THIS is the season when
it is so easy to fault people for using their academic credentials to establish
credibility and legitimacy.
This is the effect of
social media, when access to the production, reproduction and transformation of
public discourse has been democratized, that academic credentials are no longer
necessary to become a political analyst, or even an investigative journalist.
And in a polarized
political environment, the partisanship of academia has not helped at all. The
natural tendency of universities and scholars to gravitate towards liberal
ideas has necessarily pushed them to bear oppositional discourses vis-à-vis
strong states and leaders, such as President Rodrigo Duterte. *
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| "There is a need to transform them into a potent force by making it safer for them to speak. It may be news to many who have become used to the fact that 82 percent of the population support the President" (photo credit to owner) |
Thus, the inherent
intellectual elitism of universities, which in fact is deeply embedded in their
very nature since time immemorial, has been unfairly associated with the
exclusionary and predatory elitist politics associated with oligarchic
privilege.
They are now confronted
by ordinary citizens who populate social media, are overwhelmingly supportive
of the President, and are led by opinion leaders who are not constrained by
academic credentials. These leaders are not lawyers yet they articulate their
opinions on legal issues such as the Marcos burial and the declaration of
martial law in Mindanao; are not political scientists yet they discourse on
political issues as complex as constitutional reform; and are not investigative
journalists yet they are as good in exposing the real identities of anonymous bloggers.
These social media
enablers of President Duterte are antagonistic towards the journalists in
mainstream media, and the so-called thought leaders who,because most hold
academic credentials in their own disciplines, are perceived as elitist
intellectuals.
However, it is totally
wrong to dismiss the relevance of intellectualism in the shaping of the
national narrative, as what many pro-Duterte social media bloggers readily do.
The university is also a
fertile domain for political contestations. It is not entirely correct to
perceive the academia as having only one political color. There are as many
other voices in any academic institution, some of whom may in fact be
supportive of the President. It is most unfortunate that many of them are
silent and would rather focus on their teaching and research. For some, this
silence is not even a product of choice, but is an outcome of peer pressure, or
even of career survival. In a university setting where the political biases of
administrators, owners and tenured peers are so palpable, it could be risky to
one’s tenure and promotion to take an opposite view. *
Thus, what this people
need is for the pro-Duterte social media community to establish an enabling
environment to harness the voices of these silent, and in some cases,
intimidated and silenced, allies.
After all, any academic,
regardless of political color, comes to the table not as amateurs. Many of them
have gone up the academic ladder with their robust records in teaching and
research. They live and breathe the theories, concepts and principles of their
disciplines that they become experts to a point that these become inherent
parts of their very nature, like their second skin. Well-versed academics do
not need any further preparation to render their opinions on issues pertinent
to their disciplines.
For example, political
scientists who have gained academic credentials because of their published
bodies of work that have been vetted by peers, are walking and talking
political resources that just need to be tapped. They can give robust political
analysis on any issue thrown their way even on an instant that they no longer
have to even prepare for it.
Academics who are
experts in their own disciplines would be much-valued additions to the arsenal
of support for the President. It is just a matter of bringing them into the
fold to harness their voices that are otherwise not noticed. *
And this could not be
done if the social-media enablers that dominate the President’s coterie of
supporters will not consciously exert effort to also enable these pro-Duterte
academics. Worse, if they continue this dismissive anti-intellectualism that
generalizes all academics as wearing only one political color, or that they are
useless armchair theorists.
Academics have been
accused of “credentialism,” as if there is something wrong with it. On the
contrary, calling attention to academic credentials is a necessary practice to
establish legitimacy, as the basis from where one is speaking from. It is only
wrong when it is done to flaunt and gloat, and to diminish the right of others
without the academic credentials to speak.
It is utterly
problematic to find fault in “credentialism” particularly when this comes from
a misplaced kind of anti-intellectualism, one that feeds either from envy for
not having such credentials, or from a feeling of hubris of being better
despite not having the necessary academic credentials.
It is easy to dismiss
the role of academics and intellectuals in a world where just anyone with a
social media account can become instant experts. And universities will have to
do a lot of stock-taking to correct the image of detached, arrogant, useless
academics. For one, universities have to now go beyond the rubric of
publication citations as the be-all and end-all of their existence. It’s about
time they measure their worth not in terms of subjective reputations, number of
foreign students and faculty, and number of grants, but in terms of their real
impact on society. *
But it is equally
problematic to dismiss the role that academics perform, and the value that they
can contribute.
For the pro-Duterte
camp, what is needed is not to dismiss the academic intellectuals and
stereotype them as useless, or generalize them as antagonistic yellows.
There is a need to
transform them into a potent force by making it safer for them to speak. It may
be news to many who have become used to the fact that 82 percent of the
population support the President. But the power structures and internal
politics in universities may not necessarily reflect this.
Source: The Manila Times “Misplaced
anti-intellectualism ” by Mr. Antonio P. Contretas November.2, 2017
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