Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id PAA25657 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Fri, 25 Jan 2002 15:34:18 GMT From: <AaronLynch@aol.com> Message-ID: <126.aae33e5.2982d3db@aol.com> Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 10:29:31 EST Subject: Re: Selfish meme? To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows 95 sub 113 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
In a message dated 1/25/2002 8:46:16 AM Central Standard Time,
AaronLynch@aol.com writes:
> In a message dated 1/25/2002 7:45:54 AM Central Standard Time, Wade T.
> Smith
> <wade_smith@harvard.edu> writes:
>
> > On 01/25/02 00:48, AaronLynch@aol.com said this-
> >
> > >When used deceptively or equivocally, words can foster rampant
Enronism
> in
> > >the sciences.
> >
> > Like 'Enronism' for instance. What, pray tell, is your two cents about
> > that coin? All it implies to me, right now, is 'how the mighty may
fall',
>
> > and that doesn't make much sense in your sentence.
> >
> > - Wade
>
> Hi Wade.
>
> So here's my 2 cents. It's just a word. An amusing word that came to mind
> amid the growing explanations of what was happening in Enron. The rich
> system
> of fake subsidiaries, fake profits, fake assets, fake loyalties, fake
audits,
>
> fake ideologies, fake tax "refunds," etc. And the attempt to make
something
> big come into existence by getting enough people to believe that it
already
> existed. In a way, something big did exist, but it was not exactly what it
> seemed to be. On the ideological side, we saw a company pushing the gospel
> of
> small government and free markets all while setting up an accounting trick
> that may have gotten them hundreds of millions of executive salary paid
with
>
> a "refund" on taxes that were not paid in the first place. That, of
course,
> might be considered socialism masquerading as market capitalism. There was
> also that effort to get the government to strong-arm private lenders into
> extending more credit, also in stark contrast to the free-market,
> small-government image being projected. The hypocrisy, at least, was not
> faked.
>
> As for "Enronism," it is a word that may itself come into existence in
> standard usage simply from having enough people believe that it is a
> standard
> word. (I imagine it has been coined elsewhere, too.) The Enron case shows
> fraud, graft, hypocrisy, and carefully crafted illusions mixing on such a
> large scale that it seems to call out for an "ism."
>
> Are there things that might be considered "Enronism" in science? In my
> opinion, yes, but not on quite the scale as in business. One can look at
> cases of fake term papers, fake dissertations, fake degrees, fake methods,
> fake experiments, etc. all the way up to fake sciences (pseudosciences).
(My
>
> present purpose is not, however, to make specific allegations. Besides,
our
> list has a policy against allegations.) Science has ways of addressing
such
> problems, but it is not a magical process of ignoring problems and having
> them thus go away -- any more than it is in business. And there are
similar
> challenges in all kinds of other human endeavors. Had I subscribed to a
> political discussion list, I could probably have dropped a reference to
> Enronism in politics.
>
> --Aaron Lynch
It's probably worth noting that the Enronism in business had a major effect
on politics. Without Enron, George W. Bush would probably not have won the
presidential race. (Even the Republican primary is a big question mark.)
Arguably, the executives at Enron were acting as American oligarchs.
The whole thing carries over into science as well, since the president of the
USA has enormous influence on the science and education budgets in this
country. There are real consequences to the lack of effective scrutiny and
real accountability enjoyed for so long by Enron.
--Aaron Lynch
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