Medice, cura te ipsum

Critical acclaim for and disapproval of essius:

You can be so childish in such an adult way.
—Danielle

You describe things in details that are annoying and boring.
—Lydia

Now this bunch of intellectual posturing makes me want to puke.
—forgetfulness

I have a syntactical question. If person S decides to present a relatively simple inquiry n in the most garrulous manner possible, using italicized mathematical variables x, for reason 0, and his blog (let us assume that it’s a LiveJournal, and let us call the account ‘E’) has already been deemed thoroughly grandiloquent by some, will anyone be interested in replying? And if so, how many of those would agree that the most ornate choice is not always the most intelligent sounding?
—doodle_bugg

Hey, may I ask you, do you really talk the way you type? Because if you did that would be so cool!!!
—Lauren Ann

I love how eloquent you always are. I never get tired of reading your words.
—sweetdaisy2911

I still think you are shy. But when you talk you are pretty insightful.
—Lesley B.

Well, I really enjoyed your poetry, you are a very talented writer!! Please send more if you would. I enjoy reading it.
—Aimee

You make verbose and empty arguments that are incredibly self-serving and convenient. It’s very frustrating to speak to you because of it.
—oikade

What is manifest my dear Stephen is that you are very close-minded. Definitely not the mark of an intellectual. More of a pseudo-intellectual I would say. Or perhaps I am just being presumptuous again.
—sasha2

You just don’t make a lick of sense, do you?
—gerbilsage

He’s wrong about a lot, but he can usually argue fairly reasonably.
—cabrutus

I don’t deal with nonsense kindly and you’re simply full of nonsense. Then again, the UoST is known for pumping out annoying cranks. Should I blame you or your education, I wonder?
—gerbilsage

I don’t intentionally seek out nonsense. I get enough of it unintentionally.
—alienus

Your response is both brilliant and well-spoken.
—the_justiner

The inability to form decisions based on evidence is symptomatic of several psychological and psychiatric disorders. You should have yourself checked out.
—gerbilsage

I don’t understand why you feel the need to correct everyone and everything…really you should have that looked at by a doctor. Nobody likes somebody that thinks they’re right all the time.
—loveliketvshows

I’ve had my fill with essius.
—burkean

He doesn’t like me because I think he’s an insufferable windbag with an appallingly poor grasp of theology and philosophy.
—gerbilsage

I don’t find essius very interesting. He’s a smart guy, but I think gerbilsage’s accusation that he’s a windbag kind of sticks.
—apperception

I’ve always gotten sort of a “sophisticated Ned Flanders” vibe from essius.
—jeffrock

I have respected you far too long than you have deserved, for you have done absolutely nothing to deserve it. The only thing I could remotely bring myself to respect you for is that you are a stubborn son of a bitch—but that will be your downfall. Not mine. I take responsibility for my actions and my inactions—you do not. That is our difference.
—thirteenththorn/munashiikihaku/akifeather

Dude, you suck. Just thought I’d let you know.... Nah, I’m just kiddin’, yer coo’. :D
—Matthew

Ass…
—sunshineklutz

DUMBASS.
—flawlesserr

It still bothers me that you say such stupid things.
—triphicus

You know, it really means a lot to me that you care so much. Thank you ^.^
—Alidia

I love how you often seem to disagree with things people state in your LJ even when they are agreeing with you. :P
—forgetfulness

I…have combed through this gentleman‘s LiveJournal. He certainly is a paradigm example of someone striving to be a Christian.
—derspassvogel

Sometimes you can come off as really Holier Than Thou, even though you don’t mean to.
—lessoninlove

You aren’t helping.
—immortalavalamp

Something’s wrong with you Stephen. Don’t you get that?
—oikade

There will NEVER be a time where you will believe what people say about you!
—neiana

You made a good critique of amor fati.
—the late travellingzinda

I rarely have the opportunity to engage these questions with a student of your sophistication.
—Robert Platzner

You are revolutionary in mind and thought. A gem among pebbles and rocks.
—find_the_joy

In 38 years of teaching I don’t recall a single student with your passion for truth and spiritual/intellectual completion. You have my utmost respect and my love. The 26 page paper with 54 footnotes and a 27-item bibliography on Krishnamurti was a masterpiece I would expect only from advanced Ph.D. students. Thank you so much for sharing it with your classmates.
—David Long

Even without surrender you are so different in the way you are in the universe that you are going to have a hard time fitting in any academic environment. You’re a heretic, Stephen. They still burn them, though the flame is not so manifest.
—ibid.

Why the hell would I drive 11 hours?
—Lydia (after driving 11 hours)

Hey, you’re pretty hot! If you weren’t a self-deceived shitty Christian, we could totally go out!
—cripz

Sex.
—unworthymessiah

It’s just hard to dispute that someone obsessed with Kierkegaard to this degree is interesting.
—evrything_but

You don’t seem to realize how much shit he [neiana] talks behind your back.
—unworthymessiah

And when I say others think something, it is NOT simply because I THINK IT!!! How many times do I have to tell you THAT OTHER PEOPLE AGREE!!
—neiana

SCS is certainly controversial.
—ninjamaster

That has got to be the funkiest apology I’ve heard.
—hisprophet

Knowing essius, this is quite a sincere apology. Frank, blunt and honest.
—iamdigitalis

From what I can see, you seem like a very intelligent, forthright and idealistic young man. With a cheeky streak. (That’s important.) Why on earth would anyone not want to spend time with you, huh? :)
—anhedoniia

Oh man, I can’t get over you.…You are so unique, and your mind can’t even be expressed here or there or in the air, I believe it’s too grand to be confined to the barriers of LJ.…Who types like you? Nobody I know! You are so beautiful to me, Stephen.
—find_the_joy

I’ve never talked to anyone who’s as earnest as I am—it’s actually kind of disorienting.
—evrything_but

Hey...smart AND humble, excellent!
—celtictide

You know what I meant! I knew you would twist it into something like that. I will not let you psychoanalyze me.
—honeybeems

Why!!!? You are an evil, sick, twisted… uh, twisted… errr…
—darkxjames

I am always interested in your random crap…
—lovexhatexsex

Stephen, I just wanna continue to encourage you, b/c I think that you’ve done the right, Christian, thing here. You haven’t wavered in your faith and your dedication to Holy Scripture, and I admire that.
—theendless

Your entries are way to smart to comment on 90% of the time. :(
—washakoroleva

I do not mean to be flippant there. I am being sincere. You are so very overconcerned, so stilted, that you are tripping yourself up.
—fountaingirl

Are you secretly a good philosopher in real life, Beth, or are your teachers just too polite to tell you the truth, preferring instead to take your money in exchange for good grades and a degree? Outside of one of these options, I can’t imagine how you survive in a graduate program.
—apperception

“You’re argumentative. And stiff.”
“Prithee, I am not I say! Fie on you! A pox! I demand citations!”
—fountaingirl

You have no skill in debate. Every soul you come across on every community thinks you’re an irritating charlatan. Because of this, the only way you can get support in a debate is by creating a sockpuppet account to agree with you. And you utterly suck at doing philosophy.
—apperception

…essius is incapable of seeing his own behavior through other people’s eyes.
—moosehead_beer

Stupidity is when a person repeatedly sacrifices their own energy for no gain. If your approach is not working, try changing it. Of course, you won’t change your approach because you are far too convinced of your own righteousness.
—vox_diabolica

I find you annoying—like the guy who asks about Schopenhauer in a Plato class and about Hegel in an analytic philosophy of language class. You lack maturity and discipline. You seem to have the potential to be smart, but you are working too hard at the playing the part rather than being the part.
—theoryshotme

Dammit, I will give you this: I find you interesting enough that I keep replying to you don’t I now?
—fountaingirl

You seem like a good egg.
—scarbo1111

As I said, you cannot buy sushi grade fish in a supermarket—or any market for that matter. You have to have connections.
—triphicus

…crazy, obsessed freak who’s completely in love with livejournal.
—wayside_flower3

You are way too wrapped up in LJ…
—royinpink

You’re pretty badass.
—gunslinger33

I am frustrated with you.
—brownvelvet_hat

I’ll admit that essius is pretty sharp too, and has a truly intimidating vocabulary. But just between you and me and the peanut gallery: does he always know what he’s talking about any more than I do?
—slyfoot

I like you more and more as a person, even when I disagree with you.
—johnny9fingers

Stephen is very distracting (to at least me, perhaps also to many others?) when he says everything about everything when responding to a very constrained topic, in this case “biblical repentance,” because, while I understand the drive, perhaps need, to take notes and record ones perspective in such matters, I have a “notes-by-proxy” file on my computer where I write down all such things as Stephen writes for everyone to see, so that those without a highly disciplined sense of patience have a decent chance of actually communicating with me before walking off in frustration …
—doubleg

I will not pay you not to fuck up your life.
—Sarah Denise

Stephen is frustrated because Stephen thinks he’s cool.
—Jessika

You have the most ridiculous info page I’ve ever seen.
—writerboz

You’re weird.
—atthemariinsky

I’m not a pistachio? What? Well, you’re a yummy blueberry, and I’m going to eat you. ;)
—wayside_flower3

essius is out to prove some alternate version of Poe’s Law in that what he believes is often indistinguishable from satire or even things written by a random postmodern essay generator (refresh that page a few times for full effect).
—pooperman

I wish I could fucking break your face.
—wayside_flower3

You so inspire me.
—yumdidlyiscious

Also Stephen I’m in love with you.
—markos

I hate you so much Stephen.
—ibid.

You really shouldn’t try to be funny. You always fail miserably.
—wayside_flower3

Oh shit why are you so funny I hate you.
—triphicus

essius has been banned [from antitheism] for [making clear what an unfair tyrant I am]. He was warned, but give anyone enough rope and he’ll hang himself.
—rpeate

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Okay, Stephen, I have to hand it to you. That was pretty hilarious. I especially liked the one about paranoid schizophrenia. That was gold.
—moosehead_beer concerning fun times in antitheism

essius might actually be cool if he wasn’t such a drama queen.
—mangy_mathan

Fucking ginger!!!!
—cyranothe2nd

I find you more intelligent than most men.
—skeletal_lovers

As an aside, you always take the longest to catch up on reading....
—lhynard

Your ideas would be much clearer in general if you used less words, and that’s worth doing because your ideas are good.
—silentactic

Your footnotes (or asterisks) in your entries are amusing (in a good way).
—honeybeems

I wish your mother aborted you.
—bimbolimbo

You’re such a fucking professor.
—Sass

You try to find extremely potent short provocations. It is a Socratic gesture I appreciate. You also make a thorough commitment to the question at hand when extended discourse has already been indicated. A nice point of politeness. And you sometimes make a pithy reply very well indeed.
—Joseph