The gist of professionalization
Being a scientist means gazing into the profound mysteries of nature with deep curiosity and wondering
"Can I get a paper out of this?"
🧪
"Can I get a paper out of this?"
🧪
February 14, 2025 at 11:16 PM
The gist of professionalization
very good and it zeroes in on a really important dynamic: the way the professionalization of the court and the industry around it serves to insulate the justices from democratic feedback as well as contribute to the idea that the justices are law wizards to whom we *ought* to defer.
I had some thoughts about the broader context of the modern SCOTUS, why it's out of control, and what we can try and do about it.
Delegitimizing the Juristocracy
A week ago, the Supreme Court of the United States decided to eviscerate the Voting Rights Act, clearing the way for Southern states to reimpose discriminatory maps that strip representation from A…
nathangoldwag.wordpress.com
May 12, 2026 at 11:06 PM
very good and it zeroes in on a really important dynamic: the way the professionalization of the court and the industry around it serves to insulate the justices from democratic feedback as well as contribute to the idea that the justices are law wizards to whom we *ought* to defer.
The DOJ lowered its standards for prosecutors, which followed the FBI lowering its standards for agents, which followed ICE lowering its standards.
Trumpism is a grand experiment in what happens when an administration embraces amateurism and de-professionalization.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
Trumpism is a grand experiment in what happens when an administration embraces amateurism and de-professionalization.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
DOJ reportedly lowers standards for federal prosecutors, adding to an unfortunate pattern
The entirety of the Trump presidency has been a grand experiment in what happens when an administration embraces amateurism and de-professionalization.
www.ms.now
March 17, 2026 at 4:13 PM
The DOJ lowered its standards for prosecutors, which followed the FBI lowering its standards for agents, which followed ICE lowering its standards.
Trumpism is a grand experiment in what happens when an administration embraces amateurism and de-professionalization.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
Trumpism is a grand experiment in what happens when an administration embraces amateurism and de-professionalization.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
Very psyched to read this
July 20, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Very psyched to read this
i've been wrestling with--on a theoretical-liberal-theorist level--the perennial tension between professionalization and accountability
technical competence requires professionalization... but strategic clarity requires accountability
www.liberalcurrents.com/good-governa...
technical competence requires professionalization... but strategic clarity requires accountability
www.liberalcurrents.com/good-governa...
November 27, 2025 at 1:25 AM
i've been wrestling with--on a theoretical-liberal-theorist level--the perennial tension between professionalization and accountability
technical competence requires professionalization... but strategic clarity requires accountability
www.liberalcurrents.com/good-governa...
technical competence requires professionalization... but strategic clarity requires accountability
www.liberalcurrents.com/good-governa...
yet for basic personnel-professionalization reasons, the pentagon is basically never going to be your locus of strategic thinking. all its cadres come up from tactics, and that's important, that's how it should be--they *need* to spend most of their time thinking tactics
March 21, 2026 at 4:28 PM
yet for basic personnel-professionalization reasons, the pentagon is basically never going to be your locus of strategic thinking. all its cadres come up from tactics, and that's important, that's how it should be--they *need* to spend most of their time thinking tactics
this is where we had our professionalization seminar
October 9, 2024 at 2:37 PM
this is where we had our professionalization seminar
It’s just like the rise of therapy. It is not that therapy is wrong but there is absolutely a parallel “lack” to be seen in social structures and activities where people no longer have previously routine social outlets for their own personal struggles. Professionalization replaces socialization.
July 14, 2025 at 1:30 AM
It’s just like the rise of therapy. It is not that therapy is wrong but there is absolutely a parallel “lack” to be seen in social structures and activities where people no longer have previously routine social outlets for their own personal struggles. Professionalization replaces socialization.
I wrote this piece a little over a year ago, analyzing the purpose of Trump’s attacks on the military. I noted that subverting the armed forces from the inside out would require undermining (or eliminating) its diversity, professionalization, and loyalty open.substack.com/pub/asharang...
The Next Battle
Why Trump and his allies hate the U.S. military.
open.substack.com
December 8, 2024 at 1:12 AM
I wrote this piece a little over a year ago, analyzing the purpose of Trump’s attacks on the military. I noted that subverting the armed forces from the inside out would require undermining (or eliminating) its diversity, professionalization, and loyalty open.substack.com/pub/asharang...
time for a new afterword
August 21, 2025 at 10:36 PM
time for a new afterword
Related: the professionalization of people's pastimes is rotting everyone's minds
August 5, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Related: the professionalization of people's pastimes is rotting everyone's minds
not the first time I’ve said this and more qualified people have surely said it to, but I still think this is the long tail of the professionalization of journalism.
we were better served by working class, unionized news reporters who understood class in a way the J Schoolers just don’t.
we were better served by working class, unionized news reporters who understood class in a way the J Schoolers just don’t.
I count 49 news headlines on the NYT mobile app home page right now, not including opinion, sports or cooking. None of them are about the massive protests yesterday.
June 15, 2025 at 5:38 PM
not the first time I’ve said this and more qualified people have surely said it to, but I still think this is the long tail of the professionalization of journalism.
we were better served by working class, unionized news reporters who understood class in a way the J Schoolers just don’t.
we were better served by working class, unionized news reporters who understood class in a way the J Schoolers just don’t.
Who knows! They might even learn to like working in a non-corrupt department governed by rules and civilian control! Professionalization and discipline raises morale in the military, I suspect it would in the cops as well.
June 27, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Who knows! They might even learn to like working in a non-corrupt department governed by rules and civilian control! Professionalization and discipline raises morale in the military, I suspect it would in the cops as well.
finally reading Tina Horn's excellent Why Are People Into That and realizing how subtly shame can creep in. 10 years ago i was way more open about a lot of things that professionalization, cringe culture, etc. have driven me to try to expunge and it's made me much more neurotic and unhappy
March 8, 2025 at 11:55 PM
finally reading Tina Horn's excellent Why Are People Into That and realizing how subtly shame can creep in. 10 years ago i was way more open about a lot of things that professionalization, cringe culture, etc. have driven me to try to expunge and it's made me much more neurotic and unhappy
so a lot of traditional campaign songs are legitimate folk songs in that they were songs made by supporters that proved catchy enough to catch on, eventually becoming something more broadly adopted.
i think the decline is a result of the professionalization of politics and a desire for control.
i think the decline is a result of the professionalization of politics and a desire for control.
September 26, 2026 at 12:07 AM
so a lot of traditional campaign songs are legitimate folk songs in that they were songs made by supporters that proved catchy enough to catch on, eventually becoming something more broadly adopted.
i think the decline is a result of the professionalization of politics and a desire for control.
i think the decline is a result of the professionalization of politics and a desire for control.
This was the post by the way theracket.news/p/the-memphi...
The Memphis Model
The problem isn't a lack of "professionalization." It's the police.
theracket.news
September 13, 2025 at 1:29 PM
This was the post by the way theracket.news/p/the-memphi...
keeping it real in my professionalization talks like
October 5, 2023 at 4:00 PM
keeping it real in my professionalization talks like
if you ever read a detailed writeup of an iphone zero day this hopefully becomes abundantly clear. It's simply not something you CAN do without deep resources and extensive professionalization.
April 6, 2026 at 1:18 AM
if you ever read a detailed writeup of an iphone zero day this hopefully becomes abundantly clear. It's simply not something you CAN do without deep resources and extensive professionalization.
That understanding got turned around in 1985, when the medieval historian John F. Benton announced that he had found the authentic work of a woman healer Trota (fem.) in a 12thC Madrid MS: www.jstor.org/stable/44452....
TROTULA, WOMEN'S PROBLEMS, AND THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF MEDICINE IN THE MIDDLE AGES on JSTOR
John F. Benton, TROTULA, WOMEN'S PROBLEMS, AND THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF MEDICINE IN THE MIDDLE AGES, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Vol. 59, No. 1 (SPRING 1985), pp. 30-53
www.jstor.org
November 18, 2025 at 7:45 PM
That understanding got turned around in 1985, when the medieval historian John F. Benton announced that he had found the authentic work of a woman healer Trota (fem.) in a 12thC Madrid MS: www.jstor.org/stable/44452....
The attempts to draw distinctions between local policing and ICE on the basis of training are also mystifying because what we know today as "militarized policing" is the result of police professionalization, training, and reform. Any good history of SWAT makes this abundantly clear
Training is not a panacea for a system whose purpose is the application of violence in the name of “law and order.” “More training” is a red herring that police say they need instead of meaningful reform and dismantling.
January 24, 2026 at 5:51 PM
The attempts to draw distinctions between local policing and ICE on the basis of training are also mystifying because what we know today as "militarized policing" is the result of police professionalization, training, and reform. Any good history of SWAT makes this abundantly clear
in trying to understand what makes ICE and CBP so dangerous right now, it is tempting to imagine some new lack of training or experience or professionalism—and not grapple with the truth that a white nationalist movement has put more power and force behind their existing mission
January 24, 2026 at 6:30 PM
I find the "digestion" metaphor (i.e., mathematicians "digesting" AI-generated proofs) vulgar and off-putting. It's a sign of the times, genuine intellectuals like Yuri Manin are being replaced by a new generation whose identity is shaped by narrow professionalization and impoverished imagination.
September 26, 2026 at 6:57 PM
I find the "digestion" metaphor (i.e., mathematicians "digesting" AI-generated proofs) vulgar and off-putting. It's a sign of the times, genuine intellectuals like Yuri Manin are being replaced by a new generation whose identity is shaped by narrow professionalization and impoverished imagination.
I think we might have locked ourselves into a professionalization trap. Shocking revelation: It's capitalism's fault.
The Professionalism Trap
The Professionalism Trap
September 24, 2025 at 4:20 PM
I think we might have locked ourselves into a professionalization trap. Shocking revelation: It's capitalism's fault.
The Professionalism Trap
The Professionalism Trap
One of the funniest outcomes of the over-professionalization of western politics is that everyone is kind of too nerdy and stupid to do an effective coup anymore.
December 3, 2024 at 4:22 PM
One of the funniest outcomes of the over-professionalization of western politics is that everyone is kind of too nerdy and stupid to do an effective coup anymore.
so the problem isn't really professionalization of politicians per se and more accumulation of veto points and anemic state capacity
April 16, 2025 at 7:31 PM
so the problem isn't really professionalization of politicians per se and more accumulation of veto points and anemic state capacity