Conservapedia:Andrew Schlafly/List of supposed expertise

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Through participation in various debates and teaching in various classes, Andrew Schlafly has established himself to have a broad range of expertise. This is by no means to be confused with him being an "expert" of any kind, as he'll address himself being a member of "The Best of the Public" rather than as an "expert". The following lists the area he claims to have expertise in, some of which even surpassed those "experts".

Expertise claimed through public presentation[edit]

By teaching courses and giving speeches at various levels, Andrew Schlafly either explicitly or implicitly claims expertise in the subject he is teaching. This is a brief list of the courses he has taught over the years:

Expertise claimed through debates[edit]

Andrew Schlafly also frequently claims superior expertise in whatever subject he is debating. This is an in-depth, but by no means exhaustive, list of examples.

  • Anthropology
-Schlafly believes that the theory that American Indians are descended from Asian peoples who migrated across the Bering Strait is "liberal claptrap"[5]
  • Biblical scholarship and translation[6] and his opinion of the views of 'experts' in this field[7]
  • Constitutional law in each of the states in the US
- Schlafly has argued with a Professor Emeritus of History from Illinois about the Illinois Constitution.[8]
  • Classics
- He does not believe that the Ancient Greeks wrote comedic drama, considering pre-Christian humor a "mystery." [9]
  • Entertainment Industry
-Schlafly estimates there are about 50 "active, well-known" women musicians, perhaps 450 television and movie actors, and "no more than 500 female 'Hollywood' performers under the age of 30".[10]
-In the Evangelist Values section of this conversationimg, Schlafly debates the movie Trainspotting, about which Schlafly holds strong opinions despite openly admitting never having seen (or even heard of) the film. Multiple conservative editors disagree with his complete misunderstanding of the plot and characters, but Schlafly maintains his position.
-He also holds strong opinions about the movie Forrest Gump, of which he has only seen the opening 30 minutes, and Saving Private Ryan, of which he has only seen "quotes and clips", declaring "I didn't see Saving Private Ryan, but I suspect that is liberal also."[11]
-Schlafly claims that "The Wizard of Oz in 1939 was the first color movie." Even though The World, the Flesh and the Devil was released a whole 25 years before The Wizard of Oz.[12]
  • Great Works of Mankind
- Schlafly claims[13] that "the greatest works throughout history have been produced by teenagers". While there have indeed been significant contributions to human knowledge by teenagers, even a simple analysis proves this not to be true.[14]
  • Gun Control, International laws
- Schlafly asserts he is "thoroughly familiar" with gun control legislation in Australia[15]
  • History of the US
- Schlafly claims he is teaching "the largest pre-college American History class in the world"[16].
  • History of South Asia
- Schlafly claimed superior knowledge of the history of India & Pakistan over an informed editor in this debate thread.
  • Humor
-Schlafly repeatedly asserts that pre-Christians and atheists are devoid of humor. On February 10, 2009, he wrote that "atheists... like the ancient Greeks, are unable (or refuse) to open their minds to what real humor is"[17] No evidence is given of the ancient Greeks refusing to open their minds in this manner. He cites "the dictionary" (he declines to say which, despite being asked) as giving the definition "something 'ludicrous' or 'absurdly incongruous'," which, he insists, disqualifies vulgarity, slapstick, and irony from the category of humor. It should be noted, however, that despite his implied expertise in the area of humour, he failed to see the joke directed against his site in this article and insisted upon splattering it over the front pageimg. He then went on to defend his actions against those who understood the joke.[18]
  • Immunology[19]
  • International healthcare[20]
  • Linguistics
-Despite the fact that Islam is a religion, not a linguistic group, and even though Muslims live all over the world and speak dozens of languages, Schlafly believes that Muslims may be identified by the way they pronounce certain words[21], or even their ability to dance[22].
-Schlafly believes that the English language is unique in its ability to use loanwords.[23] In fact, many other non-English languages use loanwords.[24]
-Schlafly creates often illogical and unsupported linguistic theories, and then acts as though they were true: "If a word inevitably alters its meaning after an approximate number of uses, then the time period for the change in meaning will shorten due to improved technology."[25]
-Non-English languages he claims to have expertise in, explicitly or implicitly:
-Ancient Greek[26]
-Arabic[27]
-In a discussion, he asserted that using British English is a hint of liberal ideology.[28]
For a more detailed treatment of Schafly's linguistic theories, see Conservapedia:Conservapedian linguistics.
  • Microbiology[29]
  • Nutrition
- He asserts that liberals are fatter than conservatives[30].
  • Oncology
- Schlafly claims that young women in the entertainment industry are at least ten times more likely to develop breast cancer.[31]. (Even a casual student of statistics could, however, easily understand that his statistical analysis suffers dreadfully from selection bias).
  • Psychiatry/psychology
-Schlafly has claimed that Tom Hanks "fails to [give] a realistic portrayal of an idiot" in the movie Forrest Gump.[32] Obviously in that at least, he would be the expert. Also, note his view that adopting liberal points of view causes mental illness[33]
-He also asserts that readers of Conservapedia suffer from "0 in mental problems"[34] and has claimed the same for its editors.[35]
-He once stated on the talk page on the "public school culture" article: "...give me a lineup of students, and I can pick out the public school ones based on their appearance and, if necessary, some general conversation. That's objectively observable. It's not opinion. Let's not censor it."[36]
"Nothing useful has even been built based on the theory of relativity."[38]
- Schlafly insists on a Christian-centric worldview on history. For example, he criticizes Wikipedia's article on Gothic architecture for "crediting Islam before Christianity",[41] despite the fact that Gothic architectural styles are heavily influenced by Islamic architecture.[42].

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 He is seen teaching the courses in Eagle Forum University
  2. Sources (Official video by AAPS):
  3. Sources: Official video by AAPS
  4. In his SES Application, by claiming to know what is straightforward and logical to people with learning disabilities, it implicitly assumes that he is an expert has expertise on teaching people with learning disabilities.
  5. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=American_Indian&diff=611704&oldid=611690img
  6. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Bible_Retranslation_Project&oldid=594006img. See also, Conservapedia:Bible rewriting project
  7. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Bible_Retranslation_Project&diff=594855&oldid=594853img
  8. The original page at http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk%3AMain_Page&diff=588724&oldid=588695 in which Schlafly argues with a Professor Emeritus of History from Illinois about the Illinois Constitution has since been deleted. See Conservapedia:Burning the Evidence for an explanation of this action.
  9. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Essay%3AGreatest_Mysteries_of_World_History&diff=620496&oldid=617861img
  10. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Mystery:Young_Hollywood_Breast_Cancer_Victims&diff=446376&oldid=446215img
  11. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Essay:Greatest_Conservative_Movies&diff=prev&oldid=245636img
  12. http://www.conservapedia.com/World_History_Lecture_Elevenimg
  13. Talk:Bible Retranslation Projectimg diff from 26 December 2008
  14. http://www.conservapedia.com/Great_Achievements_by_Teenagersimg
  15. http://conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Main_Page&diff=756133&oldid=756130
  16. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Template:Mainpageright&diff=497687&oldid=497676img
  17. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Essay:Greatest_Mysteries_of_World_History&curid=83103&diff=621699&oldid=621685img
  18. http://www.conservapedia.com/Talk:Main_Page#Telegraph_article
  19. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5RNAYlAxmo A television news appearance by Schlafly to campaign against the HPV vaccine
  20. http://www.conservapedia.com/Talk:Main_Page#British_healthcare
  21. "Obama uses the Muslim Pakistani pronunciation for "Pakistan" rather than the common American one." http://www.conservapedia.com/Barack_Obama%27s_Muslim_Heritageimg
  22. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Barack_Obama&diff=prev&oldid=550649img
  23. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=World_History_Lecture_Improvements&oldid=607386img
  24. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loanword
  25. http://www.conservapedia.com/Bible_Retranslation_Project
  26. "Ancient Greek, which I have studied (have you?)...?"img
  27. Implicit claims of expertise by translationimg
  28. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk%3ABarack_Hussein_Obama&diff=616368&oldid=616358img
  29. http://www.conservapedia.com/Lenski
  30. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Mystery:Do_Liberal_Teachings_Cause_Mental_Illness%3F&diff=prev&oldid=497981img
  31. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Mystery:Young_Hollywood_Breast_Cancer_Victims&diff=next&oldid=446215img
  32. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Essay:Greatest_Conservative_Movies&diff=prev&oldid=245636img
  33. http://www.conservapedia.com/Mystery:Do_Liberal_Teachings_Cause_Mental_Illness%3F
  34. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Template:Mainpageright&curid=85316&diff=640547&oldid=640491img
  35. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Template:Mainpageright&curid=85316&diff=640547&oldid=640491img
  36. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Public_school_culture&diff=442368&oldid=442354img
  37. http://www.conservapedia.com/Talk:Quantum_mechanics
  38. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=World_History_Lecture_Eleven&diff=prev&oldid=9666img
  39. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:PNAS_Response_to_Letter&diff=prev&oldid=518382img
  40. http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk:Mystery:Young_Hollywood_Breast_Cancer_Victims&diff=446597&oldid=446596img
  41. http://conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Examples_of_Bias_in_Wikipedia&diff=640066&oldid=638899img
  42. http://muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=385