Given the current dismal state of our economy, MTSU has proposed a money saving scheme that involves a considerable downsizing of the academic programs it offers. As I perused the extensive list of prospectively doomed majors, I was dumbfounded (albeit glumly unsurprised) to discover that philosophy had made the cut (pun intended).
As an English major and philosophy minor, and having studied (in a philosophy class) the origin and history of Academia, I feel that the proposed elimination of philosophy as a potential major is appalling and bitterly ironic. The ancient Greeks invented a number of nifty concepts like geometry, atomism and democracy and they also created the academy in which these concepts were discussed and studied at length in the interest of producing thoughtful, clever citizens. In the Academy, a particular emphasis was placed on the study of philosophy (an ancient word meaning “love of wisdom”) as it was held to the highest esteem in their culture. Philosophy is the foundation on which rests every liberal art and every science, and the “powers that be,” who presumably want colleges to graduate thoughtful, clever and productive members of society, propose cutting this from the university program of possible majors?!
I once asked the chair of the philosophy department, Dr. Ron Bombardi, about the importance of studying philosophy as opposed to other disciplines, and his response was one that I’ll never forget. He said [of philosophy majors] that, “you can do anything anyone else can do. Only you can do it better.”
In closing, I’ll quote one of my favorite writers, Ambrose Bierce, in his cynical outlook of the direction of which our society is headed if changes aren’t made (namely, not eliminating philosophy as a possible major). As defined in “The Devil’s Dictionary”:
– Academe, n.: An ancient school where morality and philosophy were taught.
– Academy, n.: A modern school where football is taught.
? Tiffany Blackburn, blackcatgrrl@yahoo.com
Loving Train Daddy
We just wanna say we love the Train Daddy, when it comes to making us laugh and sports. We love it all!
? Christy Hamburgh
The Slant Makes me Sick
I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly sick I am of hearing partisan politics. I have literally come to the conclusion that original thought in this country is completely dead. I can’t find a single person, news report, e-mail, phone call, public announcement or 20 second porno clip that doesn’t have a political bias. Your opinion of whether Obama is the anti-Christ or the savior of the free world depends strictly on your party affiliation.
Come on people, wake up! As long as we think that way, things will never change. I make no claims to be the guru of things political, in fact, there is no such thing. There simply isn’t enough easily available information for any of us to be “in the know.” But that doesn’t mean you should give up trying and let party affiliation make up your mind for you.
At the donut shop I heard in almost the same breath how bad a job President Obama is doing, just handing out our hard earned money to these bankrupt banks (I love saying that) and how unfair it is that Jay Leno would have him on the show, but not G.W. I can’t say for sure, but I’d bet money that Leno would have loved to have President Bush on his show. It’s also my guess that the former president wouldn’t do the show if he had the chance because I just don’t think he was well equipped for a verbal joust with Mr. Leno.
A person with a non partisan view would have remembered that Bush freely gave away our money to bankrupt banks (there it is again) and auto manufacturers before Obama took office, but I figured I would be met with a condescending “Oh great another liberal.” Any truth in my rebuttal would have been irrelevant, just that I must be a liberal. Since I chose not to argue or agree, there was a lull in our conversation; it’s still in a lull. Then I overhear what a left wing failure it was giving all that money to AIG, but that it was socialist to tax them for giving huge bonuses for bailing executives. Hmmm, I had to ponder this one for a second. Two things came to mind: first, I’ve heard it said a lot lately that Saint Obama is trying to make us a socialist nation and is usually followed by something like, “We know socialism doesn’t work, look what happened to Russia.” Just an insignificant historical fact, Russia was communist, not socialist. Socialism is alive and well in China and other associated nations. In the back of the conservative mind there is a thought right now that goes something like “That boy must be a Liberal pinko.” Say that to my face and we might have a problem.
No, I am not a socialist, but I do believe that without government regulation we would all be working for company script and owe our soul to the company store.
Second, I don’t see the logic in pole roasting Obama and Congress for giving AIG the money and then call them socialist for punishing them for misusing it. If that’s the case, then you can call me a socialist?on this one affair. Personally I think they deserve a good public caning. Wow, I just suggested a conservative, almost biblical punishment that goes along with the liberal idea of retaliation against AIG. That will require some analyzation, why that smacks of, dare I say it, bipartisanship. I must be evil, that I could have the audacity to suggest that reasonable, strict and fair actions could be agreed upon without partisanship, is just down right . . . umm, un-conservative and un-liberal.
Hey, we could call it middle wing. Dang it, now I belong to a party too.
? Tony Lehew, tlehew1064@comcast.net
