Library Juice 2:1 - January 3, 1999
Special Issue: "Truth and Lie" Contents: 1. Seven Quotations on Truth and Lie 2. Some Intellectual Freedom links 3. "Risking Relevant Reference Work," (excerpt & link) 4. "The librarian's duty of care," Library Quarterly; abstract 5. "Bibliographic instruction and mass media news literacy;" abstract 6. Lies of the NY Times in Jeff Gustafson's name - a recent experience 7. Some obstacles faced by AIP / misconceptions of the alternative press 8. From _The Freedom to Lie: A Debate about Democracy_ 9. From Herbert Schiller's _Information Inequality_ 10. Dan Liestman's collection of links on bogus www information 11. _Social Research_ 63:3, Fall 1996: Truth-Telling, Lying & Deception 12. There are lies, and there are LIES 13. the/untimely/past - Web bibliography on postmodern historiography _______________________________________________________________________________ 1. Seven Quotations on Truth and Lie .............................................................................. Truth is a good dog; but beware of barking too close to the heels of error, lest you get your brains kicked out. -Coleridge .............................................................................. "We had both agreed that my reflections would have more force if I were to describe these circles of corruption in a flat, straightforward style, rather like that of a cookbook. I think, immodestly perhaps, that the result is quite interesting; certainly, it is unlike the evangelical style of most American journalists, who proclaim their partisanship in such a shrill way that even when they are telling the truth they sound false or, worse, paid for." -Gore Vidals' Charlie Schermerhorn Schuyler, journalist, the narrator in his novel _1876_ .............................................................................. "Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than the arguments of its opposers." -William Penn .............................................................................. Bolshevism is knocking at our gates, we can't afford to let it in....We must keep America whole and safe and unspoiled. We must keep the worker away from red literature and red ruses; we must see that his mind remains healthy. --Al Capone .............................................................................. Every journalist owes tribute to the evil one - Henri de la Fontaine .............................................................................. "The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into history." - George Orwell .............................................................................. You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty. -Jessica Mitford (1917-1996) _______________________________________________________________________________ 2. Some Intellectual Freedom links: http://www.ala.org/washoff/lessaccess.html LESS ACCESS TO LESS INFORMATION BY AND ABOUT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT: XXVII ALA Washington Office http://www.ala.org/work/freedom/lbr.html Library Bill of Rights http://www.jmu.edu/mediares/ifc/toc.htm ALA's Intellectual Freedom Manual http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS/ Vigdor Schreibman's FINS (Federal Information News Service) Information Age Library http://www.libr.org/Juice/LJ_24.html Library Juice Number 24, Special Intellectual Freedom Issue http://www.jessamyn.com/srrt/AIP ALA/SRRT Alternatives In Print Task Force _______________________________________________________________________________ 3. "Risking Relevant Reference Work," (excerpt & link) By John N. Berry III May 15, 1998 Risking Relevant Reference Work If we're afraid to interpret and vouch for information and its sources, who needs us? Reference librarians will be the next group of library professionals who feel the pressure to change from information technology. Whether or not they undertake a new, more expert information advisory role -- and the risks that go with it -- will make the difference between the survival of viable library reference service and its slow erosion and obsolescence. The networks and the flood of online information and search engines to harness that information are forcing a major change in the approach of librarians to reference and information service. In the process much of the innocence and neutrality of earlier traditional dogma about reference work will be forced to give way. They will be replaced by a new expertise and a new willingness to make the value judgments and to take the risks required to give people the advice about sources and the interpretation of information they need. http://www.bookwire.com/LJDigital/editorial.article$8902 _______________________________________________________________________________ 4. "The librarian's duty of care," Library Quarterly; abstract "The librarian's duty of care: emerging professionalism or can of worms?" Stuart Ferguson and John Weckert Library Quarterly, October, 1998. 68:4 Abstract: The issue of whether librarians and related information workers can and should be held accountable for negligent misinformation is explored here. The article examines case studies that highlight the issue of accountability, discusses accountability, and relates it to concepts such as responsibility and duty of care. It also discusses the customary arguments against holding librarians accountable for misinformaiton, namely, the lack of contract between librarian and patron and the distinction generally drawn between information "intermediaries," such as librarians, and "knowledge workers," such as lawyers and accountants. One of the conclusions is that the ethical approach taken by the profession has undergone a shift in recent years, partly as a result of certain legal decisions and partly as a result of changes in the profession, for example, the need for librarians to formulate online searches on behalf of clients and interpret the search results. Existing codes of ethics and whether they are appropriate to associations that claim professional status are also discussed. _______________________________________________________________________________ 5. "Bibliographic instruction and mass media news literacy;" abstract "Bibliographic instruction and mass media news literacy: a theoretical background," by Juris Dilevko Library Quarterly, October, 1998, Vol 68 no.4 Abstract: "This article suggests that bibliographic instruction (BI) librarians consider integrating a mass media news literacy and awareness component into their teaching duties. As the concentration of media power in the hands of a small number of corporate entities increases and as market-driven management imperatives dominate publishing practices, students should possess the skills to evaluate effectively and critically mass media sources such as maintstream newspapers and magazines. To this end, a theoretical framework for understanding mass media news influence is offered. The concepts of agenda setting, priming, framing, asymmetrical selection, binary oppositionalism, and institutional hegemony are explored in a survey of relevant literature from the fields of journalism and communications. A teaching strategy incorporating these concepts is sketched out. The strategy highlights one news event, and compares how different news sources report that event. Through such an exercise, students will be able to recognize how different news frames affect understanding of the topic in question. Ultimately, the successful BI program will be defined by the extent to which students move away from the passive reading of news media sources to a position where they are able to decode the social context of mainstream news production and develop informed and negotiated reading practices." _______________________________________________________________________________ 6. Lies of the NY Times in Jeff Gustafson's name - a recent experience Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 17:03:15 -0800 From: Chuck0 <chuck[at]tao.ca> Organization: Mid-Atlantic Infoshop X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l[at]ala.org> Subject: Lies of Our Times Reply-To: srrtac-l[at]ala.org Sender: owner-srrtac-l[at]ala.org Status: U >From *Eat the State!*, an alternative weekly newspaper in Seattle:) Dear ETS!, On November 3, after reading yet another call to bomb Iraq from the New York Times editorial staff, I quickly penned a "letter to the editor." A day later I arrived at work to find, in my inbox, a message from Mary Drohan at the NY Times urgently requesting a call. Aside from getting some personal information, the purpose of the call was to help verify the statistices I used. I pointed her to a 1996 article in her own paper, as well as a 1997 UNICEF report at www2.unicef.org/pub/iraqsa. She then told me she'd send her edit to me for my approval and I thanked her and went on my merry way. That is, until Thursday when I opened the Times to page A24. Below is my letter as I originally wrote it in all its naked glory, followed by the dressed up, sanitized version the NY Times ran. Here's the Original: To the editor, In response to your editorial of November 3, 1998, entitled "Iraq's Audacious Defiance": Iraq's defiance is not nearly as "audacious" as the most comprehensive humanitarian blockade in history which continues to deny the entire population of Iraq adequate food and medicine. According to UNICEF, even with the oil for food program, over 90,000 die every year as a direct result of economic sanctions, over half of which are children under the age of five. How the misuse of the US military to add to this number is supposed to riegn in a dictator who cares nothing for his people, escapes all rational thought. It's no wonder that this economic war the US is waging against the civilian population of Iraq has proven completely ineffective. It's time economic sanctions, the only 'confirmed' weapon of mass destruction left in Iraq, be dismantled. Sincerely, Jeff Gustafson Here's the one they printed: To the Editor: Re "Iraq's Audacious Defiance" (editorial, Nov. 3): Iraq's defiance of the United Nations weapons inspectors is not nearly as audacious as the humanitarian blockade that--despite the oil-for-food program--continues to deny adequate food and medicine to the entire population of that country. According to Iraqi officials, half a million children have died since the Persian Gulf war in 1991 for reasons that are related to the economic sanctions. It's time the sanctions were dismantled. Jeff Gustafson Seattle, Nov. 3, 1998 After pointing Ms. Drohan to page 42 of the 1997 Unicef report which clearly reports that sanctions kill over 90,000/year (50,000 of which are children under 5), she completely changed the source of these statistics to "Iraqi officials!" Of all the changes that could be made to my letter, I can think of nothing more effective than this--if the goal is to allow the average American reader to more easily dismiss my words. Add to this the exclusion of my critical thoughts on Saddam and yet another peg is knocked out from under my argument. Furthermore, no one from the NY Times called or attempted to contact me regarding these changes. I would like to ask Mary Drohan and the New York Times: "Why even bother to radically alter any letters from the public to advance your agenda or to completely undermine an opposing viewpoint? Why not simply manufacture them?" But whatever you do, don't put my name on it! --Jeff Gustafson _______________________________________________________________________________ 7. Some obstacles faced by AIP / misconceptions of the alternative press The following are difficulties the Alternatives In Print Task Force has experience in getting its message out through programs at ALA conferences, reported by Charles Willett, longtime AIP Coordinator. (We need to find speakers with a better understanding of the alternative press and its value. Contact me if you would like to participate. -ed.) 1. The political scientist structures the discussion into left, right and center and accuses us of lack of "balance" because we don't include right-wing weirdos along with our left-wing weirdos. They don't say weirdos, but that's what they imply -- that there's the mainstream reasonable, intelligent, well-researched, responsible press -- and then there are a lot of strange, marginal, fringe groups and individuals who deserve an occasional glance out of respect for the "all points of view" mantra, no matter how irrational and inconsequential they are. 2. The administrator structures the discussion in terms of economics and supply/demand factors. Democracy requires that we give the people what they want, and they want what the market tells them they want, and if the NYTimes says these are the best books, then they must *be* the best books. Libraries have limited and declining budgets and have to respond to real demand, so unfortunately the fringe groups lose out. 3. A techie says how wonderful the Internet is, and everybody starts talking about that. 4. The civil libertarian denounces the religious right for undermining the historic rights enshrined in the Constitution by our wise Founding Fathers. 5. The liberal whispers that tolerance has its limits: you can't let THEM into the canon beacuse THEY want to destroy the SYSTEM (e.g., Arabs, Moslems, ebonics, anarchists, pacifists, communists, etc.). _______________________________________________________________________________ 8. From _The Freedom to Lie: A Debate about Democracy_ John Swan and Noel Peattie, 1989, McFarland and Company. Noel Peattie, "Truth, Libraries, and Revolution" ...(T)he public does, after all, trust us, as the "libraries should not contain falsehoods" remark (however naive) of the Los Angeles City Councilman suggests, and pays us accordingly. The public understands that we have to be equitable; but it requires that we be honest. They will not tolerate our pretending suddenly that we don't know something, when the rest of the time we seem to know everything else. While it is true that the lie that the Holocaust didn't happen has spread in some communities (one reason that _The Diary of Anne Frank_ sometimes appears on banned book lists), there are too many survivors, plus Allied military personnel and civilian rescue workers, who saw the camps just after they were liberated, to let us pretend that the Holocaust was a myth, a theory, or even just a minor operation. If this is true, then a crack appears at the very foundations of our beliefs and practices in the domain of intellectual freedom. We say that the information before us is inaccurate, bigoted, or mileading (deliberately or no). Either we know, or do not know, however, *some* matters of fact: those witnessed and suffered by millions. We can admit that there are some areas on which we lack sufficient information to judge: but this terrible episode is not one of them. "Librarians don't know anything, they just know where to look it up." This statement would more nearly approach the real state of our profession, if for "anything," we substitute "everything." (Even so, there are things we don't know where to look up; we surprise ourselves on the job every day.) Still, thousands of librarians, in libraries academic, public and special, are experts in their fields, and are so treated, consulted, and rewarded. They have the facts as well as the bibliographical references. They *do* know; and we know; about the Holocaust. IT HAPPENED: WHY PRETEND? When I first wrote an earlier version of these words of neutrality, I felt a certain discomfort in imagining that any librarian would actually balance Holocauset studies with Holocaust "revisionist" works. This has actually happened. Edmonton public Library, Alberta, accepted some 150 Holocaust-related titles from the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, and then went out and acquired the revisionist titles most requested by patrons. Cataloging is not reported to reflect the revisionist nature of these works; _Is the diary of Anne Frank genuine?_ is assigned the subject headings FRANK, ANNE, and JEWS-NETHERLANDS-BIOGRAPHY, although the Library of Congress lists the subject heading HOLOCAUST, JEWISH -ERRORS, INVENTIONS, ETC. _______________________________________________________________________________ 9. From Herbert Schiller's _Information Inequality_ (London, New York: Routledge, 1996) ISBN: 0-415-90765-9 p.35 ...(I)nformation and data processing instrumentation are not independent or autonomous elements in society. How, and for what purposes, they are employed constitute essential and defining features of the social order. In the case of information, two dramatically different ways of using it can be imagined. One is to regard information as a social good and a central element in the development and creation of a democratic society. Under this premise, information serves to facilitate democratic decision making, assists citizen participation in government, and contributes to the search for roughly egalitarian measures in the economy at large. Comprehensive and well-organized public information enables decision makers to make rational resource allocation decisions; to prioritize social claims; to maximize social welfare. It allows them to overcome baleful practices that harm the general welfare, like pollution, smoking, and armaments production. Such information resources allow leaders to promote the development of science and invention that are socially beneficial and to organize historical experience for meaningful contemporary reflection and use. In brief, comprehensive, well-organized public information enables decision makers to bring past knowledge and experience to bear on current issues and problems. In contrast to information as a social good, a different approach can treat information as a privately produced commodity for sale. Actually, since Gutenberg, information has been bought and sold. Yet in the 500-year evolution of the industrial-capitalist state, social movements have sought to reserve some share of the community's information production and supply for common use. The public library system and the great land-grant universities are among the signal achievements of these efforts in the United States. In the 1900's, with the indispensable assistance of computerization, information is being produced, packaged, stored, and sold. Public stockpiles of information, government and academic, are being acquired in all sorts of imaginative and pecuniary ways by private companies. A vigorous and aggressive Information Industry Association successfully promotes its own objectives. In this pervasive atmosphere of privately acquiring, processing, and selling information, the public library system, a long-standing custodian of the idea and practice, of information as a social good, is tottering. Its function is being redefined and stripped of its social character. _______________________________________________________________________________ 10. Dan Liestman's collection of links on bogus www information Posting number 7932, dated 10 Apr 1998 09:30:35 Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 09:30:35 EDT Reply-To: Discussion of Library Reference Issues <LIBREF-L[at]LISTSERV.KENT.EDU> Sender: Discussion of Library Reference Issues <LIBREF-L[at]LISTSERV.KENT.EDU> From: Daniel Liestman <dliest[at]lib.ksu.edu> Subject: Re: Bogus info on the WWW summary (long) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Posted on multiple lists, please excuse duplication. Dear Colleagues: Some time ago, I requested examples of bogus WWW information. I'm breaking this summary in to three parts. First, are guidelines and bibliographies of how to evaluate WWW-based information. Next, are samples of "bogus, biased, and/or baffling" sites. Finally I'm including some comments a couple of which are presented in their entirety. Peace, Daniel Guides to Evaluting Internet Resources, some with links to inaccurate sites: "Evaluate your Sources" http://www.library.vcu.edu/help/eval.html "The Virtual Librarian" http://node.on.ca/support/virtlibrarian.html Bibliography on Evaluating Internet Resources http://refserver.lib.vt.edu/libinst/critTHINK.HTM Evaluating Web Sites for Educational Uses: Bibliography and Checklist http://www.iat.unc.edu/guides/irg-49.html Teaching Critical Evaluation Skills for World Wide Web Resources A set of checklists to help users analyze the quality of the information on websites. http://www.science.widener.edu/~withers/webeval.htm Internet Resource Validation Project how to evaluate web pages http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/Curriculum/Validate/validate.html Guidelines for evaluating internet information http://info.wlu.ca/~wwwlib/libguides/internet/eval.html Evaluating internet resources- a checklist http://library.berkeley.edu:8000/bkmk/select.html Criteria for evaluating information resources http://www-lib.usc.edu/Info/Sci/pubs/criteval.html Critical Evaluation Surveys for internet resources A series of evaluation surveys, one each at the elementary, middle, and secondary school levels. Also links to many other evaluation resources. http://www.capecod.net/schrockguide/eval.htm Selection Policy for Resources and Evaluation Criteria Rating System for Web Sites From AASL http://www.ala.org/ICONN/curricu2.html Critical Thinking and Internet Resources Includes: WWW CyberGuide Ratings for Content Evaluation, Teaching Critical Evaluation Skills for WWW Resources, Evaluating Quality on the Net, Thinking Critically about WWW Resources. http://www.mcrel.org/connect/plus/critical.html Web Site Evaluation A Collection of Research Papers and Surveys. The links on this page provide criteria that can be used to make judgments about educational Web sites in K-12 and higher education contexts. http://web.syr.edu/~maeltigi/Research/RIGHT.HTM National School Network Site Evaluation This feedback form is designed for educators to provide comments regarding their satisfaction with Web sites on levels of educational value and design qualities. Instructions for review and listing of sites requesting reviews are included on linked pages. Whether you use it for submitting a real web site or not, it gives some good points to think about when evaluating a site. http://nsn.bbn.com/webeval/form1.htm Links to Additional Sites with Web Evaluation Materials, Widener University/Wolfgram Memorial Library. This page provides several links to sites with articles and guidelines on evaluating Internet resources. http://www.science.widener.edu/~withers/cklstlnk.htm Evaluating Web Sites Info on performance related to design, benefits of course Web sites, design issues. http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/webeval/webeval.htm Web Site Evaluation Guidelines from Ed's Oasis http://www.edsoasis.org/Guidelines.html Jane Alexander and Marsha Tate, "EVALUATING WEB PAGES: LINKS TO EXAMPLES OF VARIOUS CONCEPTS." http://www.science.widener.edu/~withers/examples.htm Elliot Chabot, "Ascertaining Information Quality" http://www.law.ab.umd.edu/marshall/workshop/index.html Diane Kovacs "Evaluating Internet Information" http://www.kovacs.com/evaluating.html The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources http://lib.nmsu.edu/staff/susabeck/evalcrit.html Tyburski, Genie. "Publishers Wanted, No Experience Necessary: Information Quality on the Web," Law Library Resource Exchange, 24 June 1997. Online. Internet. 3 July 1997. Available WWW: http://www.llrx.com/columns/quality.htm Internet Lie Detector Test: http://www.cnet.com/Content/Features/Dlife/Truth/ss01.html Bibliography on Evaluating Internet Resources Link at: http://www.networx.on.ca/~jwalker/educat2.htm Examples of sites which are bogus, biased, or baffling (in no particular order): "Mankato" home page: http://www.lme.mankato.msus.edu/mankato/mankato.html Tour of New Hartford, MN (check your atlas) http://134.29.12.207/NewHartford/newhtfd.html Indonesia Today (good place to do business) http://www.indonesiatoday.com/a3/a3_index.html New invention allows humans to live forever http://www.alexchiu.com/eternallife/index.html The Turtle Island Worm Band at http://host.ld.centuryinter.net/clcent/phome/wormband/index.html California's Velcro Crop under Challenge" (1993, with an update to 1996) http://members.unlimited.net/~kumbach/velcro.html The American Smokers' Alliance http://www.smokers.org "Dream Technologies" http://www.d-b.net/dti/ "Facts About Growth Hormone" http://www.cosmicdome.com/health/ Fueul, Juatta Lyon. "The true but little-known facts about women with AIDS, with documentation." http://147.129.1.10/library/lib2/AIDSFACTS.html Catherine Maloney, et al. "Feline Reactions to Bearded Men" http://www.improb.com/airchives/cat.html "Skeptic Tank" http://www.linkline.com/personal/frice/flist068.htm "White House" sites: http://www.whitehouse.net http://www.whitehouse.com (pornographic) Clones R US http://www.d-b.net/dti/ (K-)Mart Sucks http://www.concentric.net/~rodf/mart.htm Guerrilla CNN Parody Pages http://guerrilla.com/cnn/ Why AOL Sucks http://www.aolsucks.com/ The Dysson Company http://www.dysson.org/ To understand what's wrong with the above...see http://www.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/1997/dom/970804/technology.is_deny_realy .html Other comments and suggestions include: * http://www.coam.net/~kuvera/presents.html (The title HTML tag is "Presents From Soka Gakkai Headquarters?", intended to index to a "Soka Gakkai" search of a WWW search engine) *It presents a very inflamatory conspiracy hypothesis with no credible authentic independent source for judging the veracity of the statements. The SGI is the parent organization for a lay buddist group that split with its former temple/priest sponsor about 7 years ago. The SGI sponsors universities, peace initiatives, and cultural activities, not terrorist plots. But someone has an ax to grind and technology to propagate a rather sinister theory. Fortunately, I'm innoculated.* *Search "pseudoscience" on any web search engine and you'll be inundated with many examples of false and misleading information on the web. *Also, the faxlore/netlore section of Barbara's Tales of the Wooden Spoon has some interesting examples of fiction passed as fact on the web: http://snopes.simplenet.com/spoons/faxlore/faxlore.htm *A Holocaust revisionist site: http://www.webcom.com/~ezundel/index.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/147046.asp MSNBC apologizes for error in Michelle Kwan news bulletin MSNBC apologizes for an error that may have been interpreted to state that U.S. figure skater Michelle Kwan was not American. The error appeared briefly in a scrolling marquee during coverage of the Winter Olympics and was corrected quickly. However, the marquee was picked up by MSNBC's push technology, News Alert. So to some, it might have appeared the error was on the site for a longer period or was not corrected. MSNBC apologizes for the bulletin's wording. * A few years ago, either on this list or Reflib-l, someone posted a study of the sites that had Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. This was shortly before the million man march on Washington, DC. Of the 130+ sites found, _none_ of them had the speech that Martin Luther King actually gave. What they had were printed copies of the speech that were handed out before his speech, and of course, he changed the speech as he got going. So the speeches were not exactly as he had given them. Some of the sites had obviously been copied from texts,and numerous typographical errors, syntax dropping and additions/deletions from the body of the speech were also evident. Some changes were made purposefully, but most were simply boo-boos made by sincere people who did not re-check their typing. Also, some mistakes were obvious in several sites, indicating that some copies were copied and re-copied without proofreading. The same mistakes were copied again and again. The end results, as I recall, was that no site found out of the 130+ had the complete speech that MLK actually gave. Almost all the rest had a few to many mistakes in the text. None were as good as even a half-hearted printed biography that would noramlly go through a printer and proofreader, not to mention double checking of the text, before printing. Sorry, I can't remember who did this research, but you should be able to check the archives and find the source. As far as I recall, the information was only published on the Internet on one of the library forums. It was a good post, with quantitative as well as qualitative data. Good luck. > *A few years ago, either on this list or Reflib-l, someone posted a > study of the sites that had Martin Luther King's "I Have a > Dream" speech. This was shortly before the million man march on Washington, > DC. > > The person who reported that info was Noel Anderson from the Univ. of > Texas at Arlington <n.anderson[at]uta.edu&> > > Unfortunately, in his zeal to debunk the myths of which sources > did not carry the complete, unadulterated text, he FORGOT to tell folks on > LIBREF-L: > > a) How he obtained a copy of the unabridged, unedited version > (he forgot to share the source list with the LIBREF-L readers) > > b) How he knows that particular source was accurate > (did he verify the discrepancies himself, or did he rely on other > research) > > I remember this vividly, since I was the only person who reminded > him that he forgot to spell these things out, when he debunked the 100+ > sources that others refered to. > What I find most often are misattributed quotes. For example, there is a long quote about success and failure which is often attributed to Nelson Mandela's inaugural address. I had occasion to research the citation for a patron who wanted to include it in a book. She had gotten it on a mimeo'd sheet at church. I found the quote, attributed to Mandela, on innumerable websites, even though I had read the text of his inaugural address in "Vital Speeches" and knew that it was not in there. Finally, I found a website that correctly attributed the quote to Marianne Williamson in _Return to Love_, and was able to verify it in our copy of the book. Likewise, there are still a lot of sites out there which have the infamous "Kurt Vonnegut" MIT commencement address. *My favorite has been drastically edited. The New Zealand Wool Association had a very professional looking "medical advice" site advocating wall-to-wall woolen carpeting and other products for children with allergies. They claimed that dust mites were so attracted to the wool, they'd never let go. The Association's name was at the bottom of the screen in a font so tiny that we had to enlarge the screen to read it. *Last summer one of my colleagues at another Twin City private college found a diet plan on the web called the Mayo Diet. He assumed that with a name like that, it had come from the renown Mayo Clinic. Bad assumption. The diet worked, but when he called the Mayo Clinic to see how to keep off theweight he had lost, they said they had never heard of the Mayo Diet and it had no connection with them in any way. This is one example he uses when he talks to classes about using the internet with caution. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (Thanks Dan, but one question: how do we recognize a LACK of bias, really?) _______________________________________________________________________________ 11. _Social Research_ 63:3, Fall 1996: Truth-Telling, Lying & Deception Including: "Professional Liars" Ryan, Alan New Coll, Oxford OX1 3BN England Social Research 1996, 63, 3, fall, 619-641. Truth, Politics, and Self-Deception Williams, Bernard Dept Philosophy U California, Berkeley 94720 Social Research 1996, 63, 3, fall, 603-617. The Historical Significance of Lying and Dissimulation Zagorin, Perez Shannon Center Advanced Studies U Virginia, Charlottesville 22903 Social Research 1996, 63, 3, fall, 863-912. _______________________________________________________________________________ 12. There are lies, and there are LIES Howard Zinn, "There Are Lies, and There Are Lies". _The Progressive_, November, 1998 pp.17-18 In all the excitement about Bill Clinton's sex scandal, have we as a nation lost a sense of proportion? Clinton has lied to us, deceived us, and then covered up his deceptions about something which, however odious, we did not need to know about and caused no one to lose a life. But there's a long list of Presidents who have lied to us and deceived us, especially since World War II, about activities that we had every right to know, activities in which thousands, even millions, of people lost their lives. Let's start with Harry Truman. He deceived the nation and the world when he described Hiroshima - which he had just devastated by atomic bomb - as "an important Japanese Army base." More than 100,000 civilians - men, women, and children - died in this city of 350,000. Truman also lied to the nation about our war in Korea, saying we were fighting for democracy (hardly, since South Korea was a military dictatorship). More than 50,000 Americans died there. and perhaps two million Koreans. Dwight D. Eisenhower lied about our spy flights over the Soviet Union, even after one flier on such a mission was shot down. He deceived the nation and the world about the U.S. involvement in the coup that overthrew a democratic government in Guatemala. That coup brought on a succession of military juntas that took tens of thousands of lives. Eisenhower deceived the nation about the U.S. role in subverting a government in Iran because it was offending multinational oil corporations. The United States put the Shah of Iran back on the throne, and his secret police tortured and executed thousands of his opponents. John F. Kennedy lied to the nation about U.S. involvement in the 1961 failed invasion of Cuba, telling a press conference: "I can assure you that the United States has no intention of using force to overthrown the Castro regime." Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon all lied to the nation about what was happening in Vietnam. Kennedy said the United States was not involved in the overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem. And Kennedy repeatedly claimed that American fliers were not involved in the bombing of Vietnam, even though he sent two helicopter companies there as early as 1962, which the U.S. military dropping napalm shortly thereafter. Johnson and Nixon both lied when they claimed only military targets were bombed (reporters knew the greatest number of deaths was among civilians). And Nixon deceived the nation about the secret bombing of Cambodia. Reagan lied to the nation about his covert and illegal support of the contras in Nicaragua. He lied about the importance of Grenada in order to justify the 1983 invasion of that little island. George Bush lied about the reasons for invading Panama in 1989, saying it was to stop the drug trade. In fact, the United States has allowed the drug trade to flourish. Bush also deceived the nation about his real interest in the Persian Gulf. He pretended to be anguished bout the fate of Kuwait while he was actually more concerned about enhancing American power in Saudi Arabia and controlling the region's oil deposits. And what of Clinton's deceptions? Against this history of lies that brought death to so many people, Clinton's deceptions about sex are ludicrous. But these are all that the politicians and pundits care about. Clinton has had his own share of lies and deceits about lethal public policy. But he is not in trouble for those. People who are indignant that he lied about sex with "that woman" were silent when he deceived the nation about the need to bomb a "nerve gas plant" in the Sudan. His Administration could produce no evidence that the plant was anything but what the Sudanese government said it was - a plant that produced medicines for the Sudanese people. Where was the criticism of Clinton when he signed the crime bill to build more prisons and execute more people on the falsehood that these acts will deter crime? Where was the criticism of Clinton when he approved the attack on the Waco compound, which led to the deaths of eight-one people, arguing erroneously that it was the only alternative? Where was the criticism of Clinton when his Administration refused to join the international ban on land mines of authorize a strong world court on the specious grounds that the United States would be in jeopardy? Where was the criticism of Clinton when he defended Boris Yeltsin's brutal attack on Chechnya by obscenely comparing it to Abraham Lincoln's war to unify the states? Where was the criticism of Clinton when he continued the embargo on Iraq, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children, with the bogus rationale that the embargo punishes Saddam Hussein? Now these hypocrites, so silent when people die as a result of lies and deceptions, summon indignation about Clinton's sexual activities. The President has lost his "moral authority," they say. Did he not lose moral authority when he took away basic benefits from single mothers and food stamps from immigrants? Did he not lose moral authority when he insisted onmaintaining a $250 billion a year military machine when money is desperately needed for health, education, child care? If politicians and journalists have lost their sense of moral proportion, must we, as citizens, lose ours? Should we not pull back from our obsession with lies about sex and concentrate on finding out the truth about policies that mean life or death for people in this country and all over the world? _______________________________________________________________________________ 13. the/untimely/past - Web bibliography on postmodern historiography http://www.wam.umd.edu/~nomadic/untimelypast.html This online bibliography project is the work of Jeffrey Hearn, a Ph.D. student at University of Maryland who has a strong interest in the "intersection of historiography with postmodernism, poststructuralism, and related varieties of theory/practice." As Hearn explains, the bibliography is, by necessity, a work in progress, but it already contains an impressive number of entries, organized in a general list as well as by selected topics. These include Michel Foucault, subaltern studies, rhetoric and historiography as text, poststructuralism, and postmodernism. Especially helpful is the new and forthcoming section, which is also organized by topic. Although a different font selection would perhaps be easier on readers' eyes, on the whole, the site will be of considerable use to graduate students and faculty with an interest in the "linguistic turn" and the integration of postmodern philosophy in their work. [MD] >From the Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1998. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/ _______________________________________________________________________________ L I B R A R Y J U I C E | http://www.libr.org/Juice/ | | Except where noted, items appearing in Library Juice | are copyright-free, so feel free to share them with | colleagues and friends. Library Juice is a free weekly | publication edited by Rory Litwin. Original senders | are credited wherever possible; opinions are theirs. | Your comments and suggestions are welcome. | mailto:Juice[at]libr.org
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Date: Sunday, January 03, 1999 10:29 PM