From: lseltzer@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Linda A. Seltzer)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Fabrikant
Date: 27 Aug 92 01:46:23 GMT
Organization: Princeton University
Originator: news@nimaster

>There are books available on how to protect yourself from 
>backstabbing and unethical power trips in an organizational setting.
>
>May I suggest the following:
>
>Games Mother Never Told You About (not exact title) by Marilyn Moats
>Kennedy.
>
>And, of course, there's always The Prince, by Macchiavelli.

I don't think this is the answer.  I don't want to become like
the perpetrators and descend to their level and have my mind
clouded with thoughts about these things.  I'm really talking
about having the strength in a deep spiritual sense.

For example, Bush gave a speech in which he mentioned a
slippery road.  Clinton's father died in a car accident and
Gore's son was injured in a car acident.  Clinton is tough,
but deep inside there must be a person who hurts from
such a comment.  How does one emotionally prevent oneself from
being wounded when someone acts in a provocative manner by
"going for the jugular"?

I think one problem academics face is that we don't have the
support structure that other people have.  For example,
many intellectuals do not believe in an organized religion
wholeheartedly and therefore do not belong to a church.
People who don't intellectualize might join a church just
for the support and sense of community, which makes the
workplace secondary.

Second, academics have to move around so much that they don't
become rooted in a community.  A doctor or a lawyer or a plumber
becomes rooted in a community, perhaps the community where
one grew up.  

Marriages among academics are also often torn because of
locations differences.  Academics may suffer more
separation from their families than other professions.
One's uneducated and narrow minded parents might not
object to a son or daughter owning a furniture store,
but they may be quite rejecting if the son or daughter
chooses feminist history, religions of another culture,
or philosophy as one's life work.

How can one develop the spiritual strength to survive
emotionally when people "go for the jugular" emotionally?
How does one do it without one's consciousness descending to
their level?

I will add one thing to this.  It's important for liberals
in academia not to become polarized from religious Christians
who might be conservative.  If we need to work for ethics, they
are our allies.  Even if we disagree on some matters, both
liberals and religious conservatives may share a common
commitment to ethics.  I am saying this because even though I
am very liberal, I have found some rather fundamentalist
colleagues to be some of the best colleagues professionally.

One thing I feel is a sense of remorse for the perpetrators,
who have to live on that level.  When a person acts badly
towards me in a manipulative way, I realize how much the
person is damaging his or her own creativity and powers
of inspiration.  If only they could realize this!  But it
often seems impossible to engender any awareness when people
believe, within a common work environment, that it is
"sophisticated" to backstab.