quote:
Originally posted by martin dufresne:
[b] I don't know how or where you are discussing her other than slinging innuendo and insults. Venkatesan is clearly a teacher who offered a philosophical statement about science and about a common view of its claim to hegemony. She expressed suspicion about that view - as any careful scholar would, regardless of his or her field - and the male student who verbally assaulted her confirmed that he held such a naive view. So did apparently those who applauded his antics. So this is not about Venkatesan's "personal opinions", but about her challenge to a "popular belief", as you like to say and the sexist racist reception it received from both these students and the male-stream press.
I would add that nobody is "outside" science, as you claim and that you show remarkably little empathy for someone who was clearly harassed on the basis of her educated opinion and of some alpha males' sentiment that she had no entitlement to issue a strong statement about something that clearly has iconic status in their eyes, Science.
[ 29 May 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ][/b]
Cut the self-righteous crap nobody's buying it.
I ask a simple question: what is the support for the claims she paraphrased in class (her words), and how can those claims be informed? Is there empirical evidence that there be useful and original criticism of science from sociology? yes or no?
[ 29 May 2008: Message edited by: 500_Apples ]