Robert Lewis wrote:
> Christos,
>
> At the risk of triggering a lengthy response from you, I for one
> do find some of your discourses overly convoluted and difficult to
> follow. Furthermore, they tend to have a slightly condescending
> tone that some may find offensive.
"Slightly"? Please.
Christos reminds me of half of the second-year sociology, literary
criticism or philosophy students I knew whilst in University, with their
heads stuck in Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul de Man or Noam Chomsky (or any
one of hundreds of plug-and-play substitutes befouling academia with
their intellectually masturbatory circle-jerks). And that's a lot of
such students to run into -- I ended up getting three post-secondary
degrees myself. "This is the *truth*, man! I'm showing you a whole new
way of seeing the *world*, dude! All your assumptions are *wrong*! All
your base are belong to us! We're the *future*! You're in *darkness*!
My Sociology prof's the New Messiah! Literary Crit is gonna *save*
us! Until now we were all *naive*!"
**HEAVY SIGH**
Christos, here's a tip -- you'll hate me for it now, and thank me in
twenty years (though the odds I'll be gone by then are pretty good). If
you honestly think you "know" something when you're spewing your
academic jargon, try explaining the exact same concept you *think*
you're talking about *without* using the jargon as an intellectual
crutch, and try explaining it to the average Jane or Joe on the street.
It'll take about ten times to twenty times as many words (jargon may
streamline, but it also compresses and too often obfuscates), and it'll
tell you once and for all whether or not you actually understand this
stuff yourself. You'd be *amazed* at how many students I've given this
challenge to over the years who simply could not do it. After they were
finished thrashing, I'd usually simply say "You need to re-examine your
own beliefs before you start calling everyone else out over theirs."
Or, as another great critic once put it, "Why do you see the speck that
is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own
eye?"
Ciao, bella.
Garth
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