Applicable to Guests & Callers
Legitimate Primary & Secondary Sources
Deanna Spingola
July 26, 2020
There are purported researchers
who are actually cognitive infiltrators contributing to a
virtual feeding frenzy. I have callers who consistently, with every call,
introduce "information" as if it were fact. I am pretty intuitive and can see a
pattern with people who would fall into what Cass Sunstein refers to as
cognitive infiltrators or provocateurs.
Sunstein, Administrator of the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs,
in office from 9/10/2009 to 8/21/2012,
suggested that the government should attempt to discredit the "truth
movement," with preposterous propaganda disguised as legitimate information
presented by seemingly credible people, only to be shown later for what they
actually are. Then those who may have believed the fabrications would lose all
confidence and faith in the so-called movement. They may then move on to
believe in what the government wants them to believe, such as the Israelis did
not attack the USS Liberty, and that the US government and Israel did not
collaborate, along with some well-connected corporations using highly-developed
weaponry, did not orchestrate 9/11 and other events.
These provocateurs
seem to be drumming up dissent, division, and distrust within the so-called
“truth” movement. Repetition of those seemingly reasonable questions on
various radio shows lends an air of credibility to them. Thus, change agents who
never actually change their static positions, find it essential to have others
embrace and redistribute those easily-remembered propaganda phrases. The
already-answered questions, really talking points, remain the same, retaining
the same basic implication that the officials have lied to the population and
that astute truth-seekers need to courageously demand answers at all costs as
if, officials had not previously supplied all of the answers.
Essentially, there are two kinds of sources 1) primary or original and 2)
secondary or compiled. Primary sources are records that were created at the time
of the event or shortly thereafter by someone who has personal knowledge of the
event. This might be a birth or death certificate. However, even if a death
certificate contains the date of birth; it is not the primary source for that
birth. Even if the date is correct, it is not the primary source. The primary
source is the birth certificate. A marriage record is the primary source for a
marriage. Family historians and other researchers should always use primary
sources, when available, when they compile a written account of a family or
event. If a researcher uses an image or photo, he/she needs to state the source
and date of the image. If it is part of a set of images, he/she needs to provide
the number, relative to the other images.
Secondary sources are typically compiled sources
that are sometimes based on memory, speculation or circumstantial evidence. Every researcher should
cite their sources so that others might verify them by viewing the same
information. Without verifiable sources, people may regard the information
as hearsay or merely an opinion, which, like a smile, everyone
possesses. Currently, one of the biggest collections of secondary sources
include compiled data on Internet, such a YouTube videos, some of which are very
professional and created and presented by unknown
entities, people who use pseudonyms, and by others who may identify themselves. If one just compiles and presents a lot of "information" without
citing sources or viewing any official records, then that person certainly
cannot completely interpret an event. Naturally, there are many "official"
records that are nothing but stacked commissions such as the Roberts Commission
regarding Pearl Harbor, the Warren Commission and the 9/11 Commission wherein
the federal government chose certain people on whom they could count on
to arrive at predetermined conclusions determined by the consensus of the
comprised members. Using the basic criteria, a
commission constitutes a compiled source: hearsay, opinion, or deliberately subjective
information designed to influence public perceptions. Other compiled sources
include but are not limited to census records, databases, family histories,
probate records, land records, pension files, etc. A census record is only the
primary source for the census, not for a birth.
In addition to college, in order to gain further specific proficiency, I took numerous classes and was very close to
obtaining a degree in the field of family history. Family obligations prevented me from
finishing the final two courses which had to be accomplished onsight, several
states away. From 2000 to 2010, I was the
director of a genealogical research center which had fifty volunteers. I took a
class at the local college in MS Access in order to create an integrated database of the records of
that repository. During that 10-year period I taught numerous classes in
beginning and advanced research as well as specialized areas such as probate or
census records at the center and at various conferences where I was invited to
speak. One of the key principles that I learned and taught was CITE YOUR
SOURCES!!!! Otherwise, your work is just rumor or hearsay. I started conducting
family history research in my teens. For decades, I visited
various courthouses, repositories such as state libraries and state historical
societies around the country.
I have spent hundreds of hours in the National Archives branch in Chicago and
other repositories looking at rolls of microfilmed records. In as much as I
have some Quakers in my background, I attended one of the annual Quaker
conventions at Quaker Hill in Richmond, Indiana. While there, I researched some
of the Quaker records at Earlham College.
Italian officials standardized the records in 1809 in a more easily-read format.
Prior to that baptismal, marriage and other records were in "long form,"
obviously in Italian. Therefore,
I attended an Italian language class two nights a week at a local
college for a year so that I could
read the microfilmed vital records from
a particular area of Italy in which some of my husband’s ancestors had resided.
In research, if one continues to work on a specific
research problem, there is a natural progression if evidence exists. Now, if
warfare has destroyed an area, then many records are lost. If one continues the
research, going from question to question, verifying each and every clue,
finding supportive evidence, not just circumstantial evidence, he/she may
establish a fact. Research, if done properly, is NOT static. It is also not
based on suspicions, speculation, suppositions, circumstantial evidence and
obvious fabrications. Because anyone may post their opinions on the Internet,
people may post and promote nonsensical theories that many ignorant and/or
gullible people accept because they lack research skills themselves.
People with integrity
who are sincerely seeking answers readily accept evidence
that addresses their issues, even if it contradicts their previously-held views.
However, change agents,
cognitive infiltrators or provocateurs whose objective is to impose their key talking points
upon a gullible, suspicious population never change their positions.