Set forth below are the texts of four comments that I recently put to the Goon Central board (the fourth is a brief addendum):

I’m going to write an article that will detail all the people who have been intimidated by the Sewer Rats into saying something other than the full truth. The article will collect them all in one place for the benefit of the political bloggers who need to be writing about this. I will tell the Wade story and the Larry Swedroe story and the J.D. Roth story and the Bogle story and the ES story and the Bill Sholar story and the story of the fellow who owns IndexUniverse.com (I don’t recall his name at the moment) and the Bill Bernsteinzzz story and the story of the site administrator at Motley Fool and so on.

I think a lot of people like to tell themselves that these are isolated incidents. People don’t like to think that humans can sink this low. By seeing all of this material collected at one place, with links provided, I think we stand a better chance of getting this written up in big-name publications as a political story rather than a financial story. There are lots of liberal publications that have taken the line that Wall Street caused the economic crisis. This shows that they were pretty close to being right all along (closer than the conservatives who claimed that the problem was a few programs that helped low-income people obtain mortgages).

My experience is that, if you are doing the right thing and you just keep trying new things, sooner or later you will hit gold. I think that’s what we will see in this case.

I certainly acknowledge that I never thought it would take this long. So it has been proven that just because I say it doesn’t mean it is going to happen.

And the hand of kindness will of course always remain extended. No time limit whatsoever re that one.

Rob

detail exactly how you think that people like Professor Pfau have purposefully mislead people and the actual damage it causes.  

I’ll tell both sides, GW.

Wade took on responsibilities when he became a professor. One of those responsibilities is to say what he truly believes, not to permit himself to be intimidated by the sorts of individuals who have posted in “defense” of Lindauer and Greaney. So, yes, that story needs to be told.

That is not the entire story by itself, however. Wade is a hero. He has published research that merits a Nobel prize. He has stood up to the L Heads and G Goons on several occasions. He has helped us all find our way out of the economic crisis in very, very important ways.

Wade should not have to put his job at risk by posting honestly on SWRs or any other issue. Nor should John Bogle. Nor should Bill Bengen. Nor should Scott Burnszzz. Nor should Bill Berstein. Not should the owner of IndexUniverse.com. Nor should the site administrator at Motley Fool. Nor should ES. Nor should J.D. Roth. Nor should Mike Piper. Nor should the owner of the Monevator blog. Nor should Bill Shuler. Nor should Brett Arends. Nor should Bill Shultheis. Nor should Michael Kitces. Not should Jacob at My Personal FInance Journey. Nor should Larry Swedroe. Nor should John D. Craig. Not should Microlepsis. Nor should Retired at 40. Nor should BenSolar. Nor should Wanderer. Nor should Rahiv Sethie. Nor should Carl Richards. Nor should Norbert Schenkler. Nor should Mel Lindauer. Nor should Taylor Larimore. Nor should John Greaney. Nor should Rob Bennett. Nor should GW.

You know what?

On the day we open the internet to honestzzz posting, all of these people will go to bed knowing that never again will they have to post dishonestly, either in part or in whole. The long national nightmare will be over. We will have buried the Get RIch Quick aspects of Buy-and-Hold, the smelly garbage that has turned us against each other and brought on the worst economic crisis, in U.S. history, 30 feet in the ground, where it can do no further harm to humans and other living things.

You’ll thank me that night, GW. It may be that you will have incurred millions in legal liabilities. It may be that you will be looking forward to a prison sentence. I still think you will thank me. You will have played a role in bringing about the final death of Get Rich Quick (something that was intended with Buy-and-Hold 1.0 but not achieved until the 2.0 version) and that will make you feel good inside about yourself and the effect on your community around you for the first time in a long time. And we will shake hands. And we will mean it. And we will get on with the rest of our lives.

Count it, my good friend.

It all comes out. It all needs to come out. It is by getting out all the poison that we move to the other side of the Big Black Mountain. And once we get out, we never, ever, ever, ever look back.

Hang in there, good buddy. It’s going to be a wild ride!

Rob

I forgot:  make sure you send the article to the targets, such as Pfau, as well as to people in positions of responsibility over them.  don’t hold back!

I won’t post the article until I am confident I’ve got it right, until I am proud of it. So, sure, my hope is that Wade and all the others will read it.

I’ll send e-mails to those with whom I am in regular contact at the time. That’s obviously not going to be all of them. I certainly won’t be putting anything in the article that I would not say to the face of each person mentioned, however. My hope is that they all will read it. I will encourage all who know about the article to share it with all mentioned and indeed to share it with the entire world. I will respond to any questions directed to me by those mentioned or by any others, including the Sewer Rats. If any of those mentioned or any others write rebuttals, I will be thrilled to post them at my blog.

It’s cover-ups that got us into this mess, GW. It’s not cover-ups that will get us out. We get out by exposing the cover-ups. It’s the cover-ups that cause the pain, not the exposures of the cover-ups. Had there never been a cover-up by Motley Fool of Greaney’s death threats, this would have ended in August 2002 and we would today be living through the greatest period of growth in U.S. history instead of the worst economic crisis in U.S. history.

This is a reporter’s job. This is why I became a reporter. This is why we have reporters in this crazy mixed-up world of ours. Others do other things. Reporters do this.

I cannot contact every person in the entire world to share the article with them all. But I would if I could. I will be putting my name on that article and you won’t see any words in it that I am not proud to put my name to. I think it would be fair to say that you can take that much to the bank.

Please take good care of yourself, GW. Please let love shine in your heart and brighten all your days. That’s my sincere wish for you, my fellow human.

Rob

My fellow crazy human, I should have said.

That would have been even a wee bit more accurate and complete and life-affirming.

Rob