As regulars here may know, I've been getting crank email from John A. Davison for many years now. Until recently, he was sending me his tirades almost every day — and they were just piling up in my spam folder. He was remarkably persistent.
Here is his very last email to me, fished up out of that spam folder, from 26 March.
Stuart "mad dog" Campbell
So the heir apparent to Pee Zee Myers has finally joined that degenerate pig by pretending that WE do not exist. You are in great company. The question you should be asking yourself is - why am I the only one treating Davison with naked contempt? Now, finally, all six of you are doing what all your predecessors have always done, fervently praying that your silence will somehow prevail. It sure took you long enough to join with the others and you still have not shared your monumental ignorance, bigotry and vicious personality with another Natural Selectionist (NSist) You are all pathetic, but you Stuart Campbell are the worst of the lot by far.
----- Original Message -----
From: john a davison
To: Staurt Campbell
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2012 9:40 AM
Check my weblog again you cowardly, snotty little worm.
John A. Davison, Professor of Biology Emeritus, University of Vermont. L4 Grandview Drive, South Burlington, VT 05403
webpage jadavison.wordpress.com
There are about 50 others in there (I really need to flush out that folder), and they're all this same incoherent angry ranting, the same attitude that got him banned for his obsessive commenting all over the net.
That was definitely the last message I'll ever be getting from him. Shortly after sending that, he was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer, and succumbed rapidly: John A Davison died last week.
His favorite catch phrase, typically used in all kinds of weirdly inappropriate situations, was "I love it so". I can't use it here — I'm just sorry he wasted so much of his life flailing wildly for his failed cause, creationism. At least it sounds like he refocused his life on his family in his last weeks.
Comments
Posted by: semi | May 4, 2012 5:33 PM
Always sad to hear of anyone's passing, even a crank.
Posted by: Tomato Addict | May 4, 2012 6:12 PM
Seems like he had a pretty good run, crankiness and all. I will honor him by bothering Creationist until I am 84 (and hopefully longer).
Posted by: margaret | May 4, 2012 7:55 PM
The guy's vital organs ceased functioning and his brain slowly lost electrical potential and then he was gone. I agree that it's sad that he wasted so much time and effort on pushing absurd "theories" of creation, rather than paying attention to his symptoms. I suppose the best thing that could be said for the comfort of his survivors is that he probably never knew how mistaken he was before he died.
Posted by: user-illusion.myopenid.com | May 4, 2012 9:32 PM
The molecules dance on in new arrangements.
Posted by: ChasCPeterson | May 4, 2012 9:54 PM
Davison was a first-class crackpot and an internet legend. He believed that evolution had happened throughout the past, though certainly not by natural selection (he had other ideas, including something he called the 'semi-meiotic' hypothesis iirc), but had recently stopped, having finally completed its ontogeny-like course by culminating in humans.
He always thought for himself, I'll say that.
His social skills were...poor, though. And, of course, he was completely wrong.
Posted by: Ichthyic | May 4, 2012 10:34 PM
His favorite catch phrase, typically used in all kinds of weirdly inappropriate situations, was "I love it so".
how about them apples?
Davison was sick mentally long before he was physically.
I have no idea if anyone in his family ever managed to reach out to him and help him in the end. I know his brother actually tried to help him a few years back, and was summarily insulted publicly and rebuffed by John.
I do hope that John will at least serve as a reminder that when you see a regular crank like this, they do actually need help. Reach out to them if you are close to them.
Posted by: Ichthyic | May 4, 2012 10:36 PM
If you want to see John's life's work, post his mental breakdown in the 80s at University of Vermont, you can see the link to it here:
http://www.crank.net/evolution.html
scroll down to his "evolutionary manifesto"
yes, this is what he pushed until the day he died.
Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM | May 4, 2012 10:59 PM
Goodbye, John. You were interesting to watch.
Posted by: David Marjanović | May 5, 2012 4:53 PM
The man was partly responsible for my Molly. *sniff*
He also believed a creator god had existed and was now dead.
It was very important to him that humans were the last species ever to appear. Nobody has yet found a species concept under which that is true.
Well, he was a shining example of what can happen when you think but refuse to learn facts about which to think.
Posted by: David Marjanović | May 5, 2012 4:56 PM
*facepalm* Forgot to close the <font> tag after that sentence.
I tried at least once to teach him about examples of species that are younger than us. IIRC, he just got angry.
Posted by: Jonathan Bartlett | May 5, 2012 9:38 PM
Dr. Myers -
Would you be willing to post a file containing your correspondence with Davison? I have long been interested in his work, and would love to archive what he had to say.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Bartlett
Posted by: Ichthyic | May 6, 2012 12:28 AM
I have long been interested in his work, and would love to archive what he had to say.
well, if you want to see the SANE things he had to say, you should read his publications prior to 1980.
http://www.uvm.edu/~jdavison/jad-cv.html
if you want to actually, for self torture perhaps, read what he had to say post-breakdown, UD collected his "greatest hits" here:
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/collected-evolutionary-papers-of-john-a-davison/
I highly recommend you read his earlier work, so you can clearly see where he went off the rails.
have fun.
Posted by: Ichthyic | May 6, 2012 12:32 AM
...oh, I see by your link you're a cretonist.
nevermind.
you should know, though, that Davison never denied evolution is what was responsible for the diversity on earth... it's just that he thought the process died when god did.
yes, you heard right.
now, with that addendum...
have fun.
Posted by: mrpoxman | May 6, 2012 4:12 AM
Wonder if the Cancer he could have had for possibly 20 + years before before it became obvious was sending him mad all those years?
Posted by: Stanton | May 6, 2012 9:14 AM
Unlikely. Prostate cancer doesn't cause or induce insanity: if it spread directly to the brain, he would have died much quicker.
Posted by: epigene13 | May 6, 2012 11:02 AM
Scott Hatfield here. I remember my first encounter with Prof. Davidson. Innuendo, insult and more than one hint that he was at the center of a vast conspiracy to suppress his views. My attempts to engage him on the substance of his views were rebuffed. He seemed to genuinely prefer to play the part of the victim rather than explain his views. After a few email exchanges, I despaired of getting straight answers from him. He was a genuinely troubled person who found it necessary to bash real science in order to sustain a self-serving narrative. I wish I could say something good about the dead, but in this case...I can't. There was no point in arguing with him while he was alive, and there is certainly no point in arguing with him, now.