Intellectual Bullying

I've been reading book reviews for my thesis and it turns out, bullies are not reserved for the academically challenged, as psychologists suggest. In the academic field, there are also intellectual bullies. Man, they are scary.

It turns out, in some cases, the more you know doesn't necessarily correlate with the better you are at rearranging your wording so that the delivery of criticism occurs in the most constructive way - the lowest of offense, the highest of insight. It could be the insecure in me talking, but the impression I got from reading the horrifying review is that I am not looking forward to that first book review of when my thesis gets turned into a textbook (it's a common thing to do after the completion of a PhD thesis. Afterwards around 100 people buy the book, most of whom are your students. We're a very sad bunch, aren't we?).

Having said that, shouldn't criticism make us learn, not make us too scared to even try? Wasn't the idea of peer review to ensure the quality of the article, not shut down every idea generated as a way to show intellectual superiority?

If I reverse the logic of the psychological theory about bullies, perhaps these intellectual bullies are those who were athletically challenged. And intelligence became a substitute for muscle. Their criticism is synonymous to taking candy from a crying classmate.

So perhaps, the point then becomes, it doesn't matter which field you're in or which skills you're trained with. The point is in your emotional and spiritual development. The ability to sympathise and empathise and place yourself in other people's shoes.

I know we all have different values and see life in unique ways. But when we need to coexist, the best of instruments are those which ensure common ground, not competition.

And that is another point in how to raise Malik. Sigh, back to my thesis!