alongside exposing the sexism and racism that is rife within academia and @Wikipedia, last night’s attempts to takedown the biographies of the superstars of #BlackBirdersWeek exposes some outdated elitism that should embarrass both communities.
1. that graduate students are ‘only graduate students’ and that graduate can’t be considered important in academia or real life, irrespective of whether you’ve been on international news. 🤬
2. that as an academic you are first and foremost judged by your publications/ number of citations, irrespective of whether you’ve started a global movement. 🤬
3. that you are not a serious scientist/ naturalist/ academic if you use social media, especially if you have a big following. there will always be old school members of your community who judge you.
4. that when anonymous people in positions of power try and take you down (whether that’s in a wikipedia bio/peer review/a grant application), you are totally powerless. you rely entirely on the good will of strangers. the elite protect the elite. the cycle of privilege continues
apologies for the typo here, “that graduate students are ‘only graduate students’ and that graduate can’t..”
i mean ‘ and that graduate students can’t.. ‘. i’m upset and angry lately
i mean ‘ and that graduate students can’t.. ‘. i’m upset and angry lately
the worst part is; everytime i think wikipedia or academia are changing they remind me that they aren’t. that stupid @angew_chem article, these stupid wikipedia editors. there’s an out of touch older generation who refuse to change, + they’re training mini versions of themselves.
