Keith Windschuttle: Difference between revisions

As of November 2022, neither Volume 2 nor Volume 4 has appeared, and no revised publication schedule has been announced.

 

In January 2009, Windschuttle was hoaxed into publishing an article in ''Quadrant''. The stated aim of the hoax was to expose Windschuttle's purported right-wing bias by proving he would publish an inaccurate article and not check its footnotes or authenticity if it met his preconceptions. An author using the pseudonym "biotechnologist Dr Sharon Gould" submitted an article claiming that [[Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation|CSIRO]] had planned to produce food crops engineered with human genes. However, "Gould" revealed that she had regarded the article as an [[Alan Sokal]] style hoax, referring to an instance in which writings described as obvious scientific nonsense were submitted to and accepted by an academic journal.<ref>Graham Young, [http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8387&page=0 "The Windschuttle Hoax – Replete with Irony,"] ''Online Opinion'', 12 January 2009.</ref> Based on the reporter's intimate knowledge of the hoax and what he described as her "triumphant" tone when disclosing the hoax to him, Windschuttle accused the online publication ''[[Crikey]]'' of being involved in the hoax, a claim ''Crikey'' denied.<ref>Keith Windschuttle, [http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2009/01/margaret-simons-and-an-apparent-hoax-on-quadrant "Margaret Simons and an Apparent Hoax on Quadrant,"] ''Quadrant'', 6 January 2009.</ref><ref>Margaret Simons, [http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/01/06/how-windschuttle-swallowed-a-hoax-to-publish-a-fake-story-in-quadrant/ "How Windschuttle Swallowed a Hoax to Publish a Fake Story in Quadrant,"] ''Crikey'', 6 January 2009.</ref> Two days later, Crikey revealed that "Gould" was in fact the writer, editor and activist Katherine Wilson. Wilson agreed to being named by ''Crikey'', as her name had already appeared in online speculation and it seemed likely that her identity was about to be revealed by other journalists.<ref>Margaret Simons, [http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/01/08/outing-sharon-gould-the-hoaxers-identity-revealed/ "Outing 'Sharon Gould': the Hoaxer's Identity Revealed,"] ''Crikey'', 8 January 2009</ref>