Those people were teachers, in the true sense of the word. They
were just as knowledgeable about their fields as anyone, but they had
playful, imaginative minds. They could go on TV—Carl Sagan could talk about science, John Kenneth Galbraith could talk about economics.
They weren't dumbing down their subjects. In fact, they were actually
using their brains. The more you rely on lingo—"regressive discourses,"
"performativity"—the less you have to really think. You can just throw
terms around and say, "Look, Ma, I'm a theorist!"