Hidden Agenda Research Articles

Overt Scientific Bias and Clandestine Acts by Trusted Scientists: The Flawed Application of the Linear No-threshold Model.

The Health Physics Society (HPS) released a video documentary on the history of the linear no-threshold (LNT) model in April 2022. It exposed many scientific and ethical failings of many leaders, influential scientists, and organizations that have resulted in the current system of radiological protection. Since then, the society received many comments; most were supportive, while a few criticized the video documentary as delivering an anti-LNT message. Shortly thereafter, many emails discovered via an independent Freedom of Information Act request revealed multiple layers of coordination between prominent people in the field of radiation protection to coopt the leadership within the HPS and suppress information they perceived or assumed to be contrary to a pro-LNT message. Many of these emails were published by JunkScience.com, an independent organization that exposes faulty scientific data and analyses used to advance special interests and hidden agendas. This Forum article is intended to document in the peer-reviewed literature the JunkScience.com findings of clandestine acts by trusted scientists within the radiation protection community. The emails exposed strong personal biases, actions taken by leaders within the National Commission on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) to "save the Society" from its "downward spiral," and actions taken by NCRP and HPS members serving on a National Academies of Sciences committee to suppress scientific information relevant to the debate about health effects in low-dose environments. These anti-science actions harm our entire profession and the trust that Congress bestows on our scientific organizations expecting to receive objective recommendations based on sound science. It is important that these events are recorded in the scientific literature from a historical perspective. The radiation protection community will be judged not by what is revealed in this article but by what actions are taken from here.

Power Plays and Hidden Agendas: A Deep Dive into the Battle for Control at Indonesian Traditional Market

Power Plays and Hidden Agendas: A Deep Dive into the Battle for Control at Indonesian Traditional Market

Biased and unwarranted Political view in Lancet Journal

India is the largest democratic country and currently celebrating the festivity of the election. We observed that the editorial by Lancet published about India’s election: Why Data and Transparency Matter (1). After reading the editorial, the most important question came to the mind of Indian readers: Is there any hidden agenda in the editorial team of Lancet Journal? Why did the Lancet choose to deal with the subject of data and transparency at the time of the election in India? Close examination of this editorial’s references, particularly the second one, confirmed the hunch of readers that the comprehension is significantly biased as it is based on a media report and the editor has used his position in a scientific journal to interfere in the affairs of a sovereign nation. It is totally unacceptable and undone of scientific temperament. Through this letter, our team is conveying the feelings of the people of the largest democratic and secular country. We would not pick the Lancet as our first source of information on this issue. Secondly, the journal cannot afford to become politicized by allowing only one point of view to be expressed. How will we know the editor hasn't rejected papers simply because their findings disagree with your politics?

Cultural Nationalism or National Culture as Portrayed in Indian Popular Culture: The Case of Indian Visual Media

Ever since Friedrich Meinecke proposed the distinction between the terms “cultural nation” (Kulturnation) as expressed in fine art and “Statsnation” (political nation), the cultural sphere of nationalism or nationalist idealogy/culture has been quoted either out of context or misquoted/misinterpreted to demean other cultures and reinforced ostensibly to carve out a false or “imagined” national identity in the Indian context and more so in the Indian popular culture. Does it reflect the culture of the majority populace in India? Why does it hegemonize other cultures? With the mainstream narratives and myths that underlie the Indian media, popular culture galvanizes around terms like nationalism, national identity and others. The main aim of this article is to unravel and deconstruct the notion of national culture and all the accompanying terms associated with it. It becomes significant in the present socio-cultural-politico-Indian context with its approach towards feudalism and postcolonial imperatives. The main question is how these terms are appropriated and subverted to form a new meaning, perhaps a historical revision. Randomly, nine Indian films were chosen for observation. The analysis reveals that a microscopic minority invokes the metanarrative of hypernationalism and cultural homogenization to placate the democratic forces and achieve their hidden agenda. Since it is value-based, its recommendations too primarily belong to the moral turpitude of those who are in power.

Shroud waving self-determination: A qualitative analysis of the moral and epistemic dimensions of obstetric violence in the Netherlands.

Obstetric violence is an urgent global problem. Recently, several studies have appeared on obstetric violence in the Netherlands, indicating that it is a more widespread phenomenon in Dutch maternity care than commonly thought. At the same time, there has been very little public outrage over these studies. The objective of this qualitative research is to gain insight into the working and normalization of obstetric violence by focusing on the moral and epistemic injustices that both facilitate obstetric violence and make it look acceptable. Following the study design of Responsive Evaluation, interviews, homogenous, and heterogenous focus groups were done in three phases, with thirty-one participants, consisting of ten mothers, eleven midwives, five doulas and five midwives in training. All participants were already critically engaged with the topic, which was a selection criterion to be able to bring the existing depth of knowledge on this topic of people in the field to the fore. Data was analyzed through Thematic Analysis. We elaborate on two groups of results. First, we discuss the forms of obstetric violence most commonly mentioned by the participants, which were vaginal examinations, episiotomies, and pelvic floor support. Second, we demonstrate two major themes that concern practices related to moral and epistemic injustice: 1) 'Playing the dead baby card', with the sub-themes 'shroud waving', 'hidden agenda', and 'normalizing obstetric violence'; and 2) 'Troubling consent', with sub-themes 'not being asked for consent', 'saying "yes"', 'saying "no"', and 'giving up resistance'. While epistemic injustice has been analyzed in relation to obstetric violence, moral injustice has not yet been conceptualized as a fundamental part of both the practice and the justification of obstetric violence. This research hence contributes not only to the better understanding of obstetric violence in the Netherlands, but also to a further theorization of this specific form of gender-based violence.

Understanding Hungary’s Support for Persecuted Christians: Scrutinising Religious Motives for Giving Aid

Religion is increasingly acknowledged as a driving force behind development processes; however, it has received little attention as a motivation for donors to give aid. The article analyses the stated motivations and hidden agendas behind the Hungarian government’s ‘Hungary Helps’ aid programme, aimed at supporting Christian communities in the Global South and reducing migration to Europe. The programme fits with the government’s rhetoric on religion and migration, however, the article reveals inconsistencies that suggest further motivations. While there is little evidence that there was domestic demand for such a programme, it has been used instrumentally to increase Hungary’s influence among Christian interest groups and their political allies in the USA.

Three ways of addressing and understanding political violence in Northern Ireland: Hidden Agenda (1990), In the Name of the Father (1993) and Some Mother’s Son (1996).

La producción cinematográfica constituye una fuente primaria en la construcción del conocimiento histórico, aunque la aprobación de sus aportaciones es muy reciente y coincide con la renovación de las técnicas de investigación en los análisis historiográficos que desbordan la primacía documental de los textos escritos. La relevancia potencial del cine en los estudios sociales está avalada por su condición primaria, la cual ejemplifica un “medio internacional de masas”. Partiendo de esta premisa, este trabajo intenta analizar y problematizar diferentes miradas que rompen con la tradicional aproximación predominante al conflicto político norirlandés en el cine. Al respecto, Agenda Oculta, En el nombre del padre y En el nombre del hijo son tres producciones cinematográficas que ofrecen diferentes maneras de atender y entender categorías polisémicas que son problemáticas en la comprensión de la realidad política del Ulster, tal y como sucede con la democracia, la justica, la violencia, el terrorismo o los derechos humanos.

Von Beispielen lernen. Der Mensch und das Nicht-Menschliche

The paper argues that examples are not only used as rhetorical support for a presented general thesis but also circulate without explanation (whether or not with a hidden agenda). We often encounter particulars (persons, cases, situations, stories, etc.) that only with time assume the meaning of an example of something. Learning from so encountered examples is a lengthy process, based on recognizing serious and significant stakes (often related to essential structures of human life) reflected within them, resulting in i) the ability to trace significant connections to other particulars and ii) acting upon this recognition. It is disputable whether i) and ii) are intrinsically connected. The elusive nature of learning from examples – the difficulty of deciding whether learning has taken place – is illustrated using the example of environment-related actions.

When is a State’s ‘Hidden Agenda’ Proven? The Role of the Merabishvili’s Three-Legged Evidentiary Test in the Article 18 Strasbourg Case Law

Abstract The increasingly litigated Article 18 echr aims at unmasking the ‘hidden agenda’ pursued by states that proclaim to be restricting human rights for legitimate reasons, but in fact do so for an ‘ulterior purpose’. These complaints generate complex evidentiary challenges. This article investigates the evidentiary regime of Article 18 since the delivery of the Grand Chamber Merabishvili v Georgia judgment in 2017. It shows that this regime is composed of a three-legged evidentiary test requiring: (1) that the Article 18 complaint is a fundamental aspect of the case, (2) the identification of an ‘ulterior purpose’, and (3) the predominance of this purpose in the state’s overall motivation. The article argues that this three-stage test is sui generis, despite borrowing elements from evidentiary regimes, both from other Convention provisions and externally, and that it lacks clarity and coherency: facilitating a higher standard of proof for the provision, which largely burdens applicants.

The Widening of the Logic and the Care of the State

The main problem of Plato᾿s Republic and of contemporary Russia is the fusion of the state power and philosophy in order to improve both the state and the individual. The article deals with the problem of widening the logic causing the defacement of sciences and endangering the existence of the state. There is a hidden agenda, a hidden problem: The prepositive widened attribute destroying the “philosophical (logical) syntax” of the Vienna Circle. The article raises the problem of the metaphysics as the spiritual foundation of the European civilization and considers its repudiation by the logical positivists as a knotty problem. The great problem is the evil influence of the logical positivism on the American politics wich is applying the syncretic method of the Vienna Circle. At present, philosophy is not even mentioned among the related disciplines of politics in the sense of state theory (history, state law, international law, sociology, political economy, psychology, ethics). Today there is a necessity that makes philosophers anxious about the state, and the state will have to obey them if it does not want to perish. Philosophy is the valiant guardian of the state, a guarantee of its preservation. It was the absence of this guard that led to the death of the Soviet Union.

The Christian Idea in the Soviet Literature

Contrary to common belief, Russian literature of the Soviet period was never a “waste of time” for our culture. No socialist realism could tear it completely off from the Orthodox worldview and the classical Russian literature. As for the works of that period written with the hidden agenda, they have long since been duly forgotten. In the Soviet years, the reality of the so-called literary process appeared to be distorted: there were books that received prizes, and other books that people read and discussed. Time, however, straightens everything and puts things in their proper place. The works of writers who felt that they belonged to the great Russian literature stand out clearly from the political and social framework of this historical period. They are, in essence, a bridge from the pre-revolutionary Orthodox culture to our time. We can be fi rmly justifi ed in saying that the literature of the Soviet period was hardly the “bearer of the Christian message”. And yet, to call it entirely anti-Christian would be equally wrong. The author of the article researches this phenomenon through the works by Andrey Platonov, Mikhail Sholokhov, Nikolai Zabolotsky, Nikolai Rubtsov and Vasily Shukshin. The article examines the works of these authors, and reveals their hidden Christian or close enough character, ideas, images and moods. In general, even taking into account the necessary reverence to the system, the Soviet literature in its best representation was a worthy continuation of the classic Russian one. Sadly, the current literature in our country has not yet managed to become even a remote successor of the Soviet literature.

Alternative Credibility, Phenomenological Empathy, and the Plandemic

Plandemic: The Hidden Agenda behind COVID-19 is a twenty-six-minute film that went viral during the spring of 2020. The film invited controversy for sowing doubt in the official account of the COVID-19 pandemic by presenting an alternate perspective on several key issues such as masking, vaccines, and COVID-19 control measures. The film also vilified public health institutions and officials like Antony Fauci, among others. This paper aims to evaluate how conspiracy theories like the Plandemic find fertile ground during moments of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. To accomplish this the paper has two aims: (i) highlight the crucial role played by ‘alternative credibility’ and ‘empathy’ in garnering trust; (ii) identify how both concepts operate in the opening segment of the Plandemic, when the film’s protagonist Judy Mikovits is introduced in a manner that commentators claim played a crucial role in gaining the audience’s trust.

Barbaro’s Glass Ball and Sokollu Mehmed’s Finesse. Ottoman-Venetian Peace in 1573

While the naval battle of Lepanto as well as the founding and dissolution of the Holy League has attracted significant scholarly attention, the preparation and ratification of the ensuing peace treaty between Ottoman Empire and Republic of Venice has received relatively little attention. Nonetheless, the three months of lengthy negotiations that culminated in the treaty of capitulations provide a valuable insight into the early modern Ottoman approaches to international negotiations and treaty-making. Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (1565-1579), Grand Vizier of Sultan Selîm II (1566-1574), was the principal protagonist of these negotiations on the Ottoman side. This article focuses on the encounters of the latter with Marcantonio Barbaro, Venetian bailo and François de Noailles, ambassador of King of France Charles IX and aims to provide a new perspective on their bargainings by emphasising the participants’ points of view, achievements and failures, hidden agendas, as well as tactics.

Seven Initial Prominent Sources of All Information Bias Impartiality Types Parsed

Ever since information was first operationalized by library science into consumer formats, media bias has been studied from the purview of information gatekeepers who decide what, how, and when to publish based on story importance and factors like circulation. This concept did not include individuals or entities outside of the journalism discipline. With the advent of the internet and a number of social media networks that soon followed, individuals could more effectively release information without waiting for gatekeepers, thus shaping the public’s perception regardless of the topic. Scholars offered a theoretical framework for shaping the public’s opinion and still other scholars focused on how information could be slanted or partisan. However, these seminal approaches did not operationalize the term information bias in terms of the overall partiality of major sources themselves. Information evaluation tests such as the Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose (CRAAP) and Stop, Investigate, Find, Trace (SIFT) that have been discussed as tools to assess information for bias fall short on the very first step of what to inspect and how to sort. With a gap in the literature sorting through the types of biases can be daunting and confusing. The purpose of this paper is to propose one initial method as the first step to sort information bias regardless of its form, analog or digital, into seven prominent sources each with their own inherent but larger impartiality tied to it. The sources of all information bias to be discussed in alphabetical order are: 1) academic, 2) forprofit, 3) government, 4) hidden agenda, 5) individuals, 6) nonprofit, and 7) watchdog groups.

The Mask of Leadership: Reflection on Art-Based Learning for Preservice Teachers

Introduction/Main Objectives: Leadership and educators face numerous personal and professional challenges. The challenge for prospective teachers is to prepare themselves to be leaders in the classroom, but they still do not understand the true meaning of reflecting leadership. Background Problems: How do teacher candidates reflect on leadership? Novelty: This study seeks to find new ways to increase their understanding of their leadership. This hands-on learning approach is based on an online masking workshop that examines leadership styles and behaviors, reflection, and hidden agendas. Nineteen prospective elementary school teachers from Indonesia participated in the study. Research Methods: This study argues that this is a research descriptive qualitative study in which the researcher uses a mask maker to capture the expressions of prospective elementary school teachers. Finding/Results: The results of the workshops are fun and exciting. These activities encourage creative and lateral thinking, foster self-awareness, and can provide access to information beyond the goal through the expressive metaphor of the mask. Visual, emotional, and aesthetic development, when combined with non-directive professional dialogue, can result in more effective, authentic, and thus ethical and dynamic leadership. Conclusion: Participants indicated that exploring experiences through art-based methods is a rewarding process, as is creating work, taking a logical approach to reflective practice, and engaging in fruitful self-exploration.

The Nature and Limits of Theology: A Response to Rowan Williams

AbstractTheology is both a human endeavor and something of Divine origin, insofar as it is a human attempt to make sense of certain Divinely revealed propositions. How does one reconcile these two elements? One attempt to do so was on the part of the Anglican theologian Rowan Williams. In sections I and II of chapter 1 of his work ‘On Christian Theology’, Williams speaks of the nature of authentic theological discourse, that is, theological discourse that has integrity. In his work on theological integrity, Williams explores how human intentions or hidden agendas can potentially warp our attempt to make sense of the truths contained within Divine Revelation. He then goes on to speak of how to avoid such pitfalls. In this article, I will respond to the epistemological implications of William's thoughts on this topic. I will use various ideas from Catholic theology, including the development of doctrines and the notion that faith has both a subjective and objective element, to explore both the strengths and weaknesses of Williams's thought.

Irving Kirsch opens a window on antidepressant medications

ABSTRACT When it comes to antidepressant medications – popular, backbone drugs of modern psychiatry – even learned scholars and savvy clinicians find it difficult to separate honest, rigorous research from that which thrives on hidden agendas and ulterior motives. Fortunately, a mounting corpus of data-based studies, mostly meta-analyses, casts new and critical light on the clinical efficacy, side effects, and therapeutic outcomes of antidepressants. Spearheading these efforts over the past few decades, Irving Kirsch and colleagues have challenged the hegemonic view of antidepressants as an effective therapeutic intervention. Notably, Kirsch illuminates the small difference between antidepressants and placebos in mitigating depression—a difference that may be statistically significant yet fails to reach clinical significance. This piece sketches the important contributions Kirsch has made to the scientific understanding of antidepressant medications.

“I want to bring this light to those in despair” – the Tokyo 2020 torch relay and the creation of Olympic legacies

ABSTRACT Mega sport events like the Olympic Games leave their marks on hosting nations and often become important lieux de mémoire in the history of a nation. In this article, I will analyze the Tokyo 2020 torch relay as a highly ritualistic and highly choreographed act that creates a space of and for symbolic practices and performances, and I will use it as a case study to show how the torch relay contributes to the creation of an Olympic legacy in Japan. My argument is divided into four sections. In each section, I will focus on a different area of the “microcosm of the torch relay” to shed light on chosen official strategies and efforts of Japanese politics, the IOC, the JOC, and the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee to create a 2020 Olympics narrative and future legacies. At the same time, I will challenge these efforts, strategies, and practices in terms of underlying intentions, hidden agendas, their impact and (failed) success by examining some of the many obstacles, opposing voices, and counter-narratives along the way of the torch relay, as well as how the micro-narratives of individual torch bearers may be the most enduring memories of the Tokyo 2020 torch relay.

Objective Humanities, Reflexive Humanities

Objective Humanities, Reflexive Humanities

Characterizing the Gendered Twitter Discussion of COVID-19 Hoax

ABSTRACT We collected data from Twitter and used content analysis to better understand the gendered discussion around COVID-19 as a hoax. We identified three main categories in the inductive stage of the research: (1) sympathetic to human rights & perceived injustice, (2) invincibility and superiority of COVID hoaxers, (3) conspiracies and/or hidden agendas. The findings of the study show that among all gender groups, the first category is the most dominant (44.4%), the third category is the second most frequent (35.6%), and the last category (19.9%) is the least frequent. However, when the discussion is centered on men (40.2%) and gender and sexual minorities (GSM; 69.6%) groups, the last category is the most dominant with regard to stigmatizing GSM groups by falsely associating them with progressive secret agendas. As for women’s group, being sympathetic to human rights and the perceived injustice against them during the pandemic constitute the most dominant category (51.5%). We discuss the implications of the study in the conclusion.