Progressives conflate and confuse Scholarship and Activism.

Just as marriage of Church and State soils both, so too does combining Scholarship and Activism intimately prejudice both.

The ideals in Scholarship are Objectivity and Reason, yet when you bring Activism into the mix you get emotional and your thinking gets skewed.

Meanwhile, Activism is supposed to be relevant to the improvement of people's lives, but when you bring in Scholarship you risk barreling down obscure paths chasing academic conceits.

What results, in the end, is a confused conglomeration which is compromised in its pursuit of both causes - advancing human knowledge and improving people's lives.