Good citizens, history, and intellect; or the declawing of the citizenry

[lostnfound]

What is a good citizen? Many people I know who aren't politically knowledgeable (including many Republicans) nonetheless think it's important to vote. So elections become popularity contests or "personality politics", vague undercurrents of biases and identities magnified and further distorted by the media to its own advantage. Voting is an obligation like brushing your teeth.

Even worse, an underlying skepticism or suspicion is directed at those who are more involved or who want to ruffle feathers. Whistleblowers are troublemakers. Activists are abnormal deviants. A good citizen does what he is told to do, works, hates paying taxes but does it anyway, and thinks very little about "the way things ought to be".

Our country in history arrogantly and boldly TOOK power from the king into its own hands 230 years ago. These were the rebels and the daring, and they were very skeptical of power in the hands of centralized elites. So the power was distributed, divided up and constrained.

Being intrigued by the ideas of John Taylor Gatto that schooling, not education, is a tool used by government and corporations to "instill a sense of subservience in the young" and thereby acclimate them to be docile residents and workers, I find that the very same passivity frustrates most attempts to inform or activate voters. Yes, people are "busy" -- they are often given busy work, in fact -- which is a major obstacle. But for a large part of the population there is a resistance to challenging thought. Per Gatto, "The population is deliberately dumbed down and declawed in order that government might proceed unchallenged and corporations might never want for obedient labor." And while they are suspicious of politicians in general and government as a whole, they are willing to push the "I-believe" button in their minds long enough to assume that there are no outright conspiracies among the ruling classes, or to conclude that THEIR candidate is an ordinary guy that they'd like to have a beer with, a person that can be trusted. They imagine that widespread spying is driven by the need to "stop the terrorists", and can't envision that perhaps it is simply that those with power always want more. (Side note: If you hand the power of government TO the government -- putting it on autopilot, without restraint -- you've let loose a Frankenstein into the world.)

In particular, Americans think that important world history started in 1776 when "we won our freedoms", and they don't know how despots schemed for power or created wars for material gain or played dark tricks on their own populations to keep them scared, confused or dependent.

Without intellect, it is hard to be a good citizen.

What can break through or wake people out of their sleep? Two vague concepts from the activist community come to mind: "Culture-jamming" - where you instigate a radical rethinking of the commonplace around us via cognitive dissonance or highlighting its contradictions in a creative manner. And the Beehive Collective, which has created a grassroots casual teaching method that conveys an entire knotted problem through thematic art and discussion.

There's got to be more. Talking to people is hard, and there truly are a significant number more interested in celebrity scandals.

[lostnfound]

1. Just one shameless kick. nt