Quote:
Originally Posted by rubecube
And if he stuck to his field, I'd be more inclined to take him at face value. Instead he continuously acts as a credible authority and wades out of his depth into areas that are quite clearly beyond his expertise, as has been noted by both CHL and myself and the in the article CHL posted.
|
I disagree. I think we need more public intellectuals, and we need to knock down the boundaries erected between fields and subjects. The notion that you can't talk about gender in society unless you have a PhD in Gender Studies, or about Russian Literature unless you have a PhD in Russian Literature, is one of the biggest factors in the alienation of the Canadian public - including the educated Canadian public - from academia and intellectual culture. Intelligent people should be publicly discoursing about every topic under the sun.
And I haven't noticed this charge being levelled against beloved figures on the left. David Suzuki has been carrying on for decades about subjects far outside his background in zoology and genetics. Naomi Klein is a university dropout, and the Canadian media gives her a platform to pontificate about everything from global trade to climate change.