OK, it looks like we need an update on some of the thoughts and issues raised<\/p>\n
by<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n the while "blatant lies" thing<\/a>. I have been in email contact with the person<\/p>\n who authored that list and it seems that it may be more legit in some ways than<\/p>\n these things usually are. <\/p>\n At the very least, Joseph<\/a> seems pretty earnest about trying<\/p>\n to help people. More importantly, he is willing to hold a discussion about his<\/p>\n ideas and defend them articulately, and that counts for a lot.<\/p>\n In any case, I am willing to take a more wait and see attitude about Josephs<\/p>\n motivations. It looks like there is more to this than the usual pathetic attempt<\/p>\n to score political points by setting up fictitious arguments. This guy really<\/p>\n believes there is a problem, and seems to be looking to solve it.<\/p>\n There are still some real problems in my mind with "Blatant lies…", I still<\/p>\n think most of those supposedly pervasive myths are nothing of the type. I think<\/p>\n they have taken on a life of their own where they are passed back and forth<\/p>\n among crusaders as if they are facts… almost exactly like we can imagine a<\/p>\n group of witch hunters trying to deal with the "common knowledge" that their<\/p>\n foes can see through the eyes of animals.<\/p>\n If you spend enough time fighting something, people eventually assume it is<\/p>\n really there.<\/p>\n On the other hand, many email replies have seemed to indicate to me that<\/p>\n maybe I am inadequately informed about how pervasive at least one of these lies<\/p>\n may be… the idea that there are training houses who claim a lineage going back<\/p>\n generations into the past.<\/p>\n A challenge to my readers then…<\/b><\/p>\n