No, not the Kwok! Anything but the Kwok!


He hasn’t changed a bit. John Kwok is bleating at Greg Laden now.

Would you believe he thinks he finally has a shot at getting that Leica M7 rangefinder camera?

Comments

  1. Trebuchet says

    Speaking of “old friends”, I see Dennis Markuze showing up here lately. I trust you folks are notifying the appropriate authorities in Montreal.

    Greg should stop feeding the troll.

  2. says

    There is no situation under which someone could owe someone a new Leica except one in which they broke the other person’s old Leica. In fact I’m not convinced anyone ever needs a new Leica.

  3. Nightjar says

    *catches breath*

    Oh my. It has been a while since I laughed this hard for so long.

    However, I am disappointed. He didn’t accuse anyone of mendacious intellectual pornography.

  4. screechymonkey says

    But the question is, what does the President of Brown University think about this?

  5. carlie says

    Oh man, that was beautiful. I was reading it thinking “please mention Stuyvesant please please please.. ”
    BOOM, there it is.

  6. jenniferphillips says

    Ha! Me too, Carlie, but I was actually surprised it took him as long as it did to mention Stuyvesant. He saved it for the thundering crescendo–what artistry! What discipline!

  7. Algernon says

    *Sigh*

    As funny as it is that Kwok has apparently not grown or changed in all this time as a human being, this just reminded me of why I felt the need to distance myself from the “Atheist Movement.”

  8. Algernon says

    Actually, it’s odd that he hasn’t changed. I can see some of his statements as a dark sort of humor. At the same time…

  9. says

    Well PZ, I hope you realize your career as an author is over before it even got started: John Kw*k flat-out refuses to review your book!

    I trust you are appropriately crushed. I can just picture you now, weeping bitter tears of regret into your grog, wondering why, OH WHY?! WHY DID I NOT spring for that Leica rangefinder when I had the chance?

  10. David Marjanović says

    Has he always been a particularly bratty 11-year-old?

    Yes. I’m certain he was born that way.

    this just reminded me of why I felt the need to distance myself from the “Atheist Movement.”

    ~:-| Please explain.

  11. frankb says

    I think Greg did a great job of leading John Kwok on so that we could see to full splendor of John’s idiocy. One of the times I met PZ we talked of John Kwok. Ah, the memories.

  12. Algernon says

    Oh, David M, not that Kwok is a particularly pleasant person, but it’s actually very hard to see some one who is willing to take a stand when they have every requisite privilege get attacked for it. I guess it’s just painful for me to see some one like Kwok use some ones assault for a feather in his cap… And it just reminds me of how painful it became to try to be a part of something.

  13. Olav says

    BrianX #2:

    In fact I’m not convinced anyone ever needs a new Leica.

    “Need” is a big word, but to be fair they are rather splendid cameras.

  14. Charlie Foxtrot says

    (Oh, and the post title is even more awesome if you imagine Nic Cage thrashing around screaming it)

  15. Crudely Wrott says

    Amazing.

    Blessed with sterling credentials and moving with such august and learned company.
    Yet stone deaf and socially inept.

    Amazing.

    Something perverse inside me wants to hear him talk some more.

  16. Holms says

    Two adult babies having a babyish argument? Not sure I see the significance of this event.

  17. Sastra says

    Greg Laden: OMG shut up.

    John Kwok: OMG why don’t you shut up?

    Somebody is going to put this to music. It will be autotuned. It will go viral. Somebody, somewhere, is going to get a Leica M rangefinder camera out of it.

    Mark my words.
    No, you mark my words.

  18. Azuma Hazuki says

    It’s hilarious how he brags about being from Stuyvesant. I’m from Bronx Science, and I can tell you Stuy is a bunch of stuffed-shirt ivory-tower elitists with their noses pegged to the stratosphere by comparison. Stuy also has been rocked by constant cheating and racism scandals; while BS isn’t perfect, largely thanks to that idiot Reidy, we’re a lot more real and down to earth than that.

    And boy does it show, in his writing.

  19. ChasCPeterson says

    boy does it show, in his writing.

    WHAT? I’ll have you know that J*hn was personally mentored by a certain celebrated and well-known memoirist who shall remain nameless.

  20. Charlie Foxtrot says

    dammit – now he’s made me go an’ buy ‘The Happy Atheist’ off Amazon as well! Has he no shame!?

  21. Ichthyic says

    John Kwok, a day in the life of…

    Me: *hears knock at door*

    John: “Hi, can I tell you how impressed you should be that I, a graduate of the famous Stuyvesant high, chose to knock on your door?”

    Me: “uh…”

    John: “Oh, I suppose I should get the point. Did you know a friend of yours did something I disapprove of?”

    Me: “uh…”

    John: “Right, so if you don’t denounce your friend, right this second, publicly, I shall chastise you and report you to my fellow Stuyvessant alumni!”

    Me: “uh… you seem to have some cognitive difficulties that are interfering with your ability to form coherent communication.”

    John: “How DARE you! Leave your house this instant and never speak to me again!”

    Me: “…”

  22. chrislawson says

    Algernon,

    Kwok isn’t really representative of the “Atheist Movement” since pretty much nobody can stand him AFAIK. (There are other reasons for distancing oneself from the movement at the moment; Kwok isn’t a good one.)

    I find him a puzzling character. When I first started to notice him on PT threads, he almost always started off with perfectly sensible, rational comments…but about a dozen comments down-thread he would become a raging incoherent illogical mess who would refuse to abandon a position even if it had been amply demonstrated to be false.

  23. Ichthyic says

    I guess it’s just painful for me to see some one like Kwok use some ones assault for a feather in his cap…

    You have to take this as it is, Kwok has a serious case of NPD, or a related personality disorder.

    he’s not trying for a feather in his cap, he’s just failing to deal with his issues, as has been the case for over 5 years that I am aware of. He does not perceive the harm he causes, even.

    Would you feel the same about Dennis Markuze, regardless of what high school he graduated from?

  24. chrislawson says

    Olav, the Leica is indeed a good camera, but I’m not sure it’s worth 5-10x the price of other cameras with similar tech specs.

  25. carlie says

    chrislawson – Algernon is a long-time veteran of the early days of the atheist wars, long before the big stuff started happening and Kw*k and his ilk were our main sources of diversion. Algernon definitely has the specs on our Stuyvesant alum. :)

  26. Anri says

    Well, the cool thing about us is that if we bash someone, even if they’re idiots, we give ’em the opportunity to pop on by and say something in their defense.

    Oh, wait.
    (Kidding. Mostly.)

    In all seriousness, I had been under the impression that the entire reason for banning someone was to not have to deal with or hear from them again.
    So why this thread?
    Don’t get me wrong, there might be a perfectly good reason to re-engage, but I’m not seeing it at the moment.

  27. DLC says

    K0Wok is a kook.
    The people around here put up with him for what seemed like forever, before PZ slapped him silly with the Ban-Hammer.
    He’s still a kook. Some things never change.
    Leicas are German craftsmanship at it’s finest. (if you’re a camera buff).
    But yeah, there’s plenty of cameras that will equal or exceed theirs in terms of performance.
    Basically you’re paying for the German Engineering and the Leica name. It’s something like buying a BMW over a Cadillac. Most of what you’re buying is imponderables, the two cars are probably quite comparable.

  28. Bernard Bumner says

    …I had been under the impression that the entire reason for banning someone was to not have to deal with or hear from them again.

    I think the idea is just to deprive them of a platform in this particular forum.

    So why this thread?

    Why not? As long as Kw*k continues to make demands via all and sundry for photographic equipment by way of undeserved recompense for entirely deserved slights, why shouldn’t PZ continue to mock him?

  29. David Marjanović says

    BS isn’t perfect

    I just wanted to take this out of context. :-)

    You have to take this as it is, Kwok has a serious case of NPD, or a related personality disorder.

    he’s not trying for a feather in his cap

    Or, rather, he only tries for feathers in his cap. Probably even in his sleep.

    I agree he needs help if such a thing exists.

    Basically you’re paying for the German Engineering and the Leica name. It’s something like buying a BMW over a Cadillac. Most of what you’re buying is imponderables, the two cars are probably quite comparable.

    See also: the sticker “Made in China – Designed by Apple in California” I’ve seen on keyboards that came with very expensive computers.

    I think the idea is just to deprive them of a platform in this particular forum.

    Exactly. PZ doesn’t cease to point and laugh.

  30. Antiochus Epiphanes says

    This is the best thing that I have ever read. Can parody be unintentional? Seriously. If there were a website on which Laden and Kwok exchanged comments* all day long, I would never read Pharyngula again.

    *Not really a conversation, innit?

  31. Anri says

    Bernard Bumner:

    Hmm, ok. I certainly don’t want this to be a thing, as it’s not that important to you, me, or anyone here.

    It just seemed odd that one would go through the trouble of following up on the antics of someone they barred from their (virtual) home for being an insipid bore.
    I’m over-thinking this, I imagine.