Re: however, this is a tragic situation

Let me make sure I'm being clear, though -- I don't mean to imply it's somehow possible to gauge the "real" importance of a profession vs. the self importance
of its practitioners. You've heard the joke about the difference between God and a doctor? (God doesn't think he's a doctor).

Don't even get me started on lawyer jokes.

Does this mean that doctors and lawyers aren't important, though? Of course not.

My real question was about popular attitudes, not about the dynamics within any profession. Jokes about self important doctors are widespread. They're very
common kinds of joke. You just don't see those kind of jokes about self important academics, though. What you see is real hostility.

Why, then, is it worse in academics? By this I'm not asking why academic self importance is more pronounced than medical self importance or the self
importance of lawyers. That's simply not possible. When I ask, "why is it worse?", I'm asking, "why is it less tolerable?", or, "why is it that much bigger
a deal?"

I can take guesses, but I'm more interested in hearing yours first.

Jim

jlsmith3@earthlink.net wrote:

> hmm true - the real question you're asking is a bit loaded (the errors might not be worse) and probably best answered by people working in that profession
>
> luke
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu>
> Sent: Sep 28, 2003 10:22 AM
> To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
> Subject: Re: however, this is a tragic situation
>
> Luke, if it does "esteem itself above other professions," so what? Many
> professions out there tend to have inflated senses of their own
> importance. Remember Tom Wolfe's _Bonfire of the Vanities_? The stock
> market brokers called themselves "the Masters of the Universe," after
> the 1980s cartoon.
>
> The real question is, "Why are the errors in academia common in other
> professions so much worse in -it-?"
>
> Jim

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Received on Sun Sep 28 23:35:53 2003