The Latest Theory Is That Theory Doesn't Matter [BWAHAHA Alert!]

NY Times ^ | 4-19-03 | EMILY EAKIN

[Porterville]

The problem is they try to use theroy as a strategy to deny the truth...when it is most effective in butressing the truth or destroying falsehoods....maybe they'll figure out that they're on the wrong side and eventually find out how to utilize the "soft sciences" to actually create social change for the better

[giotto]

For more than an hour, the panelists bemoaned the war in Iraq, the Bush administration, the ascendancy of the right-wing press and the impotence of the left.

No wonder these effetes hate the war. The sight of all those marines and soldiers in Iraq must be a constant reminder of how irrelevant and unmanly and useless their own "jobs" are. How many of these academics could last a single day out in 100° heat without showers, fresh salads, French wines, or the New York Times, and all the while being the potential target of snipers, suicide bombers or chem/bio attacks? It's the same reason Hollywood just wants this war to go away.

[Tijeras_Slim]

The private sector can absorb them...

[Consort]

The Ultimate Unified Theory of Everything consists of: Photons, Croutons, Neurons, Futons, Carrions, Gravitons, Crayons, and Morons.

[firebrand]

Fashion is something so ugly we have to change it every year.

[Salman]

I'm surprised whathisface from Princton Univ. was not invited.

Peter Singer? He's an "ethicist" not a "critical theorist". Not a member of the club at all.

[diotima]

Exactly. However, the damage has already been done.

Now that these post-modern "theories" have permeated the university, it is no longer sufficiently reactionary to tout one's "theory." Best to move on to non-theories and stay cutting edge...

PoMo theory has trickled down in one manifestation or another. It is transformative: where did hate crimes come from? where did "the constitution is a living breathing document" come from? where did affirmative action and abortion rights come from? All these are natural consequences from PoMo theory and there are strong movements in America attempting to advance those ideas even further.

It may be academically passe, but these people control the university and have diverted important funding from REAL subjects to fund their drivel: money from Classics or History goes to Queer Theory/Women's studies or African-American Studies departments and there are generations of students that have suffered from a lack of education in the important subjects.

[alley cat]

Are you SURE this wasn't from The Onion??

[Marylander]

This is too good. They have hit upon a scapegoat for their destructive attitudes: Theory is the culprit. Sniveling cowards all.

[MEG33]

Irrelevent indeed!

[Stultis]

So Sander L. Gilman, a professor of liberal arts and sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, replied instead. "I would make the argument that most criticism — and I would include Noam Chomsky in this — is a poison pill," he said. "I think one must be careful in assuming that intellectuals have some kind of insight. In fact, if the track record of intellectuals is any indication, not only have intellectuals been wrong almost all of the time, but they have been wrong in corrosive and destructive ways."

Mr. Fish nodded approvingly. "I like what that man said,"

SO DO I!!! Although this self-directed honesty from the academic left is refreshing, it should also be noted what they don't (and won't) say: That there have been intellectuals who have been right; and who have, what's more, furthered the liberation of the oppressed. Names like Jeane Kirkpatrick, Charles Krauthhammer, and others (many of them traditionally liberal but anti-leftist "neocons") who rallied to the banners Ronald Reagan raised against the forces of totalitarianism, come to mind.

[First Amendment]

Again I thank God that I was spared a higher education. I was born in a family of high academic acheivers (PhD's and MA's galore, and even honorary degrees from European Universities). Me? I got kicked out of 11th grade and years later got a GED for the fun of it (scored 100% on everything except math!) I am the only non-liberal among the bunch.
Higher education rots the mind and prevents logical or rational thought. That goes for any public education for lower grades too. I home schooled my kids (most of the time - years ago) and raised them on library books. Public schools are now officially slaughter houses and whorehouses.

[Vision Thing]

This article should be retitled to "The Latest Theory Is That Leftist Theory Doesn't Matter."

Most of the panelists are confessing their impotence. And as Stultis notes in post #31 above, they are being honest about their situation, but not completely. This is because, as Stultis also notes, the panelists neglect to mention the success of thier brethren who support the Right.

Theorists who supported the Right have been successful in affecting the world in positive ways. The names that come to mind are:

- Milton Friedman

- Freidrich Hayek

- Allan Bloom

- Saul Bellow

Ironically, most of them are affiliated with the University of Chicago, where this panel took place.

[Jimmy Valentine]

Please get it right. Peter Singer Bioethicist and chicken f**ker!

Regards, and good being with you at the Socialist riots the othe weekend.

[Pharmboy]

Never saw that Churchill quote before...he gets more relevant all the time. Thanks.

[Pharmboy]

I nominate your post for Quote of the Week! Great...

[Tribune7]

This isn't a satire?

[Pharmboy]

If I didn't read this in the print edition this morning, I don't think I would've believed it either.

At last the NY effin Times is attempting to get on the right side of history.

[Anamensis]

Sander L. Gilman: "I would make the argument that most criticism — and I would include Noam Chomsky in this — is a poison pill... I think one must be careful in assuming that intellectuals have some kind of insight. In fact, if the track record of intellectuals is any indication, not only have intellectuals been wrong almost all of the time, but they have been wrong in corrosive and destructive ways."

Whoa. They know. They've realized. They're saying it aloud... to each other... in front of witnesses. My God... This is stunning. In a good way.

[Anamensis]

I'm beginning to think pretty darn well of HLGjr. He wrote a preface to the edition of THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD that I read, where he indicated that the Black Nationalists of the 1930s-1940s marginalized Zora Neale Hurston because she was a Republican and didn't hold with their separatist, marxist politics.