As for us haters, I think Weber pretty much nailed it (if you just remove the term "academic" from the first sentence):
"Hence academic life is a mad hazard. If the young scholar asks for my advice with regard to habilitation, the responsibility of encouraging him can hardly be borne. If he is a Jew, of course one says, give up any hope. But one must ask every other man: Do you in all conscience believe that you can stand seeing mediocrity after mediocrity, year after year, climb beyond you, without becoming embittered and without coming to grief? Naturally, one always receives the answer: 'Of course, I live only for my "calling".' Yet, I have found that only a few persons could endure this situation without coming to grief."
----- Original Message ---- From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Sun, June 5, 2011 11:33:35 AM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Arundhati Roy
Thing is, her political celebrity in the West is the product of Western leftists, who cherish her in the role of the emotional Third World woman, closer to nature - with not much cerebral function expected of her, because that's not in the job description. I'm fine with her material comforts, actually.
Doug ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk