Thanks, Ben. You and Audrey Watters are doing hard, necessary work right now. It feels like so many otherwise smart people are sleepwalking through the destruction of the most powerful set of institutions for creating and disseminating knowledge the world has ever seen. It was also an engine of social mobility and opportunity, though it struggled to realize that potential. The rolling back of funding and the active interference are astonishing, though I'm heartened by the AAC&U's recent statement as portending a greater willingness to resist at the institutional level.
I think a lot of what we're seeing is what Thorstein Veblen called a "trained incapacity," the limitation of understanding captured in Upton Sinclair's line: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
I'm hoping to get an essay about how this idea, especially Kenneth Burke's use, explains something of what's going on.
Thanks Rob -- I'm communicating with Audrey almost daily at this point, though she saw all this coming a long time before I did. I agree with you that there are reasons for optimism, the AAC&U letter being one of them, Trump's cratering poll numbers being another.
You're spot on with the Veblen citation. I recognize that part of what frees me to be this radical is I'm fully independent at the moment. Still, we need people to take some risks to fight authoritarianism.
I look forward to reading your thoughts, thanks again for commenting.
Funny that you chose this headline and the Public Enemy remake of For What It's Worth -- my favorite song. People talk about what radicalized them -- and for me, it was this song on the Muppet Show when I was 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Oq0aB0LQw
Wow. That is sobering reading. I've just moved to this essay in my inbox, from news of a power outage affecting millions in europe, surely the act of cyber terrorism. The infrastructure for both has been lying dormant all around us. It's like living in a Black Mirror episode.
Amazing talk by Cadwalladr, thanks for surfacing that. I'll be giving the coup its name, for sure.
Thoughts constantly with you all in the States. I'm sure I'm followed by fellow UK educators by standing in solidarity ✊
Thank you Mark. I appreciate the cautionary warnings, but in my opinion we have too much hesitancy right now. I wrote last week about Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth's vow to kill segregation or be killed by it. I feel the same about American technofascism.
Thanks, Ben. You and Audrey Watters are doing hard, necessary work right now. It feels like so many otherwise smart people are sleepwalking through the destruction of the most powerful set of institutions for creating and disseminating knowledge the world has ever seen. It was also an engine of social mobility and opportunity, though it struggled to realize that potential. The rolling back of funding and the active interference are astonishing, though I'm heartened by the AAC&U's recent statement as portending a greater willingness to resist at the institutional level.
I think a lot of what we're seeing is what Thorstein Veblen called a "trained incapacity," the limitation of understanding captured in Upton Sinclair's line: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
I'm hoping to get an essay about how this idea, especially Kenneth Burke's use, explains something of what's going on.
Thanks Rob -- I'm communicating with Audrey almost daily at this point, though she saw all this coming a long time before I did. I agree with you that there are reasons for optimism, the AAC&U letter being one of them, Trump's cratering poll numbers being another.
You're spot on with the Veblen citation. I recognize that part of what frees me to be this radical is I'm fully independent at the moment. Still, we need people to take some risks to fight authoritarianism.
I look forward to reading your thoughts, thanks again for commenting.
Subscribe! :)
Funny that you chose this headline and the Public Enemy remake of For What It's Worth -- my favorite song. People talk about what radicalized them -- and for me, it was this song on the Muppet Show when I was 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Oq0aB0LQw
I am worried we are somehow becoming mentally conjoined, Audrey. It's my favorite song and it started with the Muppet Show too.
Wow. That is sobering reading. I've just moved to this essay in my inbox, from news of a power outage affecting millions in europe, surely the act of cyber terrorism. The infrastructure for both has been lying dormant all around us. It's like living in a Black Mirror episode.
Amazing talk by Cadwalladr, thanks for surfacing that. I'll be giving the coup its name, for sure.
Thoughts constantly with you all in the States. I'm sure I'm followed by fellow UK educators by standing in solidarity ✊
Thanks Dominic, appreciate the words of support.
As is the case whenever we say truth to power, be careful. Look after yourself, Benjamin. Keep up the good fight.
Thank you Mark. I appreciate the cautionary warnings, but in my opinion we have too much hesitancy right now. I wrote last week about Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth's vow to kill segregation or be killed by it. I feel the same about American technofascism.