dance: Though some of the old ladies go soft and give them a warning before involving the cops.

Mykonos, ah, Mykonos. Anyone who is anyone in Greek or European gay society vacations in Mykonos. Not only are there nude beaches, there are exclusive gay men's beaches. No ladies wanted. Ask me how I know.

For any of you who may be in Greece on day and want to walk in the footsteps of St Paul- Take the Athens Metro to the Acropolis station. Get off. Ask the guy running the cigarette kiosk to point you to the "Arion Pagon" the Court of Ares. It's less than a mile walking distance and you too will be able to see where Paul preached and expanded on the concept of the "unknown God" to the Athenians. No yacht is necessary. While your there you can hike up to the Temple of Athena (Acropolis). Nothing like a city dedicated to a goddess to make Dougie impotent.

I so hope some of the interns try some soul winning so we can hear about some persecution. :dance:

[FloraKitty35]

I don't have experience with W & M but do have experience with other accredited universities & have served as an external reader or examiner.

Normally, a PhD candidate has a committee with a chair/thesis supervisor. It is the supervisor's job both to represent the candidate and to see that the candidate is ready to move through the PhD process including things like a thesis prospectus, bibliography for the prospectus and the exams (both written & oral), then drafts of thesis itself, and then the oral defense of the thesis. A good supervisor would not let a candidate get to any of these "way stations" unless s/he was pretty sure that the candidate would perform acceptably. I'm not sure about PhD exams but oral defenses of PhD theses are (almost) always public events at a university, with notices put into the school's calendar so that anyone who is interested can attend. At many schools as well, any attendee can ask the candidate questions about the thesis. While theoretically one person (on the committee or in the department or as a member of the public) could torpedo someone's PhD I've never heard of this happening; if a candidate flames out it's because most people who had to work with them decided that they couldn't or didn't cut it. End of story.

"Marxist" really means that his dissertation probably not only sucked, but blew too.

[jenny_islander]

This is AWESOME on so many levels. First of all, Greece has very strict laws against proselytizing, and there are few things that put a smile on a Greek's heart as quickly as the thought of calling the cops on an evangelical christian trying to gain converts. Yes, they are taken to a police station, let out with a warning the first time, and immediate deportation the second. That's why the American Mormon missionaries never ring the doorbell twice. :dance: Though some of the old ladies go soft and give them a warning before involving the cops.

Mykonos, ah, Mykonos. Anyone who is anyone in Greek or European gay society vacations in Mykonos. Not only are there nude beaches, there are exclusive gay men's beaches. No ladies wanted. Ask me how I know.

For any of you who may be in Greece on day and want to walk in the footsteps of St Paul- Take the Athens Metro to the Acropolis station. Get off. Ask the guy running the cigarette kiosk to point you to the "Arion Pagon" the Court of Ares. It's less than a mile walking distance and you too will be able to see where Paul preached and expanded on the concept of the "unknown God" to the Athenians. No yacht is necessary. While your there you can hike up to the Temple of Athena (Acropolis). Nothing like a city dedicated to a goddess to make Dougie impotent.

I so hope some of the interns try some soul winning so we can hear about some persecution. :dance:

I wonder what they'll be traumatized by first?

Is the yacht needed to keep out the spiritually unclean, I wonder, or did he charter the thing assuming that all of the Biblically important stuff would be in a lonely cove somewhere unvisited by modern worldly types? Or is a bus tour just not manly enough?

[Dinorah]

This. Just more examples of the astronomically huge sense of entitlement that Christians possess.

This very much. I think the issue isn't that his professor was an evil Marxist ex-wheatherman, but that this guy was writing revisionist nonsense.

[HereticHick]

I hope the crew members of their yacht wear Speedos, all day, every day.

[kaetrin]

This is AWESOME on so many levels. First of all, Greece has very strict laws against proselytizing, and there are few things that put a smile on a Greek's heart as quickly as the thought of calling the cops on an evangelical christian trying to gain converts. Yes, they are taken to a police station, let out with a warning the first time, and immediate deportation the second. That's why the American Mormon missionaries never ring the doorbell twice. :dance: Though some of the old ladies go soft and give them a warning before involving the cops.

Mykonos, ah, Mykonos. Anyone who is anyone in Greek or European gay society vacations in Mykonos. Not only are there nude beaches, there are exclusive gay men's beaches. No ladies wanted. Ask me how I know.

For any of you who may be in Greece on day and want to walk in the footsteps of St Paul- Take the Athens Metro to the Acropolis station. Get off. Ask the guy running the cigarette kiosk to point you to the "Arion Pagon" the Court of Ares. It's less than a mile walking distance and you too will be able to see where Paul preached and expanded on the concept of the "unknown God" to the Athenians. No yacht is necessary. While your there you can hike up to the Temple of Athena (Acropolis). Nothing like a city dedicated to a goddess to make Dougie impotent.

I so hope some of the interns try some soul winning so we can hear about some persecution. :dance:

They will probably just do what they did in Rome: take pictures of themselves with tote bags that say "Calvin" or "Rushdoony" or whatever it was, and boast about their bold Christian witness among the heathen Orthodox.

[MamaJunebug]

This very much. I think the issue isn't that his professor was an evil Marxist ex-wheatherman, but that this guy was writing revisionist nonsense.

Hey, wait -- not all of us do!!! :?

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

Ignorant douchebags. Greek Orthodoxy, I would say, is a hell of a lot closer to the original teachings of Jesus than Vision Forum's patriarchal fertility cult nonsense.

[slickcat79]

I hope the crew members of their yacht wear Speedos, all day, every day.

I think that would give Dougie way too much enjoyment. I hope they're all women. Really strong women.

[marysue]

I don't know if they did it on purpose or out of ignorance, but they've used photos from Santorini in their brocure although they're not going there. The photo with the catption "The beauty of Mykonos" is definately Santorini, not Mykonos! Mykonos is also beautiful but Santorini makes for more spectacular photos. If they did it on purpose, I see it as a fraud!

It is actually really suspicious that they chose Mykonos instead of Santorini, as Santorini is also very popular and beautiful without being a famous gay resort! Apart from being very gay friendly, Mykonos is full of loud clubs and very trendy people who don't dress particularly "modest"..

Also it will be really funny if they attempt to give out any tracts. Proselytizing is definately not popular in Greece and everybody will think they are a cult. Which they actually are...

[HereticHick]

marysue--good catch--you are right! That isn't Mykonos in the pics! Apart from clubhopping, isn't one of the big attractions of Mykonos taking the little ferry to the sacred isle of Delos, birthplace of Apollo and Artemis? I doubt fundies want to go there. Unless they plan to proselytize to the French archeologists working the site.

[thekate]

I think that would give Dougie way too much enjoyment. I hope they're all women. Really strong women.

Who said they weren't? :D

[slickcat79]

Who said they weren't? :D

Well, true, but if they are women I hope they wear something even more defrauding than speedos.

[Olive Plant]

Incredibly principled in his theology and history, Bill was the top Ph.D. candidate with high ranking grades at the College of William and Mary, but was denied his Ph.D. by the Marxist history chairman (a former “Weatherman†radical at the University of Wisconsin) because of his overt Christian and Southern perspective on history.

Translation: Because he claimed the slaves were in a mutually beneficial relationship with their Christian masters, because the Bible says Christian masters should treat slaves well. Or some other equally bullshit "overt Christian and Southern perspective" that has no basis in academia.

Bill: "My thesis is on how slavery was good and very Christian in the south."

"Marxist" chairman: "I can see that, and I am going to critique your use of supporting sources, because they're terrible."

Bill: "Persecution!!! You must be a Marxist because you hate me and my godly ways!!!"