Sophistry and Snake Oil

 

By Gi Linda.

“Sophistry” is perverted wisdom; a subtle, tricky, superficially plausible, but generally fallacious method of reasoning that seems true and sounds convincing but is actually deliberately misleading.

In Greece, c.5BC, the sophists were itinerant intellectuals and paid mentors who rejected moral absolutes, teaching that justice comes from dominance of the strongest. They used spurious arguments and rhetorical persuasion to gain influence for their clients. 

Through Plato and Aristotle, sophistry came to mean the deliberate use of fallacious reasoning, intellectual charlatanism and moral unscrupulousness.

In today’s world of commerce-driven screen-media where distinction between fantasy and reality is irrelevant, the word may be forgotten, yet sophistry is widely practiced in pursuit of  power, privilege and profit.

The most successful sophists who entangle their prey in a self-interested matrix of lies tend to also exhibit extreme narcissist and psychopathic tendencies.

The dominating drive for personal satisfaction feeds greed and stunts development of humane qualities such as integrity, kindness, remorse and empathy. Those who habitually practice deceptive sophistry cultivate a slick veneer of smirking sincerity greased by flattery that lures and hooks the undiscerning. Truth is mocked and compassion is exploited as weakness.  Deceived victims are devalued, discredited and discarded.

This story of two contemporary sophists began in 2013 with a false narrative established by “Truthology Foundation” at “Freedom Summits” where Mark Darwin offered to “set you free from the Money Game”. 

Mark Darwin - Truthology

Darwin was teaching clients and followers how to defeat the law by using the dominance of clever argumentation. In a 2014 Truthology email Darwin claimed:

“You can be assured that Mark is a very dynamic, charismatic individual and his seminars are entertaining, engaging, and hilarious at times and oftentimes life-changing for those attending…  Thats right we Teach YOU how to do it and finally be FREE from Their system !!!” 

“Truthology” was marketed online as “a truth and awareness site, and service provider that helps the people… We assist you to be free from the shackles of money stress, the debt trap, how to lawfully take on the banks, challenge fines and infringements, and how to stop paying taxes… and much, much more…"

"What Mark had discovered was so liberating, empowering and life-changing that he felt a deep, overwhelming desire to help other people.”

This “deep, overwhelming desire to help other people” led Mark Darwin and Adrian Brennock in 2014 to invite “selected” investors, as supposed co-owners of a 640 acre property at Mt Burrell, NSW, to pay large amounts of their money into Darwin's bank account held in trust by Wroth Wall Lawyers. But the land-share narrative was false.

Investors whose naive, misplaced trust was betrayed became victims of this snake-oil sophistry and lost life savings, inheritances, pension funds and homes.

In 2015, purchase of the land should have been made by Darwin and Brennock with a Community Association providing purchase money investors shared proprietary rights as promised, but instead, the land was dishonorably acquired by a private company. Adrian Brennock, as self-appointed director, established his personal ownership of the property by holding a single $1 share.

This bait-n-switch sophistry was morally and ethically unconscionable leaving angry investors defrauded, but Brennock's snatching of the property from those who paid for it was ostensibly legal.

Investors who had been invited in 2014-15 by Darwin and Brennock into the first supposed “land-share community” were evicted from the land in 2016-17 without return of investment. Brennock is now attempting a pre-positioned transfer of the land asset in a phoenix move with the help of Vincents Chartered Accountants.

The “Bhula Bhula Village Community” scam was first exposed in October 2016 in “The Truth About Bhula Bhula” published in the Nimbin GoodTimes, revealing details of the land-share investment scam.

With their false narrative exposed, Darwin and Brennock removed the  “Truthology,” “Freedom Summits” and “Bhula Bhula Village Community” websites and switched their business and social networking name to “Rainmaker Eco Investments” inviting “ethical investments” in the same land-share scam, but at a higher price.

By 2016 Darwin and Brennock had expanded their land-share scam to the adjoining 3,000-acre property owned by Peter van Lieshout, using the name “Mount Warning Eco Village.”

The blog "Mount Warning Eco Village - A Warning" is published by the "Association of Investors Defrauded by Darwin" to document our experience and expose Darwin / Brennock's land-share scam, in the public interest.

Darwin and Brennock, facing criminal and civil charges by the Association of Defrauded Investors,  failed in 2017 with two applications to NSW Supreme Court for urgent injunctions to force removal of the blogs exposing their scam.

In November 2017 they changed the name of their venture from "Mount Warning Eco Village" to “Nightcap Village” then to “Nightcap on Minjungbal”. 

The “Truthology” website has recently been revived, no longer mendaciously offering services as a “beacon of truth in a sea of lies”, but now anonymously offering help in making superannuation investments.

As discredited sophists adopting various chameleon façades to pretend a more reputable appearance, Darwin and Brennock have devised more false narratives to explain the increasing reluctance of new investors to buy into their snake-oil scam.

After it was discovered in 2015 that investors in the first supposed "land-share community" had been defrauded and that multiple occupancy was not permitted on the land they had paid for, those who demanded accountability were defamed with false narratives and blamed for the failure of the “community”. 

Ongoing ad hominem attacks against “detractors,” are combined with intimidating threats, malicious harassment and stalking.  The false accusations include incorrect and misleading accounts of ongoing litigation. Vicious character assassinations are spread locally, online and have been presented in perjured affidavits to the courts.

Sophistry does not require that any argument be true or supported by evidence, only that it sounds convincing and is believed. Entranced by snake oil narratives, the credulous are deceived, betrayed and left without feasible legal recourse.

The contemptuous sophists, bloated with infusions of “coin” dishonorably gained by denying defrauded investors their equitable rights, scoff and mock their victims in sickening ritual celebration of their apparently unrestrained ability to profit by deception.

However, with their eyes now cast on even more ambitious empires and a minor celebrity, Tyler Tolman, ingenuously vouching for their authenticity, Darwin, Brennock and their accomplices are now encountering opponents who are highly motivated to bite back against those who attempt to pervert justice by domination of specious argumentation.

Winning the Blog Wars

By Gi Linda.

The "Battle of the Blogs" was won with a welcome victory for truth and justice in NSW Supreme Court on October 3rd, when Justice Lucy McCallum ruled in my favor and rejected an injurious falsehood claim by Mt Warning Eco Village demanding a gag on freedom of speech and removal by court order of the blog, "Mt Warning Eco Village - A Warning".

The BlogWars began when defrauded investors decided strategies to recover collective losses of more than $1.5 million that we suffered after investing in Mark Darwin's land-share scam in 2014-5. We were preparing legal action and decided to start a blog to document our experience and warn others who were being sucked into the same vortex of deception that had robbed us of our life savings.

Having professional skills in media and journalism I agreed to author the blog on behalf of the "Group of Investors Defrauded by Darwin".

The blog warns that Mount Warning Eco Village is the latest attempt by Darwin and Brennock to form a "Village Community" on environmentally protected land without development approval. Alluring marketing hides the reality of a project already marred by the deep footprints of a long trail of disenfranchised investors whose broken dreams and empty bank accounts have caused a lot of anger and a deep interest in vindication.  

The first failed attempt by Darwin and Brennock to form "Bhula Bhula Village Community" under the deceptive auspices of "Truthology", was from 2014-17 at 3222 Kyogle Rd, Mt Burrell. Investors were led to believe we would have an equitable interest in the land that we collectively purchased, but we were scammed when instead of purchasing the land through a legitimate Community Association, as promised, the property was bought using our money by a private company with Adrain Brennock as self-appointed sole director and sole shareholder, effectively owning and controlling the land we paid for by holding a $1 share. 

In retaliation for the blog and my news report exposing them, in December 2016 the "Bully-Bully-Boyz" blocked my access to the land, smashed my camp, destroyed my Garden and stole my mobile home and belongings.

The police were told by the "Bully-Bully-Boyz" that Adrian Brennock was owner of the Land and that I was a "trespasser". They requested and received police assistance, so I filed criminal charges of fraud and larceny as a private prosecution.

The defamer charges the defamed with defamation!

In attempts to menace and damage my professional reputation, Mark Darwin, as founder of the failed "Bhula Bhula Village Community" and "creator" of "Mount Warning Eco Village" fueled the Blog Wars with vicious ad hominem attacks and false reports of legal matters. 

At the same time as publicly slandering and publishing malicious lies about me, Darwin and Brennock also initiated a defamation case and an injurious falsehood case against me in NSW Supreme Court.

A first injunction requesting court orders to remove this blog was withdrawn after two hearings by Darwin/Brennock's barrister, Dauid Sibtain, for lack of evidence that development approval was in place prior to selling home-sites. 

A second  urgent interlocutory injunction by Darwin and the boyz requested a Duty Judge to make a summary judgement to gag free speech, but was referred back to Justice McCallum on the defamation list.

After eight hearings of this matter in Sydney Supreme Court, Justice Lucy McCallum announced her judgement rejecting the claim by Mt Warning Eco Village that this blog contains injurious falsehoods that have damaged the inchoate company's commercial interests. 

This decision was made only on the company's request for an interim gag order until a final hearing of evidence of injurious falsehood. It's not yet known whether the defeated plaintiffs will now withdraw the charges or continue the Blog Wars slugfest.
 
Defamation Case

Apart from the company's injurious falsehood litigation, the original defamation charges against myself and Nimbin GoodTimes are still ongoing with claims for damages of over $3 million regarding an article I authored that was published by the Nimbin GoodTimes in October 2016; "The Truth About Bhula Bhula" that reveals Darwin/Brennock's land-share scam at Mt Burrell. 

Nimbin GoodTimes editor Dob Dooley quickly capitulated to the intimidation of threatening litigation. In exchange for promises that Nimbin GoodTimes would not suffer any bad times, Dob Dooley deleted my article from the newspaper's online archive and threw me under the bus with promises to Darwin and the bully-bully boyz of an apologetic retraction and the gift of free full page ads in every issue for the next year.

Darwin loudly celebrated by publishing his Pyrrhic conquest of Dob Dooley on his vicious blog dedicated to a false narrative mutilating my reputation and misreporting legal proceedings. Darwin uses his malicious blog to promote a false reality, painting himself as a hero whose failures are transmorgified into incredible delusions of success.  

Following the court decision not to take down the blogs, the promised retraction and ad have not been published in the Nimbin GoodTimes, although the original article has been removed from the paper's online archive.

The deleted  Nimbin GoodTimes article is archived here: "The Truth About Bhula Bhula".

Underlying Darwin's mendacious blog, the scoffing of spamming comments and the manic "Bah-ha-ha" of threatening emails sent to opponents by his avatar, "Dummass Boofhead", there is a claim that my professional qualifications are fake. Until now I have ignored Darwin's taunts, insults and contemptuous threats. However, since his malicious attacks have escalated and the litigation is a public matter, as writer of the Nimbin GoodTimes article exposing the land-share scam, and principal author of the blog facing defamation and injurious falsehood litigation, to validate my credentials I have posted below a synopsis of my filmography:

Gi Linda FILMOGRAPHY

 

Gi Linda -- Gillian Linda Norman, nee Brown

Former BBC Reporter - Award-winning Documentary Filmmaker - Blog Author

After studying Psychology at Leeds University and Illustration at Harrow College of Art in the 1970s, Gillian combined work in news media with social justice activism producing audiovisuals and videos with the London Mennonite Center to support the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

   

With a career in media and social justice activism now spanning four decades and recognition in international documentary film festivals, Gi has produced educational and promotional videos, music videos and documentaries with human rights groups, environmental groups and NGOs, including UNICEF, UNESCO, FAO, Fundacion Natura, the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission and the Honduran Human Rights Committee.

During the 1970-80s, Gi was a freelance radio news reporter for  BBC Radio and LBC Radio in London, and a staff researcher/reporter on the Day One program with BBC TV in Manchester.

During the 1980-90s, Gill Brown was based in Washington DC, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Ecuador as a news reporter with BBC Radio, National Public Radio, CBC Radio and Univision, and as a freelance journalist she filed news reports on the conflict in Central America for the London Sunday Times and the Daily Express.  

Based in Nicaragua, Gi was first to break the news of CIA control of anti-Sandinista Contra rebels on BBC Radio World Service. She is a co-author of the book ‘La Revolucion en Nicaragua’ published by Zed Press. 

As producer/director/writer/photographer/editor, Gi’s documentaries ‘The Pentagon Republic’ and ‘Honduras the Undeclared War,’ produced with the Honduran Human Rights Committee, expose the CIA’s Contra war in Nicaragua and were broadcast internationally. ‘The Pentagon Republic’ was selected at Leipzig and Rome Film Festivals.

In Central America and South America,  Gill Brown produced social justice documentaries with Chilean journalist Edgardo Reyes, including:

‘Cruel Land’, exposing collaboration of American evangelicals with the CIA in eradication of Mayan communities in Guatemala in favor of corporate expansion.

'On the Street' for UNICEF shows the plight of street children in Guatemala.
'Weavers of the Rainbow' for UNESCO documents Mayan artisania in Guatemala.
 
With producer Edgardo Reyes, Gi won Best Documentary Award at New York’s Global Village Film Festival in 1984, as director/writer/photographer/editor of ‘The DarkLight of Dawn’, a documentary on Mayan ethnocide in Guatemala. ‘The DarkLight of Dawn’ is distributed by Icarus Films, NY, and was selected at Leipzig and Rome Film Festivals. A segment was broadcast on the US McNeil-Lehrer Newshour.

‘Solidaridad, Fe y Esperanza’, with the Vicaria de Solidaridad in Chile, shows the plight of the detained and disappeared during the dictatorship of General Pinochet, and was selected at Havana Film Festival and Rome Film Festival.

In Ecuador, Gi produced "Amigo Penacho", a multi-media series on environmental conservation for the Ecuadorian government. Documentaries for environmental protection groups include:

‘Los Ultimos Manglares’ that shows the destruction of the coastal mangrove forests by shrimp farms.
‘Chongon Colonche’ an environmental education documentary with Fundacion Natura.
‘Green Gold - Black Gold’ reveals the impact of oil exploitation on Ecuador’s Amazon tribes.

After producing promotional videos for the Galapagos Islands National Park and the Charles Darwin Research Station, Gi produced/presented a 32-part radio series, ‘Mystery of Mysteries’ with HCJB Radio, Ecuador on evolution v creationism.

During the 1990s, based in Cleveland, USA, Gi co-produced/presented a series of video documentaries on the creation v evolution debate with American Portrait Films, including 'The Grand Canyon Catastrophe' 'Raging Waters' and 'From a Frog to a Prince'.

Settling in Australia in 1994, Gillian was a radio presenter with Rhema FM in Nambour and Noosa Community Radio before marrying Trevor Norman. She was a contributor of articles to the online news-site rense.com, and produced a social justice documentary, ‘ShadowPlay - The Hidden Hand.’ 

 
'ShadowPlay - The Hidden Hand', revealing the hidden hand behind 9/11 and use of state-sponsored terrorism in the rise of a globalist Empire, was screened at Bloor Cinema in Toronto and 9/11 Truth Conferences in Vancouver and Sydney, but distribution was obstructed.

During 2012-14 Gi Linda produced a music video at the  Glenugie blockade of Metgasco’s fracking site, ‘Bad Gas!’, produced videos for Nimbin Hemp Embassy and was moderator of Mullum Forums and Byron Forums - discussion groups on global issues with local impact.

Gi is currently in development of a documentary: ‘Danger in Paradise - Fukushima’s Invisible Tendrils’. She is studying law and writing a book: "Lambs in WolfLand".

Shadowplay - The Hidden Hand 

Bad Gas!
Forbidden Weed