Dangerously comfortable zone

Had a chat with a colleague over the phone. He is a deputy director of leading research institute and also a respected economist. He was concerned with the fact that most bright, young scholars have been spoiled too much by the media. The information business is making good deal of money selling academicians into the public. Doesn't matter you're really capable or not. As long as you can talk with confidence, the media will grant you a celebrity label on your chin -- even though you are cheap talking. Some get really spoiled. They think they have achieved everything, while in fact they are rotting themselves. We agree, no matter how busy we are with projects, pursuing academic achievement should never stop. Otherwise, we're entering that red zone. One way to avoid this, we figure, is to maintain professional network with international academia.