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Finding Intellectual Grifters: Five Rules that Help

Finding Intellectual Grifters: Five Rules that Help

Last updated on: July 25, 2016 at 1:36 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

Finding Intellectual Grifters: Five Rules that Help 2016-07-25T01:36:51-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

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AUGUST_RODIN_O_pensador_(vista_frontal) So called intellectuals can be a snobby bunch refusing to consider their own opinions and developing an insider mentality. For more than a century, contributions of African-American poets, writers, or scientists were ignored or downplayed, because the establishment did not want to see what had been done outside their guild.

I once was chatting with a biologist at the University of Ohio about evolution and he said it controlled all his work (bovine biology if I recall). Sadly, his understanding of evolution was pretty far out of date. His work was sound and it was obvious that his evolution was really evolutionism. It did not control his lab science (it could not have!), but it did give his work meaning.

He was closed to alternative points of view. Maybe he should have been, this is not an argument for intelligent design, but his reasons were very bad. As a gatekeeper, he was shutting down the discussion without having good reasons.

The most excellent news is that our technology now allows alternative points of view to get out. The gatekeepers cannot keep a poet with religious interests, for example, from publishing. Minority groups do not yet have equal access to technology, but my experience as a teacher in Houston suggests that technological penetration is getting there.

Unfortunately, the gatekeepers were not all bad. They did keep out good stuff or alternative points of view, but they also demanded a certain level of excellence. We are not overwhelmed with “public intellectuals” who peddle dangerous ideas (autism is caused by vaccines!) or grifters selling products that tell us what we want to hear (Noah’s Ark has been found!).

Gadflys are good and the local Socrates might get killed by the guild. For every Socrates, however, there are one hundred hucksters selling what we hope is true.

How can the rest of us tell when someone is a grifter or when the “guild” is just against an alternative point of view? Here are five rules that have served me well. I will apply these rules to conservative, Christian public intellectuals, but a similar type list could be formed for outside the box liberal gadflys.

Always be more suspicious of what we hope is true.

This is a good rule of thumb as our barriers are down to good news. Take an Internet story that says: “Conclusive Evidence of Exodus Found.” As a Christian I think: “Cool. I hope it is true.” The minute I hope it is true, then I must test my hopes. Faith is substantial hope after all.

Test the story before linking to it. What are conservative Christian scholars saying? If somebody found the body of Joseph, Christian colleges would have seminars on the find without end. Papers would be written. Apologists would be rejoicing. What would not happen is that link bait would appear in your feed without support.

If you find a few serious scholars at Christian places repudiating the work, take this seriously. We don’t have much free time and swatting down grifters is time consuming and fills our feeds with hate mail. (“Why don’t you believe the Bible like “Dr.” Fraud?”)

Look for connections to an accredited Christian college.

There are fully (regionally) accredited Christian colleges that are very, very conservative. There are schools that are only very conservative and some that are merely conservative. If the public intellectual cannot find one of those schools to back their work, they are almost surely a fraud.

Why?

I have worked in these schools for twenty years. Most of us want to have the church’s back and have sacrificed reputation and money to work in Christian settings. We have our share of grifters (don’t get me started), but also fine mainstream scholars. Schools draw different boundaries on doctrine, but we also meet and talk.

For the most part, we know the frauds.

Sadly, there are exceptions, we are not perfect, which demonstrates that if a “thinker” cannot find an accredited home, he must be very bad indeed. Otherwise, somebody would be happy to have him on the team.

These two rules would eliminate most grifters, but not all. Hence, three more rules I use.

The public intellectual does not have a problematic Internet trail. Follow the money.

Google the person. See the critics. You would expect a good scholar like Dr. Paul Nelson to have liberal critics and he has them. Do you see most Christian scholars (from a wide range of denominations) calling him a fraud? You will not. He is a good scholar and a good man even if you don’t agree with his conclusions.

A “bad guy” will almost always have troubling money issues. He will often have a shadow organization (501c3) that he uses. See if the group has been under fire. Is it part of Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability? That is a minimum. If it isn’t, big trouble.

The good scholar enjoys critics and engages them with integrity.

Suppose the grifter has managed to hide from Google. He is doing bad work and it starts to catch up with him. He gets a critic who points out a problem. The grifter will always attack immediately while the genuine scholar is thankful.

I have written popular level books and specialized in general education. I have produced (some) more technical writing. As a scholar or public intellectual (if I count), it is a thrill when someone interacts. That is what scholars do! I have certainly been wrong and had to correct errors. My favorite case was when an evolutionary scholar pointed out that I kept giving Alfred Wallace a title (“Lord Alfred Wallace”). I had gotten this “fact” from a book and it was wrong.

I was happy to retract the error, apologize, and move on. (Don’t get me wrong. I was also shamefaced, but so goes scholarship.)

The grifter will attack the person (atheist!) or cite a conspiracy (those scholars!). He will point to mysterious knowledge that he alone has. I once met someone who had a map to Atlantis and so was sure that my (considered) opinion that Plato made up Atlantis was false. Sadly, his map was not compelling.

Check the footnotes or sources the person is using.

I once needed to learn about nineteenth century spiritualism for a lecture I was giving. This meant reading many books and asking an expert, Dr. Craig Hazen, for more books. Former students are always checking in and suggesting my views would be enriched by deeper reading.

If someone has written a popular level book, excellent. I hope my articles here on Plato, Shakespeare, and ideas are helpful in the same way a book for the general public might be. A book or a career, however, needs to show its work. Most books should have a bibliography if it is making important intellectual claims. If it has a bibliography, see if it looks like the author has read books from mainstream Christian and secular publishers. If it does not have a bibliography, check out other books by the author on the topic. If a person quotes someone, then there should be a footnote or endnote or something to show you where the quotation came from so you can check it.

I once read a book by a conservative politician and found at least two classical quotations that were spurious. This is not good.

I know nobody wants to do this much work, but we have to do so. Why? The editors and gatekeepers have broken down. Even some reputable publishers don’t fact check or push a famous author if they know he will sell books. I know of very bad books that have made it to publication by this route. If X wrote it, then they print it.

This is not so we can all become censorious, but so conservative Christianity can speak to the world with a clear, honest voice. Let’s not muddle it with academic grifters or imposters.

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