> I understand the fact that political action and a scientific study
> of society are not closely linked. However, you're beating
> academics up for not communicating like political activists.
> Of course most academics don't have a talent for communicating
> with the masses--that's why they became academics!
1) If they don't have a talent for communicating with the masses, how can they communicate with their students? A lot of the latter are "from the masses" -- at least that was true when I was a college teacher at a converted teachers' college, where most of the students were the first from their families to go to college.
2) I don't know about the science types, but a lot of the pomo types (who don't pretend to be scientific) certainly write as though they were under the impression that they were trying to be political activists. "Engaged scholarship," and all that.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ When I was a little boy, I had but a little wit, 'Tis a long time ago, and I have no more yet; Nor ever ever shall, until that I die, For the longer I live the more fool am I. -- Wit and Mirth, an Antidote against Melancholy (1684)