Goenchem Prize for Public Honesty and Common Sense

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I would like to share some preliminary thoughts about an important
public service announcement that I am going to make on several Goan
mailing lists in the next couple of days to support a cause that is
very important to me.

Those of you who know me through the internet, know that I am
concerned about quackery, pseudoscience, superstition, public scams,
corruption and wanton spread of misinformation and disinformation in
the world today. Over the past several years I have become
increasingly aware that self-absorbed people with all kinds of crazy
delusions, irrational agendas and political ambitions, as well as
people with unscrupulous or corrupt motives have found easy access to
a world-wide audience through the internet. These people and their
public agendas have become a menace to society. And superstition,
quackery, pseudoscience, corruption, public scams and fundamentalist
ideologies are undoubtedly a growing threat today. Ordinary folk -
even educated ones - are being taken for a ride because of an
understandable lack of specific knowledge or as a result of a basic
polite, unquestioning attitude that most good people adopt. Gilbert
Lawrence has raised a similar point recently on TGF in connection with
the rampant historical revisionism in India. Historical revisionism is
of course a classic example of what I am talking about.

I have always wanted to do something about this problem. This morning
while reading the hundredth unsolicited abusive email this year from a
quack that has been sending me such hate mail for the past three
years, I finally thought of an answer.

Now mind you, I am absolutely serious about this. Don?t think this is
one of my President Pandurang Fernandes jokes.

I am going to announce in a couple of days that I will award an annual
cash prize called "Goenchem Prize for Public Honesty and Common Sense".

I will provide the details as soon as we have worked them out. I will
give everybody a chance to offer constructive suggestions, and I
always welcome any critical comments. But briefly, this prize is for
any Goan who uncovers a public scam, racket, swindle or disinformation
campaign, or unmasks a quack, poseur, fraud, corrupt professional,
corrupt public official or a corrupt organization that is spearheading
such a scam or campaign.

Cheers,

Santosh