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Saturday, May 28, 2005

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BLOGS

[A Regular University Diaries Feature In Which UD Recognizes Pithily Stated Truths That Appear On Blogs.]


From a reader’s comment at the website The Valve :


"[If I criticize the work of a queer theorist], all of the sudden I’m manifesting symptoms of latent homophobia ….. This isn’t the time or the place to attack the raging stupidities of academic psychoanalysis and the theories built upon it, but if ever such a time and place arises...my feelings about theories built on the false foundation of psychoanalytic thought will be evidence of my muddle-headed politics.

It bothers me to no end that I can’t engage in a serious academic debate about the merits of someone’s theories without my criticisms becoming symptoms of whatever I’m criticizing. If it’s post-colonialist thought, I’ve imperialistic tendencies; if it’s queer theory, I’m a latent homophobe...when, in fact, I’m only someone who thinks that theories with psychoanalytic premises are fundamentally, fatally flawed."
Posted at: 5/28/2005 08:29:00 PM