Brian Leiter's Sincere Attempt to Help the Younger Philosopher

Is there any other form of comfort besides bourgoise comfort?
---H. Kureishi, paraphrased from memory

Last night, when I should have been sleeping, I found myself browing through a discussion thread at Brian Leiter's Leiter Reports.

One part of me returned to my miserable past as a graduate student.
One part of me was rooted in the present and wanted to know why I've ended up where I am today.

But I noticed two broad patterns, which I shall call (inaccurately) the "hippie" and the "professional".

Professionalism always strikes me as smug--much as if someone were trying to squeeze into a box too small for them, while constantly smiling and saying "I can do it!".

Hippies, on the other hand, always sound very silly, like Paul Coelho when he tries to be wise.

I am, of course, simultaneously hippie and failed professional-wanna-be.

But there is something pathetic about the whole business, and I can only speculate that this is what has happened to education at the graduate level on account of "Neo-Liberalism".

About professionals, I have the strong impression that they could have been excellent Communists had they lived in Czechoslovakia after World War Two.

And one should never forget Kundera's remark that the most salient property of that group was their enthusiasm..........

I shall now, with great enthusiasm, attempt to squeeze myself into this box which has been carefully  constructed by our capitalist social engineers so that it is just a little bit too small.......