UWP Lecturers brilliant letter

[Rob Latham]

I agree it's a great letter, and I found the links Deborah sent very  
amusing. I think sometime soon after the Regents meeting this coming  
week would be the best time to act. Until their decision is made  
public, I doubt the LA Times would pay much attention.

best,

Rob




On Jul 11, 2009, at 6:53 PM, kimberly devlin wrote:

> dear all,
> i would be very happy to see a copy of the full letter (including  
> the names of everyone who signed it) reprinted in the la times,  
> followed by carole's response.  any ideas how to do so?  anybody  
> with me on this one?  i am impressed by how many other faculty have  
> accepted the fact that the state/nation/world is in a severe  
> depression and that we, like many others (not employed by uc), are  
> going to be effected.  duh. in any event, thank you very much carole.
> slainte,
> kim
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carole Fabricant
> Sent: Jul 10, 2009 3:19 AM
> To: adriana.craciun at ucr.edu, Andrea.Denny-Brown at ucr.edu, carole.fabricant at ucr.edu 
> , cf7516 at gmail.com, Caroleanne.tyler at ucr.edu,Deborah.Willis at ucr.edu, erica.edwards at ucr.edu 
> , George.Haggerty at ucr.edu, heidi.braymanhackel at ucr.edu, jamestobias at mindspring.com 
> ,James.Tobias at ucr.edu, jennifer.doyle at ucr.edu, John.Briggs at ucr.edu, John.Ganim at ucr.edu 
> , joseph.childers at ucr.edu, katherine.kinney at ucr.edu,keith.harris at ucr.edu 
> , devlinucr at earthlink.net, michelle.raheja at ucr.edu, rise.axelrod at ucr.edu 
> , rob.latham at ucr.edu,  
> Stanley.Stewart at ucr.edu,Steven.Axelrod at ucr.edu,  
> susan.zieger at ucr.edu, Tiffany.Lopez at ucr.edu,  
> Traise.Yamamoto at ucr.edu, Vorris.Nunley at ucr.edu,englecturers at listserv.ucr.edu
> Subject: Fwd: brilliant letter
>
> Hey folks,
>
> The depths to which some of my esteemed and, er, enlightened  
> colleagues will stoop never ceases to amaze me.  One is never quite  
> prepared for the next act of outrage or idiocy.  Way to go, guy;  
> let's hear it for colleaguiality and (more importantly) class  
> solidarity.  In case you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll  
> attach a newspaper article (and a half) to this email (I copied it  
> into my Word documents) which will explain it all.  Below you will  
> find my response to His Eminence the Distinguished Professor Scull.   
> There's no way one can deal with this except through satire.  (Well,  
> actually there are other ways -- but nothing that can be described  
> in an email.)  I heartily encourage all of you to send emails to  
> Scull congratulating him on his brilliant satiric wit.  It would be  
> nice if his mailbox were filled with such notes.  (Actually it would  
> be even nicer it it was filled with something else -- but never mind  
> that for now.)
>
> Read and weep.  Or better yet, read and laugh, and write sarcastic  
> fan mail.
>
> btw, Don't forget to address him as "Distinguished Professor" --  
> given his obvious adulation of status and reputation I'm sure he  
> wouldn't want to be addressed any other way.
>
> Cheers,
> Carole
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Carole Fabricant <cf7516 at gmail.com>
> Date: Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 3:00 AM
> Subject: brilliant letter
> To: ascull at ucsd.edu
>
>
> Dear Distinguished Professor Scull,
>
> I very much enjoyed reading portions of your brilliant satire which,  
> had you been a less humble and unassuming person, you might have  
> entitled "A Modest Proposal for preventing the Inferior Campuses of  
> the UC System from being a Burden to their Superiors or the  
> University at large, and for making them Beneficial to the Public."
>
> As a Jonathan Swift specialist I can say without reservation that  
> you have perfectly captured the tone and spirit of Swift's greatest  
> satire, creating a persona whom you've succeeded in making into the  
> twin brother of the Modest Proposer:  a man, deeply concerned for  
> the welfare of his community, who understands that the sacrifice of  
> some of its members (other than himself and his fellow classmen, of  
> course) is necessary for the good of the whole.  Your persona, like  
> the Modest Proposer, subscribes to the sad but inescapable truth  
> that in every society the weak have to be sacrificed to ensure the  
> continued health and prosperity of the strong, the have-nots must  
> give way to accommodate the desires of the haves; and while  
> expressing regret regret at being forced to "contemplate very, very  
> unpleasant choices" he doesn't allow mere sentiment to soften the  
> stark nature of his proposal, or to divert him from his noble purpose.
>
> Of course, this being a satire, we eventually come to realize that  
> the Modest Proposer's (both yours and Swift's) presumed concern for  
> the welfare of his society, hence his eagerness to offer solutions  
> to its problems, is merely a cover to mask his own self-interest,  
> delusions of grandeur, and dehumanizing outlook (his substitution of  
> abstract quantifiable measures for human values) -- but not before  
> we've enjoyed a delightful romp through the realms of the satiric  
> grotesque.
>
> I must say that I thought it was a particularly brilliant stroke of  
> wit on your part to substitute the image of General Motors "lopping  
> off" Hummer, Buick, Opel, Saab, "and who knows what else" for  
> Swift's central metaphor of chopping up and eating Irish babies.   
> The "who knows what else" provides just the right Swiftian touch,  
> opening out the possibilities of the satire in the same way that  
> Swift's Modest Proposer, after describing the many dishes the babies  
> can be cooked up into, adds that "Those who are more thrifty (as I  
> must confess the times require) may flay the carcass; the skin of  
> which, artificially dressed, will make admirable gloves for ladies,  
> and summer boots for fine gentlemen."
>
> Equally ingenious was your remark that because of the funding crisis  
> we now have to become "only a nine, or an eight (and a half) campus  
> system."  A lesser satirist would have left it at 'nine, or eight,'  
> but your insertion of 'a half' of a campus produces an ever-so- 
> slight frisson, evoking the image of a half of a baby (somehow more  
> shocking than a whole one) being stuffed into a pot to make a stew:   
> an image that serves to underscore the fundamental sadism and cruel  
> indifference beneath the Modest Proposer's mask of benevolence.
>
> I will be teaching Swift in the fall quarter and wonder whether you  
> would be willing to come and talk to my class about your perspective  
> on the art of satire -- perhaps even share with us some of your  
> other creative endeavors in this field.  I always tell my students  
> that, given the absurdity of the times in which we live, it's no  
> longer possible to write satire.  But I'm glad to say that you've  
> proven me wrong.
>
> Yours sincerely (and admiringly),
>
> Carole Fabricant
> Professor of English
> University of California, Riverside
>
>
>
>
>

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