Parody is not Science

      Let us illustrate with an analogy how a parody of MBBK's school can refute any statistical research.

      Suppose some statisticians decide to investigate whether the percentage of Jews in Brooklyn is greater than that in Queens. They act as follows:
Step I: They instruct an expert in Jewish names to draw up a list of typical Jewish names with their correct spellings.
Step II: The investigators check the frequency of these names in the telephone directories of Brooklyn and Queens.

      This perfectly legitimate procedure would indeed establish where the percentage of Jews is greater.

      Now, let us use the punitive methods of Bar-Natan and McKay (BM) to demolish this research:

• Suppose one name in the expert's list is "Goldstein." The critics (using BM's methodology) claim that a certain government document spells the name as "Goldsteen" and that such a document is more "valid" than any other source. Therefore they argue that the expert erred by taking "Goldstein" and not "Goldsteen". Leaving "Goldstein" on the list, they add "Goldsteen". But as a penalty for the original "omission" of "Goldsteen" they remove "Lewin" from the list. [This penalty is even more ridiculous if one considers that "Goldsteen" does not appear in the phone book at all. BM, too, penalized for choices which were not "beneficial" (see chap. 4, section A)].
  
• The expert included both "Rosengartner" and "Gartner", and also both "Birnbaum" and "Baum". The critics claim that in other cases he acted inconsistently: he included "Rosenfield" and "Blumenfield" but not "Field". Therefore, they say that they allow themselves to make "a parallel mistake": they erase "Gartner" and "Baum" and substitute "Field" (a commonly gentile name).
  
• The expert included the three names: "Levin", "Levinstein" and "Stein". Similarly he took the three names: "Blum", "Blumenzweig" and "Zweig". But then he included the names "Katz" and "Katznelson" without including "Nelson". As a penalty the critics remove "Katz" and substitute "Nelson" (a gentile name).
  
• The expert included "Goldstein" and "Stein". But then he included only "Goldman" and "Friedman", and not "Man". As a penalty the critics remove "Friedman" and substitute "Man" (a gentile name).
  
• The expert counted "Alexander" as a Jewish name. The criticizers claim that this name is of Greek origin. They leave "Alexander", but as a penalty they erase "Levy" and include "Wilson".
  
• The expert used the spelling "Meirovitch" based on an inscription in the local cemetery. The critics added the name "Lincoln" to the Jewish list claiming that this name was also found in that cemetery.
  

The reader is encouraged to continue, using his creative imagination.
Obviously such "amendments" would drastically distort the investigation. It is also obvious that such methods are a mockery of the normal conventions of scientific research.