Bret Devereaux

I think this is probably correct and the long-term implications if the two-tiered model of academia continues will be quite negative. 'not punching down' isn't enough - the existence of such a sharp 'down' in the community of scholars is a problem in and of itself.https://twitter.com/whsieh/status/1381700436109967372 …

Obviously even if all jobs were TT, there'd be status distinctions between institutions. But the adjunct/TT divide is much wider and impacts many more things in a greater variety of ways.

Part of the problem is in principle senior academics should be able to criticize the ideas of junior scholars that they disagree with. But especially in social media this is hard to do, especially when the junior person is in precarious circumstances. It’s terrible all around.

Yeah. "Don't punch down" has come to mean "never criticize the ideas of a junior scholar, because it might mean that they don't get a job." I personally don't want everyone to pretend my work is good if it isn't. That's not helping me become a better scholar.

Right - the universe where scholars can critique each other without the worry - or real ability - to cost the other a job is just a much more valuable and effective field. Probably more collegial too, since the stakes are lower.