Idea laundering--a very useful concept

[Glinner]

Has anyone ever wondered why so many people believe such crazy crap at the moment? The 'female penis', and so on? This short video is a very good starting point to understanding what has gone so terribly wrong. We're literally losing the ability to think thanks to a form of corruption in academia.

I've read that the ever-increasing drive towards more and more specialised study is also a problem - there's a lack of holistic oversight, of perspective. Pedagogy should be built into academia, but I don't know if that would likely just fall prey to the same issues.

I honestly think teaching logic in schools (and in further and higher education as standard) is the answer. It amazes me that although Philosophy and Ethics is now a core subject at GCSE level, there isn't even a single module on logic.

I always come back to Wittgenstein's key distinction between a sentence being grammatically correct and a sentence actually being meaningful.

but a lot of people are very happy to completely accept a readymade morality as offered by most religions

Yes, they are, what I'm saying is that I do't see a functional difference in non-religious or secular societies - it's still ready made, so to speak. People still have a way of thinking about things, what is real, what is important, why things are the way they are, what they mean, and ethics, that gets transmitted from parents to kids, through institutions and art. Communist societies which are perhaps the most organised examples did this very explicitly, and I'd say western secular ones do it just as effectively though in a less direct way.

It may even be a disadvantage that many people in those latter kinds of societies aren't aware that they are accepting something ready-made.

I thought the peer review process was supposed to do that.

Peer review is probably a key, and it's not really new either IMO. Isn't it just a particular formalisation of the type of back and forth that has always gone on in the sciences, mathematics, the humanities?

The specialisation element is probably a big factor - it makes me think of when Naomi Wolff made those errors over reading the historical records which apparently went back to her academic days, and maybe went unnoticed because they were in a sense outside the expertise of her specialisation. Or you could equally think of Paglia's criticism of women's and gender studies not paying enough attention to the biological sciences and so missing a whole set of information that might show up some of the wilder theories as untenable, or even just create an environment where the physical world needs to be taken into consideration.

Logic training would be great too but I'd add to that, logic can take you to any conclusion if your starting point is correctly chosen. So understanding what is behind the way we choose our starting points is essential, and that means understanding how we get to what we think is true in the most basic way and being able to compare it, accurately, with other starting points.

Yes, RuffleCrow, absolutely agree. Let's get logic and rhetoric on the curriculum!

Goosefoot, yes, I think you're right. We're told we are utterly free agents, liberated by capitalist democracy. We are not encouraged to question, doubt, test and try things out for ourselves.

Agree Goosefoot. As I see, underpinning all those issues is still detachment from truth/reality.

With the specialisation issue, a lot of these studies are basically in their own bubble with no reality check.

Logic built on purely words that are detached from reality (e.g. TWAW) will be logical, but will have inherent logical fallacies. And these studies are mainly words, they are not mathematical equations.

How do we embed and institutionalise Truth and Integrity? I think that's a key question.

I agree that teaching logic would be useful but not in the face of a determination to adhere to otherwise nonsensical ideas because it is politically expedient. The references to Wittgenstein reminded me of the pickle Rupert Read got himself into a few years ago.

He wrote this very interesting article after the original Suzanne Moore / Julie Burchill hoo-haa:

blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=6662#comment-1120793

where he took a Wittgensteinian approach to the issue, particularly:

"It can't be that the feeling of feeling like a woman is in and of itself a complete, self-validating, "private" experience, of an individual (to see why not, Wittgenstein's anti-private-language considerations are helpful); the experience must have some content."

This went largely unnoticed until he was standing as a Green candidate a year or so later and was rounded on by Green TRAs. After an initial piece of self-defence (it's not transphobic to say X) he completely capitulated and prostrated himself before TRAs with this rubbish:

www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/i-apologised-for-offending-transgender-people-but-that-wasnt-enough-10023116.html?origin=internalSearch

Of course, he doesn't make an alternative analysis where his original piece was wrong and comes up with a robust reason in line with his Wittgenseinian philosophy. He just says he has to choose his words to be more careful and caring.

This is in line with what you're saying Glinner that this is a corruption in our ability to think and to analyse critically. I agree that we have a responsibility to counter this in society. As Voltaire said, "those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities".

Hi, Mumsnetters! I was very proud to publish this piece by Victoria Smith on Google promoting the barbaric practice of breast-binding to billions of people. Facebook just forced me to take it down so please share it with your friends and family grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/i-cant-breathe

I think a lot of us are now wishing that we'd been paying more attention to what was happening in literature departments when "critical theory" was first getting a foothold there.

I thought the pomo modules on my course were a bit of a joke in the mid 90s. An opportunity for flights of fancy, ditching tired analysis for whatever the hell you liked. Had no idea this is where we'd end up.

I think a lot of us are now wishing that we'd been paying more attention to what was happening in literature departments when "critical theory" was first getting a foothold there. This applies to all sorts, I suggest we are lazy and have a tendency to leave things to others. Civil Service is another case. Politicians leave it to others and others take it upon themselves to push their own agendas (from their university days no doubt).

Do any of you remember the Hitler Diaries? Seems the whole of academia decided that smelling if something was genuine was a lot better than doing some thinking

Andrea Noble, feminist and author of 'The Grumpy Guide to Feminism' has been banned permanently from Mumsnet. I realise she might have fallen foul of Mumsnet's rules on advertising after mentioning her book in a thread but surely a permanent ban is overkill?

Oh dear. Thanks for letting us know.

She mentioned her book in every thread I read it seems! 🙄

I only know of her from seeing her posts on this board where she was usually promoting her book. I think she posted this morning and seemed a bit annoyed that she wasn’t getting the support for her book from Mumsnet that she thought it deserved? Has anyone read it? Seems harsh if she’s got a permanent ban. Was she given any warnings or indication as to why she got the ban? She should contact Mumsnet directly.

Placemarking

Does Goosefoot still post here, I wonder? Always appreciated her posts.

I saw the book posts on several threads and then they got deleted. Would have hoped the poster at least got a warning before a ban, otherwise a bit harsh?

She was told, repeatedly, not to advertise her book on every bloody thread she posted on.

blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=6662#comment-1120793

Is this article still available? Won't load for some reason and I can't find via Google either. Would be so grateful if someone had an alternative link.

archive.is/lWbjA Try the end of this?

Does Goosefoot still post here, I wonder? Always appreciated her posts.

I miss her posts too. ☹️

I thought the following video was a lot more compelling.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=XeXfV0tAxtE

Thank you Melroses - that worked

I'm very aware that my ability to think or to express myself is corrupted because I have to self-edit my public utterances to such an extent that it's disrupted my private thoughts inside my head (so to speak).