The Grantland Dr. V Transgender Controversy

[Joe Bagadonuts]

The club either worked or it didn't. It has nothing to do with the background of the inventor.

So you think that if I sell cookie dough that I purport to extend the human lifespan that's okay, as long as we ultimately discover that there is some truth in my statement, for some people? What if I report that the basis for my claim is that I got a biology degree from a world renowned institution and then spent a career working on top-secret government projects that lend credence to my ability to develop such a product? Would you say that it doesn't really matter if you do a little investigating and discover that I made those credentials up? Would you argue that they have no bearing on the product even though they are central to the way I marketed the product and the reason that many people bought the product?

 

[Darkwing Duck]

How exactly is any of this fraud? The club either works or it doesn't. What difference does it make what kind of superpowers or whatever the creator claims? Don't they all? Axe bodyspray didn't lead to supermodels throwing themselves at me when I was in college. Is that fraud?

If AXE said there was scientific backing behind using their body spray and women jumping your bones, then yes, it would be fraud.

 

[JimLes]

So you think that if I sell cookie dough that I purport to extend the human lifespan that's okay, as long as we ultimately discover that there is some truth in my statement, for some people? What if I report that the basis for my claim is that I got a biology degree from a world renowned institution and then spent a career working on top-secret government projects that lend credence to my ability to develop such a product? Would you say that it doesn't really matter if you do a little investigating and discover that I made those credentials up? Would you argue that they have no bearing on the product even though they are central to the way I marketed the product and the reason that many people bought the product?

Of course it has no bearing. The product either works or it doesn't work. If it works, your credentials are irrelevant. You could be a quintuple Nobel Prize winner or an elementary school drop out. Same goes the other way. If it doesn't work, your credentials don't matter. Do you base your purchases on whether a product works for you or how many degrees the person designing it has?

And as far as advertisement, geez. Doesn't being wary of it come as part and parcel of living in a market economy? If you buy a product simply because someone famous/important/brilliant is attached to it, you're kind of a sucker. Every fad diet has a doctor pushing it. Does it matter if it's a fake or a real doctor? Can a real doctor not plug something that doesn't work?

The problem is that the article is called Dr. V's Magical Putter and at the end of the day, the last thing Hannan seems to be concerned with is the freaking putter. If the purpose was to figure out if the miracle putter is a miracle putter, then put it through scientific tests. If it works, it works. Makes no difference who made it or whether it was design or accident. It works, and it does what it advertises. If it doesn't work, again, makes no difference who made it. It doesn't work, so you can throw it away. No need to dig up personal history of the person who made it.

Except that I don't think Hannan ever cared it the putter works. His only test seems to prove that when you believe the putter was made by a brilliant, female astrophysicist, then it works. When you know it's made by a duplicitous, transgender mechanic, then it doesn't.

 

[JimLes]

If AXE said there was scientific backing behind using their body spray and women jumping your bones, then yes, it would be fraud.

What if it worked? What if they said there was scientific backing and it worked? Would it matter how it worked?

 

[The Midnight]

I got the feeling the article is about Caleb Hannan almost as much as it is about Dr. V and her hold club.



But obviously I'm not a golfer.


Sent from the JazzFanz app

This.


Seems to me the article was more him explaining to the World why he's not responsible for her death.

 

[JimLes]

What bothers me is that Hannan goes after the person, right away. It's like an ad hominem attack. Claims of miracle putter, let's hunt down the maker. Because that somehow makes a difference. It reminds me of that A Million Little Pieces guy or Milli Vanilli. When it's a memoir, many people love and adore the book. When it's fiction, suddenly the book sucks, and that self-righteous, pretentious bitch Oprah has the gall to lord it over him like she knows anything about literature. Isn't it the same freaking book still? Did you not like it before? Did you not plug it on your show, despite the fact that its literary value all along was insignificant? If you like the song, does it matter if it's two attractive young men in dreadlocks or middle-aged men and women? If you like the song, you like the song. But no, one moment Milli Vanilli were selling millions of albums effortlessly, another moment no one would admit to ever liking them.

Maybe this is overly Barthesian of me, but why does it matter who the man behind the curtain is? Putters, books, songs. If you like them, who cares who made them and what the saucy details of their private life are. If you don't, move on. You don't need to spend a year investigating it.

 

[Hantlers]

The club either worked or it didn't. It has nothing to do with the background of the inventor.

If you're an investor, and the inventor is lying about their background, it certainly makes a difference and it certainly is fraud, especially if a large part of your selling point is your background.

C'mon Jim, be a little practical. This is real world stuff, not that difficult.

 

[Hantlers]

What bothers me is that Hannan goes after the person, right away. It's like an ad hominem attack. Claims of miracle putter, let's hunt down the maker. Because that somehow makes a difference. It reminds me of that A Million Little Pieces guy or Milli Vanilli. When it's a memoir, many people love and adore the book. When it's fiction, suddenly the book sucks, and that self-righteous, pretentious bitch Oprah has the gall to lord it over him like she knows anything about literature. Isn't it the same freaking book still? Did you not like it before? Did you not plug it on your show, despite the fact that its literary value all along was insignificant? If you like the song, does it matter if it's two attractive young men in dreadlocks or middle-aged men and women? If you like the song, you like the song. But no, one moment Milli Vanilli were selling millions of albums effortlessly, another moment no one would admit to ever liking them.

Maybe this is overly Barthesian of me, but why does it matter who the man behind the curtain is? Putters, books, songs. If you like them, who cares who made them and what the saucy details of their private life are. If you don't, move on. You don't need to spend a year investigating it.

A simple little story about a putter doesn't sell. The person who makes the putter is what sells.

This guy wanted to find out more about the putter, so he goes to the creator. He sees some things that don't fit together, and like any other sane person, tries to figure out why they don't fit together. Along the way, he deals with what seems to be an irrational woman, and he's trying to figure out why she acts the way she does. It was a good story, a compelling story. Look at how many people read it. I don't have a problem with him researching the maker of the putter or trying to figure out what made her tick...nobody would have wanted to read a piece on just the putter with no input from the creator.

 

[One Brow]

Of course it has no bearing. The product either works or it doesn't work. If it works, your credentials are irrelevant.

If this were really true, why present falsified credentials at all?

 

[moevillini]

Well, I don't think the story is all that well-told or well-written. It meanders a bit too much, and include people and background that is not really germane to the story the writer is trying to tell. I found it very confusing and wasn't certain where it was going or where it ended up. Maybe I skimmed over certain parts too quickly, I don't know.

Also, I'd like to see the author perhaps look a bit more into the McCord character. He seems to have been an integral part of the story and sort of the glue that tied all the other disparate characters together.

Finally, I don't see what the transgender issue has to do with any of this, the story really doesn't go into that aspect any more than it goes into the other questionable aspects of the central character. Seems to be not much more than hearsay - perhaps the bit about the lawsuit in Gilbert, AZ is the only truly verifiable factual part of the story.

Some questions in general:
Is transgender the same as transexual? Did Stephen Kroll have sexual reassignment surgery or just legally change his name to a woman's name? Was he legally a woman or was he a man posing as a woman? It's not at all clear from the story as far as I can tell. It mentioned that he petitioned a court to legally change his name because his original name "didn't fit anymore" - - is that all it takes to change one's gender or sexual identity? I know we've discussed these things before but I don't recall if there was a definitive answer.

 

[JimLes]

If this were really true, why present falsified credentials at all?

Because idiots fall for them, then turn around and complain they're being defrauded.

 

[sirkickyass]

Because idiots fall for them, then turn around and complain they're being defrauded.

Let me tell you, as someone who has done a lot of legal work related to fraud: the defense of "I only said that because I knew you'd fall for it" is the worst possible fraud defense ever conceived by any living creature in any known universe observable by any actual or spiritual entity.

Here's your certificate of participation for this unique achievement. Please put your real name and whatever you want to call this unique display of futility on the certificate and place wherever you think appropriate.