-Caveat Lector- "...Critical thinking is seemingly a lost art. We, the participants who create urban legends, are able and willing to sever the necessity for any and all discernment and veritas (accountability). The broader and less verifiable the claims the better. "This goes to the heart of the conversation on politeness, methinks. Challenges to ideas are seen as personal attacks: seeking clarification is seen as impolite: asking for verification is anathema. Thus we foster misinformation and never confront our own ignorance. "The authority and validity for what people say to one another has to come from the one relaying that information. As we take responsibility for the validity of our written or spoken words it then becomes imperative to be, if not cynical, at least thoroughly skeptical of what we hear and read. It is an obligation to fully assess the message before we pass on to others. "Each of us holds personal moral and ethical standards that are, to some degree, idiosyncratic. Be conscientious, ethical and exacting of yourself and do not accept less of others. Profound responsibility, impeccability, and veracity are the hallmark of a seeker and of a sharer of knowledge. Be responsible, question everything and yes, everyone, self most of all. "Learning discrimination and thinking critically is imperative, especially in a world that requires no authority and where "anything" goes is the standard. KNOW your source!..." =================================== >Theresa wrote: "Super Bowl Sunday has the highest rate of domestic violence >than any other day of the year." > >The horrors of domestic violence are no respecter of day and date, without >a doubt. Advocacy is admirable. However, I wonder if this urban myth does >more harm than good...credibility does count. > >There is no evidence, statistical or otherwise, that indicates Super Bowl >Sunday has a higher rate of domestic violence than any other Sunday. > >"The New Mythology" by Christina Hoff Sommers: > >"A news conference was called in Pasadena, California, the site of the >forthcoming [1993] Super Bowl game, by a coalition of women's groups. At >the news conference, reporters were informed that Super Bowl Sunday is "the >biggest day of the year for violence against women. "Forty per cent more >women would be battered on that day. In support of the 40 per cent figure, >Sheila Kuehl of the California Women's Law Center cited a study done at >Virginia's Old Dominion University three years before. The presence of Linda >Mitchell, a representative of a media "watchdog" group called Fairness and >Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), lent credibility to the claim." > >The claim made good headlines and was picked up by radio/television talk >shows, newspaper columnists, and in some areas was broadcast as public >service messages. A legend was born. > >It was not until late January 1993 that Ken Ringle, a Washington Post staff >writer, looked to confirm the statistics. What he found is summed up by >Barbara and David Mikkelson: "Ms. Kuehl had distorted the results of the >Old Dominion study at the original press conference, and Linda Mitchell, a >representative of a media watchdog group called Fairness and Accuracy in >Reporting (FAIR) who was present at that conference, was aware of the >distortion but did not challenge her colleague. "I wouldn't do that in front >of the media," Ms. Mitchell said. "She has a right to report it as she >wants." > >http://www.snopes2.com/spoons/fracture/supbowl.htm > >Alan Dundes, folklorist, compiled a list of Super Bowl legends including the >marked increase in domestic violence and the danger of all those toilets >being flushed simultaneously: "Every culture's legends express that >culture's values. Super Bowl legends usually involve numbers and a sense of >enormity. The idea of big numbers, of being bigger than other people, is >very American." > >Critical thinking is seemingly a lost art. We, the participants who create >urban legends, are able and willing to sever the necessity for any and all >discernment and veritas (accountability). The broader and less verifiable >the claims the better. > >This goes to the heart of the conversation on politeness, methinks. >Challenges to ideas are seen as personal attacks: seeking clarification is >seen as impolite: asking for verification is anathema. Thus we foster >misinformation and never confront our own ignorance. > >The authority and validity for what people say to one another has to come >from the one relaying that information. As we take responsibility for the >validity of our written or spoken words it then becomes imperative to be, if >not cynical, at least thoroughly skeptical of what we hear and read. It is >an obligation to fully assess the message before we pass on to others. > >Each of us holds personal moral and ethical standards that are, to some >degree, idiosyncratic. Be conscientious, ethical and exacting of yourself >and do not accept less of others. Profound responsibility, impeccability, >and veracity are the hallmark of a seeker and of a sharer of knowledge. Be >responsible, question everything and yes, everyone, self most of all. > >Learning discrimination and thinking critically is imperative, especially >in a world that requires no authority and where "anything" goes is the >standard. KNOW your source! > >Magazine: National Review >Issue: June 27, 1994 > >Title: The New Mythology > >Author: Christina Hoff Sommers > >Thursday, January 27. A news conference was called in Pasadena, California, >the site of the forthcoming Super Bowl game, by a coalition of women's >groups. At the news conference, reporters were informed that Super Bowl >Sunday is "the biggest day of the year for violence against women." Forty >per cent more women would be battered on that day. In support of the 40 per >cent figure, Sheila Kuehl of the California Women's Law Center cited a study >done at Virginia's Old Dominion University three years before. The presence >of Linda Mitchell, a representative of a media "watchdog" group called >Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), lent credibility to the claim. > >At about the same time a very large media mailing was sent by Dobisky >Associates, FAIR's publicists, warning at-risk women: "Don't remain at home >with him during the game." The idea that sports fans are prone to attack >their wives or girlfriends on that climactic day persuaded many men as well: >Robert Lipsyte of the New York Times would soon be referring to the "Abuse >Bowl." > >Friday, January 28. > >Lenore Walker, a Denver psychologist and author of The Battered Woman, >appeared on Good Morning America claiming to have compiled a ten-year record >showing a sharp increase in violent incidents against women on Super Bowl >Sundays. > >Here, again, a representative from FAIR, Laura Flanders, was present to >lend credibility to the claim. > >Saturday, January 29. A story in the Boston Globe written by Lynda Gorov >reported that women's shelters and hotlines are "flooded with more calls >from victims [on Super Bowl Sunday] than on any other day of the year." >Miss Gorov cited "one study of women's shelters out West" that "showed a >40 percent climb in calls, a pattern advocates said is repeated nationwide, >including in Massachusetts." > >In this roiling sea of media credulity was a lone island of professional >integrity. Ken Ringle, a Washington Post staff writer, took the time to call >around. When he asked Janet Katz -- professor of sociology and criminal >justice at Old Dominion, and one of the principal authors of the study cited >by Miss Kuehl -- about the connection between violence and football games, >she said: "That's not what we found at all." Instead, she told him, they had >found that an increase in emergency-room admissions "was not associated with >the occurrence of football games in general." > >Mr. Ringle checked with Lynda Gorov, who told him she had never seen the >study she cited but had been told of it by FAIR. Linda Mitchell of FAIR told >Mr. Ringle that the authority for the 40 per cent figure was Lenore Walker. >Miss Walker's office, in turn, referred calls on the subject to Michael >Lindsey, a Denver psychologist and an authority on battered women. Pressed >by Mr. Ringle, Mr. Lindsey admitted he could find no basis for the report. >"I haven't been any more successful than you in tracking down any of this," >he said. "You think maybe we have one of these myth things here?" > >Later, other reporters pressed Miss Walker to detail her findings. She said >they were not available. "We don't use them for public consumption," she >explained, "we used them to guide us in advocacy projects." > >It would have been more honest for the feminists who initiated the campaign >to admit that there was no basis for saying that football fans are more >brutal to women than are chess players or Democrats nor any basis for saying >that there was a significant rise in domestic violence on Super Bowl Sunday. > >Ken Ringle's unraveling of the "myth thing" was published on the front page >of the Washington Post on January 31. On February 2, Boston Globe staff >writer Bob Hohler published what amounted to a retraction of Miss Gorov's >story. Mr. Hohler had done some more digging and had gotten FAIR's Steven >Rendell to back off from the organization's earlier support of the claim. >"It should not have gone out in FAIR materials," said Mr. Rendell. > >Linda Mitchell would later acknowledge that she was aware during the >original news conference that Miss Kuehl was misrepresenting the Old >Dominion study. Mr. Ringle asked her whether she did not feel obligated to >challenge her colleague. "I wouldn't do that in front of the media," Miss >Mitchell said. "She has a right to report it as she wants." > >The shelters and hot lines, which monitored the Sunday of the 27th Super >Bowl with special care, reported no variation in the number of calls for >help that day, not even in Buffalo, whose team (and fans) had suffered a >crushing defeat. > >But despite Ken Ringle's expose, the Super Bowl "statistic" will be with us >for a while, doing its divisive work of generating fear and resentment. In >the book How to Make the World a Better Place for Women in Five Minutes a >Day, a comment under the heading "Did You Know?" informs readers that "Super >Bowl Sunday is the most violent day of the year, with the highest reported >number of domestic battering cases." How a belief in that misandrist canard >can make the world a better place for women is not explained. > >In the spirit of defeating misinformation and seeking and sharing >knowledge, >XXXXX <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
