When I hear someone say, 'We know academia is flawed, but it's the best we have, and it's hard to improve,' I can't help but feel a deep, seething frustration.

When I hear someone say, 'We know academia is flawed, but it's the best we have, and it's hard to improve,' I can't help but feel a deep, seething frustration. It's profoundly insulting and grotesque—on par with excusing the inexcusable. Accepting this degree of mediocrity is as repulsive as tolerating the most heinous acts imaginable. I've confronted people directly with this, to their face, because to me, it's inconceivable how anyone can be okay with such a vile acceptance of the status quo. If society was even slightly capable of rational action . . . (legally, I cannot complete this sentence).