Massive Hit Piece In London Telegraph. Options

[georgie101]

Only read if you don't mind feeling angry....

Lies, damn lies and 'counterknowledge'
By Damian Thompson
Last Updated: 2:45am GMT 12/01/2008
Outright fiction is being peddled as historical and scientific fact, warns Damian Thompson in an extract from his provocative new book

George Bush planned the September 11 attacks. The MMR injection triggers autism in children. The ancient Greeks stole their ideas from Africa. "Creation science" disproves evolution. Homeopathy can defeat the Aids virus.

Do any of these theories sound familiar? Has someone bored you rigid at a dinner party by unveiling one of these "secrets"? If so, it is hardly surprising. In recent years, thousands of bizarre conjectures have been endorsed by leading publishers, taught in universities, plugged in newspapers, quoted by politicians and circulated in cyberspace.

This is counterknowledge: misinformation packaged to look like fact. We are facing a pandemic of credulous thinking. Ideas that once flourished only on the fringes are now taken seriously by educated people in the West, and are wreaking havoc in the developing world.


We live in an age in which the techniques for evaluating the truth of claims about science and history are more reliable than ever before. One of the legacies of the Enlightenment is a methodology based on painstaking measurement of the material world.

That legacy is now threatened. And one of the reasons for this, paradoxically, is that science has given us almost unlimited access to fake information.

advertisementMost of us have friends who are susceptible to conspiracy theories. You may know someone who thinks the Churches are suppressing the truth that Jesus and Mary Magdalene sired a dynasty of Merovingian kings; someone else who thinks Aids was cooked up in a CIA laboratory; someone else again who thinks MI5 killed Diana, Princess of Wales. Perhaps you know one person who believes all three.

Or do you half-believe one of these ideas yourself? We may assume that we are immune to conspiracy theories. In reality, we are more vulnerable than at any time for decades.

it continues
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...2/nrfact112.xml

[Omega892R09]

Only read if you don't mind feeling angry....

it continues
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml...2/nrfact112.xml

Groan.

Oh! I understand. This guy has a book to peddle.

Pitty that he must have fallen prey to the very bogus science (NIST, magic cell phones, non-vapourised DNA when titanium and high tensile steels vapourised, artifacts avoided scorching in fuel fire to mention but little) that he eschews. He must be an understudy of Melanie Phillips.

I note that they are not brave enough to invite comment.

Time to produce another bookmark (I created one around Richard Dawkins books and web to put in books by McGrath et. al. when incorrectly placed in bookstores popular science sections), any design ideas folks?

[paranoia]

Pitty that he must have fallen prey to the very bogus science (NIST, magic cell phones, non-vapourised DNA when titanium and high tensile steels vapourised, artifacts avoided scorching in fuel fire to mention but little) that he eschews.

your suspicions are most likely correct, for he lists "screwloosechange" as one of his "allies" on his counterknowledge page. i can only assume thats the source for his erroneously based condescensions.

im wondering, how is it that a part time tv critic, whose strength/background in writing is mostly related to catholicism (bio), how is it he is the enlightened one? how is he above it all? what makes him impervious/immune to "mumbo jumbo"? especially when it comes 911? to what extent has he objectively examined the counterknowledge he himself subscribes to?

frankly i dont see why anyone cares what mr.thompson has to say about "conspiracy theorists" (no offense to u georgie for posting it), cuz all he appears to be offering is the same old vaguely stated, broad-sweeping accusations anyway. note he gives random odd examples of "conspiracy", none of which however, prove or disprove anything about 911. i guess he must be saving the good stuff for those who buy the book. (IMG:http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

but by taking aim at 9/11 truth he has indeed created a certain buzz, which im sure isnt hurting his book sales. after reading the 3 reviews of it, it seems that the real "meat" of his argument is a skeptical take on pop culture, new age homeopathy, and especially religion. but he wouldnt have gotten any buzz outside of a limited market, had his book been about religion (like most of his other ones). surely he wasnt oblivious to the main stream marketing potential of exploiting the "conspiracy/debunk" world. notice that his marketing approach was to present the "conspiracy theorists" aspect of his book, not the more substantial real focus of it. thus here we are us discussing him on a 9/11 related site and consequently spreading more buzz for his book.

he has an opinion, and he's entitled to that. he wants to pull character assassinations, shift paradigms, and attack the messengers instead of the message, again- good for him. he wants to misrepresent his book as one thing, even tho its about another, its his or his publisher's choice. but he's not an authority on anything 911 related, so his opinion is only worth so much (zero i.m.o.) as it pertains to 911 truth.

its too bad, because my guess is that he probably makes alot of valid points in his book about the bs programming we are fed and about the lunatic fringe that lose themselves in conspiracy and paranoia. but then he gets subversive and sneaks a hearty dose of 911lies and bush-apologist crap in there. so im sure there is good info and insightful views in his book, but by injecting disinfo into it, the net result of even the valid points becomes tainted with "counterknowledge".

This post has been edited by paranoia: Jan 13 2008, 06:10 AM

[rob balsamo]

Anyone have an email contact for the "author"? (IMG:http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[dMz]

"Admittedly, no major newspaper or TV station has endorsed a September 11 conspiracy theory."

Ummm, I'm fairly certain that the "West" has been collectively bombarded by a Saudi/Egyptian "boxcutter pilots" OCT for the last 6.25 years by major newspapers and TV stations...

[paranoia]

mailto:
mail@counterknowledge.com

sorry its generic, but thats the one listed on two of his sites.
(IMG:http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/style_emoticons/default/dunno.gif)

[Lasthorseman]

I'm 52. I went to a school dedicated to character, and they meant it back then. I had the experience of an expat assignement which does two things. It removes one from the din of American media plus gives one the opportunity to see how another culture deals with life. With those things "immunity" from propaganda is gained.

As they peddle their books though they are bringing the subject up all over again. Note how Arlen Specter at the behest of numerous Pentagon psy-ops officers sought to and gained the support of MSM in bait switching the term "SPYGATE" from government spying on Americans and corporate secrets to mean the Boston Patriots cheating by taping a football team.

[newton]

hi.

first post.

i saw a good term on physorg yesterday to describe one nasty tactic, used in that quote.

re-association.

the lumping in of one fringe idea with ALL fringe ideas. like, if you think the government ever lied about anything, you also believe aliens built the pyramids, and you were joan of arc in a past life.

i find it wonderfully amazing how, if you have a nice word that sums up a complex idea, it can be used as 'ammo' in a debate.

're-association' is like a hollow tip.

[Timothy Osman]

i saw a good term on physorg yesterday to describe one nasty tactic, used in that quote.

re-association.

Damn, I wish I had been aware of that word before today. It's my pet hate and it leads to strawman arguments. (IMG:http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/style_emoticons/default/welcome.gif)