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Counterknowledge

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Author: Damian Thompson
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.
Category: Book

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Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st American Ed
Pages: 176
Number Of Items: 1
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Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.7 x 0.8

ISBN: 0393067696
Dewey Decimal Number: 001.96
EAN: 9780393067699
ASIN: 0393067696

Publication Date: September 17, 2008
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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
An important and compelling book on the viral dissemination of misinformation in today's world. We are being swamped with dangerous nonsense. From 9/11 conspiracy theories to Holocaust denial to alternative medicine, we are all experiencing an epidemic of demonstrably untrue descriptions of the world. For Damian Thompson, the misinformation industry is wreaking havoc on the once-lauded virtues of science and reason. Unproven theories and spurious claims are forms of "counterknowledge," and, helped by the Internet, they are creating a global generation of misguided adherents who repeat these untruths and lend them credence. Thompson explores our readiness to accept falsehoods and the viral role of technology in spreading quack remedies, pseudo-history, and creationist fanaticism. Following in the footsteps of Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion, Sam Harris's The End of Faith, and Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great, Counterknowledge is a brilliant defense of scientific proof in an age of fabrication. .

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 1-5 of 11

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Damian's Omen Too: Read only if you copy is 2 quid or less! July 25, 2009
SuperAmanda (London)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful

"If there's one thing I really get off on,
It's a nun suit painted on some old boxes
Gets me hot. Want to watch a dental hygiene movie?"

-Frank Zappa

Strictly Genteel! Conform or be cast out! I was actually pleasantly surprised by this book. It's atrociously bad and virulently hypocritical (Damian is editor-in-chief of The Catholic Herald!) but at the same time campy and dated before it even hit the shelves and campy is always good especially for 2quid from the guy in front of Tesco selling used books on Barking High street! I know Damian Thompson from the UK Telegraph where he has a blog that I perceive to be heavily based around racist Eugenics assertions about Black Americans and how great Catholicism is.
No descent from his Vatican approved Mel Gibson style mores are allowed. Speaking of which, many have felt that Pope Benedict was actually an extra on Barney Miller but Damian does not address this nor does he explore the long held belief that Adolf Eichmann became a roadie for Hawkwind. Still, the Davinci Code rant is the standout. It's always impressive when those debunking pseudo history hold characters in a fictional novel responsible for their actions. But still it is a bit sad... There is an expression I once heard "rich kids just can't rock n roll" it recalls Damian; he just can't get it going in the irreverence tradition, not with Popeman looming over his shoulders. He casts doubt on Afrocentric zealots yet anyone with even a slight foot in academia knows the actual existence of this type of scholarship is grossly exaggerated by white supremacists and the right wing to keep their OWN racist pseudoscience alive and not taken as gospel truth by the current crop of renowned black scholars. Damian acts as if these courses are some scaled black version of Blaxploitation film sets replete with "Kill whitey" professors and self hating blacks.
Like the "burning of bras" (as far as any serious scholar has been able to determine, NO EARLY FEMINIST DEMONSTRATION BURNED BRAS) , Thompson uses similar urban legends to debunk pseudo science. Bad sophistry. Damian has a hard time not stereotyping people and places but he provides enough self righteous narcissism to keep it interesting. His various champions aka multiple Amazon accounts that seem to pop up and defend him are entrancing as well.

1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing, incurious rant May 7, 2009
C. Rubincam (London, UK)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Thompson fails to provide an answer to one of the most interesting questions about conspiracy theories: why are particular theories more plausible to some individuals over others? Thompson's answer is that people believe in counterknowledge - a convenient 'catch-all' term for quite diverse beliefs - because they are delusional, ignorant, paranoid antisocials. Because Thompson characterizes individuals who believe in counterknowledge as indiscriminate - belief in one conspiracy theory guarantees endorsement of all - he misses the ways in which specific experiences make certain conspiracy theories more plausible than others. There are ample reasons why, for example, African-Americans should find a man-made cause for HIV plausible (the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, to mention only the most infamous). To Thompson, however, if you believe in this theory, your cognitive limitations must also lead you to believe in acupuncturists, alien abductions, homeopaths, and the MI5 assassination of Diana. In short, the specific reasons why certain conspiracies are plausible to particular groups of people is NOT the subject of this book. Rather, Thompson pleases himself and his fans by taking broad cheap shots at easy targets and conveniently excluding the Catholic Church from his analysis of counterknowledge. As the editor in chief of a Catholic magazine, I might not be surprised. As a fellow alumnus of the London School of Economics, I am embarrassed and disappointed.

2 out of 5 stars

The people who will read this book are not the people who need to read it March 20, 2009
Elizabeth Ray (Stockton, NJ United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

In Counterknowledge, Damian Thompson takes on Holocaust deniers, homeopathic medicine, alternate historians, and creationists and shows how they use books, the media, and the internet to disseminate disinformation. The author is from the UK, so most of the examples he gives come from Britain or the US. His book reveals that there are many people to be critical of, but he does seem to harp on some more than others: for example, he repeatedly chastises Dan Brown of Davinci Code fame for contributing to the proliferation of inaccurate revisionist history - Davinci Code is FICTION!

Thompson makes little more than a token effort at making suggestions to fight the proliferation of counterknowledge. He suggests exposing frauds through internet blogs, but this strikes me as preaching to the choir - a person reading a blog for skeptics is unlikely to believe the counterknowledge anyway.

Though portions of the book are interesting (particularly the section on alternative medicine), the writing style is very, very dry. As a result, the people who most need to hear what he has to say never will because they will never make it through this book. Although short, it is plodding.

3 out of 5 stars

A lean and cautionary smorgasbord about false knowledge. February 8, 2009
Saty Satya Murti (NorthEast Kansas)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is a book about pseudoscience, pseudohistory, health quackery, fear mongering and false knowledge. Thompson cites instances of shallow inquiries, collateral and advantageous spread of low caliber information, unsubstantiated assertions and pseudoauthority. He writes about holocaust denial, pre-Columbian discovery of America by the Chinese, Da Vinci code, evolution vs. creation controversy, and ostensible MMR-autism link. He details the existence of proponents with academic sounding qualifications and even universities with dubious standards. He laments the general gullibility of the public. This is a well-referenced small fonted 162 page book. Alas, there is no index!

I tend to be not so harsh about the lacunae in this book. Of course, Thompson has not produced an encyclopedic work on anti- knowledge; there are gaps, indeed. For example his chapter on "Desperate Remedies" discusses alternative medicine, homeopathy, chiropractic and nutritional therapies in a negative vein. His stand is not only supportable but also not inaccurate in general. He leaves traditional allopathic medicine broadly unassailed. This position, however, is not entirely neutral in my opinion.

We, physicians who practice traditional, not alternative, medicine, were eager to use hormone therapy. We created diseases based on trivial or incidental imaging data or social inconveniences. The harms brought about by hormone therapy, by unnecessary surgeries based on incidental MRI findings or filthy profits gained by overtreatment without strong evidence are well-known by now. Books by Marcia Angell ("The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It") or Melody Petersen ("Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs") draw a much better picture of what is not so correct or healthy about the knowledge base with which current medical orthodoxy operates. These weaknesses are also products of counterknowledge, but Thompson does not discuss them in any detail. Is it because these are not considered "alternative?"

If it is pseudoscience, in general, that one wishes to bemoan then I recommend an earlier work by Charles Winn and Arthur Wiggins ("Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction: Where Real Science Ends...and Pseudoscience Begins"). This is a complementary and humorous account about pseudoscience; it delves into specifics of fallacies and illogic extant in contemporary thinking.

Thus, there is some stale repetition of topics already well-covered by others; nevertheless this book will serve those who are not experts in every arena where counterknowledge is likely to be hiding and thriving. This is a lean cautionary smorgasbord. There is something for everyone - that is the strength of Thompson's book. I enjoyed reading about pseudohistory, an area of unfamiliarity to me. There were a few noteworthy passages. Here is one from the last chapter titled, "Living with Counterknowledge": ..."The practitioners of counterknowledge teach us that the universe is not arbitrary, that things happen for a reason."

A random and arbitrary world is a frightening concept for those of us with weaker constitutions; this fear is perhaps the sustaining force of counterknowledge.

3 out of 5 stars

A not entirely successful broadside against some worthy targets January 22, 2009
David M. Giltinan (San Francisco)
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

I wanted to like this book more than I did. But Damian Thompson was not a particularly appealing advocate for the forces of reason. His tone throughout is one of self-righteous superiority, with the result that after a couple of chapters, it's like being trapped at a dinner party with a know-it-all guest - you don't care how right he is - you just wish he'd shut up already.

Not that his targets aren't worthy. They fall into three main categories: pseudoscience, pseudohistory, and what might be thought of as examples of "popular delusions and the madness of crowds". Thompson gives particular scrutiny to:

# Creation "science" , "intelligent design" and the assorted shenanigans of evolution-bashers.
# The prevalence of untested, unproven "alternative therapies" (which he refers to as "Quack remedies"), from homeopathy to reflexology to aromatherapy.
# Assorted conspiracy theories (primarily related to 9/11)
# Examples of "pseudohistory": Jesus's lovechild survives, but the Catholic Church maintains a conspiracy of silence. The Phoenicians/Israelites/Celts/Greeks/Vikings/Chinese discovered America in (choose your pre-Columbus date). Aliens (or technologically super-savvy ancient civilizations) roamed the earth, building the pyramids and Mayan temples until perishing in the lost city of Atlantis!
# Marketing phenomena such as "The Secret", dubious dietary supplements, QLink bracelets with crystal-based 'healing powers'.

All of this makes Thompson righteously indignant. And I'm certainly not going to defend any of them here - indeed, all this bogus 'knowledge', shoddy scholarship, and fuzzy thinking does deserve our skepticism, at times our condemnation. But from a purely pragmatic point of view, Thompson would be more persuasive if he didn't wax quite so white-hot indignant about each and every example he cites. After all, not every example of 'counterknowledge' has equally serious consequences - some are considerably more damaging than others. Bogus science which denies the link between HIV and AIDS, or which makes unwarranted claims about a putative link between MMR vaccination and autism is clearly actively dangerous, as it can cause people to avoid therapies proven to be beneficial. Those who promulgate this kind of misinformation, in the service of their own political or profit-driven agenda, deserve to be challenged and possibly earn our moral censure. But no matter how much the success of Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret" or Gavin Menzies's "1421: The Year China Discovered America" might irritate Thompson (and clearly, it does!), it is hard to see these books as being quite as dangerous or reprehensible as,say, holocaust denial used to foment anti-Semitism or the South African government's distortion of information related to the cause of AIDS.

Thompson's uncalibrated indignation has the unfortunate side-effect of suggesting that every instance of 'counterknowledge' deserves equal condemnation, which ultimately hurts his argument, though not fatally. A far more serious flaw throughout the book is what I can only term a persistent anti-Islamic strain, which is hard to ignore, and seems particularly unfortunate given the author's position as editor-in-chief of The Catholic Herald .

For instance, Thompson claims that "Islamic Creationism is turning into a serious problem for British sixth-form colleges and universities", but fails to substantiate this claim with anything but the flimsiest of anecdotal evidence. He goes on to assert that the damage of Creation Science is limited within the United States because it is still "essentially located within the American cultic milieu", while "Islamic creationism" by contrast is a unified and increasingly influential component of a wider Islamic worldview". Which might be OK if he didn't then go on to establish that almost all of the anti-Darwinist propaganda promulgated in the name of Islam is the product of a single individual. In these sections Thompson appears clearly guilty of applying differential standards of evidence to support his claims.

In the end, the most useful part of this book was the "Further Reading" section that concludes it.

Showing reviews 1-5 of 11

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