200

Well this is my 200th posting and I thought I would entertain my many fans(?) With some of my thoughts about why I’m doing this.

When I originally set up this blog I really didn’t have a lot to say which is why for the first couple of years I was doing two or so blogs a year. The other reason was because I was finding doing it hard going. I had decided that I thought my readers, however few or many they might be, deserved to be treated seriously. I felt my postings should be largely mini essays and not just me spouting my opinion. The result was I felt that my essays, most of the time anyway, should be footnoted with proper citations. I did this so that my readers, if any, would know I took seriously imparting facts and opinion and that I had enough respect for them to make the effort. I tried as much as possible to make clear where I was getting my information and what I was basing my opinions on.

I have found that the more I do them the easier it becomes to do them. Although has readers will note I continue to have problems with both my grammar and spelling. Do not be afraid to point out such mistakes.

Of course there are among my 200 postings pure opinion pieces and some rants and in some of my more scholarly efforts some rants. I trust that I have made clear the distinction between my rants, opinions and fact in my various postings.

I view the impartation of knowledge to be among the most important of all human endeavours. There is in my opinion something almost sacred, about so doing. Contra-wise the impartation of false knowledge is in my opinion a tragedy when done through ignorance and an act of wickedness when done deliberately. Thus people like Holocaust deniers are in my opinion engaged in an evil act. Pseudoscience / pseudo history are likewise a species not simply of human frailty but of human wickedness.

I hope that the fact I have strong opinions on certain issues has not alienated too many of my readers. I have especially been hard on pseudo history and pseudo archaeology in some of my postings. However I do not view such things as harmless. In the real world the various pseudos have real and unpleasant consequences. The examples of Nazi Germany and Communist Russia and China are merely to pertinent examples of the disastrous effects of pseudo beliefs.

For example one of my strong interests is in Pre-Columbian America, and I have devoted several postings to the issue of Pre-Columbian diffusion between the Old World and the New World. What angers me about the whole issue is that the idea is based in large part on the notion of stealing the past of the Native Americans and giving it to someone else usually “Europeans”. The fact that this idea fits so well with doctrines that justify conquest and dispossession is not accidental. The fact is most of the time that extreme diffusionists suggest diffusion they are not suggesting some traits added to a largely indigenous culture but wholesale importation of civilization thus creating the notion that Native American civilization isn’t really Native American. That this whole view is pernicious is obvious. To this pernicious aspect is the fact that diffusionists distort to a truly alarming degree the evidence in order to bolster their notions.

Another area of interest for me is morally dubious beliefs. I have entitled various postings of mine with the subtitled “Moral Cretinism”, where in the postings I have examined pernicious and morally bankrupt positions and writings. For example I have done a posting on East Timor and one of the works of Merleau-Ponty. Although I have not used the term “Moral Cretinism”, in certain other posts I have also referred to works by J.F.C. Fuller and St. Augustine. All these works examined in my opinion advanced opinions and beliefs that excused or justified treating our fellow human beings hideously and were in one way or the other apologies for cruelty.

Other postings simple indicate my various interests. I do hope they have stimulated some people to do research on their own. Others, like the occasional posted pics of my garden are me being sentimental.

I would like to hear more from my readers. Do you guys have a topic you would like me to cover. Do you disagree with something I’ve said? I would like to hear from you.

I guess you guys have e noticed that after a little over a year of c. eight postings a month I’ve slacked off in the last year. Well I will try to build back up to that number of postings a month.

Learning is an ongoing process and I have found that doing these essay style postings as allowed me to learn a great deal. So I hope to be able to do in the future another anniversary posting for my 400th posting.

All the best

Pierre Cloutier