Up@dawn 2.0

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Academia Discourse and Bullshit

I am glad we are finally talking about Bullshit, because it has been part of my academic career for as long as I can remember. My mother was the first one to instruct me on bullshit, she was taught by her college prof. My mother said to me at a young age "son, the best way to right is grammatically correct bullshit" how to right is simple if you know what the reader wants to read. The political way to put this is discourse, this is the way in which you present your social literacy, your ability to conform to the expectations of both your peers and superiors. I relate this to an instance I had just the previous night I was engaged in an academic debate. In the middle of the debate I had to make a phone call, but I did not remove myself from the room. Once I had hung up the phone my opponent/ friend said, "you speak differently depending on who you are corresponding with" to this is said I changed my discourse in order for the person I was speaking to not find me stuck up. You see I was speaking to a 60 year old construction worker; he had never even graduated from high school, and although he could not right an essay he remains one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. The man had lived in the country all his life and spoke with a very strong southern accent he would rather you say "this world is really fucked up" then to say "The economic system allows for ethnocentrism and our current social society allows for both objectification and causation of adverse situations". This is of course opposing my friend whom if you told "this world is fucked up" he would respond by saying Christian you are showing the idiocy of your regional origins. In short for those who have the most intellectual idea's in order for society to except them as an academic they must use a certain "discourse" or "bullshit" depending on who I am talking to. So think about the next time you call your prof Dr. Doe instead of bro.

2 comments:

  1. (H3) Well you certainly not wrong. Anything is appealing, or unappealing if you couch it right. I guess the secret is to find a way to present something substantive to someone in a way that won't set them off.

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  2. I'm afraid what you are referring to is anti-intellectualism. It is true that one must keep a wardrobe of various costumes for multiple situations and conversationalists, but make no mistake, it's hardly bullshit.

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