I'm guessing that this one was in reply to Carl's post on academics and
political action and practice (why do you guys spell that word with
an x, btw)?
If not, I'm prepared not only to apologise for my opinions, but to deny
that I ever held them.
>Why would you expect everyone else but yourself to do it?
Personally speaking, because I am a selfish apathetic bourgeois bastard, but I don't have any aspirations to being thought of as anything else.
>Are you aware that academics don't get credit for political involvements
or for
>research that addresses such concerns?
Whereas PR professionals, stockbrokers, lawyers, journalists, etc etc get brownie points? Dang, nobody gets "credit" for political activity. Academics almost certainly get more than most. At least academics work in an environment where people are not typically sacked for having the wrong political views.
>In fact, they are often penalized for
>such involvements or for being overly political. Why do you expect them
to
>jeopardize their careers and livelehoods?
Whoa, hang on here. Careers != livelihoods, for a start -- the very concept of tenure ensures that. Carl's post, if I interpret it correctly, contained a mild slight at careerist types who value getting on in the world more than political activity while portraying their priorities the other way. Again, I disagree that academics have it particularly tough in this regard.
>Do you, yourself, do anything other
>than complain? I've not, as yet, noticed that you actually talk about
your
>political involvements or efforts in your work to change things.
Personally, I don't even complain. Carl, OTOH and IIRC, has mentioned such things repeatedly.
This isn't really as much of a random flame as it appears. It's just that, as an inhabitant of the non-academic world who associates with academics, I seem to spend half my life biting my tongue, in order to stop myself from saying "Ah f'ckng diddums" all the time. Academics do many very great things, but they don't half whinge, about things that strike the rest of us as pretty trivial.
hey ho hum, I guess that somebody's going to tell me that the combination of whiskey, codeine and St. John's Wort that I've been living of for the last three weeks isn't doing much for my personality. damn.
>If not, perhaps your time would be better spent at
>http://www.jackinworld.com/ OR http://www.paix.com/nowhack.html
>depending on your issue at the moment.
Heh, heh, heh. These were quite funny.
dd
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