[FRA:] Critique Today: review of

[Ralph Dumain]

For you that's undoubtedly true.  CT does fit its audience.  Perhaps 
the object of CT analysis (let's say if it's popular culture) fits 
its audience. But the two audiences are not the same.  If the 
intellectual audience mimics the general audience, i.e. mimics its 
childishness on the theoretical plane, then the intellectuals aren't 
being true to their calling; they are not showing serious insight; 
they are just beefing up their resumes.  However, this is not the 
only way to do intellectual work, and in fact, there's a lot of 
damage control to be done outside of the self-enclosed circle jerk of 
Ivy League schools and their ass-kissers.

I'd also like to point out there's a generational factor at 
work.  Young people, having been brought up in the communications 
technology and popular culture of the '80s and afterwards, are pretty 
shallow and stupid in my experience.  They started out media-savvy in 
being able to assimilate the new cultural order in a way that older 
people could not, but at the end of the day their depth is about half 
an inch at most.  And the grad school factory is breeding and 
cultivating a certain type, and some of the oldsters are riding the 
Ivy League gravy train writing self-involved bullshit that has no 
other objective other than to up their cultural capital.

That's the game you're part of, but I'm not.

At 12:06 AM 1/28/2008, matthew piscioneri wrote:

>Ralph,
>
>again thnxs for the links...> it seems as if critical theory (plus > 
>the postmodern supplements to it) have degenerated into pointless > 
>academic masturbation: it has become narcissistic and feeds on 
>itself > rather than manifesting any real insight into present social reality.
>
>unless of course "present social reality" is *narcissistic* and 
>*feeds on itself*.
>
>If this is the case -- and some would argue it is -- then perhaps 
>contemporary CT manifests more "real insight" than first thought 
>:-(. Maybe contemporary CT fits its contemporary audience?
>
>MP
>