Publishing Guide

Upcoming Events

International | Rights, Freedoms and Repression

no events match your query!

New Events

no events posted in last week

Other Press

Rights, Freedoms and Repression

Woman whose soup run fed 250 homeless in Dublin told to cease or face €300k fine 21:35 Feb 07 2 comments

Germany cannot give up it's Nazi past - Germany orders Holocaust survivor institutionalized over Cov... 23:31 Jan 14 1 comments

Crisis in America: Deaths Up 40% Among Those Aged 18-64 Based on Life Insurance Claims for 2021 Afte... 23:16 Jan 06 0 comments

Protests over post-vaccination deaths spread across South Korea 23:18 Dec 26 0 comments

Chris Hedges: The execution of Julian Assange 22:19 Dec 19 1 comments

more >>

User Preferences

Feeds

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

The Saker

A bird's eye view of the vineyard

Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

Lockdown Skeptics

J.K. Rowling Radicalised by TERFs, Says Stephen Fry Thu Jun 19, 2025 11:15 | Will Jones
J.K. Rowling has been "radicalised by TERFs", Sir Stephen Fry has claimed, as he branded his former friend a "lost cause". Trans people are "hurting and being abominably treated", he said.
The post J.K. Rowling Radicalised by TERFs, Says Stephen Fry appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Ed Miliband is Losing the Fight for Net Zero Thu Jun 19, 2025 09:00 | Ben Pile
Ed Miliband is confident he's "winning the fight for Net Zero". His assurance is misplaced, says Ben Pile. It's based on a growth in 'green jobs', but they come at the cost of entire sectors in other parts?of?the?economy.
The post Ed Miliband is Losing the Fight for Net Zero appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Pointless International Research ? Paid For By You, The Taxpayer Thu Jun 19, 2025 07:00 | Charlotte Gill
From Weaving Our Own Justice in Colombia to Theatre-Making in Kenya, there seems no end to the international research projects lavishly funded by you, the hard-working taxpayer. Charlotte Gill compiles her top 10.
The post Pointless International Research ? Paid For By You, The Taxpayer appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

News Round-Up Thu Jun 19, 2025 00:22 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Tearing Bodies Apart on the Altar of Science Wed Jun 18, 2025 19:00 | Dr David Bell
Abortion is a complex moral issue. But when vaccines and medicines are developed from research using aborted foetuses, we should at least be told, says Dr David Bell. Conscience must be respected.
The post Tearing Bodies Apart on the Altar of Science appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network

Voltaire, international edition

Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Immorality, Journalism and Mayan Meltdown

international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Thursday June 11, 2009 09:47

by Paddy Hackett

rasherrs at eircom dot net

Report this post to the editors

Journalism and Credibility

In his article in the The Sunday Business Post David McWilliams dishonestly fails to reference a main source for his article called Moral of the Mayan Meltdown

"The Mayans simply ran out of resources. They cut down all the trees to
transport rocks from the quarries to make their ornate temples.

Competing nobility, with each chief trying to show he was the biggest, got
involved in what could only be described as an ''arms race'' to build the
most splendid palace. This involved huge amounts of labour, which were taken
from the farms and massively reduced the amount of farmers available to keep
their agriculture going.

They also cut down huge amounts of wood, causing massive soil erosion and
flooding. The mad dash to build the most ornate palace used up enormous
quantities of materials. To support this madness, the cities needed to
produce enormous amounts of food and water, and they needed to pay for it.

This was the ancient equivalent of people consuming far more than they could
afford and getting into a monumental ''keeping up with the Joneses'' battle,
which would ultimately bankrupt them. Interestingly, the Mayan currency was
devalued during all this." (Moral of the Mayan meltdown; June 7th 2009;
Sunday Business Post page 23).

A reading of Collapse by Jared Diamond will show that the above "ideas" have been borrowed from "Collapse". In my view David McWilliams should have had the honesty to reference in his The Sunday Business Post article Jared Diamond. His failure to do so, in my view, raises questions concerning the credibility of his journalism in general.

Add Your Comments >>

printable version

with comments

atom feed of comments

rss feed of comments

RSS and atom feeds allow you to keep track of new comments on particular stories. You can input the URL's from these links into a rss reader and you will be informed whenever somebody posts a new comment.

Digg this

Furl

Reddit

Gab

Twitter

save preference

Comments (1 of 1)

by Conor

publication date

Sat Jun 13, 2009 15:04

Report this post to the editors

I agree.

Add Your Comments >>

© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy