The Affair at FAIR, conclusion

Last updated on: August 11, 2014 at 10:50 am by William Hamblin

The Affair at FAIR, conclusion 2014-08-11T10:50:09-07:00 William Hamblin

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It angers me when my friend Dan is harassed and insulted by anti-Mormons. It angers me even more when it is done by purported LDS. And even more when done by his ex-colleagues whose salaries are largely paid by the millions of dollars Dan has been instrumental in raising for the Maxwell Institute. Blair should pause and consider the fact that he wouldn’t have a job if Dan had not spent decades raising money for the Institute that now has not only blackballed him, but has sought to denigrate his reputation, and even have him fired. It’s utterly disgraceful what the Maxwell Institute has done to Dan.

So, when Blair, the communications specialist of the Maxwell Institute, publicly harassed and insulted my friend over a silly joke Dan made in his blog, my sense of loyalty to my friend Dan created an impulse in me to call Blair out. In my opinion Blair behaved like a jerk. Period. And I’ve seen no one defend his behavior.

In response Blair could have simply said, “Yes, I was agitated, and overreacted. I apologize.” Case closed. Instead, Blair denied the veracity of my report of the event, and threatened to sue me for libel. (Really?!) As it turns out, Brad Kramer, Blair’s friend and publicist for Kofford Books, overheard part of the “conversation” and has confirmed the basic accuracy of my account, while admitting that he did not overhear all of the “conversation” and thus cannot dispute the rest of my account. Note that I repeatedly asked Blair to clarify what precisely was inaccurate in my account, offering to correct any errors. He refused.

In other words, the story I described is fundamentally accurate, though disputed in minor details. Blair’s denial was thus a classic example of a Nixonian non-denial denial. (If someone accuses you of shooting your wife with a 45-caliber revolver, you can truthfully deny the accuracy of the statement it if you in fact shot your wife with a 38-caliber revolver. But quibbling over the caliber of the pistol does not change the fact that you shot your wife.)

And thus ends the “Affair at FAIR.” I’ll allow one or two more comments, and then I’ll put this one to a well deserved oblivion.

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