[Pharmboy]

Hoo-boy; I know my fellow freepers would enjoy this one. They were wrong and now they're irrelevant. They're even telling each other the news.

It doesn't get much better than this...and from the Times.

[sauropod]

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

[hellinahandcart]

What's up with this article? I haven't read the NYT in years. Have they finally added a funnies page or something?

[Cicero]

Yes. The only problem is that these nitwits still infest nearly all the English departments in the country, control appointments, control tenure decisions, control what gets published by university presses and journals, and subject their students to almost any kind of idiotic proceedings in classrooms except teaching them to read literature appreciatively and with understanding.

Theory is demoralized, perhaps defunct (if you don't count feminism, gender studies, black studies, chicano studies, postcolonial studies, queer theory, and similar practical-minded offshoots of theory) but it will be a long time, if ever, before students who choose to major in English or other literary fields will find teachers interested in teaching them what they came into their classrooms hoping to learn.

[Libloather]

"Even a poem..."

And there you have it. The Libdem/Chicoms have nothing to offer unless it rhymes.

Irrelevant bump...

[RightWhale]

humanities departments in the 20th century — psychoanalysis, structuralism, Marxism, deconstruction, post-colonialism

As soon as a stylistic trend is detected, it's over. If you are on the leading edge, one of the avant-garde, and you pause to take the time to explain the leading edge, the leading edge moves on. Therefore, those who lecture on recent artistic trends have dismounted their tigers.

Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.
W. Churchill

[Loyalist]

As far as he could tell, he said, theory had never directly liberated anyone. "Maybe I'm too young," he said. "I really didn't see it: the liberation of people of color because of deconstruction or poststructuralism."

If you want liberation through deconstruction, use a JDAM, not a PhD.

[HumanaeVitae]

"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."

Phffttttt!!! (Coffee through nose sound effect).

What? Huh? Am I reading this correctly? Did someone slip some LSD into my morning brew? Leftists actually owning up to their own destructive tendencies? Pigs flying graphic is an absolute must here.

[Congressman Billybob]

In my latest UPI column, I discuss Columbia and other university faculties as one of the "pockets of resistance" which yet remain and need to be cleaned up. This article in the New York Times illustrates exactly why that is true. I doubt that the Times realized the irony of its story about the discombobulation of its fellow travelers in academia. (See first link, below.)

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, not yet up on UPI, and FR, "Who's Next?"

Latest book(let), "to Restore Trust in America."

[WOSG]

Leftist Humanities navel-gazers in Shock and Awe.

[Consort]

The Latest Theory Is That Theory Doesn't Matter, but that's only theoretical.

[browardchad]

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."

It doesn't get much better than this.

[Hobsonphile]

Leftism on Campus ping!

If you would like to be added to the Leftism on Campus ping list, please
notify me via FReep-mail.

Regards...

[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.

[Consort]

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

[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.

[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.