Eduardo
Berg – Academic Leadership Journal Entry 1
"Political
language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from
Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and
murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." ―
George Orwell
"In
our first two weeks, you have read several articles, seen several videos and
been engaged in several discussions related to the concept of academic
leadership. At this point, and in your own words, what does the concept mean to
you? What subjects or interests do you have a sophisticated, intellectual
understanding of that you may want to turn into a major academic project in
this class? How do people sometimes abuse academic knowledge to manipulate
others? How would you feel if someone used your work to manipulate others (as
Jared Diamond claims Mitt Romney has)? How can creating academically
sophisticated, intellectual leaders help prevent such people from taking
advantage of others the way they do? How can this create a stronger democratic
society?”
I
believe academic leadership is about having the abilities necessary to ensure
the effectiveness of a group, which may or may not be involved in traditional
academic activities. Abilities acquired in this course will be useful
throughout our lives, not just during school and university. In fact, I believe
they will be more useful outside of school and universities. For my AL project,
I am seriously considering writing about Physics or science in general, its
benefits and dangers, how science has shaped the last century and how it will
shape the 21st century.
Academic
knowledge can, and usually is, easily abused to manipulate others and
occasionally justify one’s actions, including lies and murder. Charles Darwin’s
theory of evolution, for instance, can be used to “justify” racism, the
extinction of species, world hunger and poverty, and the killing of innocents.
This is quite an extreme example, though, while many other academic concepts
can be found in use by politicians to gain the support of a certain audience.
Mitt Romney, for instance, clearly tweaks Jared Diamond’s ideas to gain votes
from people who feel, consciously or unconsciously, that there is something
“special” and superior about the US and Western culture in general. Israel,
another example he uses, is widely known as an “advanced outpost of the West”,
whose success was possible only because of Western support. After all, it was
the Western nations that deliberately went to the Middle-East and secured an
800x200 km piece of land for the Jews a Western nation had blamed for its
defeat in war and economics. Jared Diamond, a highly educated man, was probably
very much offended by Romney’s misuse of his theory. Diamond dedicated several
years of his life to find scientific explanations for European dominance that
are more accurate than the once traditional excuses that involve culture,
religion, or even only exploitation. Romney managed to say that Diamond’s
theory states the exact opposite: The idea that Western culture is superior,
and that “culture makes all the difference”. For such reasons, I agree with
Diamond when he says Romney has not read his book(s). Because if Romney has
read them, then he is either a liar or simply incapable of understanding a
theory that uses more than one factor to explain an event. If I were American,
I would be worried.
By
creating a new generation of academically sophisticated leaders, the number of
politicians and other leaders that consider academic knowledge merely an
instrument would certainly decrease, because they would be familiar with
concepts such as plagiarism and would have a better understanding of honor and
respect for others’ work. Moreover, they would be smart enough not to say
something that presents them to intellectuals around the world as not smart
enough to be a leader. They would know that true leaders do not deceive their
followers, and we would see politicians comparing ideas instead of simply
attacking each other and evading questions when attacked. With more such
leaders, they would also know the importance of investing in education, which
would lead to the improvement of society as a whole. There would also be no
place for corruption or tyranny in such an educated society.
