Tales of Tenure Terror: How to troll people by wasting their time
How to waste people’s time by making them arguing something that is generally agreed upon:
I.
Realizing your own mortality, both corporeally and professionally, convince a major publication to post an op-ed that will game the social media algorithms and spread like warm butter.
II.
Watch from your dark lair as people, especially women who are academics, pen responses, think pieces to disagree with you, the world’s oldest MRA. (And, as it turns out, noted homophobe.)
III.
The thinkpieces multiply, and everyone needs to have their say. Mental energy is spent on it; arguments are made that all say the same thing. Everyone agrees that people with PhDs should be called doctors. Even medical doctors are fine with it. But the energy is contagious, even forming petitions against something that is truly an issue. However, this is not a debate. It was a clickbaity op-ed cosplaying as an important debate. Not everything deserves a response. Not responding is a powerful stance. As Mariah Carey would say, “I don’t know her.”
Coincidentally, a similar debate emerged on The Real Housewives of Potomac, one of the only HW franchise with all Black cast members. Dr. Weny Osefo is criticized for talking about her academic degrees all the time. Wendy feels that it is important to voice her accomplishments as a Black woman, but the others find it condescending. It’s a lose-lose situation. The conversation is actually way more interesting than the op-ed, but as always, the Real Housewives franchise is relegated to low culture and therefore does not matter.
This Kyle took a long time to dissect her dissertation, and the joke is on him— Dr. Biden’s dissertation is now the most read of all time!!!! Usually, 4 people read your dissertation: your three committee members and one person in your family. Dissertations are all bad; they are written to get your degree and then do your real work on your book. Dissertation data is never groundbreaking. It is a way to confirm previous work to show you understand it. Dissertations are written to be done, not good. Having a good dissertation is more of a side effect, not the norm.
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