Longing for the Good Old Days

When kids knew their goddamned place.

It's all Mr. Rogers fault...or so says LSU (pronounced "Less-U") Finance Professor Don Chance, thus proving that stupidity is no barrier when it comes to tenure.

To be fair, Chance issued a retraction, but this is the second time this week I've been treated to idiocy from academia...fortunately, they don't speak for the profession as a whole, although I'm of course embarrassed that a prof from one of the two universities here in Red Stick has stepped in it big time.

What's particularly troubling is that neither Chance nor Thorson seem to have any problem with the delusional whining and moaning from wingnuttia in general and Team Bush in particular. In an astonishingly short amount of time, this adminstration has managed to kill or maim hundreds of thousands, loot the treasury, display epic ineptitude in dealing with natural and not-so-natural disasters, shamelessly gut our most important democratic institutions (and indeed, democracy itself, as they whined and tantrumed their way to sham victory in Florida and the Supreme Court). In other words, they've displayed an almost unbelievable sense of false entitlement while at the same time squandering resources at a level unmatched by the greediest of trust-fund babies...but I don't recall any Team Bush official making mention of Fred Rogers as an inspiration.

Oh, and even as Professor Chance complains about those darned kids disrupting his office hours (I wonder if he also wants them to "get the hell off his goddamned lawn"), he conveniently ignores the fact that college itself has become a luxury that fewer and fewer kids can afford...although there's surprisingly small complaint from these supposedly "coddled" children. Indeed, many of them opt for quite the sacrifice in hopes of eventually affording higher education: they join the military, and in doing so, literally place life and limb on the line, especially given Team Bush's arrogant insistence that our military is now basically a disposable institution.

I wonder of Professors Chance and Thorson have considered that academic institutions might also be something this administration considers "disposable." And it's not like either is particularly suited or qualified for the general labor force.