'Over my dead body': Booker prize archives reveal unknown judging battles

theguardian.com

27 points·never-the-bride··9 comments

Sayre’s Law: “In any dispute, the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the issues at stake. ... and this explains why academic politics are so bitter.”

From the Man Booker Wikipedia page:

> The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured international renown and success; therefore, the prize is of great significance for the book trade.

Sure, the Sayre quote is pithy and funny, but there does seem to be a lot at stake in choosing the winner here.

There isn't very much at stake for the jury members.

The stakes for the decision are high, even if they are not high for any jury member personally. This is true for any jury.

The implication being that academic politics arises out of basically non-issues? I should be able to infer Sayre never worked in academia; there are situations where a lot of money for research is at stake.

While I've never worked in academia, I've been in the room while professors argued vehemently - as if their very livelihoods depended on it - about who was sitting in what chair around the conference table, and who was sitting in the chairs up against the wall.

I wonder which is worse. If they were arguing that way for no reason OR if they were arguing that way because their livelihoods were dependent on it.

I remember things slong similar lines. Poor IT decisions chosen so as not to offend faculty —bending backwards for them.

Maybe it’s because it’s one of the ways they have to signal power or influence, even if it seems petty.

I'd say there's many many counter examples to this. For example Brexit, Climate Change, Trump 'making American Great Again' etc etc etc

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