Quote: (06-27-2014 09:53 PM)Tuthmosis Wrote:
I don't see how this is hypocrisy, or even merits any outrage. There's this strange logic that if you work remotely with anything to do with the common good--or even just a fiscally non-conservative world view--you should live a life of saintly poverty like Jesus. Would there be complaints if he were making the same but were teaching Milton Friedman instead? There's also a point where the contortions required to make something fit into the "big-government-is-the-problem" narrative become excessive.
I could care less about this particular guy, but he's selling what he's got to sell just like everyone else. Even if his work is total bullshit, there's make-work, take-up-space jobs in every profession--jobs that we pay for in consumer costs--so I'm failing to understand why this is any different. Except, his $212K is a pittance compared to even the lowest paid corporate exec, who's wringing the last penny out of your pocket with luggage fees, late charges, and "installation" costs to pay for his extra-decimal-point salary. At least these professors are generally better educated and read than your standard smiling-face CEO, and doing more than shaking hands and scheduling "conference calls" where they delegate everything to everyone else. I've known middle-manager corporate paper-pusher fatties who do even less than "teach one class per semester" (a likely distortion of his full responsibilities and work) and make that kind of money. If I'm not mistaken, professors don't start get this kind of coin until they're quite senior or distinguished in their field.
I know some guys have specific beefs with law school and its purveyors, but we should have some restraint on the general academic axe-grinding--which starts to sound like plain-and-simple anti-intellectualism. It's not like this guy is teaching feminism or gender studies. I understand that universities aren't the mythical "roads to success" that we're fed, but we need to be careful not to start coming off as resentful outrage machines that hate on anything that isn't a STEM degree or some feel-good history-channel style class on WWII-era rifles. I think we should also avoid sounding like hardline Reagan-style anti-government ideologues who crush everything into a "government waste" storyline.
In short: on the scale of shit to be irritated about, this is extremely low on the list--if it's on it at all.
I see your point, Tuth, but my anger is not based on any philosophical opposition to teaching about this or that subject. It's not also based on any "conservative vs. liberal" dichotomy. For me, this story is more visceral: it's about the older generation sitting on the top of the pile, raking in all the benefits, doing easy, cushy jobs, and not sharing with the younger guys coming up. This guy is sitting on top of the pile, teaching a bullshit subject that anyone can read a book about, and raking in obscene benefits.
From what I see in my day-to-day job, I see the average guy getting totally crushed by the system in this country, which funnels all the wealth to fatcats at the top who do nothing. Or next to nothing. The average guy is seeing his share of the pie get smaller and smaller every year. In this country in 2014, those at the top are taking a disproportionate share of the wealth. The young guys coming up are getting screwed big time, whether they know it or not. Most of them don't realize it yet. I have to fight against big banks, big corporations, and the power of the government every day. And to be perfectly honest, I deeply resent these people.
Most of them are ignoramuses who got their jobs through connections or patronage. They don't want to see us succeed. In this country, unless you are connected, are a woman, or have some other special avenue, it's getting harder and harder to get ahead.
And yeah, I see this guy as embodying that somehow. Maybe I don't know the whole story of his particular situation, but to me it's just injustice for this guy to be raking in big money for doing nothing, while good people I know have to struggle just to get ahead.
This older generation hasn't done anything for us except plunder the system, rape all the benefits out of it, and leave us with an empty sack. A lot of the younger guys here haven't figured this out yet, but they will soon enough, you mark my words. As the pie gets smaller and smaller in the US with every passing year, people are going to start asking: "Who stabbed us in the back? Who sold us out?"
And it was the rich and powerful who did it, the ones who have been running things for the past 30 years. I think both Republicans and Democrats are to blame. They're both run by the same forces: big money.
And this is the type of guy who would crucify me, you, and anyone else on this Forum just for not toeing the party line. And we all know that.
So, yeah, I have a big chip on my shoulder about the older generation, the baby boomers. I have a bad attitude about it. I am seething with resentment and repressed rage. But I own it, it belongs to me, and it's what drives this engine. Which is firing on all cylinders, let me tell you.
They don't want us to get ahead. They don't want us to succeed. They're sitting on top, blocking our paths, trying to keep us down.