Gerald Moreno's Media Bias Lies

Gerald 'Joe' Moreno, liar and intellectually dishonest hypocrite extraordinaire, makes a big hue and cry over comments made by Andries Krugers-Dagneaux within the talk (discussion) pages of Wikipedia articles. Specifically, Moreno behaves in an adversarial manner towards Andries and insists on being a stubborn and obstinate opponent who nitpicks over every tiny little edit, so he cannot be free from bias or even good faith.

Gerald Moreno quotes the following from Andries in a desperate bid to show how the creators of the Salon.Com article and the BBC documentary were negatively biased against Sathya Sai Baba:

"In Wikipedia we give majority point of views majority space. Salon.com and the BBC favorably and extensively cited critics and ex-followers, so this is a strong indication that they agree with the ex-follower point of view." Andries 22:53, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

"Read the articles and watch their documentaries and it is clear that Michelle Goldberg of Salon.com, Danish Radio, and Tanya Datta of the BBC are sympathetic to the critics and ex-followers. Magazines and TV stations rarely have official opinions." Andries 23:05, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

"I do not claim to be Mr. Accuracy. Yes, I made mistakes in this article and other articles in Wikipedia, especially when I rely too much on my memory. But I do continue to hold the view that the BBC, Danish Radio, and Salon.com wrote articles or showed documentaries that could in fact have been made by ex-devotees." Andries 23:23, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

That's it, just these three quotes. Just see how Moreno created a page with his own interpretations of Andries' comments:



Perhaps Gerald Moreno should have tried quoting Andries in context as part of his rabid crusade to defend Sathya Sai Baba. To wit, several editors including Andries were discussing the length of the 'External Links' section of the Sathya Sai Baba Wikipedia entry, which apparently contained links to critical websites and articles about the Baba. An anonymous editor by the name of 'Thaumaturgic' (who is Gerald Moreno's very close friend) got into a spat with Andries about this. Here's how that conversation progressed between them and see Andries' remarks in the proper context:

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"Andries, you are trying to argue your case from authority. That does not make you right. The Ptolemaic concept of the universe was accepted by even the brightest of scholars and philosophers. That did not make Claudius Ptolomy right. The BBC and Salon.com do not accept your viewpoint. They simply published a documentary and an article. Can you provide me with a link to the BBC or Salon.com's official stance on Sathya Sai Baba? You are trying to mislead people about the BBC and Salon.com. Why? There should five links relevant to Sathya Sai Baba and five links each to favorable & unfavorable viewpoints. I see what you are trying to do Andries. It won't work." Thaumaturgic 22:50, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

"In Wikipedia we give majority point of views majority space. Salon.com and the BBC favorably and extensively cited critics and ex-followers, so this is a strong indication that they agree with the ex-follower point of view." Andries 22:53, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

"Once again, where is the official statement, from any of these sites, that states explicity what you are saying? Substantiate your claim. Drawing inferences is not factual." Thaumaturgic 23:00, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

"Read the articles and watch their documentaries and it is clear that Michelle Goldberg of Salon.com, Danish Radio, and Tanya Datta of the BBC are sympathetic to the critics and ex-followers. Magazines and TV stations rarely have official opinions." Andries 23:05, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

"Andries, earlier, you said, 'The ex-devotee viewpoint is both accepted by the media and by academics, e.g. by the BBC and Danish state television, salon.com etc. etc'. You are now changing your tune. Now, you are saying that people from these places are "sympathetic" with your viewpoint. You clearly tried to mislead people by saying the BBC and Salon.com accepted your viewpoints. Those organizations do not accept your viewpoints and have never released any statements regarding their official position on Sathya Sai Baba. If you had not been corrected, you would continue to mislead others with your careless over generalizations." Thaumaturgic 23:17, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

"I do not claim to be Mr. Accuracy. Yes, I made mistakes in this article and other articles in Wikipedia, especially when I rely too much on my memory. But I do continue to hold the view that the BBC, Danish Radio, and Salon.com wrote articles or showed documentaries that could in fact have been made by ex-devotees." Andries 23:23, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

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So all Andries was trying to do is argue his case for the inclusion of the Salon.Com and BBC documentary links. All he was trying to say is that the critical opinions of former devotees of Sathya Sai Baba are a bona-fide viewpoint, and that such opinions are reported by the media. That's it! And then we have Gerald Moreno citing these comments by Andries thoroughly out of context and using them to "prove" a media bias against Sathya Sai Baba. Talk about intellectual dishonesty!

Another humorous aspect of Gerald 'Joe' Moreno's miscitations is his apparent leanings towards fascism. Specifically, he appears to have a serious problem with the idea that critical opinions of former Sai devotees should be allowed to be made in public! This is the possible reason why he chose to include yet another out-of-context statement from Andries as "evidence" of media bias:


Gee whiz! Forgive us for thinking that freedom of speech is a right of human beings in civilised countries, what to speak of the fact that former devotees of Sathya Sai Baba have every right to voice their concerns and criticisms against a figure who stands charged with extremely serious allegations of homosexual paedophilia, involvement in murders, financial scandals and many other disturbing crimes, and that media agencies have every right to take these alternative viewpoints into consideration.

And guess what? Moreno took this out of context too.

In conclusion, all of this provides the full context of the comments made by Andries Krugers-Dagneaux. They show clearly that - unlike the biased and partisan views of Gerald 'Joe' Moreno who has openly professed his faith in Sai Baba - media agencies who have reported on the unsavoury activities of Sathya Sai Baba do not hold proven biases against the guru, and that any suspicion of the same should pass through the proper channels instead of making reckless allegations on the Internet.