Intellectual Dishonesty—Bane of the American Intellect

Much is disseminated about the prevalence of dishonesty in America: dishonesty in advertising (often euphemistically called puffery), dishonesty is politics, dishonesty in accounting, dishonest financial planners, counterfeit or pirated products, plagiarism, even cheating in the classroom. But there is one kind of dishonesty that is rarely mentioned—intellectual dishonesty, which is not only prevalent, it is subversive.

What is intellectual honesty? It is an attribute of scholars and scientists that is usually defined as the willingness to follow an argument or evidence wherever it leads, regardless of one’s personal inclinations. As such, it is usually associated with researchers.

The word, ‘research,’ when used by discriminating writers, has a distinct meaning. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Synonyms places the word into the following group of words with similar but not identical meanings: inquiry, inquisition, investigation, inquest, and probe. It states that these words “are here compared as meaning a search for truth, knowledge, or information. The meanings of these words, while similar, differ in important ways. For instance, “probe . . . applies to an investigation that searches deeply and extensively with the intent to detect wrongdoing. . . .” while “research . . . is restricted to inquiries or investigations carried on . . . especially for the sake of uncovering new knowledge, or getting at the facts when these are not known, or of discovering laws of nature. . . .”

America is cursed with a lot of entities that pass themselves off as research institutes, most of which were founded to propagate a specific philosophical, religious, political, or economic view. The word “research,” when applied to these institutes is a misuse of language that amounts to prevarication, dishonesty in every sense. One cannot be engaged in “uncovering new knowledge, or getting at the facts when these are not known, or of discovering laws of nature” if the thesis to be advocated is assumed to be known from the beginning. What these institutes do is not research.

These institutions, if correct usage be applied, are described by a different group of words: publicity, propaganda, promotion, and ballyhoo. We all know what publicity is, and we may even think we know what propaganda is. But some knowledge of this term’s history is revealing. “It was originally used as a short term for the Congregation for the Propagation of Faith,” which is a Papal department. Its purpose was to convince people to accept the absolute truth of Christianity regardless of any evidence or argument to the contrary. In time, “the term came to be applied to the concerted or systematic efforts of any group that tries to convert others to its way of thinking,” which, of course, is exactly what these prevaricating institutes do. If they were named correctly, i.e., in accordance with recognized standard English usage, they would properly be called Propaganda Pushers.

The insidious aspect of these institutes is their abject intellectual dishonesty. Like any religious institution that holds “the absolute truth,” the people in these institutes reject any evidence to the contrary, not by argument, but by merely ignoring it. In that way, they can never be dissuaded. They are not merely liars, not merely inveterate liars, but absolute liars. The only way these institutes can be stopped is to label them honestly, i.e., by referring to them as propagandists.

The list of such institutes is long; to list them is not practical. However, whenever you come across an article or news release attributed to an institute, before believing its content, go to http://www.prwatch.org/ and search for the institute by name. Prwatch will tell you if the institute in question was established to promote a specific point of view. Exercise a hefty degree of skepticism when reading such articles and news releases.