My father would respond to my diatribes about the structural problem with a representative democracy: I maintained the majority of people were too lame to actually know what they wanted or what was best for them.
"Oh," he said, "They may not know how to get what they want, but they know what they want, at least in general terms."
But yesterday, in my office, I was struck again by what's out there.
A woman whose bones were found to be thin and likely to fracture kept insisting this made no sense at all because she swallows four calcium pills a day. When I told her there is no evidence that oral calcium was effective in building bone density or strength or preventing fractures she said, "But I take my pills every day." It turned out she did not understand what "oral" meant, as in taking a pill by mouth.
And another woman who came in walking with a red and white cane: I asked her, "Do you have any vision at all?
She did not know what vision meant. And English is her native language. She also could not recall the name of the doctor who had operated on her brain aneurysm. It was "Chan." Not a complicated name. She was conversational, and would have struck nobody, from ordinary conversation as being demented. She is a lovely grandmother to her grandchildren. She just never got much of an education.
She does not watch "The PBS News Hour." She watches Fox.
As Ben Franklin emerged from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, a woman asked him, "What kind of a government have you given us, Doctor Franklin?"
And he replied, "A Republic, madam. If you can keep it."
Watching Nancy Pelosi's investiture on CSPAN was one of those experiences when hope was ascendant over experience. Our hope is so high, but there among the House CSPAN panned over Jim Jordan chewing his gum like cud and Ted Yoho and Louie Gohmert, who really do represent people who, in the immortal words of Stringer Bell, from the Wire, are simply "too ignorant to have the floor."
(This occurred when Stringer tried to run his meetings of hoppers and touts and street thugs by Roberts' Rules of Order and a young tout challenged his plan for becoming less confrontational and more business like and Bell cut him off and one of the other touts reminded him, "Stringer, Poot do have the floor." And Stringer Bell dismissed all that with, "This nigger too ignorant to have the floor.")
And so we wonder, as the American Experiment goes forth, are our people simply too ignorant to have the floor?
"Oh," he said, "They may not know how to get what they want, but they know what they want, at least in general terms."
But yesterday, in my office, I was struck again by what's out there.
A woman whose bones were found to be thin and likely to fracture kept insisting this made no sense at all because she swallows four calcium pills a day. When I told her there is no evidence that oral calcium was effective in building bone density or strength or preventing fractures she said, "But I take my pills every day." It turned out she did not understand what "oral" meant, as in taking a pill by mouth.
She did not know what vision meant. And English is her native language. She also could not recall the name of the doctor who had operated on her brain aneurysm. It was "Chan." Not a complicated name. She was conversational, and would have struck nobody, from ordinary conversation as being demented. She is a lovely grandmother to her grandchildren. She just never got much of an education.
She does not watch "The PBS News Hour." She watches Fox.
As Ben Franklin emerged from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, a woman asked him, "What kind of a government have you given us, Doctor Franklin?"
And he replied, "A Republic, madam. If you can keep it."
Watching Nancy Pelosi's investiture on CSPAN was one of those experiences when hope was ascendant over experience. Our hope is so high, but there among the House CSPAN panned over Jim Jordan chewing his gum like cud and Ted Yoho and Louie Gohmert, who really do represent people who, in the immortal words of Stringer Bell, from the Wire, are simply "too ignorant to have the floor."
(This occurred when Stringer tried to run his meetings of hoppers and touts and street thugs by Roberts' Rules of Order and a young tout challenged his plan for becoming less confrontational and more business like and Bell cut him off and one of the other touts reminded him, "Stringer, Poot do have the floor." And Stringer Bell dismissed all that with, "This nigger too ignorant to have the floor.")
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| Guerra |
And so we wonder, as the American Experiment goes forth, are our people simply too ignorant to have the floor?
Remember, these are citizens - just like yourself. The "failure" is likely not them - it is that we, as a participatory democracy, have not stressed to our citizens that they must be well informed to vote intelligently. Our schools apparently no longer teach "Civics", which I still remember as being one of the most interesting and informative classes in all of my schooling (I grew up in Washington DC, so you might have assumed I would know this stuff - and I didn't!). We really need classes in high school focused on the resonsibilities of being a good citizen!! People may be ignorant, not because they are stupid but, rather, because no one stressed to them that they had to be well informed. (They will also have to learn that places like Fox "News" (an oxymoron if there ever was one) are so biased as to be laughable!)
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDeleteAt a Democratic Party Book Club a 60 something woman presented her "research" into how the government works. Did you know there are 3 branches?
What were they teaching in her public school?
Mad Dog
Mad Dog, your observation underscores why "Civics" needs to be a REQUIREMENT in all our schools! Also a class on good "journalism" and on how to spot truly "Fake News" (think Fox "News") would be very helpful!
ReplyDeleteAnon and Mad Dog,
ReplyDeleteI agree Anon-a required Civics class is a great idea-a more informed electorate would benefit us all. However I fear such a program might hit a snag or two in the age of Trump. Any truly effective course would have at it's cornerstone an emphasis on the importance of being an informed citizen and that using a reliable new source to gather information is essential. It used to be a given that such news sources included the "newspapers of record". It would seem Trump may have successfully tarnished the reputation of such papers, like the NYTimes, in the minds of many of the people one would most like to instruct. NPR and PBS haven't fared a lot better and are seen as organs of the left by many on the right. It would also be necessary to explain to the class that Fox News is not an example of good journalism-but imagine the outcry from some quarters if the teacher was to state that. Makes one wonder how current Civics classes are taught-what is the curriculum? Do they just skate over the subject of reliable news sources?
Maud
Ms.Maud,
ReplyDeleteYou are really talking about the problem of public education, whenever it gets past reading, writing, arithmetic.
Civics, once it gets past the basic description of the structure of government, into the finer points of how a citizen goes about analyzing argument gets into real thinking, critical thinking, which is often a minefield.
As one of my sons heard in a class, when a student was asked for his solution to a thorny question--"Well, the student said,"I'd just ask myself what Jesus would do." And what can the teacher say then, which will not provoke a firestorm from the right?
On the other hand, at a book club a few months ago, a 60 something woman brought in her notes (culled from her daughter's high school text book) and informed the enthralled citizens that our government has three branches!
We were all so wonder struck we could barely speak.
What will they think of next?
That woman, presumably, a product of public schools.
Oops. It's been so long since this thread started, I did not realize I had told that story early on. It was so traumatizing, I just keep repeating it.
ReplyDelete