Perich has written an essay which captures some of my feelings on the absurdity of some academics pretty well. Not all, mind you – some of you folks are actually adding to the global knowledge base. Others – not so much.
bq. If you can’t include a layman in your conversation, what you’re talking about is trash. He doesn’t need to keep up with you every step of the way, but you ought to at least let him know what you’re talking about. Or why it’s important. “We’re talking about the notion of reader viewpoint in literature, and whether the reader has the same presence in a story as one of the characters.” See? Easy.