Why does everyone think that having an advance degree makes one a smug asshole? Do you guys think I’m a smug asshole? How can I humble myself enough that everyone doesn’t think I’m a smug asshole who looks down on the rest of humanity?
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Couldn’t you return your advanced degrees, and stop shaming us all with your fancy book-learning?
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Does everyone know he died in 2003, a heart attack in Paris?
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Don’t I find you alternately authoritative, and timid around here? Have you ever been smug, or an asshole?
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Will someone start a thread already?
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Does it matter, as I’m already marked as a “ivory tower libural” know it all?
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Wouldn’t you tell me if I was being either?
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Why are you addressing this to me? Didn’t I manage to avoid being a smug asshole until I made full professor?
Do you have it in vinyl?
Can I apologize in advance for the video that comes with the Senor Coconut cover of Da Da Da?
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Wasn’t it because you were asking questions of @OtherMichael, who pointed out I had a higher degree? Aren’t I jealous that I’ll probably never make full professor since that’s already full up and the tenture track is being trashed as we speak (except maybe at the ivy leagues?)? Isn’t the best I can hope for a good lecturing position, with a full teaching load and less time to write smart things about popular culture like I like to do? Don’t I hope I’ll at least get to teach someone something important about US history and doesn’t our society look down on learning for its own sake more and more each day?
Don’t you know I wasn’t trying to upset you, but am more talking about the state of the world as we live in it?
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Can you get into media if you want to stick with pop culture specifically? Aren’t there also think tank and government positions for people with an academic background in cold war history and an understanding of pop culture?
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Don’t I guess? Won’t younger people get those jobs? Don’t the best jobs go to ivy leaguers? Aren’t I just bitter about spending a good chunk of my adult life on this track and I’m not sure it’ll get me any where?
Don’t I really mean, don’t mind me? 
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Isn’t the questions thread a fun place for this sort of existential discussion? Is anything a waste of time if you’re passionate about it and get some sort of satisfaction from it?
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Isn’t it nice to have this place not be dead again?
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Are you going to take credit for that?
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Shouldn’t I be out front shaking my cane at the youngsters, telling them to get off @monkeyoh’s lawn?
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Isn’t it true in your field - like it is in mine - that age is less important than when the doctorate was granted? And that the discrimination is against stale degrees, not stale people?
[quote=“tropo, post:3272, topic:76536”]
Is anything a waste of time if you’re passionate about it and get some sort of satisfaction from it?[/quote]
Doesn’t this depend a bit on whether you get paid to go to grad school or whether you are paying out of pocket?
Don’t you find rephrasing stuff as questions sometimes gets a little exhausting?
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While it may overall, don’t I also count being a climbing or ski bum worthwhile pursuits? If you’re alive and doing what you want with your life, shouldn’t that be good enough?
Don’t you find rephrasing stuff as questions sometimes gets a little exhausting?
Would you be surprised if I said, rarely?
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Don’t I find that where people are coming from matters more than what they are doing?
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Is it entirely coming down to where, or is “who you know” a factor as well?
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Don’t I think who you know helps? But don’t I also know that when a department gets over 100 applications for one tenure track job (with a fair amount of reading involved in each) where the applicant matriculated can be a good way to winnow the field a bit? And isn’t it true that since my field is very crowded, that even teaching positions are going to get applicants from “better” schools than mine?
Aren’t I just bitter, maybe?
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