[Dean's World] Dean: The Times They Are A'Changin'

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Dean:
The Times They Are A'Changin'
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1141892390.shtml


   Imagine yourself, a young person who recently received your doctorate,
   having decided that a large group of people in your field, with
   multiple publications to their names and infinitely more credentials
   than you have, are to be casually slandered as "morons," and as the
   equivalent of Nazi sympathizers (i.e. "denialists"). Imagine that you
   feel free to do this simply because it's what you've been taught by
   the mass media, and by textbooks that simply ignore inconvenient
   research.

   Then imagine, shock of shocks, that due to the wonders of the
   internet, there are no more gatekeepers preventing academic dissenters
   from having their full and unfettered say--and making it clear that
   having their life's work trashed in public by some young snot punk
   with no real expertise, who's making a bunch of really dumb statements
   that don't hold up in the light of day, just isn't acceptable.

   Yeah, well, [1]that's starting to happen.

   This is I fear a growing out-of-control trend. To paraphrase something
   a friend of mine (anonymous for now) recently said in email: those who
   have controlled the means of distribution for any and all information
   in the media and textbooks for decades have found themselves in a new
   position: They are being forced to face the pain of a world where they
   can't just bully their way into asserting whatever they want.

   In related news, I got a nice note from kookie homophobe Chuck Ortleb
   telling me [2]his movie is now available on DVD through Amazon.
   (Kidding about the homophobe part; he's as queer as the day is long,
   and former publisher of New York's largest gay news weekly. And it's
   quite a movie he's got there, based on the early versions I saw last
   year anyway. Preview [3]here.)

References

   1. http://bialystocker.net/files/rufusvsloeb.pdf
   2. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ESWY6G/qid=1141696616/sr=8-23/ref=sr_1_23/103-6437830-5989400?_encoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=130
   3. http://dailygaycartoon.freeservers.com/trailer1minute.htm