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 21^st 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.