On the Perils and Pleasures of

Confronting Pseudohistory
Learning outcomes
- Can infer what will come next in an unstructured text by using contextual,
grammatical and lexical cues.
- Can distinguish between the main idea and supporting ideas in a linguistically complex
academic text.
- Can guess the meaning of unfamiliar words from context in a linguistically complex
academic text.
-
Before Reading

We have just read about famous archaeological places around the globe. Now, let’s take
a look at another side of archaeology and science.

A. Read the following text. Some words have been deleted. Try to use grammar and the
general context to find the words that are missing.

If one flips through the channels today, one _________ find that there are several sensationalized
____________that appear to be uncovering “hidden truths” about archeology. There are shows
___________ _______ Ancient Aliens that purport aliens had a direct hand in our past.
Additionally, there are shows _________ TV that talk about the same ideas such as Stargate* that
are merely works of fiction. Being able to tell the difference ____________ pseudoscience and
fiction is important because the __________ is all fun and games, but the ____________ could be
dangerous to one’s ability to have an accurate view of the world and one must consider the ways
they can debunk such claims.

Stargate: is a military science fiction and media franchise.

Pseudoscience – Fact or Fiction? (2014, April 1). Retrieved June 24, 2017, from
http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp203h-ss14/2014/04/01/pseudoscience-fact-or-fiction/

B. Now, let’s reflect on the strategies you used to infer the missing words. Did you use
grammar cues? Vocabulary? The general context? Discuss these questions in pairs.

Predicting

A. Do you think that it is possible that there has been alien presence in our planet? Why
or why not?

B. Can the idea of alien influence in human history be considered science? The text mentions
the word pseudoscience. Do you know what this means? Take a look at the meaning of its
prefix and try to guess its meaning.

Pseudo: word-forming element meaning "false; feigned; erroneous; in appearance only;

resembling," from Greek pseudo-, comb. form of pseudes "false, lying; falsely; deceived," or
pseudos "falsehood, untruth, a lie," both from pseudein "to deceive, cheat by lies."

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Reading

On the Perils and Pleasures of

Confronting Pseudohistory
1. Pseudohistory is not confined to quirky theories about lost fleets belonging to Alexander the
Great, or Mongol raiders or Irish monks visiting the Americas. Those are just a few of the
many varieties of pseudo-history. Atlantis is a perennial pseudohistorical favorite. Ancient
astronauts, myths of the Ten Lost Tribes, catastrophic events altering ancient history,
occult and spiritualist accounts of prehistory, various racist cosmogonies, pyramidology,
lost civilizations in the Earth’s core or under the Antarctic or deep within the Amazon
jungles—all are expressions of pseudohistory, tinged with pseudoarchaeology and
buttressed by pseudoscience.
2. As pop culture shows us, these ideas fascinate people. They form the premises of
movies, television series, novels, and video games. They provide fodder for hours of
fantastic chat on late night radio and drive legions of faithful audiences to weekend
conferences devoted to the latest hot idea. Pseudohistory can be fun, just like a Star Trek
convention or a Renaissance fair can be fun—as long as your pockets are deep enough
and your skepticism sufficiently submerged.
3. But there is a dark side. Adherents of Heaven’s Gate* killed themselves so they could join
god-like aliens on their approaching spaceship. Followers of the Nation of Islam killed each
other in power struggles over the movement’s money and property. Identity Christians
killed enemies, particularly if they were Jewish, African-American, or representatives of the
United States government, which they viewed as under the control of Satan. In each of
these examples, pseudohistorical beliefs provided the justification for atrocious actions.
And like all pseudohistory, these beliefs were mistaken and wrong—dead wrong. It is a
situation that amply justifies research, study, and analysis.
4. Students and the general public ask questions about pseudohistorical and pseudoscientific
ideas, and they deserve answers based on research and facts, not simply condescending
dismissals of their questions. They need to be shown the difference between history and
pseudohistory. They need reliable facts and unbiased narratives so they can see for
themselves why genuine history is based on valid, verifiable knowledge, while pseudohistory
is raised up on false knowledge masquerading as history.
5. Historians need to confront and refute any and every expression of pseudohistory when
they engage students in the classroom, when they speak to the public, when they write
books and articles, and when they publish on the Internet. Yes, there is a lot of
pseudohistory out there. A lot of people are peddling it for reasons ranging from the
naive to the nefarious. Historians should help expose this high strangeness to the light of
reasonable discourse and contribute to explaining the appearance and persistence of the
phenomenon.
6. Pseudohistory can suicide and even genocide. It is well known that Nazism based its
ideologies on beliefs about the human past that are distinctly pseudohistorical. Millions of
people died in the Second World War and the Holocaust. Today’s neo-Nazis, however,
give us ample and current evidence that some people have learned nothing from the
carnage created by Hitler and his followers. Incredibly, despite the magnitude of the
Holocaust, some people have denied that it occurred, an act of pernicious pseudohistory
with adherents who launched the voice of denial virtually days after the death camps were
closed with the defeat of Nazi Germany.
7. Confronting pseudohistory and pseudoscience can be a tricky enterprise. While a carefully
researched and lucid argument is essential, it is only a beginning. Scholars also need to

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 approach the fringes of discourse with diplomacy and without condescension. Adherents of
pseudo knowledge tend to have a fortress mentality about their ideas. They have
experienced a lot of negativity in espousing their beliefs, so they tend to take a defensive
stance almost immediately. Authors promoting pseudohistorical and pseudoscientific ideas
often take advantage of this fortress mentality. They complain that mainstream scholars are
elitists and tools of the establishment seeking to suppress the real truth about history and
science. They frequently allege that there is a vast conspiracy to prevent their ideas from
having a fair hearing with the public. This circumstance allows various fringe scholars to
form alliances, even though their individual theories often stand in stark contradiction to
one another. It is sufficient in their beleaguered arena to find solidarity in the shared stance
against commonly accepted ideas and the theories of mainstream scholars about the
human past.
8. Scholars attempting to refute pseudohistory and pseudoscience face an uphill battle. The
primary building blocks of academic knowledge are supposed to be facts and reason.
Those commodities are in short supply and heavily discounted in the realm of fringe
scholarship. In that world, opinion masquerades as respectable theory or even proven fact.
Bias, prejudice, or a quest for large royalty checks are the primary motivators, not an
objective search for the truth.
9. Another problem for academics who debunk fake and spurious knowledge is the
uncertainty about the nature and methods of history that have arisen out of postmodernism.
One reviewer of my book Invented Knowledge commented that it “proffers a dubious ideal
of authentic scholarship: it’s not true, as he claims, that real history and science always
proceed from evidence to hypothesis.” First, I am pretty sure that I did not make that claim.
What I did write was that “objective scholars with an honest agenda view evidence without
bias or preconceptions, or at least they try hard to guard against them as far as is humanly
possible.” A few lines later, I state that “objective, classically trained historians try to look at
all the available evidence and seek to develop an interpretation or analysis that
encompasses the entire body of evidence in all its complexity.”
10. In retrospect, I probably should have stated more explicitly that professional historians
sometimes write history as poorly as pseudohistorians write pseudohistory. I also must
accept that use of the word “objective” is instantly controversial since objectivity is
impossible in a universe of relative truths and many-faceted facts. How can I view the
attainment of absolute truth as anything other than a futile quest? Okay, I agree that
objectivity and truth are elusive goals, but so is the search for an end to poverty and the
realization of peace on Earth. That does not mean the quest should be abandoned. As
Polybius said over 2,000 years ago, “If history is deprived of the truth, we are left nothing
but an idle, unprofitable tale.” Too often we are left with pseudohistory.
* Heaven’s Gate: American UFO religious group.

Taken and adapted from: Fritze, R. (2009, November). On the Perils and Pleasures of Confronting
Pseudohistory. Historically Speaking, 10(5), 2-5.

A. Distinguishing the main idea from supporting ideas

To be able to understand and find out what the main idea of a text is and its related ideas, let’s
take the following steps in order to infer the main idea from the reading On the Perils and
Pleasures of Confronting Pseudohistory.

1. Step 1: Know the topic

What’s topic? It is what the text is about, its subject. The topic is normally expressed in just
one word or a short phrase.
What’s the topic of the reading? ______________________________________________

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 2. Step 2: Identify all the specific ideas related to the topic and underline them. These
specific ideas explain or prove the main idea. They are called supporting ideas. Write those
supporting ideas in the lines provided:
▪
______________________________________________________________________
▪
______________________________________________________________________
▪
______________________________________________________________________
▪
______________________________________________________________________
▪
______________________________________________________________________
▪
______________________________________________________________________
▪
______________________________________________________________________
▪
______________________________________________________________________

3. Step 3: Infer the main idea.

What is the main idea? It is a complete sentence or statement expressing the most important
thing about the topic. It answers the question: what is the main thing said about the topic?

Now, analyze the supporting ideas. How do these sentences relate?

What is the author saying between lines? This implies two things. One that the main idea is
what the author wants readers to understand as important across the text, not in some parts
of it. Second, that sometimes the main idea is not stated directly or explicitly in the text, so you
have to infer it.
So what is the “big idea” or point made in the reading about pseudohistory?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

B. Guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words using context clues

Contextual clues are the syntactic (related to grammar structures) and semantic (linked to the
meaning of words) clues that can help the reader understand the meaning of unknown words.
They are words, phrases, or sentences that surround a word and are helping hints to save time
and to learn the different shades of meaning of the unknown words.

Syntactic clues are linked to the grammar or the sentence structure of the text. For example, in the
section Before Reading, in the sentence If one flips through the channels today, one will find that…
the syntax or the structure of this conditional sentence indicates that the verb in the second clause
must be will.

As for the semantic clues, these refer to the accumulated meaning of the sentence. In the sentence
Being able to tell the difference between pseudoscience and fiction is important because the latter is
all fun and games. Semantics limits the possible words in the blank since the sentence refers to two
elements, and the word latter refers to the last one mentioned: fiction.

There is another general classification of context clues:

1. Synonyms: words that have a similar meaning; they can be seen as a repeated context clue as
in this example from paragraph 2: Adherents of Heaven’s Gate* killed themselves so they
could join god-like aliens on their approaching spaceship. Followers of the Nation of Islam
killed…
2. Antonyms: words with the opposite meaning that can be seen as a contrast context clue. They are
commonly introduced by contrasting words or phrases such as however, but, in contrast, yet,

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 while, etc, as in this example from paragraph 4: […] they can see for themselves why genuine
history is based on valid, verifiable knowledge, while pseudohistory is raised up on false
knowledge masquerading as history.

3. Examples: words given that help define the term, such as in the following ideas from paragraph
6: Pseudohistory can suicide and even genocide. It is well known that Nazism based its
ideologies on beliefs about the human past that are distinctly pseudohistorical. Millions
of people died in the Second World War and the Holocaust.
4. General sense of the sentence or the passage: readers can deduce meaning from the
information available in the sentence or passage.

Working with the reading

Using context clues for help, write the letter of the best meaning for each italicized word or
words. Try not to use your dictionary.

1. They need reliable facts and unbiased narratives so they can see for themselves why
genuine history is based on valid, verifiable knowledge, while pseudohistory is raised up on
false knowledge masquerading as history. (P4, L4)
a. impartial b. deceiving c. unfair

2. This circumstance allows various fringe scholars to form alliances, even though
their individual theories often stand in stark contradiction to one another. (P7,10)
a. odd b. unconventional c. typical

3. They have experienced a lot of negativity in espousing their beliefs, so they tend to take a
defensive stance almost immediately. It is sufficient in their beleaguered arena to find
solidarity in the shared stance against commonly accepted ideas and the theories of
mainstream scholars about the human past. (P7, L6,12)
a. opinion b. belief c. viewpoint

4. Another problem for academics who debunk fake and spurious knowledge is the
uncertainty about the nature and methods of history that have arisen out of postmodernism.
P9,L1)
a. reveal b. reject c. discredit

5. If history is deprived of the truth, we are left nothing but an idle, unprofitable tale.” (P10, L8)
a. useless b. unlikely c. sad

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Writing

Learning outcomes
- Can paraphrase information from a simple text, if guided by questions.

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is an important skill in the academic world since it implies restating or explaining
another person’s ideas whether they are written or spoken. This means paraphrasing helps you
avoid plagiarism. Normally, a paraphrase includes main ideas and supporting information, so the
purpose of a paraphrase is not necessarily to reduce the information. At times, a paraphrase is
longer than the original.

Remember, the most important thing is not to alter the meaning of the original source at all.

There are several techniques to writing a good paraphrase. It is very important that you use
more than one.

1. Replace vocabulary using

synonyms: Confined = restricted
2. Change the part of the speech
…after the death camps were closed... (Verb to be + past
participle) …after the closure of the death camps… (Noun)
3. Rearrange clauses or phrases
As pop culture shows us, these ideas fascinate people. (Dependent clause+
Independent clause)
These ideas fascinate people as pop culture shows us. (Ind. Clause+ Dep. Clause)
The comma is not necessary.
4. Switch from active to passive or vice versa
...these ideas fascinate people. People
are fascinated with these ideas.
5. Add or combine sentences
Yes, there is a lot of pseudohistory out there. A lot of people are peddling it for reasons
ranging from the naive to the nefarious.
Yes, there is a lot of pseudohistory out there since a lot of people are peddling it
for reasons ranging from the naive to the nefarious.

A. Answer the following questions trying to use a combination of strategies for paraphrasing
while being careful to not write exact words from the text. Do not simply summarize ideas;
paraphrase them by reorganizing the specific information into a new sentence.

1. Why does pseudoscience fascinate people?

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

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2. What is the negative side of pseudoscience?
_______________________________________________________________
_________
_______________________________________________________________
_________
_______________________________________________________________
_________
_______________________________________________________________
_________

3. What are the primary motivations of a “pseudoscientist”?

_______________________________________________________________
_________
_______________________________________________________________
_________
_______________________________________________________________
_________
_______________________________________________________________
_________

B. Based on the reading, summarize the main characteristics of

pseudoscience and science. Complete the table with those
characteristics.

Pseudoscience Science
References:

Brinks, R., & Sippell, K. (1012). Four Point: Reading and Writing. The University of
Michigan Press. Context Clues. (2004, June). Retrieved June 26, 2017, from
https://www.engageny.org/file/.../la_guide-context_clues.pdf.
Fritze, R. (2009, November). On The Perils And Pleasures Of Confronting
Pseudohistory.
Historically Speaking, 10(5), 2-5.
Langan, J. (2010). (Fifth Ed.) Ten Steps to Advancing College Reading Skills. West
Berlin, NJ:
Townsend Press.
Oshima, A., & Hogue, A. (2014). Longman Academic Writing Series 3 (Fourth ed.,
Ser. 3). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.