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Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Smackdowns? Smacksdown? Fisking, Anyway on Various Issues

What is agitprop?  Originally, it was a technique developed in the early years of the Soviet Union to "inculcate and promote appropriate social class values among the masses".

The meaning has shifted over time to imply agitating the mind through an selective use of facts, or outright distortions, to manipulate opinion.

I need some kind of agitprop deflector -- not an aluminum foil deflector beanie but something better.   Truth and Nuance Spray™®©  , maybe.

Ann Coulter is the current poster girl for agitprop.  There's a whole blog devoted to fisking the inaccuracies in her current book.

Dr. Mark Geier and Mr. David Geier are opinion leaders in the "mercury causes autism" Big Lie (see here for the definition of Big Lie).  Their views have been fisked (brief samples here here here here) ; Kathleen Seidel  of Neurodiversity now reveals David Geier's outright lie about his academic affiliations.  Please check back at the Neurodiversity Weblog for further installments.

Abstinence-only sex education recieved a big blow in 2005 from a study that  documented  "the lack of efficacy of virginity pledges in reducing STD rates ".  The Abstinence Clearinghouse tried to spin the bad news away;  writing at Here's  What's Left Heather fisked the spin.  More bad news for abstinence-only reproductive education being scientifically validated   here here and here.

And an aside: Uhhm, why does the Abstinence Clearinghouse need a War Room?

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