I Am A Bad Person
I have just spent the last forty-five minutes going through a database of academic journals to read bad reviews of a colleague's book. My research excursion didn't start out with this project in mind, but once I got started I couldn't stop.
It was the happiest forty-five minutes I've spent all month.
I am not proud.
I can't help myself. I really kind of hate this guy. He's pompous and meanspirited. He's a lazy teacher. He's smart but too clever by half. He treats the department administrative staff as though they are his personal assistants. He cons his undergraduates into doing research for him. He never speaks to anyone below him on the pecking order without trying to make them feel small. He's nauseatingly deferential to the departmental superstars. He's a jackass.
And yet, I would like one day to be the sort of person who wouldn't spend forty-five minutes reading bad reviews and feeling cheerful.
I'm going to stop.
Right after I see what Lewis Montoya wrote about it in Journal of Early Modern Cultural Studies.
Help me.
It was the happiest forty-five minutes I've spent all month.
I am not proud.
I can't help myself. I really kind of hate this guy. He's pompous and meanspirited. He's a lazy teacher. He's smart but too clever by half. He treats the department administrative staff as though they are his personal assistants. He cons his undergraduates into doing research for him. He never speaks to anyone below him on the pecking order without trying to make them feel small. He's nauseatingly deferential to the departmental superstars. He's a jackass.
And yet, I would like one day to be the sort of person who wouldn't spend forty-five minutes reading bad reviews and feeling cheerful.
I'm going to stop.
Right after I see what Lewis Montoya wrote about it in Journal of Early Modern Cultural Studies.
Help me.
posted by Feemus at
8:20 PM
3 Comments:
Wow. I think you nailed an archetype today; this post resonates so strongly with me it ain't even funny.
Take solace in the fact that at least you're choosing a worthy nemesis. I usually get this sort of guilt after gleefully reading about the humiliating consequences of some bitchy starlet's latest drinking binge.
I mean, at least you've got a bit of class.
By
jjdebenedictis, at 12:52 PM
Oh dear, Jen. Don't encourage me!!
By
Feemus, at 2:15 PM
Ah, "Schadenfreude" - "pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune." Although, in this case, it sounds like the misfortune is well deserved!
By
RogueHistorian, at 8:35 PM
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