Editor,
I’ve come across the writings of two of our faculty members who thought it fashionable to use the word “imaginary” as a noun, as in “the American imaginary.” One was in a research paper and the other in a proposed title of a book. I have no doubt that these scholars violated our grammatical tendencies on purpose, solely because it has become
fashionable in charlatanic circles.
Though I admit that these violations peeved me, I think that they point to a more important truth: Much, if not all, of the “research” coming out of our “research University” is not tailored for consumption by the general public. When’s the last time someone read a scholarly product whose “interest” in it wasn’t financially motivated? Of course, many of our highbrowed buffoons would probably congratulate themselves for their aloof intellectualism.
I once had a professor tell my class that as long as we were able to “say something interesting” about a novel, then we had succeeded in our task. This seems incredibly pretentious to me. Maybe we should be saying something important. Important? Important to whom? Well, maybe we should start with the people who are paying our bills. Do they even know what we do here? Probably not, but as long as we keep barking, “Education!” at them, they’ll come drooling to the polls.
Corey S. Davis
UNM student
