08-04-2009, 01:49 PM
The general tone of a post often conveys more information than the content. The smug superiority on display over there is very much a case in point. The authors of a properly and rigorously peer-review paper castigated as 'rogues and scoundrels' with not even the pretence of a reasoned rebuttal. It reminds me of the treatment routinely meted out to criticism of Zionism for example. In similar fashion, 'Anti-Semite' is the reflex response, with no attempt to engage with the facts.
On these sorts of contentious issues where an iron-clad official orthodoxy prevails, the most telling consideration for me is the extent of 'professional' risk (and often risks to personal safety) that dissenting views must accept if they are to be heard. There is no question of Steven Jones and his co-authors seeking personal gain or currying favour with TPTB - or anyone else for that matter. That much is crystal clear to anyone with half a brain. Rather, they are taking considerable risks with their careers. That alone demands that they be given a fair hearing by fair-mind people capable of thinking for themselves. The scurrilous abuse evident on that thread tells me pretty much all I need to know about those orchestrating it.
On these sorts of contentious issues where an iron-clad official orthodoxy prevails, the most telling consideration for me is the extent of 'professional' risk (and often risks to personal safety) that dissenting views must accept if they are to be heard. There is no question of Steven Jones and his co-authors seeking personal gain or currying favour with TPTB - or anyone else for that matter. That much is crystal clear to anyone with half a brain. Rather, they are taking considerable risks with their careers. That alone demands that they be given a fair hearing by fair-mind people capable of thinking for themselves. The scurrilous abuse evident on that thread tells me pretty much all I need to know about those orchestrating it.
Peter Presland
".....there is something far worse than Nazism, and that is the hubris of the Anglo-American fraternities, whose routine is to incite indigenous monsters to war, and steer the pandemonium to further their imperial aims"
Guido Preparata. Preface to 'Conjuring Hitler'[size=12][size=12]
"Never believe anything until it has been officially denied"
Claud Cockburn
[/SIZE][/SIZE]
".....there is something far worse than Nazism, and that is the hubris of the Anglo-American fraternities, whose routine is to incite indigenous monsters to war, and steer the pandemonium to further their imperial aims"
Guido Preparata. Preface to 'Conjuring Hitler'[size=12][size=12]
"Never believe anything until it has been officially denied"
Claud Cockburn
[/SIZE][/SIZE]