Monday, February 22, 2016

Wither

     An old cliché states "truth is subjective."  Along with greater truth, individual verities must be determined.  At some degree, definitions are externally supplied. The individual must reconcile conflicts between inner and outer values for any hope in finding a place in the larger scheme of existence.  Nobody can do everything.  Powerlessness must be acknowledged and dealt with accordingly.  Most would rather turn a blind eye.  Lacking context, information may be manipulated to ensnare those unwilling or unable to determine its uses.  Gains and loses must be appropriately assessed for accurate conclusions regarding content.  Forced reliance upon interpreters must be resisted on every plane. A mouthpiece for vested interests will always affirm its world view to Maximum Advantage in all Things.  Education does not necessarily equate with intelligence.[1]  Uniformity atrophies the mind.  Discourse is a path to truth ignored when parroting talking heads.  Absent meaninglessness, anything inherently divisive is controlled.  Certain statements are discouraged by stakeholders with something to lose.  An objectionable or even repugnant notion may stimulate thought far greater than the comfortable or agreeable.  Unless overused, agitation techniques employed by propaganda can be very effective.  Excepting fanatics, agitprop campaign failures inoculate against eternal application.  Truth may only be stretched so far.  One must question oneself, or be content with fear and ignorance.  Unfortunately, academia is among the worst places to look for guidance.  Cloistered, pretentious and even parasitic, academia is dogmatic to the extreme of stupidity. Generalization is frowned upon and esteemed less than compartmentalized specialization.   Doctorates are all products.  Linkages remain unseen or are ignored.  The results are incorrect or incomplete notions.  Big money has invaded academic circles, thereby directing its course and encouraging ignorance beyond the unprofitable.  The arrogance is also sickening: academia digs its own grave.  If not for the tragedy of crushing student debt, their increasing irrelevance would be amusing—an indentured servant served less time.



[1] GWB is an easy example.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

College/University education does not guarantee anything in life, much less a job or paycheck. That piece of paper that is dispensed after spending money and time looks lovely on your wall all framed. The pathetic reality is that paper would better serve as tinder to start a fire or folded to stabilize the kitchen table. To further compound the insult/injury, the piece of paper from the local community college or online university are equally impressive as an Ivy League university piece of paper to the HR recruiter at that corporate job that is going to slot you in a cubicle to drudge away your daily existence. Without having received that piece of paper, you do not pass go. All that the paper has designated is that you are able to come up with money to give to spend time and time being tortured by professors to make it through.

PFA

Anonymous said...

To see how abysmally education has spiraled down, just fire up your favorite singer Jamie Cullum and listen to Twentysomething from 2003. Now step off the cliff and fall into 2016... You can take those text books from your grad school and use them to prop up the car to change your own oil. Then sop up the spillage with the very pages that have caused your downfall.

PFA

SRL said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SRL said...

I've had a house full of sick kids, now it's my turn. Will reply later.

SRL said...

The removed comment above was my own and never meant to be published. When I started writing it I did not realize that the author of the blog could not save draft comments, but somehow I pressed the wrong button (Blogger has really crappy tools, but the price is right--free). It was inaccurate. I do not have a civil engineering degree (see profile), and the only "co-workers" I routinely abuse are arrogant upper managers (which is a lot different than "wiping up the floor" with one's peers". In addition, any comments should probably realize this blog is an art project, and therefore the "author" is not the writer. The shadow likes hyperbole, and propaganda as an art form. Despite this, my prior comments did elicit the answer to the question of where the other commenters was coming from. They also proved to be easy to manipulate that way. Maybe they should ask themselves why it was so easy?

SRL said...

In response to the 2nd comment: my physics textbooks would not even work to jack up my car, because I do not own one. I cannot afford one that is not a constantly breaking down pile of shit, so I junked my last heap and now my family takes the bus. Another friend of mine with a physics degree is now filing for bankruptcy. That is how wonderful academia works for people who study hard subjects from a financial point of view, but at least I have no student debt. I would never recommend going to college if the price is crushing debt and I have told my kids the same thing. There is no downfall with respect to grad school. I just do not value it. I should have taken up the offer I received the summer after I graduated from high school as an apprentice electrician. Instead, my trade is (un-)civil engineering. I consider it a trade because I have learned everything I know as a civil engineer from work.

By the way, I do have an EIT, but I will never take the PE because I cannot afford to take it. So, that is what school has done for me. Big Fucking deal.

You may value your education. That is a personal decision. But I do not, so don't project your bullshit onto my experiences, motherfucker.

SRL said...

P.S. Who the fuck is Jamie Cullum? Sounds like some college radio loser.