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Thread: New Rules for New Enemies

  1. #101
    Moderator Steve Blair's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 120mm View Post
    Marc, you got my sarcastic point about Petraeus, entirely. What also interests me about the guy, is that we had a couple of discussions during the conference and he seemed genuine and smart.

    My point about anti-intellectuals, is that they tend to have good coping skills for one set of familiar situations. Unfortunately, they lack the imagination and desire to prepare themselves for a different set of unfamiliar situations.

    In other words, being anti-intellectual discards the baby with the bath-water. While one can be overly-intellectual, and embrace new things without healthy skepticism like your Australopithecenes, most people I label as "anti-intellectual" were saying things like "They're just truck drivers, they'll never have to use their rifles" in early 2003 in Kuwait.

    It is not easy to be well-read in the military, and it is not easy to have worked with your hands in academia, from what I've seen and experienced.
    You may have the misfortune to discover (if you haven't already) that there are many in the academic world that also do not have the imagination to prepare themselves for new or different situations. I've encountered many academics over the years who refuse to believe that military personnel are capable of critical or rational thinking. There are also a fair number out there who feel that studying military history somehow makes you a militarist or Nazi and that it should be carved away from the mainstream of historical study (while, of course, keeping their pet niche of environmental history or some mutant version of gender studies). Anti-intellectualism in the sense you use the term is sadly very alive and well within academia.

  2. #102
    Council Member marct's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
    You may have the misfortune to discover (if you haven't already) that there are many in the academic world that also do not have the imagination to prepare themselves for new or different situations. I've encountered many academics over the years who refuse to believe that military personnel are capable of critical or rational thinking. There are also a fair number out there who feel that studying military history somehow makes you a militarist or Nazi and that it should be carved away from the mainstream of historical study (while, of course, keeping their pet niche of environmental history or some mutant version of gender studies). Anti-intellectualism in the sense you use the term is sadly very alive and well within academia.
    Isn't that about the only environment where it could survive? A hot house? <wry grin>.

    Honestly, I swear that the process of getting your Ph.D. is designed to stamp out any type of imagination or original thought. As a case in point, one friend of mine (not on my committee, but a very well respected academic) told me to forget about trying to come up with anything new - just find a respected theory and apply it then publish like crazy. BTW, he has been using the same data set for 14 years and publishing basically the same material for the same time.

    Imagination is not prized in many departments. In some, and I'm lucky enough to be teaching in one of them, it is both prized and matched by what I call a "civilized mode of discourse". BTW, a loose translation would be "I think that's nuts, but keep talking - I'm sure that we can both learn something". As I said, a nice department but, unfortunately, rare.

    Marc
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    Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
    Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
    Senior Research Fellow,
    The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
    Carleton University
    http://marctyrrell.com/

  3. #103
    Council Member Tom Odom's Avatar
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    Imagination is not prized in many departments. In some, and I'm lucky enough to be teaching in one of them, it is both prized and matched by what I call a "civilized mode of discourse". BTW, a loose translation would be "I think that's nuts, but keep talking - I'm sure that we can both learn something". As I said, a nice department but, unfortunately, rare.
    Is that like having "a peculiar world view you make no attempt to hide or overcome" Marc? (quoting that review I sent you a short time back)

    Tom

  4. #104
    Council Member marct's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Odom View Post
    Is that like having "a peculiar world view you make no attempt to hide or overcome" Marc? (quoting that review I sent you a short time back)

    Tom
    You got it, Tom

    Amongst other things, I call myself a "pre-modernist", a monarchist, and a solid believer in the ideals of the British Empire that never was, all of which really un-nerve a lot of my academic colleagues <evil grin>. All in all, I just view myself as being solidly in keeping with my family's tradition of ecentricity - something I get from both sides of it .

    Marc
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    Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
    Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
    Senior Research Fellow,
    The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
    Carleton University
    http://marctyrrell.com/

  5. #105
    i pwnd ur ooda loop selil's Avatar
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    Where is the Renaisance man? The stove pipes of science are filled with the burned embers and sludge created by the fleeting careers of men who showed imagination and leadership. As the cogs of science turning and churning adapt the grist in the gears are those who think differently. The machinery of science and academia are melted together leaving those who would think differently outside the tower. So it was with Bill Gates, Bill Joy, and many others who adapted technology.

    When was the last revolutionary change in science and arts? When was the last unexpected turn of consequence not piled on the bones of anitiquated thought?

  6. #106
    Council Member Rob Thornton's Avatar
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    Default Quote from Dave Berry

    I remember seeing a sign in the Franklin Street Pub in Clarksville, TN that read, "The wheel is a fine invention, but does not go nearly so well with pizza as beer!"

  7. #107
    Council Member marct's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by selil View Post
    Where is the Renaisance man? The stove pipes of science are filled with the burned embers and sludge created by the fleeting careers of men who showed imagination and leadership. As the cogs of science turning and churning adapt the grist in the gears are those who think differently. The machinery of science and academia are melted together leaving those who would think differently outside the tower. So it was with Bill Gates, Bill Joy, and many others who adapted technology.
    What poetry! The Renaisance man has been killed by the machinery of a science that makes us all into its own image. Then again, there are some ghosts in the machine

    Quote Originally Posted by selil View Post
    When was the last revolutionary change in science and arts? When was the last unexpected turn of consequence not piled on the bones of anitiquated thought?
    Shouldn't we add in philophy to the list <wry grin>? I must say that my insipration has frequently come from the wrolds of Gregory Bateson; especially his last couple of books.

    Marc
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    Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
    Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
    Senior Research Fellow,
    The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
    Carleton University
    http://marctyrrell.com/

  8. #108
    Council Member Tom Odom's Avatar
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    Quote:
    Originally Posted by selil
    Where is the Renaisance man? The stove pipes of science are filled with the burned embers and sludge created by the fleeting careers of men who showed imagination and leadership. As the cogs of science turning and churning adapt the grist in the gears are those who think differently. The machinery of science and academia are melted together leaving those who would think differently outside the tower. So it was with Bill Gates, Bill Joy, and many others who adapted technology.

    What poetry! The Renaisance man has been killed by the machinery of a science that makes us all into its own image. Then again, there are some ghosts in the machine
    I think I will go watch the Terminator series non-stop

    Then I'll be back

    Tom

    PS Marc

    I maintain Forrest Gump is the greatest philosphical expression of the 20th Century. Gary Senise as "Lt. Dan" signed my copy of the Wit and Wisdom of Forrest Gump. I mean who can compete with "Some people, like me, are born idiots, but many more become stupider as they go along,"?

  9. #109
    Council Member marct's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Odom View Post
    I think I will go watch the Terminator series non-stop

    Then I'll be back
    But in what form

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Odom View Post
    PS Marc

    I maintain Forrest Gump is the greatest philosphical expression of the 20th Century. Gary Senise as "Lt. Dan" signed my copy of the Wit and Wisdom of Forrest Gump. I mean who can compete with "Some people, like me, are born idiots, but many more become stupider as they go along,"?
    True, true. Maybe we should start assigning it.... Naw, it is too accurate <wry grin>. After all, we aren't allowed to talk about reality, only "Truth" . Of course, I could assign Tom Lehrer - always one of my favorite philosophetrs of the 20th century

    Marc
    Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
    Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
    Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
    Senior Research Fellow,
    The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
    Carleton University
    http://marctyrrell.com/

  10. #110
    Moderator Steve Blair's Avatar
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    Never start assigning things. That just gives "academics" more chances to ruin any learning possibilities that might exist within the material...

  11. #111
    Council Member marct's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
    Never start assigning things. That just gives "academics" more chances to ruin any learning possibilities that might exist within the material...
    Darn! Good point... Mayeb soemthing along the lines of "Whatever you do, Don't listen to Tom Lehrer!"? Nah, half of them would take me seriously <wry grin>.

    Marc
    Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
    Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
    Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies,
    Senior Research Fellow,
    The Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, NPSIA
    Carleton University
    http://marctyrrell.com/

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