04 Aug Green Shambhala breakdown – corrections

With all contrarian‘s recent pulpiteering on the dos and donts of newspaper corrections (here, here, here, here, and here), it’s only fitting we should get to guzzle down some of our own medicine.

Radio Free Shambhala co-founder Ed Michalik, mentioned in our recent post about links between a schism in the Shambala Buddhist community and the leadership breakdown in the Green Party, writes to say:

I’ve always been an outsider/insider in the [Shambala] organization: a Cape Bretoner (born in Glace Bay) and a Roman Catholic. For quite a while I was the poster child for group inclusivity. No longer. I’ve ceased to be a dissident too: I haven’t contributed to RFS since its launch.

A second RFS co-founder, Mark Szpakowski, writes to correct the record:

I realize you’re quoting from someone else’s blog, but the references to people were not fact-checked:

• Gabrielle Donnelly served briefly as [Green Party] deputy leader, resigning from that position in July 2008, as soon as Ryan Watson won the leadership;
• Kathryn Herbert is not a Shambhala member at all.

In the feedback (as opposed to correction) department, Szpakowski opines:

Associating Ryan Watson’s leadership style with Shambhala and/or Buddhism seems a little, er, little. What if he were Catholic?

Contrarian is an equal opportunity anti-religionist, Mark, pleased to expose the pernicious impact of magical belief systems wherever they rear their heads.