[lbo-talk] Theory Hotline

Miles Jackson cqmv at pdx.edu
Wed Oct 8 17:15:07 PDT 2003


On Wed, 8 Oct 2003, Brian Siano wrote:


> Wait. I thought that the discourse about rocks, dinosaurs, and galaxies
> was contingent upon power relations and the imperatives of the privileged
> classes-- their classification schemes were developed by white males
> through the distancing strategies demanded by the need to preserve and
> extend hegemony over the natural, i.e., more female world. But as you
> note, many of these things, which we are expected to regard as "real," are
> accessible only through the texts generated by privilege, and can be
> contemplated directly only through gatekeeping hegemonic institutions
> (observatories, multi-million-dollar telescopes, museums). So dinosaurs
> and galaxies did not actually _exist_ until signifiers were issued to
> represent them.

--And the winner of the straw-man-argument-of-the-day-on-LBO goes to--Brian S.!

Why the hell do you display such malevolence toward academics and social theory in particular? I agree that social theory can get a bit precious and social theorists are sometimes full of themselves, but doesn't some shit like Kissinger or Grover Norquist score higher on your Disgust-o-meter?

Miles



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