Democracy or Aristocracy?

Jeanne of Body and Soul has written a particularly compelling post today.  You really should go read it in its entirety, because I'm not going to do it justice, but the gist of it is that liberals and progressives really need to think carefully about adopting the tactics of their conservative opponents.  In particular, they need to be wary of any approaches based on the notion that the general public are idiots who need to be duped into voting the right way.  The reason for this is that such perceptions of the public are antithetical to the essence of democratic progressivism, even as they support the heart of conservatism, which is based on more aristocratic notions about the relative worth of haves and have-nots.  Basically, if progressives wish to stay true to their belief that individuals matter, that any little child can grow up to do what he or she wishes, they can't "win" by adopting tactics that assume that the average person is a stupid sheep who must be tricked into doing the "right" thing.

I am very glad for her post.  We do not need left-wing versions of "Clear Skies" or "Healthy Forests" or pre-screened pep rallies.  We need to educate people so that they can distinguish between spin and reality, between propaganda and arguments supported by hard facts.  We need to remind ourselves that ignorance is not stupidity, and that it is not "elitist" to demand that we correct the former, but that it is elitist to presume the latter.  We need to demand that schools and the media stop teaching people to be sheep, and instead help individuals to recognize that what they think and do does matter, and to ensure that they have the skills and tools and opportunities to act on that inate potential.

Finally, as should hopefully be obvious, this is not merely a matter of politics.  This is a matter of human worth and dignity and potential, and finding ways that cherish and celebrate and enhance them, for the people alive now, and for generations to come.  That is worth fighting for, far more so than the outcome of an election four years from now.  Let's not succeed at the latter by sacrificing the former.

Comments

[timna]

Excellent post and reference.
I think this fall semester teaching critical thinking seemed particularly important. We read the 9/11 Commission Report (thanks Jocalo), and students were willing to think. But it was a step-by-step challenge.

[Rana]

Yes. I remember that being challenging. What always struck me with a certain poignancy was how delighted students were to learn that I wanted to know what _they_ thought, and how hesitant and mistrustful they were when I first presented this idea. It was like I was going to trick them into sharing their ideas, then punish them for thinking independently. When they learned that this was NOT the case, they got so excited!

We need a LOT more training in critical thinking these days, and I would include teaching visual literacy (being able to discern and analyze the arguments in non-text sources) in that -- the younger the better.

Unfortunately, such things are not easily reduced to Scantrons and numerical scores, and so "don't count." >:(