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People are so funny sometimes. They get immersed in their little corner of the world and tend to reify it, and to inflate its importance in their minds, until nothing else matters but their own sophomoric scribblings and unimportant careers. They avoid and downplay everything outside of their little bubble because otherwise they might have to wake up, to realize their way of life is not the 'only game in town,' and to come face-to-face with the meaninglessness of their own existence.

Let me draw from an example. When I first moved to Tampa, I used to live with a business major. He was a cool dude, relatively easy to get along with and reasonably tolerant of others, except where it came to his academic field. Business was god: all else was meaningless (as if reinforcing this bullshit economic structure was ethical, much less worthy of anything less than scorn). He used to tell me that I 'lived in the clouds,' and would argue that there was nothing gained--much less anything valuable--to what amounts to knowledge as an end in itself, or of expanding one's mind, or of the understanding of alternative viewpoints. Further, he would claim that his undergraduate business courses were harder than my graduate courses in philosophy. He had taken Intro to Philosophy and had earned a 'B,' which he used as evidence (albeit, slim and dubious) to support his claim.

Now, on prima facie grounds alone, his claim was false. With very few exceptions, graduate courses are more difficult than undergraduate courses, regardless of the field. But moreso, philosophy courses--even on the undergraduate or Introductory level--are no cakewalk (especially the courses I teach, although I try to make them "fun" as a modest trade-off). Historically I have noticed that some of my students have a very difficult time abstracting from their own practical experience and seeing patterns, or nurturing the ability to grapple with the conceptual. Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with those who seek more practical pursuits: we need dog catchers, street sweepers and used car salesmen, too. But the hostility towards those that can and do think on a higher and deeper level is more often than not present in these types. I would argue that this is a mistake, or at least rests upon a misunderstanding. Many make fun of what they cannot understand, or perhaps for what they do not have ability.

Getting back to the point: authenticity is not an easy thing to come by. It requires scrutinizing oneself and one's goals and ambitions, challenging the very premises upon which we operate in our day-to-day lives. It requires struggling to overcome those tautological and cliche half-truths we learned on the knee of parent and priest. Heidegger's word for authenticity was Eigenlichkeit, or literally "enownment." He meant it as the ability to take re-claim oneself from the controlling influence of the everydayness in which we are trapped, and to resist the temptation to social leveling ("falling" into "the They," as he phrases it); or, more simply put: the ability to take oneself back. It's always much easier to 'go with the flow,' to sedate oneself with drugs and alcohol, to perform average, monotonous and mediocre jobs. I found this to be a major point of divergence with my ex: she says I'm "too serious," and she's right. She's much happier living a common existence with very everyday dreams and goals, and she has now found someone who can provide that (and more power to her); I could not provide that, no matter how hard I tried. Nor would I want to. She has realized she is much happier by adopting the customs and traditions of bourgeois society, and without having to so much as think about losing herself in the process; she is in many ways now becoming Emma Bovary.

So, to those who would vilify the academic life and its pursuits, and the very process of criticism itself (as if nothing productive would be wrought from the process of challenging the bullshit we're all spoon-fed) I would encourage you to re-consider. The benefits will be paid in terms of one's own personal development and also in a greater social flourishing. And if not, I hope you're happy with Brittany Spears, American Idol re-runs and President Jeb Bush in 2008. I know I'm not.

As the great critic Chuck D. once said, "don't believe the hype."