The mystery of the blog haters.

There are people who love my blog and there are people who hate it. The mystery of this is that BOTH the ones who love it and the ones who hate it, persist in reading it. I would have thought that only the blog lovers would remain - but no, in some ways, some haters are among my more dedicated readers. It is quite bizarre.

There are people who make it clear, elsewhere on the Internet, that they hate what I write...yet they go on to refer to several particular posts, spaced across the span of years. Clearly, these blog haters are, in fact, readers of my blog. I puzzle that this is so: if they dislike what I write - why do they continue to read? It seems that they only do so, because they love to hate: to them, it is a delight to have something to hate. So, they read, to fuel their own hate and give themselves something to complain about on Internet forums.

However, I have noticed something about these haters. They tend to MAKE THINGS UP. They write extremely inflammatory comments on forums, filled with lies. They say, that I have said something I never, in fact, said. They say that my children have done or said things, they never in fact, said or did. They refer to incidents, that are supposed to have happened, as if they were present, when, in fact, no such incidents ever occurred. It seems very clear what is going on here. It is not enough for these haters to hate: they have to try to make others hate, too. So, given that reality does not supply them with good material to engender such hate, they stoop to inventing things, that sound hateful and that are likely, if believed, to create dislike or a negative image. It is all rather distasteful.

Sometimes, these haters link to my blog, after commenting on it, as if expecting the whole world to agree with them. Well, the funny thing is, if people actually read the blog they will find that the haters' hate, is not really justified by the contents of the blog. This blog is no more than a simple account of what we have lived through these past four years. It is nothing more than that. There is and cannot be, anything to hate in the truth - and that is all that I tell, here. If someone has a problem with truth, then, in some way, they are a liar, in their hearts ...or a hater, who needs lies to justify their hate.

This blog is, for some people a beautiful thing. I get people writing to tell me so. They see in it what is less common these days that it should be: a father who is actively involved with his children, trying his best to help them be their best. Too many fathers, these days, are too preoccupied with themselves to give due attention to their children. Some people like that, about this blog...others, however, seem to hate it.

I am trying to bring up my children as best as I can. I am trying to create opportunities for them to become fulfilled. If that is something "hateful" then I really, really worry about the sanity of those who hate what I write. Perhaps that, in fact, is the answer: perhaps my haters are simply mad.

There is, however, something the haters should be aware of: those who love my blog seem to far outnumber those who hate it. There are, therefore, in my estimation, more sane people than insane ones. That is good. There are also more people who appreciate a father trying to do his best for his children - than those who see something wrong in it.

There is one notable type of hater, that I would like to address: this is the type who seems to be personally offended by Ainan's gifts. They seem to wish to bring him down or diminish him, or convince themselves and others that he is less than he is - simply, it seems, because he exceeds their own children in some way. Why, I wonder, do they do this? What Ainan does and is, does not change their own children in any way: so why does it irk them? Their children are their children and mine are mine...it shouldn't really bother them either way - certainly not enough for them to trail across the world's Internet forums posting hate mail. I really worry about their mental stability and perspective on the world.

So, I have a final message for the haters of this world. If you hate my blog, please don't read it. It will only annoy you - and that does no-one any good, except, perhaps, your doctor, who will be able to make money off of your subsequent illnesses. So, if you hate my blog and the way I write it...please just go away and hate someone else. I am sure they will love you for it.

As for the 98% of other people who are not haters, and who enjoy my blog for what it is...I shall resume my normal posting topics, tomorrow.

Thank you for reading, to those who should be reading.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html
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Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Of beauty and ugliness.

There is a beauty in the apt expression of words. There is a beauty too, in an honest description of childhood - for in a child's mind, much is still beautiful that, by adulthood, seems no longer. I have tried to write of the beauty of the child's world, through my daily glimpses of it, in my own sons. I have tried also to choose words which, though simple, are beautiful in themselves, for how they capture that world.

So, I have been striving to embody some of this beauty, that I see, daily, in my life, on these electronic pages. To some extent, I am sure that I have succeeded - for some of my posts have captured some of the daily wonders that I encounter. It is true, however, that, at other times, I have failed to fully reflect the beauty that I see: my words do not come close to embodying those moments that are most precious - yet, at least, I have tried. Something of those times will, thus, remain for future contemplation.

Now, on the one hand we have my own striving to capture beauty - but on the other hand, I have seen much ugliness on the internet. There are truly a vast horde of stupid, jealous, spiteful people out there in the world. In particular, quite a few of them seem to come from Singapore. I say this because, on the odd forum, here and there, I have seen the most unpleasant of comments, coming from people who almost always have Chinese names, and use terms such as Ang Moh...they also have Singlish phrasing, so I can conclude that they are Singaporean. More than a few of their remarks are highly insulting about me, or members of my family - and, this is what gets me most, THEIR INFORMATION IS ALMOST ALWAYS WRONG. Yet, they spew their spite, and justify their erroneous views with what amounts to lies, on the internet. Oddly, I have seen this kind of behaviour from two nationalities only: Singaporeans, and Americans. The Americans seem to be doing so out of an extreme sense of competitiveness (ie. your son can't possibly be brighter than my son and I am going to do my damndest to prove it...). The Singaporeans are often doing it out of sinocentric racism. It is quite sad to watch what they do, online, to one of their own citizens. Yet, they don't see Ainan as a Singaporean - they see him as a MALAY...and so they feel apart from him. They think him "OTHER" and therefore unworthy of the fellow feeling that citizens of most countries, show to their fellow citizens. Singapore is a country in which anyone who is non-Chinese is never fully integrated, never fully accepted, by the majority (who are, I might point out, Chinese themselves). Indeed, the way the Chinese forum commenters treated our family is one of the big reasons we decided to leave Singapore. There was just no way that I was going to bring my family up in a country which had so much hate of its own people. Why should I subject them to daily racism, when I can easily find another country that will treat them as one of their own? So, we did...

Anyway, for me, the internet is a place of contrasts, therefore. I am making my own personal efforts to create something of lasting beauty - my thoughts on my children's childhood as they grow up - amidst a world of public arenas that are anything but beautiful. It is a strange contrast. You see the medium that allows me to attempt to express the beauty that I see, daily, is also the medium that allows these antagonists to spew their hate, their envy, their misunderstandings and their, lets be blunt, racism.

It is my hope that the beauty that I succeed in capturing, on these virtual pages, will outshine the ugliness that is found, all over the internet. Personally, I would rather a world that did not have such people in it, as I have seen writing rubbish on the net. Their minds are too crude, too uninformed, too dim and too nasty, to be allowed access to the public arena. Yet, there they are. Would it not be a better world were they not to exist? I can't help but feel that they would vanish, if they were readily identifiable on the net. My thoughts, therefore, again turn to the idea of anonymity on the net. I don't feel there should be any. Were everybody to be immediately identifiable, people such as I have seen, would not dare to write the things they do, lest they face libel charges, or other consequences. A net without anonymity would be a much better one, I think.

In the meantime, I hope my words have more power than theirs; that my thoughts have more readers than theirs - that my readers are able to distinguish truth from lies; beauty from ugliness.

Thank you for reading.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm/3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/


Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)