But the context of telling those stories was an autobiography written a quarter century ago. The tales of a violent temper lend drama to the narrative of impoverished childhood and salvation through religion. I'd like to know more about how this book was written and why. It was co-written by Cecil (Cec) Murphey, who's worked on other inspirational books, including "90 Minutes in Heaven," which doesn't sound as though it's rigorously framed in factual accuracy.
Salvation isn't very interesting if you are not a sinner. In the history of dishonest memoirs, what is more likely to be exaggerated and faked — the positive or the negative?
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I have never tried to hit Carson's mother in the head with a hammer, and I would be a terrible president.
An angry and violent black guy turns his life around through God and becomes a world renowned neurosurgeon. There may be exaggeration all around.
Oh, its Politico.
My assumption is that the stabbing story is a composite, like Obama's college girlfriend. Of course my other assumption is that the media will be all over Carson's "lies" if he is successful in winning the GOP nomination, while Obama's tales were all in the name of literature.
Carson is suffering from Evangelical humility bragging that they were such a great sinner before God transformed them while the rest of you peons were not great sinners.
The logic is deception based. Sin is real, but no one's sin is bigger and better.That is a special pulpit personality game.
Carson's problem is he is a limited by theology. And he is also stuck in a pride cult that is proud of its stubbornness about literal reading of scripture no matter what anyone else says.
I saw him talking about this yesterday. He is handling it wrong. Makes me less supportive of him, even though I view the whole "issue" as bogus. This is BS which should be swatted away, not addressed.
Well, he is sticking with his story. Heard him last night on FNC, probably Kelly Files, and he was adamant.
Think though of what we might have learned if they had pushed Obama this ay about his supposed autobiography. Of course they didn't, because they were trying to protect and elect him, not destroy him. Of course, eight years after he was running for President, we still haven't seen his college transcripts, and maybe not his real birth certificate. And somehow Rev Wright's hate filled church was acceptable, but not the faith of Dr Carson, just as Romney's Mormonism was attacked.
Defending Doctor Carson is an endless hole. He will just invite another attack if the quit "challenging his sincerity" by pointing out. Flaws in his latest crafted story.
Any one want snake oil vitamin supplements the sincere man swears by but has never taken money from except for speeches.
It's the old story of early hammering and stabbing interests being channeled into brain surgery.
Carson fits into my basic con man analysis developed over years as a lawyer fighting them.
The con man presents himself as a loving and sincere friend that next demands total acceptance of his con based on trust or he will stop being your loving friend. That is all they need to loot most lonely people.
"In the history of dishonest memoirs, what is more likely to be exaggerated and faked — the positive or the negative?"
It's just one example, but the forged parts of James Frey's memoir, A Million Little Pieces, were almost exclusively "negative," his drug abuse experiences and criminal record, in particular.
A Million Little Fibers, the memoir of Stephen F. McTowelie, was controversial not because it was fabricated per se, but because the author turned out to be a towel.
Well...
I've seen a video of Carson tell the stabbing story. He uses doctor-talk, speaking of thrusting a knife towards another boy's abdomen, and feeling the knife stop on the boy's belt-buckle. (Or did the blade snap? If so, that was a hard thrust. Carson did say, both in his autobiography and in the video presentation, that it was a big belt-buckle.)
Has anyone found the boy who was victim of that attack?
If not, who can claim the story is a lie?
Trump: "You know, I really have stabbed friends in the back and abused family members. I'm the real deal!"
Religious upbringing linked to less altruism
"Summary: Children from religious families were less likely to share with others than were children from non-religious families. A religious upbringing also was associated with more punitive tendencies in response to anti-social behavior.
...
But children from households identifying as Christian and Muslim were significantly less likely than children from non-religious households to share their stickers. The negative relation between religiosity and altruism grew stronger with age; children with a longer experience of religion in the household were the least likely to share."
"[W]hen you look at the way that the pyramids are made, with many chambers that are hermetically sealed, they'd have to be that way for various reasons. And various of scientists have said, 'Well, you know there were alien beings that came down and they have special knowledge and that's how--' you know, it doesn't require an alien being when God is with you." -- Ben Carson
Negative autobio is standard fare in born-again conversion testimonials.
Any such reconstruction for public consumption is a fabrication.
But conversion aside, no one beats O. He was the best fabricator. Strategic self-fabrication is the only constant in his life.
Meanwhile, Dreams From My Father - every sentence - truuuuuuuuue. And thoroughly fact checked by Politico types.
Religious upbringing linked to less altruism? Or to less gratuitous redistribution?
Maybe it's that kids raised in a religious home, which for small kids probably means harping on rules of right/wrong/fair/unfair, don't see the point of giving away their stuff just to give away their stuff. They may assume that the world works the way their households do: People have what they need, and they get what they want to the extent they work for it. Divine forces don't want people to get free stuff just for the asking, any more than they want people to get free stuff by stealing it.
JSM
I was gonna write, "Why the %#^€ is Dr. Carson talking pyramids and aliens?"
Then, I see it's from a speech he gave 1998. Favorite left-wing media tactic - ignore issues of the day, focus on goofy stuff said by disfavored candidate from yonder.
Darcy said...
Meanwhile, Dreams From My Father - every sentence - truuuuuuuuue. And thoroughly fact checked by Politico types.<-- This
Surgeons cut people open. Surgery is an altruistic and disciplined form of sadism. I can readily believe Dr. Carson channeled some violence and anger into his career as a surgeon. The story might be hyperbole (or might not) but it truly reflects something about his nature and, also, the better angels that have guided his nature.......,..Were the Pyramids built as an elaborate, grandiose tombstone or as some kind of WPA project to keep the workers busy in the off season? What is the correct conservative or liberal position to take on the Pyramids? It's kind of grandiose and self indulgent for a ruler to build such a monument to his rule. Sort of fascistic. On the other hand, all those workers were kept busy and the tourist dollars they have attracted have made them a money maker. I'm awaiting Paul Krugman's or George Will's take on his issue. Right now I'm confused.
I want to know why Trump has never uttered one negative about Hillary. He's always yapping about this or that aspect which bothers him, but like the media, never lays a glove on Hillary. He saves his negatives for Carly Fiorina and Megyn Kelly.
All of this plays to Rubio who shrewdly stays focussed on the shrew, and stays above the internecine warfare.
Ann Althouse said.. In the history of dishonest memoirs, what is more likely to be exaggerated and faked — the positive or the negative?
Pre-Oprah, positive; post-Oprah, negative. It's pretty obvious.
Let's be extra-careful about tossing around "dishonest memoirs" though; I seem to recall a LOT of Media pushback when people challenged the specifics of candidate Obama's 2 autobiographical works. Those objections were mostly brushed aside (oh, these are composite characters, it's literary non-fiction so truth isn't a concern, etc) or blamed on racism.
Did Carson exaggerate to highlight his actual rough upbringing? Dishonest!
Did Obama exaggerate to obfuscate his privileged upbringing and make up Sorkin-esque exchanges? Literature!
"I want to know why Trump has never uttered one negative about Hillary. He's always yapping about this or that aspect which bothers him, but like the media, never lays a glove on Hillary. He saves his negatives for Carly Fiorina and Megyn Kelly."
If he runs against her I expect that to change.
Carson admits to having a pathological disorder and has never had professional mental health treatment. Who's to say the intense pressure of the presidency won't trigger a relapse? The American people are smart enough not to put into the white house someone with a serious mental health problem. See Eagleton.
I bet there aren't four dead bodies in Carson's story. And the continued lying and covering up of said four dead bodies to cover up something worse he was doing.
Or the selling of favors to foreign governments in exchange for a 'small' donation to his money laundering foundation.
Or a spouse who visited an island that offered sex with underage girls. Or a spouse who was a serial sexual abuser and he aided and abetted that abuse by attacking anyone who dared speak out about that abuse.
he was a teenager, growing up in a rough neigborhood, like Allen West he made something of himself,
Nice to see The Donald stick to the critical issues facing our country. The media too.
Oh, you say, we must explore the character, honesty and temperament of the candidates?
As Ho Lee Katz, my Jewish-Korean Uncle, would say, "When did they start doing THAT?.
There was a Carson biographical movie, before he was a candidate.
There were solid achievements, not community organizing slum lords achievements.
But he is black who refuses to stay in the Progressive Plantation...
"i want to know why Trump has never uttered one negative about Hillary."
Before he ran for President? I'm sure he did. Given his positions and his attacks on her since he declared for POTUS, I doubt they're big friends. Of course, Trump could be a stealth Democrat, but why stop there? Maybe he's *really* a commie.
Religious upbringing linked to less altruism
I call bullshit. They measured it from a 'dictator game'? What was the socio-economic status of the children for starters? And look at the countries involved. Those where the state is God, have been trained well on 'the state owns everything and can make you 'give it up' if you know what's good for you'.
There are plenty of other studies that say the opposite. One done by the self-admitted liberal, Arthur C. Brooks comes to mind. He set out to prove how altruistic liberals were over others, and found that they weren't. The religious and the conservative give more money, time, and blood, to charity than the non-religious/liberal/democrat.
"The logic is deception based. Sin is real, but no one's sin is bigger and better."
Really? If on the receiving end, might think otherwise.
Paul said...
If he runs against her I expect that to change.
Right, like Obama tacking to the right after the 2008 primary. There is no reason to take anyone's "expectations" seriously.
rcocean: Before he ran for President? I'm sure he did. Given his positions and his attacks on her since he declared for POTUS, I doubt they're big friends. Of course, Trump could be a stealth Democrat, but why stop there? Maybe he's *really* a commie.
Now you're just being silly.
Seriously, I was expecting you -- as a big time Trump supporter -- to link to the best example of Trump vs. Hillary to destroy my argument. If you can't, then maybe there is something to worry about.
The guy he stabbed was just a guy in his neighborhood.
A guy his kids went to school with.
Wasn't there a weird wife-rape allegation against Trump? He should probably not jump on to these kinds of accusations.
Nice painting of St. Auggie & the Devil, Professor! Yes, history will be left to wonder just how much of Augustine's Confessions weren't quite on the up & up.
I really like the fact that Satan has another face on his ass. That's a great touch.
"Right, like Obama tacking to the right after the 2008 primary. There is no reason to take anyone's "expectations" seriously."
Huh? You seriously imagine that if it's Trump vs Hillary in the general he won't go after her?
Paul, Chicklet wants Trump to go after Hillary now, while his opponents in the primary go after him.
I have no doubt that Trump will go after Hillary in the general, if it comes to that. But right now, why do it? Trump is getting a lot of Democrat support. The stump for trump girls changed their registration from Democrat to Republican just to vote to him in the primaries. Why risk alienating them?
Yes Eric. He's focusing on his primary opponents and will take Hillary to the woodshed when it's her turn, and what a juicy target she'll be. Chicklet, like Althouse, suffers from TDS, that's all.
And who in there right mind ever expected Obama to "tack to the right"?
Carson grew up in a rough neighborhood. No one doubts that. When he was 13-14 he started to copy what he saw around him, he says. And doesn't that seem likely? But, he says, he pulled up before very long due to a strong experience. Well, we know he did turn away from the all-encompassing neighborhood ways. And he kept it up so he is apparently fantastically motivated and aggressive. That's what standing up to surround-sound despair takes - tremendous aggression and motivation. So Carson had some sort of strong motivation. He says it was an experience of religious conversion that directed his aggression. Something unlikely happened - he made out of the slums. What was it if it wasn't a Christian conversion?
I say the media are lying. I say they didn't interview many of Carson's childhood friends - if any. And they know it. They want to say he is liar; they don't care about what.
So why do they want to say Carson is lying? I say Hillary is known to be a liar about the death of an ambassador and about Bill's rapes and about the emails and about Huma - and so everyone else must be accused of lying and anything else we know to be true of Hillary (and Bill). You want lying liars - read the media on Hillary's assertions about anything.
Bay Area Guy said...
I was gonna write, "Why the %#^€ is Dr. Carson talking pyramids and aliens?"
Then, I see it's from a speech he gave 1998.
And when Carson confirmed to CBS Wednesday night that he still believes Joseph built the pyramids as granaries,
He also claims the devil is responsible for inventing the idea of Darwinian evolution. He's a nutjob and he's stupid.
Ferd, don't you as an atheist think that anybody who uses words and concepts like God and the Devil is stupid? So what is your point really?
You should come to a seder sometime, you can hear all about Pithom and Ramses.
Don't just accept the bias against evangelicals and call them nutjobs because they get a few facts wrong - don't feel free to indulge a bias against most of the blacks in this country as well as most members of the Islamic religion. Think of it this way:
Ben Carson thinks Joseph built the pyramids; Hillary thinks that one in five women are raped in college. Which wrong opinion is going to matter more to us?
The Fundamentalists/ Evangelicals who in the nineteenth century were responsible for the campaign to abolish slavery world-wide within the British empire did not accept the theory of evolution. The Darwinians, the supporters of evolution, were responsible for asserting that there were five races; that the most highly evolved were the Caucasians; that the Negroes were so low on the evolutionary scale and so close to the apes that in the course of time they were going to die out and that any Caucasian who intermarried with Negroes would sink down the scale dragging the race with them. This was the "scientific" basis for segregation. Which group would you prefer to have belonged in?
a little late, but still worth noting, from dailywire:
"Here’s the relevant passage from Carson’s autobiography:
At the end of my twelfth grade I marched at the head of the Memorial Day parade. I felt so proud, my chest bursting with ribbons and braids of every kind. To make it more wonderful, We had important visitors that day. Two soldiers who had won the Congressional Medal of Honor in Viet Nam were present. More exciting to me, General William Westmoreland (very prominent in the Viet Nam war) attended with an impressive entourage. Afterward, Sgt. Hunt introduced me to General Westmoreland, and I had dinner with him and the Congressional Medal winners. Later I was offered a full scholarship to West Point. I didn’t refuse the scholarship outright, but I let them know that a military career wasn’t where I saw myself going.
That’s the entire relevant portion of Carson’s account. He reiterated that account last month in an interview with Charlie Rose, when he said, “I was offered a full scholarship at West Point, got to meet General Westmoreland and go to Congressional Medal of Honor dinners. But decided really my pathway would be medicine.”
Politico followed up on this story. They reported one additional piece of information that seems to conflict with Carson’s story . . .
[Campaign responded:] Dr. Carson was the top ROTC student in the City of Detroit. In that role he was invited to meet General Westmoreland. He believes it was at a banquet. He can’t remember with specificity their brief conversation but it centered around Dr. Carson’s performance as ROTC City Executive Officer. He was introduced to folks from West Point by his ROTC Supervisors. They told him they could help him get an appointment based on his grades and performance in ROTC. He considered it but in the end did not seek admission.
But here’s how Politico editorialized: “When presented with this evidence, Carson’s campaign conceded the story was false.”"
So the "fabrication" was fabricated.
My toaster just popped out a burnt slice of bread with Carson's face on it.
Is there anyone on earth who believes that Hillary or her husband are more honest and honorable than Ben Carson?
Is there anyone on earth who believes that Hillary or her husband are more honest and honorable than Ben Carson?
The ones running down Carson the hardest are doing Hillary's work for her.
Duly noted.
That isn't Saint Augustine, that's Saint Wolfgang of Regensburg.
William said...Is there anyone on earth who believes that Hillary or her husband are more honest and honorable than Ben Carson?
The only people more honorable than the two candidates you selected, are about 350 Million Americans.
"He also claims the devil is responsible for inventing the idea of Darwinian evolution. He's a nutjob and he's stupid."
I'll give you the nutjob. It seems unlikely he's stupid. Just based on his accomplishments. You can fake Con Law, but you can't fake successful brain surgeon. Hell, you can't fake passing Organic Chemistry.
Actually, if the were a Devil, I could see how he might get kind of tired of waiting for the human race to figure out Darwinian evolution. "Come on, you idiots, the clues are all there! What can you do with these monkeys?"
This from a Seventh Day Adventist school; this what Carson believes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fExMJ4Npz-s
The scary thing would be if Carson's rage returned once in office. Like, he could be meeting with a head of state, and just stab the guy for pissing him off.
That would not be good.
The thing is, while it's inspiring what he did about his murderous rage, and how long he's kept it in check - it's still just another extreme.
What I mean is, that while it's possible that his rage suppression made him a nice, thoughtful person, it's also possible that he became as thoughtless and ineffective in his docility as he was in his rage.
I think someone effectively learns to confront their anger when they decide that channeling it the right way can be as practical as learning when to just let things go. Wrestling with figuring what to do about one's emotions can be as important as (and less phony than) just deciding to never, ever become angry again.
Surgeons cut people open. Surgery is an altruistic and disciplined form of sadism.
Hahahahahahaha. Paging Michael K.! A mollified sadist is needed in the O.R.!
Whose ideas can really affect you?
The President who believes that humanity has evolved so that the aggressive use of force no longer works because “this is the 21st Century” or one who believes that the pyramids were used to store grain.
The President who believes that the color of his skin will transform his country’s enemies into friends or one who believes that the pyramids were used to store grain.
The millions who believe that Barack Obama will improve race relations or those who believe that the pyramids were used to store grain.
The President who believes that his election would stop the rise of the oceans and heal the earth or one who believes that the pyramids were used to store grain.
The President who welcomes millions of illegal immigrants into the country or one who believes that the pyramids were used to store grain.
The President who thinks that shipping thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels is a good plan or one who believes that the pyramids were used to store grain.
The President who thinks that one in five college co-eds are raped or one who believes that the pyramids were used to store grain.
The President who begin a criminal investigation of Exxon Mobil to determine whether the company lied to the public about the risks of climate change or one who believes that the pyramids were used to store grain. (Whoops, that’s the New York attorney general)
The President who thinks that man is responsible for global warming or one who believes that the pyramids were used to store grain.
@sydney,
Or maybe St Theophilus of Adana. There seems to be some question as to just who the human is.
Still like the face on the Devil's ass, though.
I don't know who the saint is with the Devil, but if the saint were running for the Republican Presidential nomination, there are people commenting on this blog who would call the saint stupid and/or a nutjob.
And they would be perfectly happy with the Devil if he -- or she -- got the Democratic nomination.
Let's say it is true or true-ish. In my experience people don't change that much - esp. those who say God has changed them. When they fall off the wagon temperamentally, they pray, go to Church, read the Bible, but the characteristic is always there, whether it is stabbing and hammering or conning and lying.
So,..
Next.
"Blogger chickelit said...
I want to know why Trump has never uttered one negative about Hillary. He's always yapping about this or that aspect which bothers him, but like the media, never lays a glove on Hillary. He saves his negatives for Carly Fiorina and Megyn Kelly."
Because the media you absorb doesn't want you to know what Trump has said about Hillary that is negative, and you don't want to absorb other media, hence your refusal to search for the answer you disingenuously claim you want to know something, apparently anything, about.
How many GOP hopefuls has Trump said "should be in jail" like he has said about Hillary?
He called her (paraphrasing, so you should find the courage to look it up yourself to see how far away from his intention I am distoriting his actual quote) "the worst SOS in the country's history" and I don't recall that type of statement about Bush or Rubio or Paul or Walker or any GOPer slouching toward the nomination.
But since Katie Couric didn't highlight these stories on the site she works for, nor did Charlie Rose mention them after Scott Pelley and CBS dodged 'em, according to Chicklit, they must not exist.
Guild of Cannonballs- Can you link some of the Trump bashes Hillary stuff? Because all I've seen and heard is pictures of The Clintons at Trump's wedding, details of Trump donations to The Clinton Kickback Fund, and reflections that Hillary is "very presidential" and that she "came off very well" when she lied to a congressional investigative committee in televised testimony. That's John McCain level belligerence there. I can only guess what he'll say during the last remarks of a final debate, but "Mrs. Clinton will make a great president" is probably not far off the mark.
Trump is double-talking reality show rubbish. His ethics and his "principles" run very closely to progressive democrat/chamber of commerce/crony capitalism. But,, he is only the third or fourth worst presidential candidate in the primaries so far, compared with Hillary, Jeb and Bernie, and not counting zeroes like Chafee, Lessig, Pataki and Huckabee.
What's the matter, Guild? You sore about me voicing your unBuckely comments as Foster Brooks?
"Salvation isn't very interesting if you are not a sinner."
That's supposed to be deep. But it's not.
Salvation is always interesting.
Those who don't sin in this life are, in many ways, already saved--IN THIS LIFE.
That's pretty interesting.
I say this as a primo sinner.
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