Ainan Celeste Cawley, web star.

I have noticed something odd about the use of Ainan’s name on the Internet. Some websites use his name to generate traffic for their sites, even if their articles have nothing to do with Ainan Celeste Cawley. One such site is The Asian Parent, a Singaporean parenting magazine. Ainan Cawley’s name appears as the first terms on the Google summary of their web pages – yet their articles are not about Ainan at all. Ainan’s name is being used to lure people to the site. I find this a little unsettling. It is, at the very least dishonest – but more than that, it is using Ainan’s fame, such as it is, for their own benefit, without asking his permission, or giving him anything in return. It is also, incidentally, fooling the people who come to the site, by suggesting that the articles they are about to read, are about Ainan Cawley – when, in fact, they are not. This might damage Ainan by associating their disappointment and feeling of being cheated, with Ainan Cawley himself, rather than the website that is making use of his name in this way.

Other sites have also used his name, but The Asian Parent is the one I see most often, since it frequently comes up in searches related to Ainan. This use of Ainan’s name is very cynical in my view.

On the other hand, the fact that sites would stoop to using Ainan’s name as a lure on their sites, does indicate something: that Ainan Celeste Cawley attracts a lot of traffic. He is, if you like, a “web star” or “Internet star” of some kind. I noticed this on my blog, too. Many of the searches search for him by name – some just using “Ainan”...others using more of his name. But then again, my blog is about him, so it is fair that a large number of searches for him, should arrive on it. What is not fair, is these parasitic sites, using his name simply to capture traffic when they are not about him at all. That is unfair on the web searcher and unfair on Ainan Cawley, too.

There is something else damaging about this practice. It obscures the relevance of sites and pages which are really about Ainan. The distractor/parasitic sites, take traffic away from pages which would really answer their questions. So, this practice reduces the value of the Internet, especially if practiced too much.

If you have arrived on this page on a search for Ainan Celeste Cawley, be assured that this site has much to offer about him. It is the “real thing”...so happy browsing. If, in the past, you have happened upon a site claiming falsely to be about him, I am sorry – but I have no control over that. You will just have to learn which ones to ignore.

I suppose this misuse of his name is inevitable as he grows more well-known. People realize that his name is a draw – and they think they can use his name, for free, to bring visitors to their sites. This is a pity, since the practice has the potential to ruin the usefulness of the Internet. If you note another site doing this, please let me know. Perhaps I could start writing to them and asking them not to do so. You never know, they might actually listen.

Look around and enjoy my blog. Thank you.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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

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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Air: Ainan's first word.

Now, I realize that the word is confusing, but Ainan’s first word was “Air”. This is not the stuff you breathe, but is, in fact, the Malay for water. Now, to an English speaking ear, or at least my ear, it seems to be pronounced “Eye – Ay”, or “Ayer”. I have referred to it variously as either of those terms, in my writings, because, if I referred to it as “Air” EVERYONE who was English, would misunderstand which word was being referred to and would get the pronunciation wrong.

Ainan began saying Air (water) whenever he was thirsty, from just two weeks old. Now, I have been attacked a lot, on the Internet, by often quite dumb people, for revealing this. They don’t believe it. Well, that is their problem since Ainan’s early speech was witnessed by a lot of people – since we have a large family and plenty of friends. Why, on Earth, would a large group of people decide to make something up like that? There is no reason to do so. Ainan spoke from a couple of weeks old, words in context and with meaning. It was clear that the words had the intended meaning because when we met the interpreted need, for instance, by giving him a drink, whenever he said “Air”, he would STOP SAYING THE WORD. This is rather clear proof that the word had the intended meaning.

His second word, at a few weeks old, was “poo”, which he would say whenever his nappy needed changing. He would say it repeatedly, in a long, slow drawn out way, “Poooooooooo!”, many times, until we checked his nappies and found it to be the case that he needed changing. Only then would he stop saying it.

Ainan is the way he is and was the way he was. There is no doubt about his early speech, his early crawling, walking, running, reading, or anything else. It just was. If anyone doubts us, then the problem is in their own mind and doesn’t exist in the real world. In the real world, Ainan is at University, doing sciences, at 11. He started tertiary education at 8. So, how would the conspiracy nuts explain that one? Did that not happen either? Perhaps they should start reading the newspapers more regularly. For me, the doubters seem utterly bonkers, because all the evidence, from a very large number of witnesses, is against them. Yet, they, who have never met Ainan, and know nothing about him, firsthand, think they know better. Such people are the definition of insane, of course.

“MrTrueGenius” pointed my way to a conversation on Youtube, with one of these nutters. This particular nutter “visioninScience”, thinks that Ainan’s first word was not a word because the spelling of “Air” differs from “Ayer”. He or she is too dumb to realize that I was trying to render the pronunciation, somewhat phonetically, in the spelled word, so that an English person would understand how it was said. What is most odd is that this person concedes that “Air” is pronounced “Ayer” in English, but doesn’t even realize that that is what I was trying to convey. Dumb.

I would like to thank MrTrueGenius (YouTube account name) for notifying me of the exchange on Youtube, regarding one of the videos that references Ainan. Personally, I find the ignorant attempts to diminish Ainan, from people who know nothing about him, very tiring. I wonder at their motivation and their reasoning: since they know nothing, how can they presume to pretend to know what they cannot? It is all quite bizarre – but does show that some people prefer their own private doubt-filled fantasies, to multiply verified reality. I am moved to ask, inevitably: what is the nature of a person who prefers private fantasies, to observable reality? Mad. That is right...to be a doubter, now, after so many publicly disclosed achievements by Ainan, is to be nothing more or less than a madman.

Just to make the point clear to all those confused out there. Ainan’s first word was “Air”. To communicate it, at various times, I have used different spellings to convey the sound.

Air = “Ayer” = “Eye-Ay” = Water.

I hope that is understood.

Thanks.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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

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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

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

Wikipedia: suppression of the truth.

Wikipedia is touted as an encylopaedia that anyone can contribute to, thus sourcing knowledge, potentially, from all human beings. Yet, it doesn’t quite work that way because, just as anyone can contribute knowledge, anyone else can also remove it. Sometimes, people just don’t want a truth to be known.

Recently, I have tried to contribute to Wikipedia, in the entry about George Magazine, the defunct political magazine, started by the deceased John F. Kennedy Jr. and a few of his pals, before he managed to pilot a plane into the sea. My contribution sought to create awareness of a curious coincidence that can only be explained by plagiarism, or imitation by Kennedy and Matt Berman (the “creative” director on the project). I wished to alter the article to point out that my performance art character Lord Valentine the Misplaced, an 18^th Century Dandy living in the 20^th Century world, began to appear in the media about a year before the first issue of George Magazine. You may recall that George Magazine covers consisted of dressing 20^th Century people in 18^th Century costume, in the context of a 20^th Century magazine cover. The first cover consisted of Cindy Crawford as George Washington (an 18^th Century person). Clearly this “idea” of Matt Berman was not new. The simplest explanation is that he took the idea from me, since I had been on CNN, NBC News and Reuters, among other media outlets, as Lord Valentine the Misplaced, in the year leading up to the first issue of George Magazine.

At first I cited my blog entry on George Magazine in support of my change to the article. That blog entry in turn cited CNN, NBC and Reuters. I also mentioned in my “edit summary” that further proof was to be found at CNN, NBC and Reuters, as well as the Observer newspaper and Time Out magazine. This first attempt at alteration was reversed by one “Pinkadelica” from the US, within fifty minutes. Her reason for doing so: “blog not reliable source”.

About a week later, I reversed Pinkadelica’s reversal, and added a new source: my IMDB page (see: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/bio)

I also pointed out that Pinkadelica had not consulted the CNN archives, where proof was to be found. This time my change lasted a few hours. However, it was again deleted, by persons unknown, this time in a non-reversible fashion (I would have to retype my entry again, instead of clicking a button).

I find this very rapid defense of this page curious indeed. Is it being defended by people who support the Kennedys or perhaps Matt Berman? Is this page being watched by those with a direct interest in it? Are they suppressing any truthful statements that might make “their people” look anything less than wonderful?

My changes have cited CNN, NBC news and Reuters – as well as several other sources – yet, still, they are reversed in a very short time. There is proof out there that what I am saying is true – yet still, they reverse the changes. This amounts to willful suppression of the truth. The writers of the George Magazine article would like you to believe that Matt Berman had a creative idea. He did not. He stole a creative idea and made it his own. What he did on the front cover of that magazine, had already been done for a long time, by me. It had also already been covered in the global media. Yet he won acclaim for this second hand idea. I am still puzzled as to why. Were there no people in the media in the US, able to connect a prior CNN news item and Matt Berman’s supposed idea? Does no-one think in the media there? Have they no memories? The connection is obvious between my prior work and his subsequent covers, yet no-one made that connection, in the media, at all. Now, when I try to draw attention to the connection on the George Magazine Wikipedia article, it is almost instantly reversed and my truth suppressed.

It has become clear that it will not be possible to have the truth known, on Wikipedia. There are too many defenders of untruths working on maintaining their lies, in the Wikipedia space. Wikipedia is too easily undermined by those with political interests, who can use articles to support the reputations of particular people, to the detriment of the truth about those people. All they have to do is rapidly remove any appearance of the undesired truths, no matter how well corroborated they are by citations – or reinsert their own untruths, if they have been deleted. The contents of the Wikipedia come down to who is more determined – or has more time and resources – to maintain their particular viewpoint. Thus, it is that Wikipedia is not impartial. Its views are driven by those with the most energy to maintain them.

It is only the word of mouth from those who read my articles on my blog, that stands to counter the truth suppression of Wikipedia. So, please tell others of the background to the George Magazine covers. They were not the invention of Matt Berman – they were his deliberate imitation of my prior performance art work, Lord Valentine the Misplaced.

Of course, my experience of a truth being suppressed by Wikipedians does call into question the whole edifice of the Wikipedia. What other truths are being suppressed on Wikipedia? What other viewpoints are being denied us? Are these manipulations purely from political sources (as the George Magazine edit changes might be) or are the suppressors of the truth more general in kind and source?

Have you had experience of a truthful statement being suppressed on Wikipedia? Have you had problems posting an alteration to it, even though you had sourced your change and it was justified? Do write your experiences below. Thank you.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.htmland here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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

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 athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

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

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.)

The impossibility of Truth.

It is a very strange thing, to be known, by those we do not know. However, we are. There are many people in the world, who think they know about us. I have seen them comment on blogs and in the odd forum, as if they truly know us. Their words are written with certainty and argued authoritatively. Funny enough, at times, they have even argued with me, against my own view of myself – as if I, of all people, would not be in a position to know my own life, well. The oddest thing about all of this, however, is how often those who write of us are wrong about us – and odder still, just how wrong they are.

There are many reasons why they are wrong. One of the primary reasons is that the Singaporean media has been lying about us. Thus, people living in Singapore, or who read Singapore’s newspapers online, have picked up misinformation calculated, by the state of Singapore, to diminish us, and elevate themselves. It is state propaganda designed to “build the nation” and disparage anyone perceived as a threat – apparently us. Thus, in some cases, it is not the fault of the forum commenters that they are wrong about us – because they have been lied to, and chosen to believe the lies.

There are other reasons, too, why people are misinformed about us. One big reason is that many bloggers and forum commenters simply make things up. They lie, from their own motives, about us. They add details which have no correspondence in reality. They make assumptions which are simply not true. They even create arguments to try to prove their erroneous viewpoints, drawing on “evidence” which more often than not, is itself not true, either. Some even lie about knowing us or our family personally – yet reveal themselves to be liars, in this respect, even if anonymous, because their “information” is so far wrong that it could not possibly have come from anyone who genuinely knows us. Once, someone even claimed, online, to have been Ainan’s personal tutor for his Chemistry O level – when, in fact, he has NEVER HAD A TUTOR. It is quite astonishing what some people say.

Basically, there are a lot of liars on the net – and a lot of lies, too. Some of the lies are faithfully retold, by innocent parties, who genuinely believe them to be true. Some lies, however, originate with the commenter and are mischievously invented. Whichever type of lie it is, they are damaging in the sense that they obscure the truth. We become forever less accurately known. Who we really are, becomes successively more obscured, by the fibs floating around. Ultimately, we become lost to view, who we are, forever unknowable by anyone who doesn’t actually know us.

Now, why does this concern me? Well, because I think it important that the public image, reflects an underlying truth. If the public image is commandeered by those with an agenda designed to confuse it, obscure it, or diminish it, then people come to believe that we are, who we are not. This, I think, is perilous. For what would happen, one day, should Ainan continue to be interested in science and should he continue to develop as he is? Well, the time may come when he is a successful, perhaps influential adult scientist. His work might become substantial and respected. He might even become someone of whom a biography might one day be written. That day, is a dangerous day, given the obscuration of the truth on the net. For what would inform that biography? Would the biographer dig back into the internet past and discover a lot of misinformation? It may come to be that lies become committed to paper as biographical history. It may one day be, that those lies become the official record. Ainan’s life might forever be known, by tales first imagined on some blogger’s page, or forum commenters mischievous comment. That would, I feel, be a pity. It would be a great shame if Ainan were one day to be “known” on the basis of officially believed and recognized misinformation. Yet, what can we do to prevent this? It seems that there is little to be done, except what I am doing: telling our tale, daily, on this blog, as it truly is, and not as some people might have you believe it to be. I hope that it is enough. I hope that biographers are wise enough to ignore the nonsense on the net and listen preferentially to those who actually know what they are talking about.

Indeed, the truth is so different at times, from the opinions and views and “facts” voiced on the internet that it seems to me that, at this time, there is only one possible source for a biography that would have any hope of being true – and that is ourselves. Any other source, would just be a compendium of misinformation, mischievous lies, mistaken gossip – and state propaganda. The truth of Ainan would be completely lost beneath the weight of utter nonsense.

Come to think of it, it will probably always be true that the only source of reliable information, will be ourselves. Any source removed from us is, more often than not, either misunderstanding the situation, guessing, or, quite simply, making it all up.

This experience has taught me to be wary of the public information on public figures. I am sure, given our experience, that much of what we think we “know” about public figures is total nonsense. Our understanding of these people, is informed by a lot of misinformation – some deliberate, some otherwise. In fact, I am of the view, now, that we don’t KNOW any of these public figures, at all. We only think we know. Our consumption of the media, has given us the delusion that we think we know these people, that we have some understanding of their lives. However, I am sure that this is not so. They will not be, in any case, as we imagine them to be. Sure, we will know some core events in their lives – but much of what we think we know, will be untrue. Thus, the overall picture of any public figure, will be essentially false.

That is, I think, an important insight. We would all do well, to bear it in mind, whenever we read of a public figure. What we think we know, may actually be nothing more than a myth, spread by the mischievous, or those who have innocently misunderstood. We should, therefore, sift carefully what we read and test it for likelihood, and consistency with all we think we know about that person. There will be some truths in there somewhere. The only problem is that there will be a lot of lies, too. The trick is to distinguish the two, and come to one’s own, genuine understanding of the public figure. Alternatively, we can safely assume that what we read of them, is nothing but amusing fiction and treat it all as a good story.

As for us: I will continue to write this blog and try to put our view across. I can only hope that people are wise enough to realize that our source is the only one that actually knows of what it speaks. Everyone else is largely guessing, making it up or spinning propaganda. At the very best, everyone else’s information is secondhand. At the worst, it is a carefully crafted lie. Personally, I know which source, in the circumstances I would go to. I hope you do, too.

(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/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.)