Sokal's Yokels

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

Tom comments:
"However, I find this and similar questions almost entirely beside the
point, which is:  Sokal sent in an article containing a remarkable amount
of nonsense, and the editors published it.  To put it another way, they
demonstrated that they have no way of distinguishing nonsense from sense.
To put it still another way, the incident shows that one cannot effectively
parody academic postmodern discourse, for any parody can be regarded as a
serious instance of the thing itself."


On the other hand, there's the nature of the subject matter itself.
Check out the page-long take on the brouhaha in this week's NEWSWEEK,
which is surprisingly sympathetic to SOCIAL TEXT. 

Among other things, the authors point out that modern physics itself
almost sounds like a self-parody and that the first third of the article
is fairly straightforward.  They also quote an editor, who remarks that
authorship had played a role--the fact that this came from a real, live
scientist gave the article a cachet it would not have had if it had come
from a social scientist or someone else.  (Although that may be spin
control!)

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)