A commentator, not unreasonably, asks: "Why should any of the people you photographed have helped the woman [photographed by Telfeyan as she slept in Harvard Square] when you didn't." My answer: (1) I've never suggested any of them had a duty to help this particular woman; and (2) I did help the woman, and others similarly situated, by publishing my Note, and by starting this blog.And after laughter, tears:
A commentator complains that my essay "has nothing whatsoever to do with law." Obviously it has something to do with law: otherwise I could not have gotten it published in the Harvard Law Review and received coursework credit for it.I am very curious about the identity of the professor who signed off on this little project and what grade s/he gave.
UPDATE: A Cantabrigian who knows the homeless woman Telfeyan used in his recent preachy post informs him that:
If she wanted, she could have received mental health care and had a warm place to sleep, but she chose not to. ... [S]he has mental health issues and is homeless for a myriad of complex reasons, and ... is going about her daily life just as everyone else is. You may believe that she should be forced to receive help and be given a place to live, but that's a different argument altogether. To [intervene] would be unwanted and condescending to this woman.UPDATE 2: According to ATL, some sources report that Phil Telfeyan sent emails to HLR editors disclaiming responsibility for blog comments and postings made in his name. However, Telfeyan would neither confirm nor deny responsibility publicly.
As ATL notes, "the blog contains no written content that could not be derived from the piece itself," and with that in mind I find the issue of whether Telfeyan actually authored the blog almost beside the point. If a blog consisting entirely of your ideas is universally condemned as patronizing, callow, unoriginal, and wrong, culpability flows back to you.