I have been accused of “denigrating the Valentino scholarship of others" by a member of “the team”. If that is what they are saying about me there, I have no choice but to respond and defend myself.
I have been and am so very blessed to know many Valentino scholars who are open-minded, non-brainwashed and extremely well informed. I consider some of them respected friends and one of them was one of my best friends, Father Michael Morris. I thoroughly enjoy and eagerly embrace conversations with them about the subject of Valentino.
So when I heard that accusation of my “denigrating scholarship”, I had to file this post as correction.
To “them” I say the following: There is scholarship and then there is reprehensible behavior. You could be the most knowledgeable scholar on earth, but if you rat out a friend, (for example) you are still a jerk.
Perhaps scholars of value can also be jerks but I think their being such tremendous jerks to me, entitles me to do some denigrating of that behavior. I will say it is bad behavior when these "scholars", bully, shun, conspire against and torment Renato and I, and that is something I will speak up about. Until it stops.
I do not denigrate scholarship, I denigrate these people's actions....blind obedience to the mandates set in place by mass collector, Tracy Terhune; issued in his campaign to destroy Renato and I. That is what I denigrate.
I never denigrate scholarship, serious scholarship is exciting such as the scholarship of Professor Miccoli. But because of those people's horrible and cruel behavior towards us, I can see nothing to respect. Scholars do not act like they do, they do not censor new material discovered, they do not burn books and issue propaganda.. I think if they want to see a true denigration of Valentino Scholarship, all they have to do is look into a mirror.
