The amount of abusive behaviour that gets normalized in Academia is outlandish. As is the hero-worship that becomes associated with stories of geniuses like Fey

The amount of abusive behaviour that gets normalized in Academia is outlandish. As is the hero-worship that becomes associated with stories of geniuses like Feynman. > The harsh words stung at first, and caused me to question whether I belonged in theoretical physics. But I couldn’t help noticing that Dick did not seem to take the critical comments as seriously as I did. In the next breath, he would always be encouraging me to try a different approach and inviting me to return when I made progress. This is survivor bias through and through. Plenty of people faced the same harsh words, and took them personally, and left theoretical physics. You might say "good riddance", they wouldn't have belonged or succeeded in the first place, but I don't believe that's true. Feynman came up in a different time, so let's look forwards not backwards. There is a way that you can be 1) direct, 2) precise, 3) honest, 4) efficient without being a dick, being rude, aggressive, and unintentionally demoralizing others.