<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Dear Terry, </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">My last post too. Thanks for replying in such a robust manner - in this age of conflict-avoidance I think it's great to have some Tom n' Jerry rather than a sanitised politely respectful discussion. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">As for Furedi: I tend to make judgments about intellectual work by reading their stuff and making up my mind rather than relying on Google to digest it for me. What I was trying to model was the fact that whatever we think about the behaviour of individual scholars, it is their ideas that are important, not their private lives. By many accounts Foucault and Adorno were nasty pieces of work, but that shouldn't have much bearing on our judgment of their ideas. Much of what is wrong with some versions of 'auteur theory' is connected with confusing the two. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Secondly I agree with Liz Jacka that this is partly a generational thing. I see nothing wrong in supporting GM crops which have the potential to increase food production and reduce the use of hazardous chemicals. One of my chief problems with a lot of what is written in cultural studies is its anti-science stance. Many who object to GM crops have a grasp of genetics that seems to come from a couple of viewings of Blade Runner or Gattica (I'm fortunate enough to be married to a molecular virologist so I have some experience in this respect.). Much of what is written about Furedi on the web comes from a very interested group, namely environmentalists who seem to thrive on personal slight rather than good science. These are the very same people (not all of them of course) who oppose modernisation and industrialisation in the poorest countries, effectively condemning two thirds of the planet to a life which, at the last count, has to
sustain itself on less than $2US a day. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">But Furedi hardly needs my defence - read an interview with him at :</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA6F5.htm<br>
<br>
</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I look forward to the drink too Terry and hope we can continue this in an equally robust fashion then,</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">cheers</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Jason</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"><br>
Dr Jason Jacobs<br>
Senior Lecturer<br>
School of Arts, Media and Culture<br>
Griffith University<br>
Nathan Campus<br>
Queensland 4111<br>
Australia<br>
Phone: (07) 3875 5164<br>
Fax: (07) 3875 7730<br>
</font>