Short post because I can hardly contain my disbelief:
Lia said the family wanted Bloemfontein academic Danie Krugel to be allowed to take his equipment to Dubai to search for Kerry. Krugel has developed a system that can allegedly track missing people anywhere in the world using their DNA.
I decided when I created this blog that I would not swear on this blog and keep the material relatively PG rated. The above quote, especially the bolded word, has had me this close to breaking that rule. That such a blatant fraud is now being graced with the term academic, has me quite livid. I believe that The Mercury (the newspaper this article is originally from) needs to be the recipient of a harsh email campaign at the least.
(In case you were confused Danie Krugel is in no way an academic in any generally accepted usage of the word.)
September 27, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Oh Gawd no.
September 27, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I sent them the following letter.
To Whom It May Concern,
The article mentioned above inaccurately prints that Danie Krugel is an ‘academic’. To be an academic an individual is required to be affiliated with a university or a recognised research institute. Danie Krugel has no such affiliation and is therefore not an academic. That you have printed such information does your publication a terrible disservice. You have perpetuated the belief in the veracity of Mr. Krugel’s ‘machine’ and thus you perpetuate unscientific thinking and reporting based on lack of evidence. This is horrific for a publication that is meant to report solely based on facts. Please ensure that you correct this atrocious misrepresentation.
Best regards,
Simon Halliday
PhD Student, Facoltà di Economia, University of Siena, Italy
September 28, 2008 at 6:47 am
I’ve spent a substantial part of my blogging time and energy to debunking and exposing Krugel, writing countless similar letters to editors and even Carte Blanche, with varied results.
This little game of media Chinese whispers has now progressed to the point where I think most people in SA think that Krugel is a world-renowned scientist/detective whose woo-box works exactly as advertised on his own propaganda site.
September 28, 2008 at 9:08 am
Excellent letter Simon
I think these kinds of reports must be especially demoralising to people like SSiE who has spent countless hours meticulously debunking all this Danie Krugel rubbish.
The worst part is that it is probably due to laziness. Somebody read somewhere that Danie Krugel works at a University and automatically assumed he must be an academic. Shoddy journalism really.
September 28, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Oh my, I hope Yet Another Skeptic occasionally goes to the trouble of correcting the typo’s of hasty commentators like myself…
That last one really is an embarrassment…
September 28, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Lol… I suppose I could though in general I don’t want to edit people’s comments if I can help it.
I take the typos as indication of your anger at this travesty of journalism though, so it’s all good
September 28, 2008 at 2:21 pm
That’s exactly what it was — anger and frustration-induced speed-typing.