Page 40 - January 2020 IIssue new year

Vigilance for Violence

hardcore “X-rated” sci- ifications can be quite

ence like chemistry, biol- entertaining. In par- B
ogy or physics. ticular, where academic R
textbooks are concerned, O

This of course immedi- as in criminal justice W
ately sets the stage for all courses, many struggle A

kinds of anxiety, gnash- with an apparent iden- R
ing of teeth and renting of tify crisis as they strive D
clothing. Some academi- to be viewed as “scien-

cians get very sensitive tists”. Unfortunately, U
when challenged about unless they are study- N

much of anything. In some ing astronomy, nuclear I
cases, the possibility of physics, or zoology, they Photo Courtesy of google.com V
“violence” by those who are not scientists in the ficiency of someone else. E

disagree with any allega- traditional sense or actu- Previously over time, the R
tion of “pseudoscience” ality of the practitioner same redundancy, already S

can be quite severe. In driven reference point. reported decades earlier, is I
many realms throughout They are primarily re- repeated. Every so-called T
the unhallowed fields of searchers. Taking a quick “new study” is a study Y

“social studies” in aca- peek of several institu- done in much same man-
demia, many researchers tions of proclaimed higher ner with similar results 2

want to be seen as doing learning, as to many areas as the one before it. This 0
“science”, with the pre- of “social studies”, reveals adds nothing new, except 2
tense for the “noble” cause many have never ventured for aiding and abetting 0

of expanding “scientific further than classroom the completion of another
knowledge”. Occasionally, regarding real world expe- study or dissertation pro-

this seems comical. Mean- riences. posal. The cycle continues
while, some will propose and in the investigation
all manner of diagnostic As non-practitioners in of violence, victimology

cover stories. areas such as psychol- and aspects of criminol-
ogy or criminology, many ogy very little changes

In some cases, adherents perform the dutiful tasks throughout the history of
to one “social studies” of self-preservation in re- human debauchery and
viewpoint or another has gurgitating anecdotal con- destructiveness.

claimed the status of a sci- jectures. By doing so, they
entist. The egotistical ram- rely on the research suf- The problem of simplis-

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