Comments on: Lazy Academics and a Diaspora Without Direction

By: SomewhatDisgusted

SomewhatDisgusted — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:59:22 +0000

Dear Karen,

An excellent article.

“Sri Lanka’s story is certainly a complex one. However, it is inexcusable for presenters or journalists to paint a black and white, Tamil versus Sinhala picture of it.”

Well said!

It is important that the loud voices of a handful are not interpreted as a consensus position by a majority.

Precisely!

By: Viraj

Viraj — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:51:22 +0000

Suvendrini Perera’s interview with Philip Adams on Late Night Live (ABC Radio National) was a good example of avoiding a polarising and ethnically partisan position. Instead she talked about the crackdown on dissent by people of all groups.

By: Belle

Belle — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:50:23 +0000

In these days of the corporatisation of universities, you can’t expect academics any longer to produce work that responds to social needs. The pressure to publish is increasing to levels of high stupidity, with the result that published work is largely scrappy, produced in a great hurry, in between unreasonable amounts of teaching. Few are interested in the quest for truth. Rather, the quest is for tenure (which is understandable since everyone wants job security). It is becoming increasingly evident to academics that the only way to produce solid work is to be financially independent. So, I’m not surprised by your report that academics at the conference were unable to entertain anything other than jingoistic perspectives on the Sri Lanka situation.