What... is this guy talking about? "the slow death of the university as a center of humane critique." What? What the hell is humane critique? "Universities,

What... is this guy talking about? "the slow death of the university as a center of humane critique." What? What the hell is humane critique? "Universities, which in Britain have an 800-year history, have traditionally been derided as ivory towers, and there was always some truth in the accusation. Yet the distance they established between themselves and society at large could prove enabling as well as disabling, allowing them to reflect on the values, goals, and interests of a social order too frenetically bound up in its own short-term practical pursuits to be capable of much self-criticism." Wow... You know what allows you to reflect? Having enough time while being an active part of society. Time to reflect, being active to have proper perspective. If all you're doing is reading books and talking, all you can reflect on is books and hearsay, combined with some intuition. The last thing an English major can do is reflect on anything that requires understanding mathematics or statistics or... you know, the stuff that people who do science have to know? Just because you read Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, doesn't mean you can critique anything that actually matters, that people who haven't read Dostoevsky can't... There's scientific knowledge, and then there's entertainment such as fiction and television shows etc. Guess which category this guy belongs to? The all-over-the-place sloppy writing this guy produces is telling. I guess when you're surrounded by a bunch of folks who don't create anything but words, you start thinking you know a thing or two beyond entertaining people with words.