[lbo-talk] [Pen-l] Todd Gitlin: the most pompous ass ever?

[Wojtek S]

Robert: "Gitlin may be a pompous ass, but the underlying point is still
basically right. When pompous asses come around to seeing that 2+2=4,
it's still four. It's important not to be provoked by the arrival of
the pompous asses on the scene into arguing that 2+2 is anything but
four."

[WS:] I second it.  A good number, if not the majority of
intellectuals can be characterized as "pompous asses" of one sort or
another - by which I mean showing off how smarter and more erudite
than others they are.  It is annoying, but not unusual.  It is an
occupational disease.

Wojtek