We have an asymmetry of discourse here, because you want me to take your disparaging remarks seriously. You also seem not at all concerned about your own appea

We have an asymmetry of discourse here, because you want me to take your disparaging remarks seriously. You also seem not at all concerned about your own appearance. Yes, there is a purpose to the disparaging remarks. The purpose is to make this asymmetry apparent. Academia in the late 20th century is something of a footnote to the great achievements of the 19th and early 20th. In this golden age of science, peer disparagement was more or less universal. It is only in the second half of the 20th, the golden age of grants as it were, that genuinely criticizing your peers becomes a faux pas, and team-building becomes the essential skill for a practicing scientist. But wait, I'm not your peer at all. I guess I forgot that...