Comments on: Good Riddance to Academic Bathos

By: Matt Holbert

Matt Holbert — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:16:27 +0000

I agree that the answer is to abandon the system. However, unless the world outside the university changes also, “graduates” will be all dressed up with no where to go. ParadigmClub.org or something similar may provide some answers.

By: Hue Longer

Hue Longer — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:31:13 +0000

lol…nice one Kim, is Michael Kenny your red headed alter ego you throw out to roleplay how stupid you believe Catholic Zionists can be? Not only do I love the name you chose for the self abuse it would suggest, but how you make him completely miss irony. No catholic pretending to not be kissing Zionist feet would carry on with his absurd responses to quotes from articles quoting Chomsky such as, “Dershowitz is intelligent enough to know that he can’t respond, so he does what any tenth-rate lawyer does when you have a rotten case: you try to change the subject, maybe by vilifying opposing counsel. That changes the subject. Now we talk about whether, you know, opposing counsel did or did not commit this iniquity. And the tactic is a very good one, because you win, even if you lose. Suppose your charges against are all refuted. You’ve still won. You’ve changed the subject. The subject is no longer the real topic: the crucial facts about Israel, Dershowitz’s vulgar apologetics for them, which sort of are reminiscent of the worst days of Stalinism. We’ve forgotten all of that. We’re now talking about whether Finkelstein did this, that and the other thing. And even if the charges are false, the topic’s been changed. That’s the basis of it.1″….

Come on man, there is no Father Michael Kenny…good stuff though!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:27:00 +0000

It’s no wonder that universities are no longer important institutions, ones that provides impartial comment upon society. They have become the plaything not only of corporations but religious fundamentalists.

Once, as in the French Revolution, students led in the overthrow of a corrupt system. Now students and many faculty member are led by, or a prisoners of, corrupt others.

By: Bob Paredez

Bob Paredez — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 17:45:38 +0000

I think the natural answer is for Finkelstein to join the AFU, or may be organize his own in US. God knows there are plenty of anarchists here.

… but weight a second - how will “facilitators” survive - they need to get paid! and if tuition is charged by what “students” can pay then how is the balance to be achieved between what “facilitators” need and “students” can pay?

Another interesting point is that since there is not difference in designation between PhD and a high school dropout - I am sure that plenty of smart well educated PhDs will flock to this kind of equality. And why not, they could be debating issues with high school dropouts and not be recognized as authorities on a subject.

Won’t, in a free job market, PhDs and other smart people be lured away by attractive jobs where they are respected for their knowledge and paid well too, instead of spending their time in a place where they are equated to high school dropouts?
I think they would be, and what’s left are self indulgent ideologists who will spread hearsay as knowledge to bunch of ignorant individuals who like to hear that they are equal to PhDs even if they dropped out of high school.

By: Peter LaVenia

Peter LaVenia — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 17:26:21 +0000

As a graduate student and potential future prof, but also as a Marxist, I agree with your analysis of what to do with our entire system of learning. No amount of tinkering will correct what higher education essentially is - a conglomeration of money-making bureaucrats and capitalists looking for skilled workers. Creating a new structure is absolutely necessary to move forward to truly decentralized and human learning processes.

By: Michael Kenny

Michael Kenny — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:13:58 +0000

Always bear in mind that if Dershowitz had attacked a Catholic professor who’s writings reflected the Church’s teachings, DePaul, or any other Catholic university for that matter, would have defended that professor to the hilt. Dershowitz would have flung himself against the brick wall of the largest international organisation on earth, more than a billion people, with all the political clout and economic muscle that that entails. Mr D is too clever to have even tried that!

Nobody can defend everything. Catholic institutions exist to carry on the work of the Church and thus, to defend those to do that. To be credible as a defender of Catholics, Catholic universities need to accept that it is not their role to intervene in disputes between persons of other religions which in no way touch on the Church’s interests. If any particular strand of Jewish opinion wishes to have a “safe” platform from which to propound their ideas, they should set up a university themselves, not try to hijack somebody else’s university.

It would be nice if Professor Finkelstein found a university in which to carry on his work, but I can’t see that being a Catholic university. To each his own!