MikeG
Senior Member.
I ran across this article on Memory Hole by James Tracy, the former Florida Atlantic University professor.
It struck me as an interesting counterpoint to my current class on conspiracy and U.S. history.
https://www.metabunk.org/college-course-on-conspiracies.t7085/
It also offers a few insights on James Tracy. [my emphasis]
http://memoryholeblog.com/2016/01/17/teaching-911-to-conspiracy-theorists/
Tracy’s premise is interesting. He is basically inverting the idea of conspiracy theory and attributing it to the global power structure. From this perspective, centers of power are actually on the fringe.
Or, in the case of poor Noam Chomsky, a progressive academic is fashioned into an agent of powerful interests.
His approach reminded me of what Michael Barkun called a “fact-fiction reversals” in his book A Culture of Conspiracy. (page 29)
Part of Tracy’s class involved “a brief informal survey” that asked his students about their September 11 experiences and the sources by which they obtained information about the event.
Frankly, I found Tracy’s application of his premise in class to be professionally appalling. [Again, my emphasis]
There are almost too many problems to point out, but here are a few just for starters.
Tracy indulges in an incredible amount of overgeneralization. How exactly were “tens of thousands of hours” of programming controlled and coordinated by the powers that be?
Given the fact that he is a professor of communications, I find it unbelievable that he discounts the different type of venues that Americans use to get news, particularly younger people like his students.
For example:
http://www.journalism.org/2015/06/01/millennials-political-news/
Tracy was not following his collective bargaining agreement under Article 5 Academic Freedom and Responsibility, which specifically addresses his obligations as a faculty member to:
https://www.metabunk.org/sandy-hook...ication-of-criticism.t1086/page-3#post-173558
It is clear that he had no interest whatsoever in any variety of opinions or perspectives.
I will leave it at that for now. I am curious to see what other people think.
It struck me as an interesting counterpoint to my current class on conspiracy and U.S. history.
https://www.metabunk.org/college-course-on-conspiracies.t7085/
It also offers a few insights on James Tracy. [my emphasis]
Tracy’s premise is interesting. He is basically inverting the idea of conspiracy theory and attributing it to the global power structure. From this perspective, centers of power are actually on the fringe.
Or, in the case of poor Noam Chomsky, a progressive academic is fashioned into an agent of powerful interests.
Part of Tracy’s class involved “a brief informal survey” that asked his students about their September 11 experiences and the sources by which they obtained information about the event.
Tracy indulges in an incredible amount of overgeneralization. How exactly were “tens of thousands of hours” of programming controlled and coordinated by the powers that be?
Given the fact that he is a professor of communications, I find it unbelievable that he discounts the different type of venues that Americans use to get news, particularly younger people like his students.
For example:
http://www.journalism.org/2015/06/01/millennials-political-news/
Tracy was not following his collective bargaining agreement under Article 5 Academic Freedom and Responsibility, which specifically addresses his obligations as a faculty member to:
https://www.metabunk.org/sandy-hook...ication-of-criticism.t1086/page-3#post-173558
It is clear that he had no interest whatsoever in any variety of opinions or perspectives.
I will leave it at that for now. I am curious to see what other people think.