Things Will Not Change

Or, will they? Been recently reading an article by Rahm Emanuel, an old article, meaning before the virus, May 2019- what said? He’s sick and tired of elites running things, it seems. How nice of him to say. But, what does it mean? He’s an elite guy with a bug, somewhere. There is a massive break between what we think and what people tell us what to think. It’s so massive that the only thing we can perceive is attitude and demeanor and a few vague talking points. Okay, so all this is quite obvious to us. But, what if we cannot connect between what education is and what it means to be a human being? There is a massive virus afoot but there was one before it came-- education thinking it must tell people what to do, that education is power. A man concretely yelling middle class, Rahm Emanuel, when there is nothing in his thoughts but political power, as in, how to tame the middle class. Not to mention, Mr. Emanuel, the Democrats have decided to dismiss the poor.

So, so much for the rant-- but a better point, why is it that our elites fail us? Why is the government a disaster yet day-to-day life can seem to proceed without fail? Why do we live through each day when our cultural elites tell us we are a disaster?

Education, if it has a footing, is never to be, and this an educated goal, a nudge of things-- also, any educated goal that tells us that the fiscal policy of trickle down works is a stinking lie. Where were we-- oh yes, the idea that there can and must be a combination of standing for oneself and admitting that standing for oneself doesn’t come in a vacuum. Also, education. All education must ever be the goal of telling ourselves that being alone is a tragedy-- plus, acting as if we are much worse than the original tragedy.

What we teach? Not as important that we teach that education is not a tool of power but a means of understanding, each. Yet, this comes from the great vault of knowledge-- who shall we teach? Here’s something-- I would say Octavia Butler’s Lilith’s Brood should be taught with Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. But, none such matters in terms of the goal of education. Find your books and teach them with this to the minds-- you do not own anything of anyone else, your knowledge is not power.

I remember the Public Service Announcements of the 1990’s telling all that knowledge was power-- they got it way wrong. Elites, all colors and affiliations, are built on the idea that knowledge is power and they have a power of the books you did not read. Also, the idea they take from life information you could not possibly think of. This is not to say do not read-- the Lakewood Public Library has many books to offer.

Elites are a congratulatory bunch-- this will not change. But, I am honestly flummoxed as to how we can get them to say, “I’m not as important as I think I am. And, also, what is the function of my being on television, the internet, the vast array of communicative devices that exist?”

We watch and listen to people with a voice but it ever strikes me that we have no way to say, “Stop.” This might be a tragedy worse than we thought.  

And yes, the article at the beginning, something about how Democrats should condemn, something about accountability and responsibility, some set of elites that did something wrong with college admissions. Oh how the elites love to mention their own crimes-- they think that they’re their own, for some reason. Or, does class, in multiple forms, exist?

Steven Piekutoski

A Citizen living in Bird Town! But, with an empty cup of tea- oh drat.

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Volume 16, Issue 20, Posted 10:13 AM, 10.22.2020