Another Attempt at Book Banning

awcntdb
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 15:58:53 +0000

^But the answer to “Are they credible historians?” should not be “Yes, they are, because their choice and presentation of facts is consistent with my political prejudices”. It is a difficult thing in life, but useful, to learn that you are wrong, a lot.

I thought this was understood when I stated in Post #128 that sources should be checked against true original sources, such as letters, signed documents, books/articles by original authors, recordings, videos etc.

Regardless of your political leanings and whether you agree with the person ideologically or not, it is imperative to check the sources against each other and to check the validity of the cited sources,

Additionally, sources should not just be trusted based on their degrees and position on a prestigious faculty either.

My DS had a very interesting run-in with a top econ professor at his school. Note - this is a guy who advised the outgoing president a couple years back. In my DS’s class, there was a chapter in his textbook book explaining something that Adam Smith said stated from the Wealth of Nations, written in 1776.

The professor was explaining the concept, and my DS said this is not what he understood Adam Smith to mean and Smith did not say or imply as much. DS questioned this and the professor responded that this what he also interpreted it and so did the author, another top econ professor at another top school. He then asked my DS who would he rather learn from himself or his professors.

That evening, DS got his copy of Wealth of Nations and found the relevant passage and section being discussed in class. Turns out it was a rather succinct paragraph with a clear example of what was being discussed.

My DS in the following class again raised the question. Book in hand, he then read the paragraph EXACTLY as Adam Smith wrote it and asked the professor how he arrived at the interpretation he got, given that so much MORE was added in the interpretation, essentially changing what Adam Smith actually said.

This did not go over well that day, because even the students figured out the econ professor was “filling in” information that was clearly not part Adam Smith’s calculus and that the interpretation used in class would not have been approved by Adam Smith himself.

Hence, even extremely knowledgeable professors need to be double-checked historically
against original sources.

(Emphases mine)