content

The word "intellectual" is certainly passe, undescribed today. And content (what used to be called intellectual content) is simply not current in today's parlance. I have described earlier what was once an obligatory response mechanism which was expected as part of conversation and idea sharing. Now that there are seemingly no obligations one had better have little or no expectations in this regard.

As I referred to awhile back, my Father would say something to the affect "that the ball is in your court," and he damn sure expected you to bring that ball out. If you missed the ball your obligation was to find out what you missed, clear it up. Now silence rules or obfuscation. Why? From middle age onwards I found that my dear Father had given up on conversation pretty much, controversy was pretty much no where to be found.

Talk shows and NPR prattle take the place of this in our lives I guess. But I miss it, would like to see a resurgence of it before I pass along into whatever incarnation awaits me. I remember fondly the faculty senate debates at the University in Buffalo, and the heated conversation which followed those debates. I remember being invited by an English professor to an afternoon tea in Los Angeles, the expectation was that you would come with ideas and contraversy to mix it up with faculty and students. In graduate school we had a library symposium to take on subjects and opinions seemingly forbidden in the standard curriculum. Why not stir it up, keep the "brain cells" cooking a little?