[antimedia] antimedia: If you want to know what's wrong with academe....

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Posted by antimedia:
If you want to know what's wrong with academe....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1161648637.shtml


   ....what's happening to [1]military history on university campuses
   across the country goes a long way toward explaining the cause of the
   problem.

     Consider the case of Steve Zdatny, a history professor at West
     Virginia University. On his webpage, he lists World War I as one of
     his âteaching fields.â But heâs no expert in trench warfare or
     aerial dogfights. Hereâs how he describes his latest scholarship:
     âHaving recently finished a history of the French hairdressing
     profession . . . I am now in the opening stages of research on a
     history of public and personal hygiene, which will examine evolving
     practices and sensibilities of cleanliness in twentieth-century
     France.â His body of work includes journal articles with titles
     such as âThe Boyish Look and the Liberated Woman: The Politics and
     Aesthetics of Womenâs Hairstyles.â
     Not that thereâs anything wrong with that. But when fashion history
     begins to crowd out military history, or even masquerade as it, the
     priorities of colleges and universities are clearly out of whack.
     âThe prevailing view is that war is bad and we shouldnât study bad
     things,â says Williamson Murray, a former professor who is now at
     the Institute for Defense Analyses. âThank goodness cancer
     specialists donât have that attitude.â The problem is most severe
     at first-tier schools. Two years ago, Coffman, the retired
     Wisconsin professor, pored over the faculties of the 25 best
     history departments, as determined by U.S. News & World Report.
     Among more than a thousand full-time professors, only 21 listed war
     as a specialty. âWeâre dying out,â he says.

   This is what happens when you put stupid liberals, hippies from the
   60's, in charge of academe. Their myopia will destroy the very
   paradise they delude themselves into thinking can exist. As much as
   these bozos refuse to admit it, in the entire history of mankind,
   there have only been very brief periods of "peace" (which were really
   resting periods before the next period of war.)
   You'd expect historians to understand that, but how can they when
   their research concentrates on hairdos and other matters of complete
   insignificance rather than the really important questions that matter
   to history?

References

   1. http://nrd.nationalreview.com/article/?q=YTdiMDkzZDJjYTYwOWM4YmIyMmE4N2IwODFlNWU0MjE=