I give up. 

Well, no, I can't give up, so I won't. But I am damn glad I have the weekend to get my head on straight, because the entire world has gone insane. 

This is a university professor who has a PhD in break dancing with a focus in gender.

You think I'm kidding.

I'm not kidding.https://t.co/Ru08WxEEyV https://t.co/VXwqdvVqSE

— Sunny (@sunnyright) August 9, 2024

One of the great achievements of Western Civilization is the spread of higher education. While not exactly unique in world history, there is a reason why Western universities have been around for a millennium and are widely believed to be the best in the world. Since the Middle Ages, universities have helped drag us out of the dark ages and into a more enlightened world. 

Yeah, well, that was then, and this is now. Now you can get a PhD in breakdancing and take your crappy skill and use it at the Olympics. 

Now let me be clear: I have nothing against breakdancing per se. It's not my cup of tea, but then shot-putting isn't either. I don't like NASCAR, and watching most summer Olympic sports kind of feels like that to me. 

And perhaps there is a case to be made that breakdancing might have a claim to being called a "sport" rather than a form of, well, dancing, but then you could probably make the case for any physical activity. 

Rachael Gunn (born 2 September 1987) is an Australian breakdancer and academic researching the "cultural politics of breaking".^[1] She is a lecturer at Macquarie University in the Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature.^[2][3]

But to me the travesty is that hundreds of thousands of dollars was invested by somebody--probably some from the individual and most from the state and university--to produce a professor whose specialty is breakdancing in Australia and its relationship to gender. 

Lord help us. Is there not a better way to invest our time, money, and intellectual capital than this? And if not, then we are done as a society. 

She's not even any good, despite Australia sending her as their representative. She is, in fact execrable.

It’s surprising that Raygun from Austrailia is the best breaker ya’ll have.
The kangaroo 😆 her signature move.
How did she make it this far?! 👀#BreakingForGold pic.twitter.com/Ij7iUeyfaK

— Stevie Austin (@StevieAustin14) August 9, 2024

This is the perfect metaphor for the modern university. Unfortunately.