Friday, July 07, 2006

Another So-Called "Expert"

As I was reading a couple of news sites tonight, I came across an article that talked about gangs and their use of the internet. However, it was this line that caught my eye:

"In order to understand any subculture, be it al-Qaida, witches, devil worshippers or gangs, you have to be able to know their own language," Knox said.


Why does the press continue to print comments connecting Witches to terrorists/gangs/etc from people like George W. Knox, director of the National Gang Crime Research Center, when he is obviously an "expert" on gangs not Witches? Just because he can say the word, does he think that he has all the information he needs?

Come on, George W., stick to what you know and stop making comparisons when you don't have any basis for doing so.

2 comments:

Stephanie said...

That comment made me furious, so much so that I dashed off to the NGCRC website to find out what his problem is. Then I laughed aloud. Sounds like he's just another kook with too much time on his hands making inflammatory quotes to get attention for his pseudo-research group. Anyone with a site that looks like that, I'd have trouble taking him seriously.

Not that equating witches with gangs, terrorists and "devil-worshippers" doesn't still chaffe my cheese, of course.

S. Nichole said...

That was my first impression as well. I felt that he was just trying to get publicity for his research group.

Sometimes it seems as if the press will grab any self-proclaimed expert that has certain credentials (in this case, a PhD) and then uses quotes like this for the entertainment and shock factor.

I wish the press would stop using quotes like this without doing their research on a subject. Just because someone makes the comparison doesn't make it an acurate one.