Blogs > Cliopatria > Bunk, Debunk, and Rebunk

May 22, 2004

Bunk, Debunk, and Rebunk




Welcome to Rebunk! We are HNN’s newest blog.

First, let’s address this name. When I was in graduate school my advisor, Alonzo Hamby, used to tell us that historiography and the study of history occurs in a series of cycles. Tongue planted half in cheek, he’d say, “History is a process of bunk, debunk, and then rebunk.” For some reason this always stuck with me. Given that the three charter members of what we hope will become a larger stable of Rebunk-ers all met in graduate school at Ohio University, I thought that an homage to this concept would be fitting for a title for our blog. But more than that, we are three young historians who probably are catching the historiographical wave at a point where we are at the rebunking phase of Professor Hamby’s evolutionary process.

We are good friends. This (and Ohio University) is the one thing we have in common. Beyond that, do not look for a lot of intellectual or ideological conformity. Although I am starting this blog, and I am the ringmaster of this little circus, I am actually in the minority. While I am a liberal, Steve and Tom, my partners in punditry here at Rebunk, are conservative. I am a Democrat. One of them is a Republican, the other an Independent. I am an immense, neurotic, haunted fan of Boston sports. They root for crappy teams. This has led to many an interesting, spirited, and heated discussion. And that is something we expect to bring to Rebunk. In fact, one of the names that we considered for the blog was “Anger Management.” Another was “The Alienators.” Yet a third was “Tootle’s Giant head,” though that in fact has little to do with contentiousness. It is funny, though. And we do hope, in the midst of our fits of anger, outrage, self righteousness, and pique to instill humor as well as insight and our own particular strengths as historians and as informed observers of politics, sports, current events, pop culture, foreign affairs, and whatever else it is about which we see fit to delight, annoy, frustrate, amuse, and harangue one another and most importantly you, the reader.

In the end we believe not only that history matters, but that historians who also pay attention to the larger world should be able to bring their skills (and in the case of this group, we’d like to think intelligence, wit, and writing ability) to a range of issues, scholarly and otherwise.

We hope that our particular strengths are complementary, even when we are insulting one another. We hope that we entertain and inform. We hope that we make your regular blog reading list, and maybe that we become one of the first places you come to. Above all, we hope you enjoy this blog and that you become participants through the comment boards. Feel free to take us to task. We’re aggressive. But our bark is generally worse than our bite. Generally.



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Derek Charles Catsam - 5/27/2004

No, he has never put his fist through anything. Which makes him wise and mature; but it does not make him much of a sports fan!
dc


Greg Robinson - 5/27/2004

Derek
That's what I figured. I was going to mention Tootle's curious lack of sports enthusiasm (and his big head, too) but you beat me to it. Steve put his fist through something?


Derek Charles Catsam - 5/26/2004

Greg --
Actually what I meant was that Tootle is not as loyal a sports fan as Tom and I are. That is a pretty well established fact until Tootle puts his fist through something after a loss!
I know Northern California has loyal fans, good fans, though they aren't Boston fans and they aren't Cleveland fans, or at least they aren't Browns fans.
dc


Greg Robinson - 5/26/2004

Re: "Steve is from the land of fruits and nuts and sports loyalties less deep than mine and Tom's." That's southern California. Steve is from the blue collar, hard-working Central Valley and I am from the blue collar, hard-working Northern Sierra Foothills. I've long tried in vain to dispel the image of California as being exemplified by Berkeley and L.A.

And our sports loyalties (again, excluding the much despised Southern California half) run exceedingly deep. Kings fans have been voted best/most loyal fans in the NBA (and I would add to that dumbest for loyalty to the pathetic play of perrenial losers like Doug Christie and Chris Webber) Giants fans have had their hearts broken enough times to rank them with Cleveland and Boston fans yet they keep coming to SBC park in record numbers. KNBR which is the home of Giants, A's, Warriors, 49ers, Sharks, Raiders sports talk is #1 sports talk radio in the nation. We are loyal sports fanatics, outside of Dodger land.


Derek Charles Catsam - 5/26/2004

Jesse --
Tom is a diehard Cleveland sports fan (with his own blog -- cleveland64.blogspot.com ) while Tootle is from the land of fruits and nuts and sports loyalties less deep than mine and Tom's but just enough to give us geographical range.
Enjoy Rebunk.
dc


Jesse David Lamovsky - 5/26/2004

Derek-

Good luck on the blog. Should be a fun read, including those inevitable occasions when I'll find myself on the business end of your arguments.

By the way, I'm guessing that "crappy teams" is another way of saying "Cleveland teams". Maybe so... but you New Englanders did get Belichick and Scott Paoli by way of Cleveland (not to mention Eckersley and Tiant as well). We do get some things right around here, sports-wise, if only for purposes of export!


Derek Charles Catsam - 5/24/2004

Thanks, Mark. I'll have a new post up tomorrow, and Tom and Tootle will soon follow.
dc


Derek Charles Catsam - 5/24/2004

Greag --
No worries. The wedding should be fun, and you hit the Ruth-Robinson thing exactly on the head. No blacklisting, we welcome the contributions, a good fight is better than a silent disagreement, and I am glad to see that you use HNN and other websources to bring history into the classroom and to make it relevant. i should have a new post tomorrow, and we will be up and running!
dc


mark safranski - 5/24/2004

Congrats on your new bloghome Derek, I look forward to visiting and kibitzing regularly !


Greg Robinson - 5/24/2004

Dr. Catsam,

I think it's obvious we got off on the wrong foot, so here's an attempt to pull that foot out of my mouth and offer it as an olive branch. Poor analogy I know, save the criticism for later. Anyway, I'm looking forward to enjoying you, Steve and Tom's blog on HNN and hopefully, if I haven't been blacklisted yet, contributing from time to time. I realize too, that I was out of line by jumping into the fray with my "stupid" comment. I DO (I know how you love superfluous capitalization, I personally hate those little winks and smile things :) turn to HNN and the Big Tenters to keep me posted on current professional history news and historiography. I even use a good deal from both of material on my website for my 11th grade history class. I will look forward to more insightful critique on my poor writing.

Anyway, here's hoping we can enjoy a beer at Steve's wedding and possibly discuss why the Boston Red Sox are never criticized for passing over Jackie Robinson but are ridiculed constantly for selling Babe Ruth. I promise not to mention Boone, Buckner, Bucky or the Babe anymore (but only if you promise not to mention Scott Spezio, Troy Glaus or that &^%*#** Rally Monkey).

Greg Robinson


Derek Charles Catsam - 5/24/2004

Thanks Chris. We look forward to your contributions. OU has a decent basketball tradition in the MAC, though they have not gotten over the hump. For a while football, which was once arguably the worst program in all of DI, had a renaissance under Jim Grobe, hwo now is working small scale miracles at Wake Forest, but now they are back mired in sub-mediocrity.
dc


chris l pettit - 5/24/2004

Looks like it should be interesting...

I know we have our differences on certain topics but have always respected your scholarly approach and knowledge. It will be a pleasure to see such prowess on display on a daily basis.

By the way...Ohio U. is doing quite well in basketball and football as I remember, no? And no...I am not confusing it with Ohio State...Ohio U is much more classy.

CP


Bill Heuisler - 5/23/2004

Derek,
You're correct, the blogs were far above my limited HNN horizons. In fact I don't understand why the response-delivery for comments is in a box and not below the original (hell, I don't understand the solipsism of most Liberals or how to program a cell-phone). So, if I can find you all again, my pique, anger, outrage and self righteousness will be restrained somewhat by the joys of discovery and, of course, by my usual excessive humility.
Bill


Derek Charles Catsam - 5/22/2004

My guess is no. Usually I cannot even tell between the two of you, and I know the answer! Your head swells in winter, but your hair swells in that Ohio summer humidity, giving you a troll doll look if a troll doll had Conan O'Brien's stylist.
dc


Derek Charles Catsam - 5/22/2004

Thanks Jonathan. We hope you'll make this part of your regular daily internet travels. We hope we make it worth those travels.
dc


Stephen Keith Tootle - 5/22/2004

The size of my head varies by season. It swells in the winter and recedes in the summer. I wonder if people will be able to figure out if I am the Republican or the independent?


Jonathan Dresner - 5/22/2004

Usually, I post a welcome message that points out some of the joys and thrills of being an HNN blogger, but that's pretty redundant here. So I'll just say welcome, let's enjoy ourselves, and in the process point out that everyone should be paying attention to what historians have to say.

I usually talk about cycles of clarification and complication, or of narrative construction, deconstruction and reconstruction. But most everyone's heard the 'bunk' line, so good choice (certainly the best of the ones you mentioned....)!