Friday, February 17, 2012

Agnotology: The Surge

Hear none, Say none, See none
Word creation has a rich history in the English language realm.

Take the word "Agnotology" for instance.

Agnotology "is the study of culturally-induced ignorance or doubt, particularly the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data" (Wikipedia; see also Agnotology ... Or Is It Agnoiology?).

Regular readers of Dredd Blog know that this blog is more severe, in some of its criticism of the creators and promoters of perverted information, than many other observers are.

Clearly, Dredd Blog has been known to voice sharp criticism of some of them, especially the military, the dirty oil industry, and the mainstream media (see e.g. MOMCOM's Mass Suicide - Murder Pact).

Nevertheless, Dredd Blog has also said, in so many words, that the epidemic of perverted information in the United States is, in some respects, a result of benign failures within our various educational realms (see a discussion in the post The Failure of Applied American Epistemology).

However, let me be clear that I attribute the surge in perverted information to a deliberate function of massive propaganda engines, directed by the powers that be.

See Myth Addiction Is The Establishment's LSD, The Deceit Business, Blind Willie McTell News, Exceptional American Propaganda Inspired NAZI Goebbels, and Why The Right-Wing is Anti-Education, as examples of Dredd Blog posts on this subject.

Whatever the cause the results are undeniable, which indicate that some ignorance is so deep-seated that mere education is not sufficient to dislodge it.

Justice Souter indicates that two-thirds of Americans do not know that there are three branches of government (@1:27):


The next post in this series is here.

2 comments:

  1. A book chronicles the aggressive war against climate change scientists.

    That information is likely to be included in Agnotology textbooks of the future. Link

    ReplyDelete