by Lee Travis of the Defiant Thinking blog
People put so much weight on what the “experts” say – it’s easier to abdicate our own research and critical thinking and rely on others who are supposed to know more than we do. It makes sense to an extent – no one has time to do their own research on every question that comes up, especially complicated issues like science or economics – but blanket trust placed in others, simply because they have a degree or have been published somewhere, can be a dangerous thing.
Case in point: A scientist who blogs under the name “Neuroskeptic” wrote a spoof academic piece and submitted it to nine scientific publications, to see whether any would publish what was clearly and explicitly a farce. He chose a Star Wars theme for his submission, writing under the names “Dr. Lucas McGeorge” and “Dr. Annette Kin,” and focusing on the “midi-chlorians,” fictional entities that live inside cells and give Jedi their powers.
The bulk of the paper was a copy-and-paste of the mitochondria entry from Wikipedia, changed with a simple find/replace to turn mitochondr* into midichlor*. He then added clear Star Wars references, such as:
- “Beyond supplying cellular energy, midichloria perform functions such as Force sensitivity…”
- “Involved in ATP production is the citric acid cycle, also referred to as the Kyloren cycle after its discoverer”
- “Midi-chlorians are microscopic life-forms that reside in all living cells – without the midi-chlorians, life couldn’t exist, and we’d have no knowledge of the force. Midichlorial disorders often erupt as brain diseases, such as autism.”
- He inserted dialogue verbatim from one of the movies, including the monologue on the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise.
He even admitted what he did in the footnotes, stating ““The majority of the text in the current paper was Rogeted from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrion. Apologies to the original authors of that page.”
The result? In the author’s own words:
Four journals fell for the sting. The American Journal of Medical and Biological Research (SciEP) accepted the paper, but asked for a $360 fee, which I didn’t pay. Amazingly, three other journals not only accepted but actually published the spoof. Here’s the paper from the International Journal of Molecular Biology: Open Access (MedCrave), Austin Journal of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (Austin) and American Research Journal of Biosciences (ARJ) I hadn’t expected this, as all those journals charge publication fees, but I never paid them a penny.
And:
Finally, I should note that as a bonus, “Dr Lucas McGeorge” was sent an unsolicited invitation to serve on the editorial board of this journal.
This should serve as a cautionary tale to anyone who uncritically quotes, or defers to, an expert simply because they’ve been published somewhere. They could well be legitimate – or they may not. Do your due diligence in any case.
So basically you are telling me that a minimum of 35% of these horse-sh*t academic publications are merely porn for profs and the pretentious?
That’s only one of the reasons I left a tenured position. Academia is full of bullshit and weirdos. Most of them couldn’t feed their families if they had to work outside their protected habitat.
The title “expert” carries such weight because the sheeple are engrossed in the white noise of fear and self doubt they’re constantly bombarded with by the MSM.
Academia is for people who can’t cut it in the real world.
In academia, you can study and publish bullshit in your entire career. In the real world, if you don’t produce things that people want and use, you go bankrupt or get fired.
I suggest all reported “studies” be approached with the same mindset.
When you base so called science fact on theory based upon another theory you get a bald faced lie or at best a very bad guess not a fact. But it sure makes it easy to push your ideaology upon the trusting. It is even easier if fudge what facts you have just a little bit to appear as a truth. Not mine but “truth is treason in an empire of lies” a great American once said
Here’s another favorite of mine: http://thetruthaboutpitbulls.blogspot.com/2015/06/pit-bull-experts-scientifically.html
“If I were asked to recommend a dog, say for a children’s psychiatric ward, my first choice would be a pit bull. When children pull their tail, if they have one, or poke them, the dog’s like… he doesn’t care. With a good owner, you have the most fantastic breed of all.”
IAN DUNBAR, DVM, PhD
Facts be damned! http://thetruthaboutpitbulls.blogspot.com/search/label/medical
HORSWELL BB, CHAHINE CJ, oral surgeons
Dog bites of the facial region are increasing in children according to the Center for Disease Control. To evaluate the epidemiology of such injuries in our medical provider region, we undertook a retrospective review of those children treated for facial, head and neck dog bite wounds at a level 1 trauma center. Most dog bites occurred in or near the home by an animal known to the child/family. Most injuries were soft tissue related, however more severe bites and injuries were observed in attacks from the pit-bull and Rottweiler breeds.
Ian Dumb Bear DVM, PhD
It helps if you are a Black professor at a Black college. I knew Dr Uford Maddon
who was given hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to study ways Blacks could profit from ponds. The only thing they were successful at was getting government research money.
Underneath the myth of expertism is the truth of give me that ol’ plausible deniability religion by telling me what to do. “Just following orders.”
Some other experts that are popular: Country. Culture. Tribe. Ethnicity.
My affinity’s uber. Yours is unter. Submit. Assimilate. You can’t beat us, so you better join us.
The farce is with ‘em indeed. And the tragedy, too.
After the election we were being told that this was a vote against the “Experts”, that was short lived.
I’m not an expert thank God. The psycho-babble industry uses it to kill common sense and keep their prisoners on the Res.
This is why my bullshit meter is set on uber, ultra sensitive with a standard starting point reading of 9.75 on a 1-10 scale.
There are no experts, only salesmen.