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Show opinion/ MONDAY-OCTOBER 17*2005 Of Rhinos and Parrots: The problem of conformity in contemporary academia Well, for those who read my "rhino" column a few weeks back, you might remember that a rhino is a conformist, someone who knowingly or unknowingly has given up their individuality for what George Orwell termed *'groupthink." Many assumed I was primarily aiming at the local "culture" or "religion" here in Utah Valley. On the contrary, while conformity certainly exists in Utah Valley culture (as it does just about everywhere else in the world), what I actually had more in mind was the self-proclaimed open-minded, tolerant, free thinking world of academia. You see, despite what you may think, rhinoism is rampant in academia, especially (and ironically) in the liberal arts. Professors of rhinoism often look condescendingly at their students, at the masses "Poor pathetic people," they sigh. "Such a shame that they are so deluded, that they don't think and act like me." Of course, not all are lost. Professors smile with pride when they realize they have saved a few "ignorant" souls when they have converted them to their fold, when a student has exchanged one religion for another. What are these students? Are they individuals, free-thinkers? No. For the most part, they are groupies, parrots. Contemporary academia is currently filled with brainwashed students, parrots who have adopted the views of a few professors who have enamored them with their supposed eloquence and knowledge. Irish poet W.B. Yeats saw this trend in his own day. In his poem, "The Scholars," he writes: All shuffle there; all cough in ink All wear the carpet with their shoes; "Despite what you may think, rhinoism is rampant in academia, especially (and ironically) in the liberal arts ....The result is a growing population of rhinos and parrots with no real identity of their own." All think what other people think; All know the man their neighbor knows. Lord, what would they say Did their Catallus walk that way? American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson adds: "Free should the scholar be free and brave. . The world is his who can see through its pretension." Indeed, there is much pretension in the world, especially in academia, where degrees, publications and honors are sought after like a child seeks stickered stars, where groupthink equals acceptance with the so-called "elite" and "enlightened," a*nd indoctrinating students is preferred over true teaching and inspiring. The reslilt is a growing population of rhinos and parrots with no real identity of their own. "You just don't get it," one indignant parrot chides. "You resent it because you don't want to believe it or understand it." "You're right, Christy. Eventually, I must bow down before the God of academic rhinoism, and confess that it is not, as I supposed, empty, reductive and futile. I must cast off the foolish "dead white males" I once respected and recognize that all true wisdom has come in the last few decades. I must recognize that language is as meaningless as life, and this, because the Great Derrida has revealed it to be so. I must become what I am not: a rhino, a conformist, a follower. Please, Christy, just tell me how to join, and I'll do it. Is there some kind of ritual involved? Do I wear certain clothes? Do I say certain words? Are there parties I can go to? "Of course," replies Christy. "But you'll learn all that in time. I did." r (he good the bod & (he ugly (he good British-born Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Chewbacca in the original Star Wars Trilogy, will be taking the oath to become an American citizen on Monday. First we take North America from the Brits and now we've taken Chewbacca from them. Score! You are 0 and 2 England! Hey we'll let you guys keep Madonna. Score! the bod This year's federal deficit has just come in at 319 billion dollars, according to the Treasury Department. Sure I know that sounds bad at first but... Yeah that's just plain pretty bad. the ugly A recent Associated Press poll finds that almost 70 percent of Americans think people are ruder and less civil than they were just one generation ago and CNN reports a "decline of manners in the U.S.," and "American's fast-paced, high-tech existence has taken a toll on civility." If you disagree with this poll you can just shut up. Katrina piece full of inaccuracies Dear Editor, It's a good thing this post is an opinion piece because it's full of inaccurate statements. First fact... Don't know if the writer has ever been in a hurricane, since the weather before a hurricane is often quite nice up to two days before the hurricane hits. The airlines, as standard procedure, will start canceling flights to a hurricane zone about 30 hours before a hurricane hits, so it's not correct that the situation in New Orleans was exacerbated because Nagan did not close the airport to inbound traffic. One factor the writer did not point out that the National Guard is the lead agency for evacuations. Much has made about those school buses, but when an evacuation order is issued, who drives those buses...it would normally be the National Guard, and guess where the majority of Louisiana's National Guard is right now? If those buses had drivers, would people have been able to get out? As we saw in Houston with the hurricane Rita evacuation, the freeways out of Houston were so gridlocked that people either were forced to turn back or ran out of gas because gas truck drivers and oil distribution workers also evacuated. Unlike Houston, which has many freeways out of town, New Orleans has two highways going away from hurricane weather. In both New Orleans and Houston, the federal government could have had in place a plan to utilize mothballed Navy ships, closed military airbases and retired commercial jets to evacuate residents from hurricane prone zones but did not. Also hundreds of specialized Louisiana National Guard vehicles that can operate in flooded areas that would have been able to move people out of flooded areas of New Orleans are in, that's right, Iraq, where the likelihood of major flooding is unlikely .... You say Nagan and Blanco waited until the last minute to issue evacuation orders...not the case. As was the case with Rita, Katrina rapidly gained strength after passing over Florida. Both Rita and Katrina went from a category 2 to a category 5 literally overnight and the order to evacuate was issued as soon as Katrina was rated a category 5 hurricane. The writer says that Nagan and Blanco "over the years diverted hundreds of millions of dollars" in levy repair money to other purposes. Both Nagan and Blanco have only been in office two years, with a Republican sitting tn the Louisiana governor's office the previous eight years. Blanco's correct that over the years money intended to fix the levys were diverted, but that was done by the GOP controlled Louisiana legislature and the GOP governor. Other inaccuracies in the article...the writer echos the initial, but inaccurate media reports of widespread rapes, murders and violence. To this day nobody has been able to find the pilot who was reportedly shot at. and there are no FAA logs or official reports of such an incident. Prisoners were not let go; after the jail flooded, city prisoners were taken to the state pen upriver in Angola; one of the toughest prisons in the country. There's no truth to the convention center being torn down and before Katrina, there had been speculation the Superdome would be replaced over threats by Saints owner Tom Benson that the Superdome was one of the oldest stadiums in the league. The French Quarter was one of the first places to get the power back on because it was the least damaged section of the city, wasn't flooded and had only a few blocks of power lines were down, compared to other parts of the city that were under water and had hundreds of blocks of power lines down..1 Also major police headquarters are located in the French Quarter. One more thing... Nagan is actually a Republican who endorsed President Bush and who switched parties in order to get elected in an overwhelmingly Democratic city. Finally, the concept of states rights does not apply when a natural disaster is threatening an entire multistate region where the Federal government has substantial resources such as the petrochemical plants, a major NASA facility and one of the biggest federal payroll processing center, as well as being the biggest single port in the United States. If the Federal government is willing to invade sovereign lands overseas to protect vital national interests, should it not hesitate to take prime responsibility from local officials if they are unable to handle an emergency situation? It's one thing to disagree but one should base their opinions of factual information. -Robert Jackson Community values topic outworn Dear Editor, Ah, community values...It surprises me that this ridiculous debate began and continues to enrich our lives thanks to one bumbling attention getter one year ago, whose name need not be mentioned (you know of whom I speak). For those of you serving in this man's platoon, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Utah Valley Community College was somewhat recently renamed to Utah Valley State College. I know this may come as a shock, so you may want to sit down for my next bit of news. Because the word "State" appears in our name, that implies that we encompass the "State" of Utah not just this isolated community. With that being said, let me further inform you that this state is comprised of people that may have ideas that differ from yours. Consequently, there may be students at this school, possibly members of your own family, that would welcome these outside opinions and ideas. Yes, that was difficult, but please keep in mind I'm telling you this for your own good. Some members of this community have argued that because they pay our little state tax they should have a say in what's being taught here. That's great. We students also pay that same tax. Hard to believe isn't it? We also pay a wonderful $1,350 every semester so that our outstanding faculty can enlighten our education. It's ok that you left out that little detail because I'm here to announce that I'm conceding. Yes, I've come to terms with this community's values. This community supports a President that bombs innocent countries into submission for oil profits. It's clear to me that this principle of values will never be changed in Utah, so I've given up. -Brett Smith Behavioral Science Major letter/ lo (he editor Poor reporting of USU accident Dear Editor, I appreciate The Times' critical, aggressive reporting, but your story on the USU van crash is pure tabloid in insinuating that USU, not the driver, is to blame. My brother, a Montana highway patrol officer, was once racing to help a heart attack victim. His patrol car was doing 110 mph when it blew its left rear tire, spun, and rolled four times. He and the ER nurse with him walked away with just minor injuries. It's called seatbelts. You might have reported: The van crashed because of reckless driving at nearly 100 mph. Trucks lack tires designed for such speed. (So do the economy cars many Times readers drive.) The tire failure and resulting loss of control were inevitable, and not even race cars stay upright when they hit a ditch sideways at 90. The van was not the problem here. Still, no one had to die. Statistics and the crash pictures suggest that, seatbelted, the occupants would have survived. The stats also predict what did happen: unbelted, at the mercy of physics, occupants were ejected and killed. Were the driver alive, he would lose his license and likely be facing manslaughter charges and a lawsuit. You don't mention any of this, of course, having chosen a juicy but errant attack over responsible reportage. Too bad there's nothing sexy about speed limits and seatbelts but all kinds of sexy about scandal. Be careful: your priorities are showing. -Doug Downs Professor, English and Literature LETTERS TO THE EDITOR * E-Mail letters to uvscopinions@hotmail.com * The NctXNews room is located on campus in SC220. * All letters become property of NetXNcws and may be edited for content, specifically clarity, length or other concerns at the discretion of the Opinions Editor. * Letters between 50-250 words are encouraged and those letters marked by their succinctness are more likely to be published. * Letters must be accompanied by full name, address, and phone number for verification purposes (contact information will not be published). Occupation, title or major is optional. |