Monday, September 05, 2005

Somebody is confused

I noticed today that the Cliopatria website has my blog listed under Academic Lives. Certainly, if they had read anything here they would know that I do not write about an academic life. I live in a rural areas with a population of 151 people for 17,000 square acres. I have never taught a day in my life even as a TA or adjunct. I find the stories posted on blogs of American lecturers to be far more alien to my way of thinking than any foreign culture I have read about. Now I would like to be an academic so that I can draw a paycheck, have access to a good library and most importantly pass knowledge on to young men and women. However, there does seem to be a serious disconnect between how I view the world and how most American Academics including those at Cliopatria perceive it. At least they listed my website which is much more than the politically correct bunch at Crooked Timbers. In response to their open request to list academic blogs I submitted mine. Like most academics they did not even have the manners to send me a rejection. They just ignored me. Which is just one of the many clues that I am not an academic. I am not a rude, arrogant pissant who believes he is superior to all others because he has the title professor. No, I do not live an academic life. Instead I live a human life and from what I can see in the blogsphere the two are probably incompatible.

4 comments:

Jonathan Dresner said...

Feel free to suggest another category which you consider more appropriate. "Academic Lives" is something of a catch-all for blogs which include significant commentary on the business of academia and about life in general. It was the best fit we could come up with at the time, but we're always open to constructive suggestions.

J. Otto Pohl said...

Wow, a very unexpected response. Based on the catagories available I would say regions is the best fit. Almost everything I write about has to do with the Soviet Union, the Middle East or American South West. Of course it would be better if somebody hired me and then I could actually lead an academic life. Thanks for stopping by and taking time to comment.

Chris Conway said...

I'm sorry you see "academics" as your enemy, and as anathema to the humane treatment of others.

J. Otto Pohl said...

I do not see anybody as my enemy. But, it is quite clear that the academic establishment in the US is very exclusionary. It is also narrow minded and very full of itself. What has amazed me most is reading on blogs of the utter disdain and contempt many professors have for their students. Really why do some of these people teach if they think their students are mostly idiots? I would gladly take their job for half the pay.