Even as late as last year's Liberal convention, Ignatieff was insisting he had supported the invasion simply because he cared so darned much about the Iraqi people.
"You know, one thing about intellectuals – they prove that you can be absolutely brilliant and have no idea what's going on." Woody Allen, Annie Hall
More on Ig here.
The best part:
The academics I know and respect don't make mistakes like those Michael Ignatieff attributes to an academic mode of thought: they don't believe that the ideas they play with are ultimately useless, and they desperately want to think thoughts that are true rather than thoughts that are false.
I think what Michael Ignatieff is talking about is not an academic mode of thought but a student mode of thought--a not-too-bright-student mode of thought. A not-too-bright student achieves success by (a) figuring out which book on the syllabus is favored by the instructor, (b) taking that book to be the gospel, and (c) regurgitating large chunks of that book on the exams and in the papers.
No comments:
Post a Comment