On the Evolutionary Psychology mailing list, dangerous ideas thrive

[Larry Gorbet]

Rudolf Gaudio <gaudio at u.arizona.edu>

>I clicked the link on Dr. Pitchford's earlier e-mail and ended up on a page
>that provides wonderful data for discourse analysts interested in
>advertising and mass-marketing.  The page is devoted to praising not only
>the Evo-Psych mailing list, but also the efforts of its founder, one Dr.
>Ian Pitchford.

Fascinating analysis.  Now would someone (perhaps Rudolf) explain to
me how his category "advertising and mass-marketing" applies to the
article cited but not to *any* popular press review of academic work
which turns out to be mostly positive?  Or maybe it only applies if
such a review is of work which the writer disagrees with?

I did read Andrew Brown's article and found it no more "devoted to
praising" than many a review in the journals in which many on this
list publish.

I frankly got the feeling that most of the responses on this list
have been driven by an aversion to anything positive said about
evolutionary psychology than to anything at all about the specific
piece mentioned or about the online list it is about.  If so, I find
that embarrassing to our profession and to our practice of it.

- Larry

--
Larry Gorbet                         lgorbet at unm.edu
Anthropology & Linguistics Depts.    (505) 883-7378
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM, U.S.A.