INTELLECTUALS, reason & al.

[Scott Johnson]

   It's hard not to let personal feelings have their way in a discussi=
on of academia. Both Jim and Ralph are very emphatic on the subject, a=
nd I understand completely. I left college after one year, and never w=
ent back. There are complex reasons for this, but it certainly didn't =
help that there seemed little hope of engaging any really critical thi=
nking. (I approached an economics instructor once and challenged her o=
n the textbook and coursework, basically telling her I thought it was =
all bullshit. "I know," she said, and proceeded to explain the constra=
ints she was under.) The institutions just aren't about critical thoug=
ht. Most people going to colleges and universities are there to prepar=
e to take part in all this activity, not criticize it. Who's gonna pay=
 for that -- unless you're a professor? And in that case, whose gonna =
listen? Theorists of race and gender are welcomed with open arms becau=
se they fire our liberal sentiments. But I think Ralph's disdain for t=
his stuff is not misplaced, because none of this need touch the founda=
tions.
   I get disgusted with the whole left-academic schtick (name-dropping=
, bibliography-packing, the conscious attempt at ridiculously abstract=
, masturbatory prose -- in short, Gallomania.) Like it or not, though,=
 I'm an egghead, too, and I certainly can't accept the unreconstructed=
 consciousness of the "proles". In a war of proles and eggheads, one c=
an only hope for both to give way to something else.
                     Scott Johnson=0A=0A105 W. 1st St. #214           =
     sjohn@cp.duluth.mn.us=0ADuluth, MN   55802             voice/fax =
 (218) 722-1351=0A=0A  http://www.cp.duluth.mn.us/~sjohn/sjohn_on.html=
=0A=0A --=0A=0AA memo signed by Major Okuntimo of the Rivers State Int=
ernal=0ASecurity Task Force, dated May 12th 1994, states: =0A"Shell op=
erations still impossible unless ruthless military=0Aoperations are un=
dertaken for smooth economic activities to=0Acommence."=0A=0A-- From a=
 web page (http://www.gem.co.za/ELA/ken.html)=0Adedicated to executed =
Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, =0Awho led a group resisting Shell Oi=
l's activities in his=0Ahomeland. The memo referred to was sent 10 day=
s before =0ASaro-Wiwa's arrest.=