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Say hello to Al Stefanelli
Tags @stefanelli, al stefanelli, atheism, atheismplus, death
Al Stefanelli is someone I do not know well at all. I never heard of him at all till the huge teacup-storms caused by the FTB/atheism+ emo narcissists started happening. But Al Stefanelli (@Stefanelli) is quite ill, and on his way out, slowly but surely. He's winding down his social-media presence because of increasing illness and disability, and the end is pretty obvious and nearish. He's got Parkison's, diabetes and more, but it's COPD doing him in right now.
I mention him here because of what I know about him, which as said is little, in fact as far as I recall I've never even had a conversation with him anywhere anytime:
So in my book he deserves mention. And while it's common to say good-bye to someone leaving the building forever, I would like to reverse that, and since I don't know him much at all, and I'm sure most reading this won't either, then I'm saying hello and say hello.
This isn't part of some grandiose "Rage, rage against the dying of the light"; in my view, that kind of stance is often pompous and empty. If you'ver ever had severe chronic pain, then you will damn well know there is a point at which you get quite grateful for death. Fine, the rest of the time, in the remission periods, you avoid death like crazy, and want nothing to do with it, and you get really irate with others for dying off. But after several bouts of incapacitating and not-very-manageable pain, you tend to start thinking of death, the ultimate extinction, as the lesser of two evils for yourself, although others going west still leaves you irate.
All this is, is that he seems to be a decent bloke, he's on his way out, that's it, say hello to him, he deserves it.
You can read his "About me" here. A photo of him, from his site, below:
Follow @Gurdur
Comments are welcome! Please keep in mind if you are not registered that comments posted here to this blog post may take a while to appear - up to 16 hours after you post them, since they go onto a moderation queue and have to be individually approved, in order to stop spammers. The answer to the so-called "Random Question" is always "human", with no quote marks.
I mention him here because of what I know about him, which as said is little, in fact as far as I recall I've never even had a conversation with him anywhere anytime:
- He doesn't stuff around trying to be a smartarse or trying to prove he's the toughest on the block. He doesn't play silly buggers acting out any neuroses.
- He seems to me to be quite honest, as well as honest about himself; both are rare.
- He's informative without being tendentious or long-winded.
- To date, I've never seen him be too petty too often.
- He does not glory in self-pity, nor in Schadenfreude or malice.
- He keeps an independent mind.
- Most of all, he appears to be generous. Mind you, I only know that from social-media, but in my experience people who are generous in one sphere tend to be generous in all spheres.
- So all in all, he seems to be a good bloke, a mensch. That, sadly, is a lot to say of someone, it's not exactly a common thing.
- He's also been abused and ritually shunned by the nutcases, so he deserves better.
So in my book he deserves mention. And while it's common to say good-bye to someone leaving the building forever, I would like to reverse that, and since I don't know him much at all, and I'm sure most reading this won't either, then I'm saying hello and say hello.
This isn't part of some grandiose "Rage, rage against the dying of the light"; in my view, that kind of stance is often pompous and empty. If you'ver ever had severe chronic pain, then you will damn well know there is a point at which you get quite grateful for death. Fine, the rest of the time, in the remission periods, you avoid death like crazy, and want nothing to do with it, and you get really irate with others for dying off. But after several bouts of incapacitating and not-very-manageable pain, you tend to start thinking of death, the ultimate extinction, as the lesser of two evils for yourself, although others going west still leaves you irate.
All this is, is that he seems to be a decent bloke, he's on his way out, that's it, say hello to him, he deserves it.
You can read his "About me" here. A photo of him, from his site, below:
Follow @Gurdur
Comments are welcome! Please keep in mind if you are not registered that comments posted here to this blog post may take a while to appear - up to 16 hours after you post them, since they go onto a moderation queue and have to be individually approved, in order to stop spammers. The answer to the so-called "Random Question" is always "human", with no quote marks.
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I have only recently heard about him too ...
... and your impressions of him are similar to mine. Poor guy, seems like a real decent skin to me. I am sorry to say that I have only recently discovered you and your blog too. But I will be coming here from now on. I have been reading back through your stuff and impressed with the level of sanity
. I am delighted to find a new port in the storm of FTB/A+ madness. I am sorry I did not find this blog before, FTB for some horrible reason is so loud ( and its title so seemingly welcoming and FALSE! ).Posted 11-Mar-2013 at 02:14 AM (02:14) by Cian -
I would agree the things AL has been through are unfair and some should be ashamed of themselves for their behavior. It's good to see others notice the injustices done to him. It's not good for anyone to lose people with his strengths.
Posted 28-Mar-2013 at 12:08 AM (00:08) by Reap -
good luck
Hi Tim, I just want to give you my best wishes in the upcoming dialogue on Michael Nugents site. Of all the protagonists involved in this conversation your viewpoint is the one which chimes most with me. Even though I delighted in Hitchens, Harris, PZ and the rest in my early days as an "out" atheist, I was often left cold by the unyielding element of it all. It felt great being part of an unassailable "reasonable" group whose detractors must be fundamentalists of one type or another.
At last I have learnt that this is not the case. I still regard myself as a staunch atheist, but real life must and should inform our conclusions of other ideas ( religious or not - both my parents are still clinging on to their basic beliefs, but are both furiously anti-clerical, and I would never see them maligned in the way that some atheists would)
As Mark Twain said " all generalizations are false, including this one " ... I think you might be the person to keep this observation in view. Otherwise we are all just "pitters" and "FTB-ites" - what a horrible thought!Posted 28-Mar-2013 at 02:46 AM (02:46) by Unregistered
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