I've thought about it overnight. I'd be a lot more open to the idea if Ms. Meekhof hadn't decided, instead of contacting me privately, to try to shame me in public in response to post critical of the @interstitium1 and Neil Neides. Let's recap. 1/
Here's @KristinMeekhof's Tweet from yesterday. She clearly meant this to sound as though my reason for not attending was frivolous and I was dodging. 2/
Here was my response. @KristinMeekhof knew that this was the reason I was not able (or, more properly, was unwilling to race like a maniac straight from work to Warren and probably arrive late) to attend Dr. Chopra's book talk. She didn't mention it. 3/
Elsewhere, I elaborated. 4/
Also, @KristinMeekhof's boss @DeepakChopra chimed in thusly. Note that he is not particularly kind here. Also, given his quoting my Tweet instead of simply replying to it, I can't help but wonder if some of his intent was to sic his followers on me. 5/
Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I made it a point to ask @DeepakChopra if @KristinMeekhof had told him the reason that I had given in an email on the day of the talk last year. 6/
At this point, Dr. Chopra wisely backtracked and wished me well. He did not actually apologize. 7/
I then remembered that this is not the first time Dr. Chopra has behaved this way. I remembered what happened to Tim Caulfield. 8/ cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…
Yes, ultimately Dr. Chopra apologized, and that is to his credit. Even so, he said some pretty nasty stuff, at one point implying that Caulfield was drunk. 9/
Elsewhere in the exchange, Dr. Chopra accused Caulfield of being a liar and attention seeker. 10/
This isn't even the first time Dr. Chopra has lashed out over criticism. He did a video after Tim Caulfield and I had both written critical posts about his appearance. 11/ respectfulinsolence.com/2016/11/07/dee…
I also note that, not once, ever, has Dr,.Chopra ever deigned to contact me personally. His only contact with me has been through Tweets attacking me and that video in the Tweet above. The only direct contact with anyone in his organization I've had is with @KristinMeekhof.12/
It's almost as though Dr. Chopra doesn't view me as his equal and therefore leaves all the "dirty work" of contacting me to his underling. I was polite about it a year ago, perhaps overly so, but it rankles, particularly now that @KristinMeekhof is using the offer against me. 13/
It's almost as though Dr. Chopra only wants me to show up as a foil for a "debate" on friendly ground, where the audience came to see him and not me. @MichaelShermer or @BillNye might like such situations, but I'm not Shermer or Nye. 14/
If Dr. Chopra is serious about wanting a dialogue, let him start it in private. If the private dialogue ends up fostering trust, only then would I consider taking it public. Given Dr. Chopra's past behavior, I have a hard time trusting him enough just to say yes on Twitter. 15/
Finally, if @DeepakChopra, @KristinMeekhof, or anyone working for Dr. Chopra publicly uses this Tweetstorm to try to portray me as "afraid" of debate, my answer will go from "let's start talking privately and see where things go" to a hard "no." 16/
This is the last time I will tag @DeepakChopra or @KristinMeekhof in any Tweets about this. Namaste. 17/17
