[lbo-talk] yakking about the right

Wojtek S wsoko52 at gmail.com
Wed Apr 4 06:09:09 PDT 2012


Dennis: "hatreds develop for the opposite reason... i.e. careers are at stake and somebody, somewhere, when you least expect it, can shoot you down with a review of your work, among other means."

[WS:] Yup. There is more reason behind academic animosities than outsiders typically see, Mr. Kissinger notwithstanding. If a State Department functionary loses a debate to his/her counterpart in, say, China, this is likely to have minimal, if any, impact on his his/her career. If an academic loses a debate to another academic, his career is likely to suffer, as his/her chances of getting a tenure, research grants, speaking engagements, or appointments as department chairs or deans are adversely affected.

For the outsiders it may look like academic hair splitting on some obscure subject, for the insiders it is all about money, power, and glory - the usual reasons for people going for each others' jugulars.

Wojtek



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