[Ads-l] "No Irish need apply"

[Wilson Gray]

More simply put: the mere desire to make a buck and/or a name is sufficient
motivation for an attempt to re-write history.

On Tue, Aug 4, 2015 at 7:49 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "No Irish need apply"
>
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>
> These are not esoteric, arcane topics: ethnic and race relations/history =
> in the US, the Holocaust. People are rightly interested in them.
>
> If you're writing a commercial book, the hope is that "shocking =
> discovery" will generate sales. There is also money to be made on the =
> speaking circuit, via the web, and other channels if you can establish a =
> name for yourself in that niche. If you hit a sweet spot, you can make a =
> tidy living, not Trump money, to be sure, but a living. No guarantee of =
> course. There are lots of people who successfully do this in all sorts =
> of subject niches, many who produce quality work, some who don't.
>
> For academics, the allure is a new discovery, upsetting the paradigm, =
> tenure.=20
>
> Carving a name out for oneself and cashing in on the fame isn't =
> necessarily a bad thing. Pretty much anyone who writes a nonfiction book =
> is trying to do the same thing. The problem is when the dream clouds =
> reality and you end up ignoring the evidence.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
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>
> On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 9:20 AM, Joel Berson <berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> Wikipedia's article on Richard J. Jensen (the self-described Ph.D. =
> professor) has a section titled "The Debunking of Jensen's article: No =
> Irish Need Apply: A Myth of Victimization, 2002/03".
>
> What motivates the writing of papers and even books purporting to =
> "debunk" history, I wonder? And why do other people care? Ten or fifteen =
> years ago, someone wrote a book "demonstrating" that, IIRC, there were =
> no Nazi gas-chambers and/or crematoria, claiming that the buildings =
> were, in fact, otherly-purposed. This novel didn't enjoy much =
> circulation at Harvard, but it was one of the books borrowed most often =
> through the Harvard College Library Inter-Library Loan.
> "Otherly-purposed" is a jocular nonce-formation that I've invented, just =
> this moment. Let's see what Google says.
> Four hits, the oldest dating from 2010. *Still* behind the curve.
> Youneverknow.
>
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-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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