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<blockquote>Some of the [[people ]] in these cults (which is what they look like to me) I've met: [[Foucault ]] (we even have a several-hour [[discussion]], which is in print, and spent quite a few hours in very pleasant conversation, on [[real ]] issues, and using [[language ]] that was perfectly comprehensible --- he [[speaking ]] [[French]], me [[English]]); [[Lacan ]] (who I met several [[times ]] and considered an amusing and perfectly [[self]]-[[conscious ]] charlatan, though his earlier [[work]], pre-cult, was sensible and I've discussed it in print); Kristeva (who I met only briefly during the period when she was a fervent [[Maoist]]); and [[others]]. Many of [[them ]] I haven't met, because I am very remote from from these circles, by [[choice]], preferring quite different and far broader ones --- the kinds where I give talks, have interviews, take part in activities, write dozens of long letters every week, etc. I've dipped into what they write out of curiosity, but not very far, for reasons already mentioned: what I find is extremely pretentious, but on examination, a lot of it is simply illiterate, based on extraordinary misreading of [[texts ]] that I [[know ]] well (sometimes, that I have written), argument that is appalling in its casual [[lack ]] of elementary self-criticism, lots of statements that are trivial (though dressed up in complicated verbiage) or [[false]]; and a [[good ]] deal of plain gibberish. When I proceed as I do in [[other ]] areas where I do not [[understand]], I run into the problems mentioned in connection with (1) and (2) above. So that's who I'm referring to, and why I don't proceed very far. I can [[list ]] a lot more names if it's not obvious.</blockquote>