I really needed this reminder that words are not enough. That goes as much for my academic tweets as for my articles/books and seminars/lectures. But even if words are not enough, they are a start. Like this tweet itself. Words-and deconstructions-call us to other ways to live. https://twitter.com/ninavzqz23/status/1252062767718244352

The problem-and @tressiemcphd has thought publicly about this-is when the ethical potential, the moral and political explosiveness of of our words just become a part of a career game, and not something that then calls us to reevaluate how we can live with each other well.

I tell my undergrad theory classes that I think the best way to read theory-and really almost any social science-is as ethical inquiry, even if the material is not explicitly about ethics at all. Almost any social theory has the Rilkesque power to compel you to change your life.

Staying open to those Rilke moments is what’s key for me, and one challenge for social scientists is that we talk about such fraught issues and such important social problems all the time, so that these conversations can too easily become just work, or hoops for career ambitions.