As I delve into a rather esoteric (but fundamental) study of Western history, I am struck by the level of specialization. All I can think is "Wow, what a waste of intellect."
The knock on becoming a PhD in any discipline is that you know more and more about less and less. When it comes to social sciences, and history in particular, you actually know less and less about less and less. That's because the error caused by false foundational assumptions are multiplied as you build upon them.
The fact that we live in a society where so many of our potentially best thinkers either wind up as banksters perpetrating the Ponzi scheme or as navel-gazers engaged in frenzied mental masturbation is a testament to the concerted effort to prevent the rise of a new Marx, i.e., somebody who "gets it" but is not part of the club. American society is geared to distract us from making moral choices by promising us personal gain for choosing something else. That is the essence of neoliberalism.
