it's over. move to somnia.

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The other day during my Theories of International Relations course, Professor K was describing the rise of international liberalism (not to be confused with domestic-politics liberalism, which is a whole 'nother philosophy) and the idea of collective action, and he mentioned that rationally there is rationally no reason for people to contribute to the common good if they know that other people will pay for what needs to be provided.

"Not even opprobrium?" I said absently. (Honest!)

"Good point, but we'll get to that later," he said, continuing with the lecture.

Which would be fine, except I already noticed the smirking glances, especially the one from S, a sweet young woman sitting nearby who had scolded me in the past for daring to ask questions during lecture despite being--gasp!--an auditor. ("It makes us all [everyone who is actually enrolled] look bad!") After the lecture, a few of my classmates ribbed me for throwing out a ten-dollar word...but...but...it was the right word!

We're all educated people here, I presumed. I don't get why it's such a big deal for us to communicate on a level appropriate to the situation. Is anti-intellectualism really so pervasive?


[next time: the story of Scandi-fest '04, in which our hero confronts rain, wind, the Danish language, poor scheduling, and something called a "naughty room" (it's worse than you think) in pursuit of a relaxing weekend out of town]
peachy as always, Mike at 2:38 PM