Democracy of an irrational mob
Robert Samuelson has a very insightful column in the Washington Post, today, that illustrates the central problem of democratic politics that persistently obstructs meaningful resolution of important policy problems: irrational, volatile, self-centered public opinion.
He's right, too.
The most serious problem in American politics is that frank and intelligent discussion of important problems almost always gets drowned out by meaningless palaver, as David Nimmo and John Combs called it in their brilliant book on the subject, The New Propaganda: The Dictatorship of Palaver in Contemporary Politics. Meaningless and petty engagement that has much to do with attacking candidates, attacking parties, and attacking ideologies dominates contemporary political discussions, no matter how little good such communication has for improving or resolving important issues is the most important barrier to substantive progress on almost every policy issue that America and the world faces.
I've never understood it. Why tabloid politics dominates and substantive conversations bore less serious and mature citizens. Likely, it's for the same reason that classwork bores less serious and mature citizens. Because they're self-centered. Because they're oriented around immediate gratification. Because most people are kind of selfish and petty.
In school politics, the number one obstacle to almost every meaningful effort that might improve student academic performance or undermines other important priorities for kids and teachers is the pettiness, irrationality, and self-centeredness of school politics. Kids are all of these things, almost by nature, no matter how good of kid they are. The real problem is adults; parents, teachers, administrators, everyone. So many important solutions to problems gets obstructed by the power struggles between petty and small people with petty and small priorities constantly obstructing important goals. Because they don't care about the bigger goals, is the truth, no matter how much they protest in their defense. It is strange to discover that teachers, of all people -- since they have so many other career options they could take up to pursue more selfish and petty ends -- can be so incredibly small-minded and self-centered. It's very sad and a huge dissappointment to a me who, as a kids, genuinely believed that teachers cared about me more than it turns out than they likely did. It's very, very sad to me. Had I know how little many teachers care, I may not have gone into teaching. And that would have been the even sadder consequence of the sad state of teacher priorities.
You know what the biggest problem is that people face?
That we're all such fuckin' self-centered assholes who can't seem to find it in our hearts to give enough of a shit about others that we might share problems and share in the responsibility to brainstorm and carry out solutions. We're a bunch of dicks, is the truth. And teachers, it is sad to find out, are no different in that boat (perhaps somewhat better than the self-centered behavior I encountered among adults in the multiple other jobs I had before becoming a teacher, with the exception of university and research work).
And I don't mean that in some kind of abstract way or as some kind of existential bitch. I mean that our self-centeredness is a substantive obstacle to practical resolution of so many shared problems that we face together. School reform, Middle East peace, nuclear non-proliferation, wealth equity, environmental issues, Federal budget deficits. The list goes on forever. On almost every single important issue the problem is not that we don't have ideas to resolve issues or that people have not been coerced enough (especially since that last option generally proves counterproductive, no matter how those rationalizing their own power may try to deny that reality). On almost every single important issue the problem is that we ask and demand far too much what others must do for us without any substantive thought about how issues might get resolved amidst all of our demanding, and we think far too little about how to find resolution of important issues in ways that we find common ground and give common commitment to resolving problems.
We always want someone else to fix problems. And we want them to solve them now.
And as Robert Samuelson is arguing, the public generally wants politicians to solve our problems, no matter how real or not their capacity to solve those problems might be. And, generally, politicians pass that buck along to, say, teachers, or some other group that they assign the responsibility to, and then do the same. Demand solutions without any real thought given to actual capacity and effort involved with solving problems. And teachers pass that buck on to other teachers or to parents or they blame kids or the media. And so that wheel keeps on spinning forever into oblivion. Until one or more of any of these people finally look a problem square in the eye and say, "What can I do to resolve this problem for good rather than passing it on to someone else?"
I am amazed at how lame and irresponsible and irrational most adults are, now that I am officially of their ranks. And I am persistently underwhelmed by the examples of most adults I encounter and study and follow.
The biggest problem in America is Americans, and the biggest problem with humanity is humanity. Our whiny, small-minded, petty, lame demands about how life should be with as little effort as possible given to pitching in with the hard thinking work which is where the only real solutions to any serious problem come from.
We persistently denigrate the thinking because we think it's too hard. And we persistently deal with all of the problems that this creates for us, as a consequence, and persistently pass on problems or leave them in the laps of others as much as we can get away with.
I have a team of math teachers that I watched pose and kiss ass and otherwise cover their rear ends in a meeting with administrators, yesterday, in a way that was so cowardly and so pandered to their instincts to do as little as possible for as much job protection as they can get that I wanted to throw up. I could hardly believe that these were grown people. And I lost all respect for everyone around the table, yesterday. I was arguing that we needed to face the real problems that came with a district administrator's plan to make sure we make AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) and rig the game so that we got just enough kids past the bar to keep us out of trouble. That priority I have no issue with, because the truth is that the No Child Left Behind Act is not developed with a realistic sense of progress that kids or schools can make. So finding a way to get Eisenhower out of that mess is not an issue for me. What I took issue with was these administrators and teachers wanting to do this to the almost complete exclusion of real learning that kids struggling the most -- my kids -- were engaged in (meaning, make sure they pass the bar without really making sure that they've learned anything). It was disgusting and petty and a complete abdication of real responsibility on all of their parts. And I watched at least two if not three of my team teachers completely line up behind the plan and try to treat my real concerns as if they were the ravings of a madman because the truth is that the kids that my concerns impact most are kids that these teachers don't really give much of a shit about, in the first place: my special education kids. If my kids get exposure to big math ideas, but they don't really know how to do the computations, these teachers won't lose any sleep if that means that they have a more difficult time doing practical math in their lives or if they can't get jobs because they can't do the math. They're concerned about their test scores, primarily, and my kids secondarily. Because they believe if they focus too much on my kids and their real academic needs, it might slow down their class and bring down their scores.
It's a sad and pathetic spectacle -- the human race -- much of the time. Constantly looking after ourselves at the expense of others, and then always wondering why we're such a mess.
And I just have no confidence in voters, politicians, teachers, or anyone to face those problems squarely, anymore. Because facing problems squarely and doing the thinking work involves challenging themselves in ways that most people spend an enormous amount of time and energy avoiding.
And I say: when you play that game, you get the legislatures, schools, policies, and institutions that you deserve. People don't want to do the hard thinking work to resolve important issues, then they deal with the problems unresolved until they face up.
And we will be doing that for another two years -- Democratic Congress or not -- just as Samuelson says in this article. And we will do so because the truth is we don't have the balls to face problems squarely. Because doing so means facing ourselves. And very few people want to be bothered with such a challenge.
And until we do, our country and our world will be a mess. And too fuckin' bad for us until we can face up to that fact.
Love,
Ben
