Singer, in particular, pisses me off for two reasons. The first reason is that people in liberal academia, particularly the humanities, reference him constantly as an example of a ‘good honest utilitarian who maybe takes his conclusions abit to far’ (as in he advocated for people to only make about 60,000 a year per person circa 2003). This was annoying because being lectured by tenured professors on how much I should be donating when I become a professor is a joke and most people in the world don’t make 60,000 a year period, so this ‘advice’ is practically useless.
And the second reason is what I mentioned before, despite loudly and vocally advocating for him as a ‘good person’ (and liberal alternative to Marxism), they haven’t actually read anything he has written, or if they have they didn’t actually read it very closely. What Singer always, inevitably, advocates for is non-profit foundation work as the maximum utility (because then no one is unhappy about losing their money), which maximum ulitility conveniently always centers around whatever projects the billionaires whose tables he is eating from are funding. He isn’t even a naive liberal’s idea of a liberal, he’s a libertarian in liberal’s clothing.
When I was younger and more energetic doing my bachelors, I would literally get into shouting matches with ‘know-it-all’ liberal grad students who would tell me I was naive for advocating for even moderate redistribution (I have since radicalized even further much to my own chagrin), when I would tell them what they were essentially backing full-throated libertarianism with no understanding of even basic LTV by advocating for the Singer approach.
These kinds of discussions (and the potential loan debt) were what convinced me not to pursue a doctorate. If that is the level of academic honesty that is required for success, I didn’t want any part of it. The sacrifice just wasn’t worth it.
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Singer, in particular, pisses me off for two reasons. The first reason is that people in liberal academia, particularly the humanities, reference him constantly as an example of a ‘good honest utilitarian who maybe takes his conclusions abit to far’ (as in he advocated for people to only make about 60,000 a year per person circa 2003). This was annoying because being lectured by tenured professors on how much I should be donating when I become a professor is a joke and most people in the world don’t make 60,000 a year period, so this ‘advice’ is practically useless.
And the second reason is what I mentioned before, despite loudly and vocally advocating for him as a ‘good person’ (and liberal alternative to Marxism), they haven’t actually read anything he has written, or if they have they didn’t actually read it very closely. What Singer always, inevitably, advocates for is non-profit foundation work as the maximum utility (because then no one is unhappy about losing their money), which maximum ulitility conveniently always centers around whatever projects the billionaires whose tables he is eating from are funding. He isn’t even a naive liberal’s idea of a liberal, he’s a libertarian in liberal’s clothing.
When I was younger and more energetic doing my bachelors, I would literally get into shouting matches with ‘know-it-all’ liberal grad students who would tell me I was naive for advocating for even moderate redistribution (I have since radicalized even further much to my own chagrin), when I would tell them what they were essentially backing full-throated libertarianism with no understanding of even basic LTV by advocating for the Singer approach.
These kinds of discussions (and the potential loan debt) were what convinced me not to pursue a doctorate. If that is the level of academic honesty that is required for success, I didn’t want any part of it. The sacrifice just wasn’t worth it.