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10/06/2004:

"Why Don't Americans Care?"

...Most Americans, in other words, have no idea what the hell a Halliburton is. Or a Karl Rove. Or a Donny "Shriveled Soul" Rumsfeld. Or a Lockheed Martin. Or a Carlysle Group. Or have any idea that Saddam had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11. Or that WMDs were never found. Or that President Bush has taken more vacation time than any president in U.S. history. Or that Jesus thinks Dubya is "sort of a dink." Or where Iraq is on a map.

Fact is, in the past decade, TV-news ratings -- cable and network, combined -- has shrunk to a fraction of its former numbers. Newspaper subscriptions have been either flat or dropping for just about as long. Newsmagazines, radio, historical nonfiction: flat or dropping fast. Even the Internet, that vast teeming customizable firestorm of news and info streaming in from all over the planet, even the awesome Net draws far more people to its porn and gossip and shopping departments than any e-news joint could ever wet dream.

Is this unfair? Does it sound elitist and biased? It's not. There have been studies. And reports. And alarming indicators of all kinds telling us time and again that, for example, fully 50 percent of eligible Americans don't even bother to vote (a 15 percent drop since 1964), and many have no idea who's on the Supreme Court or what Congress does, and many can't even point to France on a globe.

Voter turnout, comparatively, in Italy, Spain, the U.K., or Germany? Anywhere from 75 to 92 percent, every time. The sad fact is, the United States ranks 139th out of 172 countries in voter turnout. Wave that flag proudly, baby.

You've seen the headlines. Alarming numbers of American high school students can't even identify the current vice president, much less name a half dozen presidents from history. Far too many citizens can't name the capital of their own home state or recognize their own senators, much less discern how Bush's environmental policy is poisoning their water or how Ashcroft wants to scan their email and tap their phones and suck the pith from their souls.

A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development states that upward of 60 percent of Americans ages 16-25 are 'functionally illiterate', meaning they can't, for example, fill out a detailed form or read a numerical table (like a time schedule). A recent Florida study shows at least 70 percent of recent high school graduates need remedial courses -- that is, basic reading and math -- when they enter community college. These are kids who, you can be assured, think Colin Powell is that nasty British dude on "American Idol."

Full Article: sfgate.com

It is crucial to understand who isn't voting, who isn't performing in school, who can't read. It is those who are most immediately and seriously impacted by the disastrous policies of the government, and this makes a mockery of any pretension to 'democracy' that exists in this country. Are the poor and non-white being deliberately mis-educated and un-educated? Because the educational system reflects the values and prerogatives of privilege: which is above all about the upholding of the status quo, there need not be malicious intent on the part of workers in the system. The system will reliably and regularly fail marginalized people just the same. It is a moral failure on the part of those who see what the system does to kids to continue to do nothing.

Illiteracy and miseducation include the inability to critically view government and media, and this means a susceptibility to propaganda. And it's more often NOT those at the bottom who fall prey to this. Oneofthe downsides of privilege is that the brain gets lazy because you don't have to work it that hard-your survival doesn't depend on it. As long as people don't have to care in terms of their immediate need-and-wish-fulfillment, they probably won't.

Certainly, character development is exactly what is needed. The US has been so morally degraded by an unacknowledged history (which remains untaught to the children) that few people will understand or embrace this, including those who are very 'well-educated' indeed. Because to really see what's happening is to realize that for our salvation nothing less is required than getting up off the privilege.