tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707730.post6054715800601473757..comments2024-02-24T19:49:45.687-05:00Comments on Schools Matter: GUEST POST: Instructed to Ignorance, Douglas StormJames Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04462754705431590571noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707730.post-21127430082506382122012-10-01T10:36:53.176-04:002012-10-01T10:36:53.176-04:00Thanks for writing, Susan. Agreed, of course (and...Thanks for writing, Susan. Agreed, of course (and I've used your work on more than one occasion--here is one instance: http://wp.me/p1JTwx-HV).<br /><br />I think Sheldon Wolin (a philosopher being popularized somewhat in the last few years by Chris Hedges) mentions something in his most recent book "Democracy, Inc." about the ways in which the workers and middle managers and CEOs operate "of a piece"--that most if not all of us are simply doing what we think is right as the system defines it and rewards it. That there is no intent to do harm--we simply trust our "way of living" to make it right.<br /><br />Peckham calls this the maintenance of an incoherence and claims that this is what culture IS. It's when the coherence begins to lose its stabilizing power that a new coherence is created and it can be anything as long as it offers an explanation. These explanations do not often stand the test of exemplification and this is why so many who won't "buy" the explanation act as if those who do are idiots--they disprove by examples and so show the true incoherence. Yet, the explanation can still stand as long as the "high culture" that serves that incoherence can keep up the facade. Hence Limbaugh, et al. But this serves too for a progressive "usurpation" of labor energies and "human capital"--Stephen Pinker is a good example of the "liberal" attempt at another kind of "coherence" that is simply a myth to serve social management.<br /><br />What is unlikely is that any of these parties can agree that ALL is incoherence as there are no "ultimate" answers. This is why we cling mightily to God and Science as Explanations. It is unsettling to see oneself as a "randomization" engine!stormnemesishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11176778911355352751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14707730.post-12820288008952201352012-09-23T14:53:34.471-04:002012-09-23T14:53:34.471-04:00This is important. Our schools are turning the wil...This is important. Our schools are turning the wild things into pale pork sealed in plastic. . . because that's the way the Business Roundtable, Bill Gates, the Republicans, and the Democrats want it.Susan Ohanianhttp://www.susanohanian.orgnoreply@blogger.com