What tribal societies can tell us about justice and liberty

[Dayuhan]

He will hammer away that Diamond fabricated a goodly part of the story - so, it will get down to whom the jury believes most.

I wonder if Diamond's reputation will come into the picture, and if so how it will impact the proceedings. I was coincidentally discussing this case this morning with my seasonal neighbor, a Canadian anthropologist of some repute, and she thinks that while Diamond has sold a lot of books, his reputation in the trade is less than impressive, and that he has a long history of drawing sweeping conclusions from minimal evidence. She also thinks there will be no shortage of eminent individuals in the field willing to say exactly that.

Even if Diamond escapes without major liability, his reputation may take a fair hit... not the I'd mind, he has it coming IMO.

[jmm99]

This type of case hinges on cred, pure and simple. And what kind of jury panel you end up with. I have no idea what the average NY County jury array (the large group from which the panel is selected) looks like today.

As I said, my dog is not in this hunt, so I have no incoming bias toward whether Diamond has anything coming or not.

One concern that this situation gives me is that our folks (fighting "small wars") may be relying on studies by other than Diamond that are also compromised to some extent. I'd not like to see good people dead because a story or study was cooked up by the author or informant for personal reasons.

How much think tank stuff is also dangerous junk ?

What's with these far-flung Canadian anthropologists - a worldwide cabal engineered by Tyrrell ? Actually, give my regards to your Canadian neighbor.

Cheers

Mike

[Dayuhan]

I have no incoming bias toward whether Diamond has anything coming or not.

My bias is of the moderate sort... he seems to me an example of the common inverse relationship between ascending reputations and the declining level of rigor that seems to go into the work. Call it the Niall Ferguson syndrome . Not like I'm a crusader on the subject but I don't at all mind seeing someone called on it... and of course coming from a tribal environment I'm inclined to cheer a bit for the plaintiffs on this one!

One concern that this situation gives me is that our folks (fighting "small wars") may be relying on studies by other than Diamond that are also compromised to some extent. I'd not like to see good people dead because a story or study was cooked up by the author or informant for personal reasons.

How much think tank stuff is also dangerous junk ?

Judging from the stuff I've seen written on the conflicts I actually know something about, I'd say there's a fair bit of junk about, though also some good stuff. How dangerous it is usually depends on who's interpreting it, and how.

What's with these far-flung Canadian anthropologists - a worldwide cabal engineered by Tyrrell ? Actually, give my regards to your Canadian neighbor.

Wouldn't half surprise me if they know each other. Also wouldn't half surprise me if I had to duck for available cover to avoid the crossfire if they ever came face to face in my presence!

[RhondaRShearer]

Here are the most recent documents RE the Diamond side of the case:
http://www.stinkyjournalism.org/misc...ndum-Part1.pdf
http://www.stinkyjournalism.org/misc...ndum-Part2.pdf
http://www.stinkyjournalism.org/misc...TION-Part1.pdf
http://www.stinkyjournalism.org/misc...TION-Part2.pdf
http://www.stinkyjournalism.org/misc...TION-Part3.pdf

FYI Earlier in the thread someone mentioned that Egyptians don't identify themselves with tribes. Boy is that true. They don't even see themselves as Arabs but as Egyptians. Arabs are people from the desert or the Gulf in their view and parlance.

I have been in Egypt at least 30 times the past 10 years and am working on finishing a book on the true story of the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990, Oct 31 1999. If you recall its the fatal accident off the Atlantic coast of the US where the first officer was accused by NTSB of downing the plane while committing suicide.

BTW We have two more investigations that expose Diamond's errors (fabrications?) forthcoming soon. One involves his famed book Guns, Germs and Steel and the second one is about another indigenous Papua New Guinea tribesman who worked for Diamond and his tribe that Diamond accused in multiple publications of having conducted systematic "genocide" for revenge.

Finally, Mike and Steve, it's no mystery IMO what studies have credibility. There are signposts like transparency of method and providing clear sources and documentation. For example, we not only have photos of Isum walking around (that Diamond falsely reported was paralyzed in a wheelchair for 11 years, "cut" in his spine from Wemp's assassins' arrow), we also have hospital records and XRays that verify his medical history and the dates.

New Yorker's fact checking method, as they admit in multiple places, involved speaking to no witnesses or named indigenous people. The editor said "in this case we consulted a large number of experts in the various fields the material touches on.” In other words, no specific facts were checked... with the people in the article accused of crimes, police, govt agencies, NGOs, missionaries, maps, oil companies or the one expert who is widely known in the field on the specific area of Papua New Guinea, Paul Sillitoe, who even knows Wemp, Isum etc.

We checked with ALL of the aforementioned and have published much, but not all, of this information on StinkyJournalism.org.