[verse 1] Briefly walked them marble halls like “maybe this is sacred,” til ivory illuminated as plaster, facelift with decay hid polite intimidation dressed as rigour and standards, but it’s just ego on lanyards with a smile that never answers. They impose intellectually, then dismiss disrespectfully, time and time again, the paradigm turns to “best for thee”, Riffs of superiority in every kindly note, sax plays its own eulogy, intellect stays broke. Institutional intuition turned into industrial dilution, commercialised conclusions, KPI pollution, they’re harvesting curiosity for quarterly distribution, Call it impact while they bankrupt the student’s solution. Not anti-knowledge, just anti-knowledge-as-commodity, they auction off the questions, then act shocked at the results to be. Leave thoughts to dry, laid out to sun, exposed fragility plaster peels from pillar, masquerade facade starts crumbling. [Hook] Ivory tower or poorly rendered plaster? Alabaster integrity replaced by puttied up answers Grandfather Maxwell, creates Pergamon pressed disaster Intellectual integrity, turned commercial propaganda [Verse 2] Occupying institutions built on builders broken backs late tenants in ancient ruins, posing Pharaohs, schemes be stacked, Monoliths with fresh graffiti, “heritage” with a gift shop Can't copy raised stones, just rebrand n share lackluster props. Spackle on the fracture, sanding out inconvenient rafters plaster masks disaster, “institutional integrity” hereafter, seen the scaffolds, noted work, prefab rooms, where values are negotiated and integrity's in a vacuum. Whistleblower? try forced “troublemaker” narrative over real review, breaker of façades becomes “unaligned”, institutional witchhunt ensues if you point to the rot, you’re not constructive, paradigm heretic, taboo Living Kuhn's experience, new truths a curiosity that intrudes, Infested intellectual institution, resist the light of today, inquiry formularised, represessed, undressed and spayed… Done, out, hands washed clean, Not bitter, just underwhelmed, dismayed. Plastered façade on ivory tower, science's paradigm awaits falls from grace . [Hook] Ivory tower or poorly rendered plaster? Alabaster integrity replaced by puttied up answers Grandfather Maxwell, creates Pergamon pressed disaster Intellectual integrity, turned commercial propaganda [Verse 3] Still not a celebration as ancient halls begin to tumble, some libraries were lifelines, some mentors kept it humble. But if the “institution” dies, the learning isn’t buried it migrates, zeitgeist rhythm, gets carried where it’s carried. Profound professors found in public, street-corner Socrates, nurses with the nuance, coders trading open keys, elders with the memory, migrants with a map of grief, artists with a compass, not a contract or a lease. Knowledge without the posture, questions without the fee, circles not committees, no throne, just open seats. Esoteric unveilings, not mystique for ego’s sake, but patterns in the chaos that the metrics couldn’t take: mycelium philosophies, constellations in the fog, quiet truth in practice, Logos over logo or commodified job. Less “publish or perish”, more “teach and then return,” less “brand your little genius”, more “share what you’ve learned.” Why not build with the builders, not the mask-making class, no plaster over pillars, let strong foundation outlast idiocy soon past. If power wants a ladder, let it climb its own disaster, Or build on gnostic inquiry, not intellectual masters. [Hook / Outro] Ivory tower with poorly rendered plaster Intellectual integrity, turned commercial propaganda Corrupted, commercialised, traded inquiry for eagle eaten liver intellectual integrity up for sale, first call, any bidders?
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