That air of gravitas

This is a tad derivative, but I'm citing a Reason magazine mention of a FAIR report that think tanks just aren't getting as much ink as they once did. As a long-time sucker at the tit of various non-profits, activist groups and think tanks, I can empathize with Reason's Katherine Mangu-Ward when she says, "I still find sources through think tanks, I just don't cite them as such if I can help it. Lack of citations may not indicate the the influence of think tanks is actually, well, tanking."

Unfortunately, I have friends who went into academia proper, and since we're all in our forties, they're tenured now. I mean, I know these people. To retain my self-respect, I wouldn't mention their university affiliations either. Brown University as a credible source? Ya gotta be kidding me. I'd sooner refer to a refrigeration-repair school.

That pretty much leaves me identifying experts as folks whose heads I held over the toilet when we were 19.

Oh hell, I'll cite their think tank affiliations after all.