So you want a phd in the Humanities

The above video has been making the rounds, and is seen as humourous to academics who recognize themselves and appreciate the 'academic martyrdom' element of the skit. That is, that academics in the humanities accept terrible employment conditions in exchange for getting to pursue their passion.

Underneath that, however, is the fact that academia permits drone-ish thinkers such as the girl in the video to enter academia at all, despite her lack of ideas or insight into literature. At the end of the video, the professor acquiesces to the student's request for a reference letter, indicative of the total lack of standards and corruption within the humanities in academia.

There is much chatter regarding the humanities within academia lately, with the various cuts being made to university budgets. Personally, I welcome such, as art does not really need academia to exist, or even government subsidies such as artist grants. And no, this does not reflect a 'conservative' political agenda on my part; I simply don't believe in the public being required to fund bad artists and thought, which has been the status quo in North America for a while now.

Let the bloodletting begin!