First off, this isn't about astronomy. Secondly, I admire your theoretical work at the academy, but I TOTALLY disagree about what you said in your book on education being mainstream. When you have kids in Chiapas not being eligible for an education beyond 3rd grade just because they are brown-skinned and have the misfortune of being born 1,000 miles south of God's Country, that is elitism. Your treasured academics in their Harvard broomcloset offices making large-worded pronouncements about oppression and liberation and hegemonies and dichotomies and disempowerment, blah blah blah should think of what they're doing in the grand scheme of things. Who needs another perma-academic to serve a bunch of rich spoiled brats? The majority of the world's population doesn't even get to finish elementary school and the Giant Brains are here, begging for the chance to coddle a bunch of pubescent brats, kiss department butt, and getting their piece of the pie as a cog in the wheel of creating the ever miraculous American economy. True enough, the first step in freedom is an educated populace. But here we are educating more and more spoiled self-centered narcissistic Americans where the percentage of completely ignorant poor grows and grows and the quality of life of the poor gets worse and worse. Maybe you should write a book about that.

• The Vital Lie - blnelsonusa - February 2, 2001 - 02:37 UTC