Defending Bullshit

[Brad DeLong]

>On Fri, 26 Jan 2001, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>>
>>  "Liar" is a word that should be reserved for people who consciously
>>  or semiconsciously say something they know not to be true. Chris
>>  isn't doing that. He's making an argument that you, I, and almost all
>>  scientists believe to be false, but I think he really believes what
>>  he's saying.

There does come a point at which unwillingness to learn what is going 
on crosses the line between truth and falsehood. The libel standard 
for public figures, after all, speaks not about knowingly false but 
of "reckless disregard" for whether what is being said is true or 
false.

In this case the reckless disregard, the intellectual laziness, the 
unwillingness to learn *anything* rises to an extraordinarily high 
level. Note that the particular case at issue is not whether HIV has 
been isolated but whether there is any "evidence" that HIV has been 
isolated. I've seen X-ray photographs of crystals of HIV. They are 
evidence that it has been isolated.

More damage is done to the language by *not* calling Chris a liar 
than by calling him a liar. And I am happy to join those who do so.

Brad DeLong