Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/01/25/dung-beetles-fight-to-gain-pos.html
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That’s a metaphor for… something right now.
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I was coming to say THAT EXACT THING.
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Thing is, I’m not sure what it’s a metaphor FOR, but it’s something… two individuals fighting over a neatly packed ball of shit…
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Make that two! Great minds . . .
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Two professors fighting for the chair of a liberal arts department? ETA: I don’t want to be misunderstood. I have advanced degrees in the humanities and love them, but right now, being a humanities professor, let alone being the chair of a department, is a nightmare of slashed funding and cultural disrespect. I’m not celebrating that fact; I’m mourning it.
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Yes, because a bunch of lily-livered humanities cucks are the real problem facing humanity. /s
Is it okay if I go one day without having to hear what a garbage human I am for being in the humanties… If I wanted that I’d go listen to fox news all day, not hang out here where I expected that most people at least had a modicum of respect for what I do, but no, even fucking here, I get a constant reminder that what I do isn’t respected or deemed valuable by society…
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I just know there’s a metaphor in there somewhere about the powerful deploying racism to pit people against acting in their own economic interests…
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You beat me (and many others) to it.
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That’s a good one!
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I think the scenario it fits best is the 45 supporters claiming their chosen one is best for the country and the rest of us saying “Oh fucking hell no!”. We are the beetles…and you know who the ball of shit is.
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Only after I wrote it did I see all the “there’s a metaphor there” posts. 
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Ditto. It can be a mtaphor for so many things right now; politics, wealth accumulation… okay, two things that I can think of, but I’m likely too dialed in on those topics at the moment to think of much else.
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I dunno… I’m less convinced by that, I think. Maybe, though?
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Yer a rad human being for being in the humanities! The fuck did anyone else (fine arts folks, with or without degree aside) ever do to make the culture we are part of without it being directly because of their exposure to the humanities?
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You’re a rad human being for being you!
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Then there’s the whole bonus for liberal arts folks knowing how to actually think.
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I know, right? I was just making that pitch yesterday to my students. They kept looking for the singular “right” answer to the questions they had to do, and I kept telling them that they needed to work at making an argument and backing it up, logically with real evidence.
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I was just saying, if you want a shitty job right now, being the chair of a humanities department in this climate is a really good example of one. For the very reason you point out: that society doesn’t value us.
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