Jonathon Kay Is Not Always Wrong!

I hate to give him a point, but Kay's earned it: Joshua Blakeney's research should not be funded by a Canadian university, and his thesis adviser, Dr. Anthony J. Hall, is a kook. Both appear to be 9/11 Truthers, in the fullest sense of the word. As Dr. Hall writes:

In my view the term, truther, is one that refers to those who do not accept the current government account of the events of 9/11; those who afford importance to the quest for the truth of what actually happened on 9/11.

Well, no, truthers are crackpots who have woven together wild, thoroughly debunked conspiracy theories to, for the most part, try and lay the blame for 9/11 on Israel and American Neo-Cons. Sure they exist out in the wild corners of the on-line world. What they are doing wasting funding and their students time in Canadian institutions is beyond me.

Let's quickly toss aside any nonsense about academic freedom. We do not let people teach Ptolemaic Astronomy in our universities, nor holocaust denial, nor the theory that God created Earth in six days, nor the theory that global warming is a conspiracy by Jewish scientists (another occasional Truther notion that I can't currently find a link to). And that's because such notions have been proven false, and of course the purpose of our higher educational facilities is to pass on knowledge rather than falsehoods.

It is entirely one thing to criticise Israel and the American Right on the basis of things they have actually done. It is another to criticize them based on lunatic fantasies. Mr. Blakeney and Dr. Hall have the stench of madness about them, and it infects also the institution that harbours them.

Mind you, Jonathon Kay still sucks, and his career will still end with him flipping burgers at a McDonald's. However, during those long-nights at the drive-through counter, he can at least console himself with the thought that he sucked less than usual on at least one occasion.