Thread by @eigenrobot

hey academics out there ive got something on my mind and i wondered if you could help me out. question in next tweet

so what im wondering is if your so smart how did you end up seeing your control over your profession stripped from you by mere administrators and how did you end up in a position where speech and thought are more restricted on university campuses than anywhere else in society

thanks ill take my answer offline

follow up question can you say "im living the life of the mind" without wanting to hurl yourself from a precipice to escape the shame you carry and which briefly reemerges when you think abt your forebears before you shove it under the surface when you remember your mortgage

and do you ever think about the millennia of christians who would sooner die than falsify their beliefs and often did and how your profession is a continuation of the medieval clergy and how a high duty of fidelity to conscience might not be doffed quite as easily as a cassock

do you ever wonder about the blood price men paid over centuries to be able to speak and think freely and wonder further at your exemption from having to ever even theoretically make such sacrifices yourself in our enlightened age

no further questions

or perhaps all of this is in keeping with tradition

overall im not sure weve made a good trade here if we judge convictions by the courage with which men hold them

the only real scientists were socrates and archimedes

"what are you talking about robot? why IM an academic and IVE never felt unable to express my opinions"

ha ha
archive.is/Wox3R

do i really need to do this
archive.is/6V1JO

this thread was actually spurred by recalling that time literally hundreds of economists in positions of national prominence turned on an eminent colleague and denounced him in droves for suggesting riots might be counterproductive
archive.is/zDsNS

Challenge to professors who definitely face no limits on their expression:

Go ahead. Post a piece of paper by your office that simply says "It's Okay to Be White"

surely theres nothing objectionable there. Right

perhaps you might publish a thoughtful ontological paper

youre Permitted. right.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia_t…

these are a few prominent examples off the top of my head

because of their prominence they are especially well-documented

i am aware of many other cases some of which i cant discuss because i know the people involved

and there are many, many others none of us have heard of

the other thing is that you dont need to get everyone who things Wrong Things to strangle discussions. you can just make examples of some people and if these heroes break publicly?

well. generally lesser lights will follow

every apology was a failure. better men would've never.

anyway, As You Know

all of this has led to faculty jobs requiring applicants to submit groveling statements affirming their conformity to an ideological regime

archive.is/KCJSb

with this the succession is broken and our intellectual heritage dies with this generation

further reading on such matters linked

glad you managed to publish a few extra papers in third tier journals tho
amazon.com/Final-Generati…

@browserdotsys @shieldfoss i was thinking about the problem of how martyrdom and responsibilities to children interact

for students . . . idk. you dont want to screw their careers but if you dont stand firm what lesson are you teaching them, and what kind of profession are you even passing on to them?

@browserdotsys @shieldfoss i dont think i could bear the idea of leaving my toddler without a father irrespective of any cost to my integrity though, so im not sure you should take anything i say seriously

@trivialanalyst and no one at wal mart CLAIMS to be pursing Truth or Knowledge. they are literally trying to make a few bucks

the only reason universities have any authority is that theyre devoted to doing something greater

well. i regret having believed it

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