you must be joking, no one has any balls anymore and least of all Academics. They are too afraid of being ridiculed and put down by far mightier forces than the pen. You want a prime example of academic cowardice? look no further than the events of 911. Not a single challenge about the US adminstration's account of 911 came from any academic institution, why? because for them to have done so would have destroyed their funding. Those very few individuals who did dare speak out rather quickly found themselves unemployable. So for you to suggest that academics are any safeguard against received orthodoxy is I'm afraid totally unfounded.
I don't think you get that now we are permitted to live in a 'corporatised' world which perverts the course of all nations wishes, it's the reason politicians are totally ineffective in getting any of their electorate's wishes fulfilled - assuming any wanted to do so in the first place.
We used to live in a democracy of sorts but now the whole thing is a sham....
