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Little people and little acceptance
Kotliar (viomar@ATHENS.NET)
Fri, 5 Apr 1996 12:56:33 -0500
newsgroups. They have been discussed in detail there, and while it seems
that few were convinced of his theories he certainly has plenty of airplay
for his ideas. I think for the most point that the responses have been
measured and focused on lines of evidence. He simply has not made a case
for his theory that there was a race of 18 inch people running about (and
perhaps still hiding out in the bush) in the Yucatan. No one "seemed"
threatened or unresponsive to his ideas. THEY WERE SIMPLY NOT CONVINCED AND
THIS PISSED HIM OFF. To assume as he does that simply making a proposition
means that proposition deserves automatic acceptance seems odd. It doesn't
work that way for those "inside" the academic establishment, why should
acceptance on faith be applied to theories presented from those outside the
"hallowed" halls. I am not sure why he thinks he will have a more
favorable reception on a much more argumentative and less patient group. I
am doubtful that he will find his ideas embraced with any easier facility
here , but I wish him all the best in his efforts to argue his case. I
merely wish to correct the impression that he has given that his ideas were
not accepted simply because they "challenged established thought". This
ignores the fact that the factual merits of his theory have been given
serious discussion elsewhere. The wonderful opportunities for the
democratization of knowledge offered by new technologies such as the
Internet require MORE discrimination, scepticism and critical incredulity
rather than less. To value all information equally is to regard all
information as worthless.
John Pastore wrote:
> Well I like to theorize too, and I introduced a new theory which a
>few archaeologists thought was "challenging the authority of
> scholarship".
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