Monday, February 07, 2005

James Wolcott: Prof Harpoons Maroon

my favorite culture writer tells us about the smackdown professor juan cole recently gave to hacktackular joshua goldberg and reminds me one of the few reasons academia is fun is that one has a chance to administer righteous bitch slaps to mediocre minds, all and sundry.

it's also a reminder that our culture is an example of the rapid deevaluation of knowledge - more and more, expertise in a given subject is giving way to a lackluster flattening. (where else would you have someone blatantly admit they know nothing about a subject, yet offer a whack-ass opinion anyway - and then have the gall to get their panties in a twist when they're called on it?)

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