How to disagree: starring a man unironically sporting an awesome vest

So I am reading this article ("The Concept of Cultural Translation" by Talal Asad in Writing Culture edited by James Clifford and George E. Marcus) and I wish I could recommend it. I mean, it's of a great deal of use to me, an aspiring ethnographer interested in the idea of a culture as text and what that means in terms of relativism and representing the coherence of ideas that might seem absurd, but I know that isn't everybody.

The reason I wish I could recommend it is a tiny section on page 156 that contains a statement about how to respectfully disagree that DEFIES TIME ITSELF.

He says of his own critique of his academic opponent:

"The purpose of this criticism, therefore, is to further a collective endeavor."

Do you see? In this paper, published in 1986, Talal Asad solves everything that's wrong with the internet.

Talal Asad.