If I didn't have friends who were physicists... if I only knew physicists from the internet... I would have a hard time not concluding that all of them were characterized by this
douchey, nobody-understands-us, ours-is-the-only-challenging-field arrogance. I'm the first to agree that any kind of mansplaining is annoying, but let me also tell you that you people don't have a monopoly on being subjected to it; in fact, as a social scientist, with an advanced degree (not a PhD, mind you) in international affairs, you think I don't get sick of people thinking they're as qualified (whatever that means) as I am because they read the paper? You don't think everyone, in every field, has similar complaints--of people oversimplifying what they do or what they study? Of wanting to know more about it? Yes, yes, your $hit is complicated. And I promise you that I'm not all of the sudden into it because it's trendy, as the post alleges; I have no choice but to develop a basic understanding in order to do my job. And yes, I find it interesting and want to know more, so I'm sorry that if I ever express that kind of thing to an actual physicist, the response is "who do you think you are to think you're remotely prepared to understand anything I might explain to you?" That may be true, but what I'm telling you, bitches, is that it's true to some extent about a lot of things, so get the f* over yourselves.
You've gotta love that there are public intellectuals--as there are in any field--going out of their way to say to people, "you can't afford ignorance in any field, including science; you don't have to understand it all, but understand what you can," and then this jerk comes along and says, "don't bother, sparky; it's too complicated for you." Never mind this:
Being the ignorant non-scientist that I am, am I still allowed to think that the following is cool, or is that usurpation? After all, I lacerate myself a lot, so it's nice to find some symbolism in all that bloodshed:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment