The more I read, the more challenging and controversial conversations I have, and the more I realize:
1) I don’t know anything.
2) Many systems and institutions exist to keep societies uneducated and afraid.
Why don’t we talk about war, religion, sex, politics, work conditions, corporations, race, hatred, discrimination, justice — Why don’t we read, challenge, question — as a society, in general? Why are we so afraid — of the unknown, new ideas, ideas that challenge our preconceived notions? Why do we follow religions and institutions that ask us not to question?
Why don’t we seek out a real education - one not preached or memorized through unchallenged “facts” and historic dates in a textbook, but one that expands our perception of the world - that demands we experience new ways of acting, thinking, and connecting with others? Why are we so afraid? We are all mortal and we are all equal. Nothing separates us besides fear. The next time you feel afraid, ask yourself why - then talk about it, no matter how difficult that might seem at the time.
is this that fired up post jackie was talking about?
Yes, don’t I come across as fired up? Maybe more so next time, I’ll work on it.
you shouldn’t TRY to convey fired up. If you’re genuinely fired up, it’ll come through.
Also. Keep people dumb. Someone needs to bag my groceries
I agree with Matt, but I think people are Dumb by choice (for the most part). The information is out there but people choose not to look for it. So no one is keeping someone dumb.
Also you can’t say works like “We” because I am not like the people you are talking about. I challenge everything, and I try to learn as much knowledge as I can. So be careful about using collective works like that.
The information is out there, but Jackie is right when she suggests that institutions want Americans to be educated on certain things and not on others. They go to great lengths to keep the “rabble” deaf, dumb, and blind, and while it may be true that everyone has the resources and ability to educate themselves, information can be extremely difficult or even impossible to verify. The media and the government pushes information that benefits their agenda and whether or not one considers themselves a part of the collective rabble is really irrelevant. You could be a more motivated or educated part of the rabble, but you are still a part of it. Every government and even every authoritative figure or institution has to be able to do this in order to be successful, and it might even be beneficial in some cases. I find the whole idea pretty frustrating, though.
Socrates would be proud that you recognize your own ignorance.
However, I don’t think anyone should set the pace for an individual’s quest for knowledge or force them to get off autopilot by screaming at them. You’re just playing the role of an institution yourself if you’re trying to force people to talk about things they don’t want to or even to learn, which is a choice. Not all of these people are ignorant or dumb, they just have other things on their minds and day to day realities you may not be faced with. I think everyone in college and/or somebody coming out of college faces a dilemma that we care about a whole lot of nothing and everyone else has moved on. There’s no need to be disenchanted as long as you, yourself are still learning and discussing the big issues, because you value the experience, just like others may value their family or traveling. And don’t worry, there are others like you, but you can’t force them to exist, you have to seek them out.
Besides, there are no absolutes in life, all of these “big” dialogues about war, injustice, love, etc are just practice in strengthening our own beliefs and nothing more, so there’s no need to feel superior because you’re “aware” that these issues exist and aren’t “afraid” to talk about them.
It’s not fear or ignorance you’re talking about, it’s choice, which happens not to be so negative after all. If people choose to accept what institutions tell them, that is their choice, just like some of us who choose to discover our own path of knowledge.
P.S Just to let you know I’m not attacking your post. I’m sympathetic, because it’s hard to accept sometimes how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things and that we are not the ones holding the agendas that everyone else is accepting in school, church, prisons, etc. Some of us trust the information these institutions give us, because they are comfortable letting others who are more educated inform them, and then there are others like us, who use these institutions as mere stepping stones and foundations for a better education. Whatever the basis for these institutions existence or the many agendas that run them, everyone is given free will and free thought to choose whether to accept them or not, but we all have to start somewhere, unless you agree with the philosophers who believe we were born with all the knowledge we’ll ever need at birth.