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Academic Malpractice Part 818
Townhall.com ^ | 9-24-2012 | Mike Adams

Posted on 09/24/2012 4:22:17 AM PDT by servo1969

Author’s Note: This is the 818th column I have written since September of 2003. If you are tired of hearing about liberal hypocrisy in academia, please do not read this latest offering. If you like guns, however, keep reading.

Dear Professor Hoplophobe (pseudonym):

First I would like to thank you for your willingness to discuss Second Amendment issues despite our deep disagreement about the scope and applicability of this important constitutional right. The first time we broached the issue, the tenor of our discussion was less than civil. Since then, you have agreed to continue our dialogue and I believe we would both agree that it has been constructive. I enjoy the opportunity to speak with professors from other departments, especially those with different educational and employment backgrounds. I also enjoy the opportunity to challenge political science professors because, in my view, the field focuses too much on the “political” and too little on the “science.”

I would like to start by sharing my concerns about a remark you made in our last conversation. You indicated that in one of your classes there was a vigorous discussion of concealed weapons permits. You summarized the discussion as follows: “We didn’t really get anywhere. I will never change my mind on the issue and I will never change theirs either.”

This statement of yours is problematic for at least three reasons. I dissect each one below:

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1. You refuse to consider the evidence of the side you seek to influence. During our first discussion of this issue you asked what evidence I had to support my contention that concealed weapons permits reduce violent crime. I told you there were fifteen refereed scholarly publications supporting my position. I offered to share them with you but you declined. A couple of years later we discussed the issue again. By then, a sixteenth refereed scholarly publication came out supporting my position. I brought this to your attention but to no avail. You expressed no interest in examining the evidence. Today you continue to ignore it while clinging to the position that concealed weapons permits increase violence. This position of yours is not supported by a single refereed publication. I believe it is time for you to either a) review the evidence or b) stop referring to yourself as a “social scientist.” The terms “advocate” or “visionary” are more appropriate for those who deem all contrary evidence to be irrelevant.

2. You base your own opinions entirely on ideology. On more than one occasion you have said “I just don’t like guns.” On another occasion, you added that a world with guns was “just not the kind of world you want to live in.” Well, that is the kind of world you live in. There are guns. And when law-abiding people are allowed to carry them crime goes down. But you do not like the fact that we live in a world where guns are required to maintain civility. You think we should be able to “talk out” our differences. This is because you think people are good and that conflict is a function of misunderstanding or miscommunication. You so cling to this vision that you admit that you “will never change (your) mind on the issue.”

What you fail to understand is that by bitterly clinging to your gun-less religion – and it is a religion - you actually confirm my worldview. You prove that people are so selfish that they will jeopardize the public good just to avoid admitting they are wrong. You can call it arrogance. You can call it pride. You can call it hypocrisy. But I just prefer to call it selfishness. It is confirmation that people are not fundamentally more concerned with others than with themselves. That is precisely why we must have guns. It all goes back to the fallen nature of man.

3. You continue to teach the ideas that are contradicted by the evidence you ignore for ideological reasons. You are entitled to your views. But you also have an obligation to your students. They pay a lot of money to sit in your classes. They are also living out the most vulnerable period of their lives. The data consistently show that people between the ages of 12 and 25 are far more likely to experience violent crime than those below 12 or those over 25. So they need accurate information to make it in this “society,” which you concede is a dangerous place. They need more than your vision of what the world could be or should be. They need to navigate the world as it is. So, please, hear my plea: when a female student of yours asks whether getting her concealed weapons permit will decrease her chances of being raped just tell her what the published evidence says. But telling her the truth implies that at some point you will take an interest in learning what the published evidence says.

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When willfully blind professors mislead students about the efficacy of certain policy initiatives, they do more than just a disservice to “society.” They often jeopardize the well-being of the students under their care. This is nothing short of professional malpractice. It should be grounds for the revocation of tenure.

Respectfully,

Mike S. Adams


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: banglist; ccw; elections; hoplophobia; tyranny

1 posted on 09/24/2012 4:22:20 AM PDT by servo1969
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To: servo1969
Here's some Wiki just for fun...

"Hoplophobia is a pejorative neologism originally coined to describe an "irrational aversion to weapons, as opposed to justified apprehension about those who may wield them." It is sometimes used more generally to describe the "fear of weapons" or the "highly salient danger of these weapons " or the "fear of armed citizens".

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Firearms authority and writer Jeff Cooper claims to have coined the word in 1962 to describe what he called a "mental aberration consisting of an unreasoning terror of gadgetry, specifically, weapons." The term was constructed from the Greek ὅπλον - hoplon, meaning amongst others "arms," and φόβος - phobos, meaning "fear." Although not a mental health professional, Cooper employed the term as an alternative to other slang terms, stating: "We read of 'gun grabbers' and 'anti-gun nuts' but these slang terms do not [explain this behavior]." Cooper attributed this behavior to an irrational fear of firearms and other forms of weaponry. Cooper's opinion was that "the most common manifestation of hoplophobia is the idea that instruments possess a will of their own, apart from that of their user." Writing in an opinion piece, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review columnist Dimitri Vassilaros asserted that the term was intended by Cooper as tongue-in-cheek to mock those who think guns have free will.

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Hoplophobia is not a true phobia, and it is not recognized as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association. The meaning and usage ascribed by Cooper falls outside of the medical definitions of true phobias. For example, phobias require that the person be aware and acknowledge that their fear is irrational, and usually causes some kind of functional impairment. True medical phobias of firearms and other weapons can exist, but are unusual"
2 posted on 09/24/2012 4:28:20 AM PDT by servo1969
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To: servo1969

It happens to also be fraudulent , as well. A lawyer, or doc who consistently misinformed his clientele deliberately, would be liable not only for the malpractice consequences, but for having billed fraudulent advice.


3 posted on 09/24/2012 4:31:30 AM PDT by mo (If you understand, no explanation is needed. If you don't understand, no explanation is possible.)
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To: servo1969

A great response to the article in the comments:

By “Mother of 4 — the original”

“...a world with guns was “just not the kind of world you want to live in.”

“Speaking for myself, a 5’3”, middle-aged, overweight woman with an arthritic knee a world without guns is the one I don’t want to live in.

In a world without guns my only chance of living a peaceful life — my only chance of preventing any young, healthy, evilly-disposed man from victimizing me as he pleases — would be to place myself as chattel property into the hands of a man big enough and strong enough to defend his female possessions. And then I would have to continually wear a conspicuous identifier that both showed me to be owned and proclaimed the strength and power of my owner.

In a world without guns my daughter would not be able to pursue her education in architectural technology and engineering. Rather we would have to keep her guarded at home while negotiating with the most powerful family we could influence to marry her to their strongest son — regardless of what she thought about him.

I like living in a world where the weak have an equalizer and need not live in subjection to the strong. When I carry my 9mm I can, if need be, protect myself — even from someone many times my size. I’m too small to fight and too slow to run but thanks to my gun I don’t have to live in fear.”


4 posted on 09/24/2012 4:37:24 AM PDT by servo1969
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To: servo1969

God created man. Samuel Colt made them equal.


5 posted on 09/24/2012 5:09:28 AM PDT by fatboy (This protestant will have no part in the ecumenical movement)
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To: servo1969

I hope you don’t mind if I post my Mike Adams ping list


6 posted on 09/24/2012 5:54:43 AM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: alarm rider; Apple Pan Dowdy; BatGuano; Battle Axe; bayouranger; bboop; BenKenobi; Biggirl; ...

Mike Adams Column


Please Freepmail me if you want to be added, or removed from the ping list

7 posted on 09/24/2012 5:56:35 AM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: Kaslin

Not at all.


8 posted on 09/24/2012 6:02:34 AM PDT by servo1969
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To: servo1969

Thanks


9 posted on 09/24/2012 6:04:52 AM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: fatboy

Inscription on a Colt

Have no fear of any man,
No matter what his size.
When Danger threatens, call on me,
And I will Equalize.


10 posted on 09/24/2012 6:12:47 AM PDT by Little Ray (AGAINST Obama in the General.)
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To: servo1969

I love Mike Adams


11 posted on 09/24/2012 3:51:08 PM PDT by metmom (For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery)
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