While painfully aware of Fromm and Hoffer, I still think this cannot work without the efforts of Team Dewey. This struggle isn't new and will likely never end.
"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." John Dewey
I am coming very late to an understanding of US culture in which by and large people are shockingly lazy and amnesiac and hierarchical. Which means that they want to Know Best (without doing any work or being able to remember much), Know What Everyone Should Do (to be paid for in funding and energy by not-them).* So they go around reciting slogans and depending on the whims of millionaires and running various sorts of US cultural revolutions and feeling sneery-triumphant about it.
I'm Team Dewey. I know that people are capable of coming to well-informed and thought-out opinions and discuss them.
But I wish we weren't so intent on paring things down to boredom and blame.
* I have run this by my 17yo son, who expresses both surprise at my noticing so late, and a sense of disturbance at my saying these things, since I've always been (and continue to be) team dignity-and-talents-of-every-person.
Oddly, I'm not even optimistic. I'm an unsuccessful pessimist: I keep trying to form expectations of outcomes a bit worse to those that are likeliest to be realized.
And yeah, it's so frustrating.
Me: Pull up your socks a bit and pay attention! You can do it!
They: Oh, so you're a f-ing *elitist*.
I don't know where that goes but frustration or disdain. I prefer the former. (And I don't think it's elitist to believe in people's abilities, though when diligently unused that does lead to irritation about those choices.)
“Know best…..without doing any work”, right. Well said even if it brings back a painful memory.
Voters checklists from polling sites are publicly available. While you can’t find out who someone voted for you can research whether or not a registered voter bothered to show up at all. Campaigns have used voter history like this for years, generally focusing on those who regularly showed up to vote. Years back as a volunteer phone bank organizer on the state rep. race (back when people still answered phones) we decided to do a shift of calls to people who, based on several years of voter checklists, hadn’t voted the past several elections. Despite knowing their voting history (or lack there of) we started the call asking them “did you vote in the last election”. Seven out of ten lied and said that they had voted. Many of them became angry that we would even suggest that they wouldn’t vote. We didn’t confront them with the evidence we had before us. We went on with the call if they were open to it, talking about the candidate and the campaign. After the election we went back and compared the checkers list against the calls we made that night. While it was a relatively small sample, about 100 people, over 90 percent of them failed to, once again, show up and vote in that election. While we didn’t have high expectations of those calls, we hoped they would spark a little something. A little is all we got.
I had an Uncle who saved his strongest opinions for things he knew least. He probably would have fit into the group I just described. I’m reminded of the “Government keep your hands off my Medicare” crowd. Whether it’s ego, ignorance, entitlement, hubris or some combination too many people want others to think they “know best” despite them not doing the work.
While painfully aware of Fromm and Hoffer, I still think this cannot work without the efforts of Team Dewey. This struggle isn't new and will likely never end.
"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." John Dewey
Thank you for that quote.
I am coming very late to an understanding of US culture in which by and large people are shockingly lazy and amnesiac and hierarchical. Which means that they want to Know Best (without doing any work or being able to remember much), Know What Everyone Should Do (to be paid for in funding and energy by not-them).* So they go around reciting slogans and depending on the whims of millionaires and running various sorts of US cultural revolutions and feeling sneery-triumphant about it.
I'm Team Dewey. I know that people are capable of coming to well-informed and thought-out opinions and discuss them.
But I wish we weren't so intent on paring things down to boredom and blame.
* I have run this by my 17yo son, who expresses both surprise at my noticing so late, and a sense of disturbance at my saying these things, since I've always been (and continue to be) team dignity-and-talents-of-every-person.
It's enough to wear down even the most optimistic person. I want to badly for people to try harder to educate themselves.
Oddly, I'm not even optimistic. I'm an unsuccessful pessimist: I keep trying to form expectations of outcomes a bit worse to those that are likeliest to be realized.
And yeah, it's so frustrating.
Me: Pull up your socks a bit and pay attention! You can do it!
They: Oh, so you're a f-ing *elitist*.
I don't know where that goes but frustration or disdain. I prefer the former. (And I don't think it's elitist to believe in people's abilities, though when diligently unused that does lead to irritation about those choices.)
I sometimes wonder if the ability to critical think -- like any muscle -- eventually dies from disuse. I say that as an elitist.
“Know best…..without doing any work”, right. Well said even if it brings back a painful memory.
Voters checklists from polling sites are publicly available. While you can’t find out who someone voted for you can research whether or not a registered voter bothered to show up at all. Campaigns have used voter history like this for years, generally focusing on those who regularly showed up to vote. Years back as a volunteer phone bank organizer on the state rep. race (back when people still answered phones) we decided to do a shift of calls to people who, based on several years of voter checklists, hadn’t voted the past several elections. Despite knowing their voting history (or lack there of) we started the call asking them “did you vote in the last election”. Seven out of ten lied and said that they had voted. Many of them became angry that we would even suggest that they wouldn’t vote. We didn’t confront them with the evidence we had before us. We went on with the call if they were open to it, talking about the candidate and the campaign. After the election we went back and compared the checkers list against the calls we made that night. While it was a relatively small sample, about 100 people, over 90 percent of them failed to, once again, show up and vote in that election. While we didn’t have high expectations of those calls, we hoped they would spark a little something. A little is all we got.
I had an Uncle who saved his strongest opinions for things he knew least. He probably would have fit into the group I just described. I’m reminded of the “Government keep your hands off my Medicare” crowd. Whether it’s ego, ignorance, entitlement, hubris or some combination too many people want others to think they “know best” despite them not doing the work.
In times like these, we miss Walter Cronkite and his famous words “And that’s the way it is”.
We trusted him to tell the truth. He was part of the glue, wasn't he?
He sure was