Here are a few interesting links to other blogs, around the topic of the media and where they turn when looking for well-informed perspectives. As I mention this, I am aware of the attention that some lead codices have been getting, in spite of scholars expressing concerns about their authenticity. The irony is that I know of an instance of a journalist saying they could not use a scholar’s blog as a primary source, yet apparently someone who has no relevant scholarly credentials can be cited as authoritative?
I find this sad, since one of the reasons that scholars blog is precisely because there is so much misinformation out there. As I have said before, scholars can be wrong, but that doesn’t mean that someone with no expertise is equally likely or more likely to be right than the experts are.
Anyway, here are some links related to this topic.
Jim Davila and David Meadows discuss the reports that a “scholar” was caught smuggling antiquities.
Lawrence Krauss, in a piece in Scientific American, suggests that those whose religious beliefs do actual harm to others need to be held accountable.
Jason Boyett shares 21 things that you should know about Harold Camping. Some of them are actually interesting, such as that Camping is an annihilationist rather than believing in hell. But Boyett also emphasizes (in case anyone was in doubt) that Camping isn’t a scholar.
Also tangentially related, Amy Frykholm expresses the feeling of not fitting in either at the “Rapture will be Saturday” parties or at the “Hedonists Left Behind” parties.
And even Stephen Colbert mentions Harold Camping’s predictions:
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