Comments on Ambassador Watch: The Remarkable Story of Bob Thiel's ThD

I was a member of the Fresno WCG when Bob Thiel mo...

2016-07-20T05:25:32.168+12:00

I was a member of the Fresno WCG when Bob Thiel moved there circa 1986. It was contempt at first sight--not from me, but from him. You can tell when someone dislikes you and he was brimming with hostility. Why? Oh, I don't know...I was president of the Graduate Club, for one, and he constantly criticized my performance. I was also a computer programmer and he was a CPA, which are natural-born enemies. His arrogance was on display every time I saw him.

I tried to make friends with him (I don't like having enemies), but it was an effort. During one of our tortured conversations, he told me (this was probably 1988 or so) that he had a Th.D. I had never heard of a Th.D., but anyone who gets a degree in anything, if he gets it honestly, deserves at least a modicum of admiration. Doctorates require a lot of hard work.

Like you, I don't question his honesty (truth as he believes it to be), but his arrogance rivals anything I ever saw when I worked at AC in Pasadena. I was not at all surprised when, years later, he became a "prophet".

They're all a bunch of liars and con men.

2016-04-07T08:41:20.518+12:00

They're all a bunch of liars and con men.

Thanks Stephen. I had a look at his website. I w...

2016-04-07T05:28:45.906+12:00

Thanks Stephen. I had a look at his website. I was reluctant because I have seen so much of this kind of stuff before and I get queasy. It is the usual Armstrongite palaver. What stood out to me:

1. How can someone with so much education still be an Armstrongite? Now,that's a miracle.

2. It was odd that his wife in the photo of his family was wearing dreadlocks like a rasta girl. Albeit, neat dreadlocks.

Those are not profound observations but I can only expend so much energy on these kind of guys.

Yes, unfortunately, in the predictive sense. He...

2016-04-07T04:57:56.686+12:00

Yes, unfortunately, in the predictive sense. He's been known to lay out several dozen vague statements of things that are pretty likely to happen, especially given they're vague enough to be worthy of a cold-reading "psychic," and then he'll wait a year or so, and blow his own horn because by a stretch of interpretation, a handful of them have "come to pass." No need for a control to establish how well people who don't pretend to be prophets might do just by random chance alone. Yes, these are his bona fides as a "prophet." That and Gaylyn Bonjour. By this standard, I could be a prophet if I wanted to say I am. I think he learned the art of the con with his homeopathics business, and now he's decided to expand...

Who is Bob Thiel and why should we be concerned ab...

2016-04-07T04:43:54.018+12:00

Who is Bob Thiel and why should we be concerned about his Th.D? In what sense does he think he is a prophet? In the predictive sense?

If Thiel wants credibility, he can just post his t...

2016-04-06T06:03:14.511+12:00

If Thiel wants credibility, he can just post his thesis online as a flipping book.

It would probably be better than a .pdf, since we can all assume it was written as a booklet.

Perhaps his degree is prophetic and hasn't hap...

2016-04-06T03:45:10.348+12:00

Perhaps his degree is prophetic and hasn't happened yet.

The funny thing is, some of the people who have qu...

2016-04-06T01:19:11.017+12:00

The funny thing is, some of the people who have questionable degrees, or honorary ones, actually think of them as being real. I've known some who wonder why others question their "credentials".

In the case at hand, it is hardly surprising that someone who believes he is a prophet would also hold to other delusionary titles. It is all part and parcel of the same pathology which is produced by the system. Some excuse it by asking, "Well, weren't all of the degrees conferred by Ambassador College fake as well?" It is anti-intellectualism, or pseudo-intellectualism, and spits in the faces of all of those who go to the time and expense of obtaining real degrees from real universities.

BB

Nice job of sleuthing, Gavin. Thanks. It is SO muc...

2016-04-05T23:34:27.972+12:00

Nice job of sleuthing, Gavin. Thanks. It is SO much easier to track down this kind of nonsense these days with the Internet than it used to be doing it Old School.

So if I were to graduate from "Truckmasters S...

2016-04-05T22:40:13.243+12:00

So if I were to graduate from "Truckmasters School of Trucking" can I claim to be a "Doctor" too?