Let's have a look into who this "known for his insight" Wictor might be.
>> I spoke with Wictor by phone today. His is a tragic story. A self-described “failed music journalist” and “failed novelist” — “As of right now, I’m a failed everything,” he tells me — Wictor says that two literary agents defrauded him of his life-savings and managed to kill his latest book project. His website bio says: “To do so they took advantage of his post-traumatic stress disorder with secondary psychotic features, as well as the ‘brain fog’ caused by Meniere’s disease. Both of these conditions create memory lapses and dissociation, which were exacerbated by the suicides of Wictor’s parents in February and October of 2013.”
In light of this history — and some other details, more on which in a bit — I asked Wictor if he thought he made for a reliable source. “I don’t care,” he told me. “My writing career was completely destroyed by these con artists and I don’t care.”
..... “Oh yeah, it’s possible that I’m completely wrong about everything. This is just opinion.” I pointed out to Wictor that he displayed a propensity for jumping from conjecture to full-blown assertions. “I’m a very assertive person,” he replied. “I believe that these are obvious fakes, but I could be wrong.”
.... If Frum had done a little more digging, he would have found other posts on Wictor’s blog that call into question his credibility. Frum might have discovered some of Wictor’s recent free-associative rhapsodies or winding disquisitions on minstrel shows. Frum might’ve even found Wictor’s post where he thinks he has taken a photo of a “dematerializing” cat — apparently the second coming of a ghost cat Wictor knew earlier in life.
When prodded on whether the dematerializing cat thing was serious or ironic, Wictor laughed. “No, it is serious. You can present me as completely off my rocker,” he says. “The fact is I took a picture of a cat that looked like my beloved dead cat, and when the shutter snapped the cat was gone. I tend to believe that when we’re under a lot of stress and pain, we can hallucinate. Sure, why not? But I also believe that we might get signs to help us carry on.” << --- from here, a critic of Wictor as unreliable source on an entirely different matter
In light of this history — and some other details, more on which in a bit — I asked Wictor if he thought he made for a reliable source. “I don’t care,” he told me. “My writing career was completely destroyed by these con artists and I don’t care.”
..... “Oh yeah, it’s possible that I’m completely wrong about everything. This is just opinion.” I pointed out to Wictor that he displayed a propensity for jumping from conjecture to full-blown assertions. “I’m a very assertive person,” he replied. “I believe that these are obvious fakes, but I could be wrong.”
.... If Frum had done a little more digging, he would have found other posts on Wictor’s blog that call into question his credibility. Frum might have discovered some of Wictor’s recent free-associative rhapsodies or winding disquisitions on minstrel shows. Frum might’ve even found Wictor’s post where he thinks he has taken a photo of a “dematerializing” cat — apparently the second coming of a ghost cat Wictor knew earlier in life.
When prodded on whether the dematerializing cat thing was serious or ironic, Wictor laughed. “No, it is serious. You can present me as completely off my rocker,” he says. “The fact is I took a picture of a cat that looked like my beloved dead cat, and when the shutter snapped the cat was gone. I tend to believe that when we’re under a lot of stress and pain, we can hallucinate. Sure, why not? But I also believe that we might get signs to help us carry on.” << --- from here, a critic of Wictor as unreliable source on an entirely different matter
