Answering the Critics:

VII. On the Charge of [Commercialism, SPAMMING]

These are people who attempt to invalidate my argument on the grounds that one of its delivery devices is a novel that I am not giving away for free. Adversaries have also been unflagging in their condemnation of a link to the fireflySun store, where irreverent prints are featured on an array of apparel and other products.

But perhaps the most fashionable tactic in the wake of the occasional bulletin-board style post to an association listserv is a new rule prohibiting the promotion of non-commercial ideas as SPAM. The rule is a convenient fallback for listserv moderators, and it is arbitrarily and selectively applied to individuals who promote points of view disagreeable to some list members. Some listserv members also like to apply the word SPAM to individuals who put a link to their web site beneath their signature. Some listserv moderators will disapprove the message and require the messenger to sanitize the message of all URLs before it is distributed to the forum. I think this rather extraordinary measure reveals more about the aggression of the moderator (and some complicit list members) than about the insurgency of any so-called SPAMMER.

But as for the fact there are products on my web site, I have always contended that these products were designed to promote the campaign in a public venue and to show off the campaign's lighter side. (The lion's share of the earnings go to the manufacturer of the products and not to those who designed the prints [in this case, my staff and I]). I remember a few occasions on the Washington D.C. Metro where my "Psychology Compass" T-shirt drew a great deal of snickering (and inquiries) from strangers. As a marketing tool, these products serve the campaign quite effectively and also seek to bring to the message a less intellectual and more expressive package.

Psychologists themselves rely on such expressive devices. Take for example their use of a term like 'inappropriate.' This word provides no information and yet it is often offered up as a single-word, self-substantiating argument. My adversaries rely on it singularly as if it could stand alone as an argument, invoking it ritualistically like some magic chant to cast a spell of disfavor on anything they do not like or that does not suit or serve them. That makes it an apotropaism -- an apotropaism used only to convey desiderata.

I occasionally come across someone who will try to convince others that the sale of the book is itself sufficient to invalidate my ideas. They won't listen to me once they've found this book on my web site. The person would drop the suggestion over the listserv without ever addressing any of my ideas or criticisms directly. I cannot help but think that they are offering their colleagues this pretext as 'a way out' (of a difficult spot). And their efforts to subvert justice for the sake of peace are legendary. They cannot leave anything to the discretion of their peers. They will not simply delete or ignore my e-mail, because they are worried about what their peers might be thinking. A conflict then sets in. They hate Wyatt Ehrenfels, and they want to be in this harmonious agreement with their peers, but they don't know what their peers are thinking and are concerned that maybe their peers are being 'tricked' into making concessions to Ehrenfels. So they have to publicly rally antagonism toward Ehrenfels, so they know that it exists and so they know they are maintaining the right (i.e., popular) beliefs. What they fear most is that the popular belief system they spent their professional lives learning and buying into (or selling out to) is being shifted by Ehrenfels in another direction behind their backs. So they must admonish their peers in a public post to the list to block my e-mail address, all while lobbying backchannel to persuade the list moderator to unsubscribe me. And they invoke another magical term that goes hand in hand with 'inappropriate'...'SPAM.' Where SPAM once referred to bulk off-topic e-mail indiscriminately harvested and delivered by software in ways that were fraudulent and evasive, now it conveniently refers to anyone who expresses a minority point of view. If that view contains a link to a web site that features a product, even if the link resides in the signature, it is considered smoking gun evidence of SPAM.

And of course, I do quite a lot of "pro bono" work on my web site. I pay out of pocket to have the web site hosted and offer hundreds of pages of free text. One piece in particular reveals secrets of graduate school admission for seniors with post-bacceleaureate aspirations. I have never sought donations for my web site, but it is not uncommon for professors to seek external sources of funding for their own research. In fact, universities like the money so much, their faculty search committees reserve preferential treatment for applicants with a proven history of grant-getting potential. And then there are those who charge well beyond expenses to speak at other universities. I remember an eminent researcher of racial prejudice who pulls down a university salary (which I do not) and yet on top of expenses (he will reputedly be in the area anyway), demands that this small cash-strapped liberal arts university with relatively no endowment reimburse him to the tune of $3,000 for the presentation. Consequently, the university will have to charge its own students admission to what amounts to one in a series of lectures on race.

And there are those agencies like the American Psychological Asssociation that endorse the sale of licensing materials to cash-strapped post-doctoral residents. I am distinctly amused by the stratified price structure. (If you REALLY want to be prepared for the licensing exam, purchase the platinum edition of the licensing preparation materials. To be slightly less prepared but not as strapped financially, go with the gold. Some of these packages, which include test books, audiotapes, and workshops cost upward of $2,000, and prospective test-takers, who already have a doctorate in the field, are told that without the preparation materials, which contains a lot of exotic material to which they have never been exposed by their curriculum, they are likely to fail this most difficult exam. And then there are young, newly ordained clinicians who sell their used licensing materials on the listserv. And there are those undergraduate clubs (many of which are devoted to women's issues), which host an annual bake sale so they can afford to purchase pizza for their weekly meetings. I know of at least one chapter of Psi Chi that held a car wash this year. So all things considered, if I should make a few dollars at the expense of those who adversely affected my earning potential (who denied me an opportunity to fulfill my vocation through a career for which I was trained to the tune of $20K in loan debt), then so be it. But my top priority has always been my campaign for reform, which is to say, with restoring dignity to the study of dreams and fidelity to the fundamentals of science. I am not concerned with rekindling hopes for a career in Psychology. There is no hope and even less desire. I am concerned with the truth about the human psyche and with the legitimacy of my ideas. If money were my priority, this would not have been the way to go. I certainly would not have dumped on any chance I have of being hired as a university professor.

fireflySun.com Report List

16 Points Memo: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Authors, Scholars Unite to Support Wyatt Ehrenfels: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Teams with Dream Researcher Gail Bixler: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Exposes Our Fear of Exposure Therapy: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Interviews with Internal Correspondent: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Says Psychology Professors Suffer from Professional Analogue of Borderline Personality Disorder: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Student Defies Psychology Professor's Warning Not to Correspond with Wyatt Ehrenfels: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Chides Daniel Dennett for Evangelical Atheism in Psychology: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Argues Psychology Graduate Education Not Worth the Money: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Psychology Professors Acknowledge Student Complaints about Curriculum: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Answers Critics, Campaign of Diversionary Tactics: Wyatt Ehrenfels

American Psychological Association Denies Listserv Members Access to Wyatt Ehrenfels OKTV Broadcast Report: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Talks about the Dissertation Experience: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Discusses a Methodology for Dream Research: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Defends Dreaming from Psychologist Negative Thinking: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Urban E-Zine Entelechy Publishes Wyatt Ehrenfels Essay: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Defends Dream Research against Vaunted Psychology News Group Moderator: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Customizes Probe to Explore Dreaming-Waking Interface: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Teams with Kindred Critic Dennis Fox: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Teams with Psychotherapist Elio Frattaroli: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Teams with Political Scientist John Freie: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Teams with Biologist John Hewitt: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Shows Support for Embattled Psychology Graduate Student: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Counsels Students on True Callings: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Amuses with Proposal of Psychology Graduate Program Insurance: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Says Corrective Statistical Procedure Emblematic of Psychology's Flaws: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Brad Jesness Target of Malicious Psychologists on Usenet: Brad Jesness

Wyatt Ehrenfels Teams with Medal-Winning Author M.J. John: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Critical of Vaunted Cornell Research Claiming Opposites Do NOT Attract: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Criticizes Berkeley Psychology Professors for Left Wing Bias: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Offers Links to Education and Appropriations Subcommittees: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Thunders Away at Psychology's Load-Bearing Premises: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Counsels High School Students on Choice of College Major: Wyatt Ehrenfels

APPIC Match Service Helps Veterans Hospital Psychologists Discriminate against Applicants w/ Disabilities: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Psychology Professional Development at Odds with Adult Maturation: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Republishes Work of College Curriculum Critic and FOX News Writer Wendy McElroy: Wendy McElroy

Wyatt Ehrenfels Likens Psychological Research to Premature Ejaculation: Wyatt Ehrenfels

According to Social Psychologist Wyatt Ehrenfels, Diversity Is Skin Deep, Black-and-White at University of Michigan: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Dismantles Psychology's Standard Defenses against Criticism: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Points to Hypocrisy in Terror Management Research: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Releases Revitalized Pocket Memo: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Publishes Critique in Revolution Issue of New Therapist Magazine: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Is Psychology at Odds with Itself?: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Says Campaign Not Intend to Offend Psychology Majors: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Why Community Access Television Is Coming Around to Wyatt Ehrenfels: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Overview of Wyatt Ehrenfels's Fireflies in the Shadow of the Sun: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Are Psychology Professors Prejudiced against Psyche: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Psychology's Science of Dreams Fails Science and Dreams: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Psychology Graduate Schools Blasted for Culture of Student Character Assassination: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Ode to Psychology Students: Are You Making A Major out of a Molehill: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Multicultural Fetish of Psychology Professors Belie Suppression of Individual Freedom, Ideas in Psychology: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Games without Frontiers: Ehrenfels Depicts Science of Psychology as ADHD: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Uses Evolutionary Theory, Natural Selection to Impugn D-Volving Psychology: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Reveals American Psychological Association as Lobbying Tour de Force: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Shares Bizarre Tale of Application for University Position: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Dreams & Dreaming Frequently Asked Questions: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Discusses Predictive Power of Tornado Dreams: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Releases Preface to Fireflies in the Shadow of the Sun: Wyatt Ehrenfels

In a Drugged States, New Mexico Legislators Give Psychologists Prescriptive Authority: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Fireflies in the Shadow of the Sun Press Release: Katheryn Moyer

Brad Jesness Exposes Malicious Stalking by Psychologists on Usenet: Brad Jesness

Psychology Majors Respond to Wyatt Ehrenfels fireflySun.com: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Offers Personality Taxonomy: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Offers Blueprint for Blighted Psychology: Wyatt Ehrenfels

From Position of Ignorance, APA Official Diverts Attention from/Urges Skepticism for, Wyatt Ehrenfels APPIC Discrimination Report: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Comes to Terms with Roiled Psychology Graduate Student and News Group Moderator: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Responses to Wyatt Ehrenfels Campaign to Reform Psychology: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Independent Publisher Offers Glowing Review of Fireflies in the Shadow of the Sun: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Teams with Psychotherapist Robert Roerich: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Says Psychology Professors Play Games with Rules: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Teams with Physicist Jeff Schmidt: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Malicious Stalking by Psychologists Abusing Psychotherapy News Group: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Reveals Groupthink, Abuse in Psychology Faculty Evaluation of Graduate Students: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Begins Sequel to Fireflies in the Shadow of the Sun: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Exposes Counseling Center Hiring Preference for Gays, Lesbians: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Diagnoses the Diagnosticians with the Shadow DSM: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Prominent UC-Davis Dream Researcher Dodges Wyatt Ehrenfels Draft of Reformers: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Teams with Management Consulting Maven R. Mallory Starr: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Overview of Wyatt Ehrenfels Dream Research with Cancer Patients: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Comments on the Short Falls of Teaching in Psychology: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Popular Psychotherapy All about Controlling Chaos: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Washington National Cathedral Site of Synchronicity in Novel by Social Psychologist: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Comments on the Value of a Degree in Psychology: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Offers Strategy for Self-Science of Dreams: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Wyatt Ehrenfels Attacks Psychology on Two Fronts: Wyatt Ehrenfels

Connie Vaughn Teams with Wyatt Ehrenfels to Explain Why She Is Not a Psychology: Connie Vaughn

Benjamin Willard Elected President of Wyatt Ehrenfels Fan Club: Benjamin Willard

Wyatt Ehrenfels Identifies Flaws in U.S. News Report of Psychology Employment Prospects: Wyatt Ehrenfels