While I laughed at the piece Jeremy Butler posted when I read it in the Onion, I wonder why he chose to post it in the forum. Surely Professor Butler knows that in the current academic climate, jobs teaching theory are few and far between. Theory's value in US universities is at a new low. We are told by senior scholars that the era of "post-theory" has arrived. Currently, historicism and cultural studies hold pride of place in the humanities. Theorists are lucky if they can find a place in their institutions curriculum for a serious class on semiotics, for example. In such a context is it appropriate for the administrator of this list to post a parody of practice that universities have already relegated to the dustbin? If professor Butler had presented an argument about the limits of theory, it would have been redundant, but at least it would not seem to write off theory as a game played by young fools. I thought this list was meant to be an open forum for people in the field. Such a post from the list's administrator suggests that this is not quite the case. How can this be an open forum when the people running the list show open contempt for some of the members by subjecting them to mockery rather than engaging with them intellectually? Louis Schwartz Assistant Professor Department of Cinema and Comparative Literature University of Iowa 319 335 0639 ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html