Damian Thompson (1) (1962–)

Did you ever see the Mel Gibson film Conspiracy? It was a comedy in which Gibson played a paranoid conspiracy theorist who just happened to get it right which, according to the hundred monkeys with one hundred typewriters approach, he was bound to do at least once.

In this enlightened 21st Century, many of those who laughed at Mad Mel and dismiss Greek myths and mediaeval miracles have no problem believing many more than six unbelievable things before breakfast: in other words, they are show more Counterknowledge enthusiasts.

Counterknowledge is misinformation presented as fact and believed by millions, but which is actually factually incorrect, or highly unlikely, but improbable either way.
Thompson pinpoints three areas in particular which are sp corrupted by Counterknowledge that the fact is often given the same respect as the scientifically proven fact.

The Catholic Church may have given the nod to Darwin’s theories of evolution, but they are anathema to many fundamentalists, both Christian and Muslim, who believe in Creationism, a pseudoscience that undermines scientific discoveries.

Psuedohistory has also seen a massive revival, thinks – in part – to Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code: it may be a mere novel, but 40% of Americans now believe conspiracy theories involving Jesus, and that the [Catholic] Church is concealing information.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine [CAM] has never been so popular since Quacks were outlawed in Britain in 1868: the ‘worried well’ [i.e. Middle-class hypochondriacs] have espoused the services of chiropractors, homeopaths, reflexologists, aromatherapists and acupuncturists with enthusiasm.

“The US government knew in advance about the plan to crash a passenger jet into the World Trade Center. There is a link between childhood autism and the MMR triple vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella. A Chinese fleet circumnavigated the globe in the early 15th century, reaching America 70 years before Columbus.”

If any of the above statements make you see red, this book will merely be preaching to the converted. If however you agree with Dan brown, think Graham Hancock is a reputable researcher, believe the structure of a cell too complex to have evolved though natural selection, and slavishly follow the nutritional advice of Patrick Holford, please read Counterknowledge.

Well researched, excellently written and eminently readable, this book on ‘conspiracy theories, quack medicine, bogus science and fake history’ is an asset to any library. show less

Counterknowledge was a very quick read -- I finished it in about two hours, and a very worthwhile read. This book is a rise to arms against the misinformation that clouds modern day thinking. Rather than speaking out against the institutions that purport this wrong-thinking, the book speaks out for a new Enlightenment and respect for the methodologies that modern science values. The book presents its arguments in a sound, logical manner that makes it easy reading while not devaluing the show more importance of its message in the least. show less

"My name is Ken and I am addicted to books....." I almost think that Mr Thompson would approve of my 'coming out'. He certainly takes the idea of addiction to the extreme.

There are large parts of this book which I found fascinating and well worth reading but the author does have a tendency to take things beyond their limits and announces truisms, without any sign of evidence to back them up. Internet pornography is a growing problem - this is undoubtedly true because the internet is still show more expanding but, Mr Thompson waves aside the fact that it is replacing top shelf magazines. He feels that internet smut is dragging us all into its clutches and he asserts, without any evidence that, once one has been infected with this terrible addiction, one is drawn, inevitably, into child pornography (unless one is a Catholic priest, in which case, it is merely a sign of one's loneliness and does no harm!)

Early in the text, Damien Thompson launches a rebuke to an American bakery that produces cup cakes. These are attractive to look at, give a pleasant sweet sensation and are well advertised: clearly, if the company had a single moral scruple, they would produce ugly, bitter tasting confections with an advertising slogan along the lines of, "Don't eat this rubbish". Apple are equally guilty of the crime of discovering what pleases their prospective customer and making it. Shouldn't be allowed.

Mr Thompson is a journalist, with one of Britain's many right wing newspapers, and I suspect that a lot of this book may have originally seen the light of day in articles for crusty old generals, who would like to return to the good old days when all this depravity did not exist (or was not spoken of).

There is an interesting book about the changing methods used by twenty-first century western man to obtain pleasure, within these pages: but be warned, the reader does need an "In my day....." filter to reach it; but the effort is worthwhile. show less

In many ways this is a complementary volume to Andrew Keen's 2007 book The Cult of the Amateur and, going back a little earlier, Francis Wheen's 2004 polemic How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World: all three are concerned with how, in the name of in other contexts laudable principles like democracy and freedom of speech, we're selling out to the ignorant, the biased, the secret corporation shills, the bullies, and the batshit crazy. It's a fairly short book, and it romps lightly and very show more readably through a limited set of areas in which public knowledge is being devastated by other people's agendas. Much of this material has been covered in greater depth elsewhere; this is no hostile criticism, because Thompson's book serves as an ideal introduction for those who haven't read the fuller treatments. What makes this book valuable, though, is Thompson's refusal to be browbeaten by political correctness; or, at least, the blanket application of that concept to stuff that people would rather not admit. His treatment of the mangling of science and promotion of rankest pseudoscience in the Islamic cultures is especially enlightening (it led me to Pervez Hoodbhoy's much more detailed treatment in Islam and Science), as is his demolition of "Afrocentric history", far too much of which is plain mythology (I rushed out and bought Mary Lefkowitz's Not Out of Africa for a more detailed treatment, and should be reading it shortly). His discussion of HIV/AIDS-denialism is also good.

And sometimes it's funny, too. show less