TRINITY PHIL SOCIETY A SHAM AND SCAM:

 So Says Sorcha Ryder’s Defender

On 14 July 2018, I was informed by Sorcha Ryder, President of the Trinity University Philosophical Society (Dublin), that I was “chosen to receive the Honorary Patronage of the University Philosophical Society” and that I had “topped the lists of elected Patrons voted on by Fellows, Staff and Students of the College.”

But it slowly dawned on Ryder that receiving me wasn’t a prudent career move.

She prefers to be seen in the company of cretinous London mayor Sadiq Khan.

So Ryder unilaterally rescinded my award.

While trying to make sense of what happened, I was directed by Ryder to a fellow named Harry Browne (https://twitter.com/harrybrowne?lang=en).  The essence of Browne’s response to my queries was: the Phil is a sham—it represents no one; no one gives a rat’s ass about it—and a scam—it lures gullible “celebrities” to Trinity with the promise of fake “Patronage.”

It says a mouthful about Ryder that she would refer me to Browne.

Here are Browne’s exact words to me:

I feel that I must say, for your sake, something else about your misunderstanding of the organization and situation you’re addressing, because I fear you will embarrass yourself further if you continue to describe them so naively: you did not “top,” overwhelmingly or otherwise, some plebiscite among the whole Trinity College community. I can’t say with any certainty what the process was, but I imagine a Phil committee or membership consisting of small numbers of the categories of people mentioned (“Fellows, Staff and Students”) and a vote that you could probably count on your fingers, with perhaps some toes called in. I do not intend to denigrate the honor or the process, and I can understand how a mistaken reading could arise in the mind of someone feeling justifiably proud at such an invitation.  But just so you know: no one at Trinity College Dublin outside the Phil voted for you or (probably) has a notion how that society chooses the celebrities whose ‘patronage’ it seeks.