Academia as a whole is such an interesting place. I value it highly because I value learning. I love school, I loved the conversations and deep dives into interesting waters that nourished me in both college and graduate school, and I loved the opportunity to be fully immersed, without needing to get a job, in an atmosphere of learning.

But the rest of it? The petty hierarchies, the papers born of countless hours of hard work by extremely talented people that few people will ever read, the wage labor of adjuncts, the elitism, the comfortable cowardice of tenure - that all should be burned in fire.

I once read a book - I wish I could remember its name - that noted that even though we live in a democratic republic fueled by at least somewhat meritocratic capitalism, institutions from the feudal era still exist, the most notable being the church and the university. That was eye opening when I read it, and to this day it has jaded my view of academia and the people who tether themselves to it. All of those noble, high minded academics, fighting for their place in a feudal structure that they don't dare challenge. I know I sound a bit like an asshole when I write this, but: I can't truly look up to anyone who would resign themselves to a structure like that.