Wednesday 7 September 2005

Fewtril #23

A scholar who has come to rue the loneliness that is marked by the rift between his scholarship and the indifference of the people thereto is not unlikely to soothe this feeling by saying stupid but popular things.

6 comments:

dearieme said...

You might care to solicit the views of the current President of Harvard on that apercu.

Deogolwulf said...

Ah yes. A man who stood up for honest inquiry, and then quickly sat down again, head bowed in shame. He's now making soothing noises so that he might be forgiven.

dearieme said...

His behaviour was reminiscent of that of many German scholars in the 30s.

Akaky said...

yup, a lot of that sort of thing going on these days. It does make you wonder why, though, someone who knows everything there is to know about the origins of Sumerian verbs thinks that this knowledge makes him an expert on American foreign policy. After all, I would hardly ask my plumber to operate my kidneys, no matter how closely related nephrology and plumbing might be conceptually.

Akaky said...

"...operate on my kidneys..." is how it should read. I must learn to proofread before hitting the publish button.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, here is a great idea for a subliminal message. This is so good even the idea, is subliminal!