I’m constantly bemused by sloppy writing from academics.
Consider this sentence by a (deservedly) respected Oxford university history Professor, Tom Holland, writing last year in The Spectator.
Straying off topic, Tom slipped in the following plug for his forthcoming book.
“Early next month sees the publication of my new book about the heyday of the Roman peace: the age of building the Colosseum and Hadrian’s Wall, and the destruction of Jerusalem and Pompei.”
So according to Tom, destroying Jerusalem and Pompeii were peaceful actions.
In fact this blunder lay in his sloppy writing for the book’s title was “War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age”.
The first great newspaper columnist, Baltimore’s H.L Mencken whose 5000 words weekly offerings were published globally, including here in New Zealand and even in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s.
Mencken constantly poured scorn on farmers and school-teachers, and he meant it, albeit some readers may have assumed he was taking the mickey.
But he viewed both activities as the domain of dullards, fearful of life and thus driven totally by the pursuit of security, no matter the lousy return of a mundane predictable existence.
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Academy in New Zealand just took an enormous hit with Otago University appointing Grant Robertson as VC.
“..how else will the socialists maintain their gravy train; just don’t, (attempt to) point it out to the unionists…comrade”.
Harry Mencken sounds like quite a character, paradoxically opposing America entering the world wars and yet also stating “war is a good thing because it is honest; it admits the central fact of human nature …a nation too long at peace becomes a sort of gigantic old maid”.
Well Harry died sixty eight years ago and he’s probably mumbling in his grave about the state of the world today being run by old maids. But the fact is World War 3 never eventuated and never will, because the majority have matured enough to realize that mutual respect, trade and cooperation are the ingredients for a good life.
Apologies for my sloppy writing. Mencken’s first name was Henry not Harry.