Witch Doctors and Zealots

The way I see it, the vanguard of thought is under a two pronged attack. There have always been naysayers to thinking; those that advocate proper answers, like five being the sum of two and two. I can only hope that the vanguard has been doing it's job well enough to put down this crazed rebellion.

The vanguard are those who are at the forefront of teaching/learning how to think; that is to say, professionals in the field of education. Not just any professionals mind you; there are plenty of people that achieved the proper amount of magic beans to allow their name to get scribbled on a piece of paper, with a stamp on it, of course. (Those in that category are nothing but a facade, or worse yet, an undercover agent pitted against the virtues of common sense.) The professionals I refer to are those that value values; humanity and justice, and more importantly, thinking about such things in a logical way.

Intellectuals have always been a part of society; no matter how perfect the machines try and make the matrix, there's always a population that rejects created realities. Over time, perhaps the last 30 years or so, the vanguard has expanded and its ripples have built on each generation. Today's generation seems immersed more than any other, which is probably why the attacks are surfacing.

The vanguards goal?

Critical thinking, logic, humanity and social justice.

But don't take my word for it. Here's an even better description:

"In a democracy one would expect . . . a commitment to free inquiry, questioning, and participation; a push for access and equity; a curriculum that encouraged free thought and independent judgment; a standard of full recognition of the humanity of each individual. In other words, social justice." -Bill Ayers

Yes. Bill Ayers.

Those words sound pretty good though don't they? Does it not make sense? Isn't this what education should be? If you really look at it, that explanation says education is a tool to free ones mind, and then to use it for the good of everyone; society.

The antithesis of this movement is perhaps best characterized by the following quotation:

"It is the State which educates its citizens in civic virtue, gives them a consciousness of their mission and welds them into unity."

-Benito Mussolini

This type of thinking is not really thinking at all. It is the place where Columbus Day comes from; the place where massacre's turn into victory; the place where war is peace.

Of course, the witch doctors call the vanguardian movement of thought the "liberal leviathan of evil" and the zealots call it "anti-America".

Predictions of the times: Those on fringes will not slump back to acceptance after the election. Riots between factions will occur on Jan. 20th, inauguration day. The country will be the closest it's been to a civil war since the near successful fascist coup in the 1930's, and perhaps exceed the parnoia of the McCarthyism in the 1950's. Those historically deranged from the status-quo will not sit idly as the witch doctors and zealots flail into convulsions of an uncontrolled self-fulfilling prophesy of apocalyptic vengeance.

Okay. Maybe I'm overreacting. I do see warning signs though . . .

"the American media should take a great look at the views of people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America?'' (Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann,)

"Liberals Hate Real Americans That Work And Achieve And Believe In God" (North Carolina Rep. Robin Hayes)

This kind of nonsense might be expected from a prole-like zealot, or some sort of think-stank, but from congressional leaders? I think this is indicative of directions.

As for the witch doctors and zealots, I would like to talk more of them. They are a fascinating species. I'd tell you who I'm referring to in a more direct way, but I think I'll leave that up to your own imagination. That is, after all, the pedagogy of the vanguard.

Ignorance is Strength

In George Orwell’s 1984, the structure of Oceanic society is held together through totalitarianism. There was one weakness to this absolute control; The Party’s one weakness was education. From The Party’s perspective, Ignorance is Strength.

Today in America, ignorance is revealing itself. Apparently, electing George W. Bush for two terms had only scratched the surface; this election season, we are witnessing the most egregious assaults on logic, and more importantly, basic humanity.

Vote for whoever you want . . . Obama, McCain, Nader, Ficus . . . whatever. This is not a partisan analysis.

What I’m really talking about is fear; fear of Democratic candidate Barack Obama. What could it be? His tax policy that gives 95 percent of Americans a tax break? His promise to put more funding into education? His policy to expand and reduce the cost of health care? Or maybe it’s his foreign policy, where he’s putting emphasis on diplomacy, while still talking tough on Al‘qaeda? Or maybe it’s his background of community organizing in poor neighborhoods? This can’t be what people are afraid of, can it?

Now I am not so naïve to believe that all these nice things that Obama is saying can turn into reality; I know how a representative democracy works, and I know how Congress works (or doesn’t work).

This election season, instead of being for or against certain policies, perhaps more than ever, we have a significantly large segment of the population afraid of Barack Obama for prejudicial, xenophobic, and racist reasons. We’d like to think America is past all of that. The reality is that is has just been hiding. It is now coming out of the woodwork.

Just yesterday on NPR, a reporter asked a woman whether or not she was voting for Obama. She said “no”. When asked why, she said “I don’t know.” Then said, "I don’t want to say.” The inference here is clear. Worse yet has been the actions of the many social conservatives attending the McCain/Palin rallies. Real people, on national television, are shouting “terrorist,” “socialist,” and even “kill him” at the republican rallies. Just yesterday, a woman said, at a town-hall style rally, that she was afraid of Obama because “he’s an Arab.” Of course, the irony in all of that, is that many of those social conservatives who hold those outlandish views look at themselves as “true Americans” and “true Christians.” It’s insane! And when I say that, I mean true insanity.

At least McCain has begun to confront these ignorant people, and started to respond to such racist sentiment by correcting them with a simple “he’s a good man,” and "he’s a family man” and such things. But it may be too little too late. It has been left alone too long. At the same time, to say that McCain and Palin haven’t been baiting such feelings of xenophobia would be incorrect. When McCain calls Obama “dangerous” and Palin says Obama “Pals around with terrorists,” it feeds the ignorance already latent in peoples minds; it legitimizes the deeply held prejudices against perceived differences.

As of late, the big piece of mud that has been slinging around, of course, is Obama’s relationship with former sixties radical Bill Ayers. Nevermind the fact that Obama met Ayers 25 years after his radical days when he was a University Professor. Nevermind the fact that Obama was eight years old during Ayers “weatherman” days. Nevermind the fact that what they were doing in the mid-nineties was working, on a non-profit basis, to get money for poor inner-city schools. Nevermind the fact that such concerns towards Obama's “judgement” are far too reminiscent of McCarthyism. Let’s just take the claim seriously for a moment and have a little history lesson: Bill Ayers and the Weather Underground protested the Vietnam War by blowing up government buildings. Technically, I’m not sure if this is terrorism, since these acts were announced ahead of time to prevent loss of life. Terrorism usually means violence. Violence against a building? I don’t know. . . Certainly fear and intimidation was there. So it might depend on your definition of terrorism. Whatever . . . for the sake of argument, call it terrorism.

Of course, what exacerbates this look into Ayers is that he was protesting against the war that American hero John McCain was in, who ended up being captured and tortured. I think an important question for perspective sake is: what was John McCain doing in the Vietnam War? This question leads to another important question: What’s worse, blowing up a few government buildings? Or dropping bombs on defenseless villages; killing countless people, among them totally innocent women and children? What is worse?

These questions are not considered in the minds of many Americans. And maybe they shouldn’t. It’s in history; a part of a different context of beliefs and circumstances. And yet the history of the sixties movements are not all irrelevant. Indeed, what this election is showing is that the deep rooted social diseases of racism, xenophobia, and the twisted fanaticism of religious “tradition” are still all too prominent in the minds of too many people. It is wrong. It is shameful. It is embarrassing. These people, again the same who feel they are the true “Christian Americans”, are the same that are afraid of Barack Obama because his name “sounds foreign,” and believe the laughable assertion that he’s some sort of left-wing socialist, and in some cases, as the wild emails from conservative Christian groups maintain, that he is the anti-Christ, are demonstrative of the absolute ignorance of many Americans.

Don’t let ignorance dominate. Don’t let ignorance become their strength.