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Comment by chis | Hacker News Reader

This article is such an odd mix of interesting Native American facts and overwrought critical theory. Mostly makes me want to go read the actual source (Sovereignty and Goodness of God).

I always wonder if the academics writing this stuff actually believe it or whether they start by writing a normal essay and then throw in all the critical theory stuff at the end so it can get published.

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I think the problem is simply in the varying writing skills of academics. Of course they need to take into consideration current theory and political viewpoints if they want their work to be relevant. But it takes an unusually skilled writer to weave theory and facts into a compelling story.

> throw in all the critical theory stuff at the end so it can get published.

It’s how it was done in the Soviet Union. You’d read a cooking recipe book and there might be some paragraph about serving the party’s goal or other stuff like.

The personal beliefs were more cynical towards the later years and it was done mostly to appease censors or gain a few virtue points with peers and superiors.

Here it could be the same. Write whatever, but make sure to insert a few critical theory du-jour points just in case.

It's interesting how "critical theory" is used as a prejorative not only going on a hunch, but also that the very use of it degrades the quality of any article without question. Personally I've come to enjoy quite a lot of work which many would categorize under 'critical theory' and a lot of work which many would mistakenly categorize under 'critical theory' simply due to the topics covered.

To be fair, the complaint is against "overwrought" critical theory.

A critical eye is important. It can also be overdone.

yeah, what started out as a good piece of writing devolved into a dogmatic narrative

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