How one man’s lies almost destroyed the comics industry:
"For over half a century, the comic book industry has been dogged by the work of
one man, the anti-comics crusader and psychologist Fredric Wertham. His bestselling
1954 book The Seduction of the Innocent convinced parents and politicians alike
that comics were a direct cause of violence, drug use, and homosexuality among
young people. It led to the restrictive editorial code issued by the Comics Magazine
Association of America, and a national movement to keep comics away from children
and teens.
Though Wertham claimed his evidence came from thousands of case studies, it turns
out that he was lying. A new investigation of Wertham's papers by University of
Illinois information studies professor Carol Tilley has revealed that the psychologist
fabricated, exaggerated, and selectively edited his data to bolster his argument that
comics caused antisocial behavior."
"The debunking of Wertham, many decades after the damage he did with Seduction of
the Innocent, should serve as a warning. Today, many crusaders make the same claims
about videogames that Wertham did about comics. Violence and drug use are routinely
blamed on gaming, in part because of the early "research" that Wertham did."
See:
http://io9.com/5985199/how-one-mans-...=recirculation