Individual academic output feels so futile these days—writing silly little articles, giving silly little talks. But the attacks on academia show the continued importance of critical intellectual work as a collective endeavor. Anyone finding ways to work through this tension? I’m struggling with it.
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And why is it always the thesis statement- just pick a side
but it really does feel so tiny compared to...
"If the work comes to the artist and says, 'Here I am, serve me,' then the job of the artist, great or small, is to serve. The amount of the artist's talent is not what it is about. Jean Rhys said to an interviewer in the Paris Review, ..."
1/2
- L'Engle, Walking on Water
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It’s imperfect, but I think our kind of work has 3 roles right now:
- to document & remember (radical when time feels unmoored)
- to think & speak with precision (when so much noise rejects rigour)
- to see seemingly familiar things anew (articulating alternatives is a way out)
Today’s tyrants want to steal this from us
But they never can and never will
Shaped my entire career.
When literally everyone else was stumped, my team and I could find answers. We used many tools. Reframing was everywhere.
Hard to teach. Incredibly valuable. Thx.
Document everyone who goes along and upload it to bittorrent.
Update it regularly so we can find and eliminate them later.
The interview was anything but silly or futile, it’s how I discovered you and it’s why I’m following you.
I’ve discovered many great journalist this way. The public needs this greatly now
Intellectual work is a great thing in principle and worth defending, but it's not going to save you, if that's all you do.