Have you read Craig Westover’s column lately? Your column on this item was only tongue-in-cheek, right?
I was wondering about the extinction of the blondes piece in the Telegraph because it seemed vaguely familiar, but I have never worried much about my responsibility for accepting a widely reported, but erroneous fact at face value. It happens from time to time, especially when one writes on areas that are outside one’s area of direct experience or expertise.
Since the column was a lightweight one that stated little more than “I really like blondes and I am deeply suspicious of the motivation behind advertising that pushes multiculturalism”, I’m not exactly terrified that my credibility has been permanently compromised by taking the reporting of a major newspaper at face value. The Official Story as presented daily by the mainstream media is so packed full of lies, myths and inaccuracies that I’d assert that the majority of the so-called facts reported are incorrect if examined in detail by a person with direct knowledge of the matter, so its merely a question of which ones you catch and which ones you don’t. Some, of course, are easier to spot than others.
In the column a week later, I rearranged a sentence and introduced a silly error. Cybelline is the adjective for the Goddess Cybele. I’d originally write “the Cybelline rites” and then thoughtlessly changed it to “the rites of Cybelline”. One is practicing the Cybelline rites by celebrating the rites of Cybele. I was aware that historical consensis is that the mutilation performed was actually self-castration, but as I informed Steve, the professor of classics who wanted to make sure that we were all clear on who was cutting off what, I simply couldn’t resist the metaphorical imagery of a horde of angry Christian women storming the pulpit and emasculating the pastor.
Well, I laughed, anyhow….