google.com, pub-4909507274277725, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 Slapinions: My Thoughts - On the Never Ending Quest for the "Twist" that Makes the Truth Sell (Again)

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Tuesday, January 30, 2024

My Thoughts - On the Never Ending Quest for the "Twist" that Makes the Truth Sell (Again)

Anything and everything will be disputed by academia. 

No one gets their name in print by saying "The established understanding of this text/action/ event is correct and there's nothing left to say about it" - even if that established understanding is, in fact, correct. 

No one. No matter how great the writer, or how famous their name. 

It's exhausting.

Before you go labeling me a flat-earther, I'm not talking about fields like medicine and hard science where you should be emphasizing new research and new ideas.

Even in the liberal arts I'm not above revisiting even a well-traveled topic once every few decades or whenever the fundamental basis of our comprehension has changed - if you discover that JFK faked his death, yes, then let's revisit the Warren report, shall we? 

What I *am* saying is that caution should be exercised whenever you see a new secondary source put forth information or a point of view notably at odds with what has come before. It doesn't mean its wrong, and in fact in might be the course-correction needed to put the tale right . . . but too often, especially in biographies, what gets you published is novelty; what gets you sales is dirt, and neither word necessarily includes the concept of "truth."





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