Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Will I have to file a LAWSUIT against Oxford University Press America???

Why? Because they are allowing their prominent name as a publishing company associated with a prestigious institution of higher education to be used t disseminate bigoted propaganda by an MI6 officer and pseudo-intellectual frontman named John Dougill.


Here are a series of related emails I exchanged with the unwitting person in charge at UPO America at their NYC headquarters. I say unwitting because she was not aware of the operation I brought to light. These are emails from October 2010.


It is interesting to note that the MI6 seems to think it appropriate to continue to promote the book in question on their gray media blog DeepKyoto.

I don't have time to edit or comment at the moment, but this will be given some more contextual and background support when I do have the chance. For the time being, suffice it to say that since I never received a response from Mr. John Ferguson, it might be the case that he is another MI6 intelligence officer operating a front company from NYC, "Signal Books", as a disinformation publishing outlet which is apparently aimed at influencing the cultural and historical understanding of the cities and countries being visited by the more educated readers targeted by the series of so-called guide books called CityScapes, presented as a subsidiary of OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS. 

  Subject: Kyoto: A Cultural History, by John Dougill
------------------------
Dear Mr. Ferguson,

I am writing to inquire about the fact checking and editing process for the above-referenced book. Your address was acquired through OUP.

The reason for this inquiry is that the book includes a number of outright false information, as well as subtly imbued religious bias, and other specious content. in fact, in conjunction with other works I have red by this author, including articles for a local--no defunct--publication that was called the Kansai Time Out, it would seem that the author, who, as you may no, does not read Japanese and is not a legitimate scholar of Japanese history, culture and religion, would seem to be supporting members of exclusionary and antisocial elements of Japanese society. There is a religious angle as the city of Kyoto has served at points in Japanese history as a theocratic center for a corrupt priest caste. As I am an American residing here in Kyoto, this type of inflammatory writing has a direct impact on my life, in so far, that is, as it encourages such elements or supports their anti-foreigner exclusionary efforts, and the groups I am referring to possibly include people linked to criminal organizations. 

More specifically, he supports Shinto over Buddhism, and Koreans over Chinese in their contributions to the development of Japanese culture.  Koreans are widely regarded to make up the largest percentage of the Japanese mafia (the "yakuza") here in Kyoto, and accounted for %80 of the registered foreigners living in Kyoto at the time of the last census. For starters, here are the two most blatant examples where he incorrectly states that people are of Korean descent instead of Chinese, without providing a reference as to his source:

In regard to assertions made on p. 2
Another exists with respect to the Hata family he mentions, who were from China and emigrated to Japan during the Chin Dynasty, their name being read "Chin" in Chinese, as in "Chin Dynasty".

p. 141 

At any rate, I am a somewhat serious scholar of Japanese history, culture, and religion, and I work as a freelance translator while studying Japanese Zen music and chamber music. I intend to post some criticism of the book in question as well as a couple of the author's articles. I would appreciate it if you could provide some insight as to how such specious content made it through the fact checking process and to publication, as I would like to shield myself from recrimination under defamation laws, and do not want to unjustly malign Signal Books or OUP.
Sincerely,


Dear *****
I would imagine that you are busy and I apologize for having to contact you again so soon in regard to this matter, but I have received absolutely no response from Mr. Ferguson in response to the following inquiry.
Any advice you may have would be appreciated.
Sincerely,


Dear *****
I left you a voice mail a short while ago in regard to the referenced title, with respect to which I was informed you were in charge of the editing.

The book in question contains a number of specious assertions and simply incorrect assertions, and is imbued with a certain degree of religious bias toward (here, I meant to say AGAINST Buddhism and favorable to Shinto) Buddhism.

The author is an individual with whom I have spoken about his writings, as this is a field directly connected to my research, which relates to religion and politics with respect to modernity and identity. I am fairly well read in Japanese history, and study Japanese classical music--which has a lot of religious allusions, etc.--at a very high level, and have been doing so for approximately 9 years.   

At any rate, I have been preparing a blog entry regarding this individual, who has a PhD in Slavic Studies from Oxford, as I recall. The reason I am doing that is because in this book and in a couple of articles he has published in a local magazine are encouraging exclusionary Japanese nativist/nationalist on the one hand, and denigrating the role of Chinese actors in Japanese history in favor of nonexistent or over stated Koreans. I suspect that the reason for that is due to his association with Koreans here in Kyoto, who accounted for 80% of the 43,000 registered foreigners as of the last census. However, they also constitute a large percentage of the Japanese criminal organizations known as yakuza. 

This may start sounding a little bizarre, but I would simply point you to the book Tokyo Underworld, by Robert Whiting as an entry reference. The other aspect is a connection between secret societies, namely, the Freemasons, and collaboration with these types of organizations. In fact, there is a very strong possibility that Mr. Dougill is an officer in the British MI6 (equivalent of the CIA).

The relationship between Signal and Oxford strikes me as somewhat unusual, and I wonder if they bear responsibility for the content, and the fact checking thereof.

I want to protect myself from liable, etc, before posting the blog entries, so have decided to consult with you in advance.
Sincerely,
----------

Dear Mr. *****
 Thank you for your messages.  The Cityscapes series is one that OUP distributes in the US and Canada, while Signal Books acquires and edits the texts.  I would suggest being in touch with Signal’s editorial director, James Ferguson, at jamesferguson56@btconnect.com, regarding editorial questions.
 Sincerely,

___________________________
American and World History
Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue  New York, NY  10016-4314

Subject: Kyoto: A Cultural History, by John Dougill
----------

Dear *****
Thank you very much for your prompt response. 

I figured it had to be an arrangement such as that, though you may want to review the arrangement of entrusting of editorial responsibility to that company after reading the analysis I eventually will post. The nature of the misleading content is such that it would not be caught by anyone other than an expert, basically, as the rhetorical sophistication of the writing is very high. The content, on the other hand, would be scoffed at by any legitimate scholar.   

The issues matter to me personally because I live in this city, and have been targeted by people associated with antisocial groups (which is what the Japanese call organized crime groups) on the one hand, who wish to exploit this city as a tourist trap cash cow, and people associated with a particular faction of a former Shinto priest class who still view this as their traditional theocratic center, and themselves as having some hereditary claim to authority. They are associated with an exclusionary, nativistic faction in Japanese history. 

The writer in question indirectly supports both of those groups, in his writing. Seeing as he is not an expert in the field, and not half as well read as I am, the fact that this text embodies and extremely high degree of rhetorical sophistication and an extremely low level with respect to content. For example, he cites a number of local foreigners as sources, and refers to them as "experts". Some of those people are also tied to the Freemasons, MI6, and the intelligence community, as I have reported them to the consulate here, as I have Mr. Dougill. And on the other hand, he name drops and then misquotes a famous historian in an attempt to both denigrate Buddhism, and assume an air as if he were actually a well informed scholar who had done his homework and read the required authors. In the case of that quote, he doesn't give a reference to the source. only someone like myself who actually has read that author would be struck by the misquoted text, as it is imbued with a sentimental caste out of character for that esteemed historian.  

The Freemason and MI6 connection further complicates matters, but relates to what I have come to see as a divide and conquer strategy employed against societies from within, using religion as a tool to inculcate incommensurable aspects of understanding the world, dividing people along the lines of religion, making it difficult for them to interrelate.

I have said quite a bit here, and will leave it at that, hoping that you have a chance to check the blog once I post. There is, however, the question as to whether or not this Signal Books company is a front for the intelligence community, acting as a tool to put out somewhat misleading information on the cultures of each country covered by their guidebooks, and using the name of Oxford University Press as a false stamp of approval validating the verity and legitimacy of the content. I hope you can appreciate that there would be serious detrimental effects from such an arrangement. As I am not an expert on the history and religions of other countries, and do not intend to examine other guidebooks in this series, that is something for someone else to evaluate. 

Sincerely,
----------

Dear Mr. *****
 Thank you for taking the time to spell out your concerns.  I am not sure where you obtained Lois Ilbery’s name but OUP-UK is not involved in this title at all. Signal Books publishes there and the rest of world, other than North America.


Subject: Re: Kyoto: A Cultural History, by John Dougill


No comments:

Post a Comment