The Evolution of Ignorance: The Next Step

One of the great triumphs of the Rabid Right has been the dumbing down of the news media. In the guise of rooting out liberal bias, this well-timed campaign converged with other changes in broadcast and print media---mostly to do with consolidation and greed--to intimidate cowering executives into stripping news of actual objectivity, and opinion of any ideas either slightly left of center, or more complex than a slogan.

That the news media has become more stupid and superficial, at the same time as it has become more right wing, is not a coincidence. Does this mean the aggregate Rabid Right is stupid and superficial? Yes, it does. As a generalization (for which you can name your favorite particulars)they are also clever and violent, with a true belief (or a perfect cynicism) that enables them to automatically demonize anyone they don't like. They are incapable of distinctions. In argument, they are generally incapable of proportionality. To say they jump to conclusions is kind: it's more like quantum leaps. Every divergence from dogma is an insult and an attack on their entire system of belief, evidence in itself of persecution and bigotry against them, not to mention the basest infamy, therefore justifying a global nuclear response.

They have turned projection into a fascist art form and a mighty political tool in the age of ignorance. They are the toadies of the very wealthy, whose temporary interests they serve. Media owners are their phantom masters and greatest beneficiaries.

Having pretty much conquered television and radio and a good bit of print journalism, they turn their attention now to schools. The same charges are being met with the same confused, defensive responses from people who are used to rational argument and civilized discussion in which distinctions are made and differences recognized without every statement turning into an occasion for deliberate misunderstanding and total war.

This story in the Guardian is an excellent summary of what's going on directly in attacks on teachers in universities and even high schools by the new McCarthyites, with a hurried overview of alarming goings-on in legislatures. It begins with a suggestion of how these attacks succeed, through the tacit cooperation of people who may not believe in the charges but don't want to be associated with anyone who is accused of anything by anyone. As well as the indifference of associates who don't understand how important it is to support each other, quickly and firmly, in any such attack. I've seen it, and to some extent have felt it before.

As to the accuracy of the charges, is that ever really the point? Any thinking person will concede that there are idiotic and intolerant leftists among teachers, just as there are idiotic and intolerant rightists, and just as there are incompetent teachers with no discernable political point of view at all. But as the author of this article points out about concerning the attacks on specific academics by David Horowitz, the chief instigator, as well as others:

"Evidence to back up his central argument - that these political leanings are at all related to a teacher's ability to be fair, balanced or competent in class - are non-existent. Most of the criticisms of lecturers on both the Dirty 30 list and in Horowitz's book are levelled at comments professors have made outside the classroom and rarely do they provide any evidence of the accused actually criticising or ridiculing students with rightwing ideas. "

But evidence is beside the point for these people. Academics who use evidence and argument, because that's the basis for what and how they teach, as well as for their whole world, are going to be helplessly spinning their wheels. Several lifetimes of commercialized ignorance combined with the fear of losing the privileges of affluence, grafted onto an increasingly desperate and shrill form of pseudo-Christianity, is encouraging the application of viciousness and violence to another former field of knowledge creation and dissemination.

What they truly can't face is that actual objectivity faced with the weight of evidence, along with the moral and operational development of most academic fields---especially the ones having to do with people--themselves lead intelligent people to the conclusion that the Rabid Right is rabidly wrong. They can cry all they want about the dearth of intolerant true believer fundamentalist Rabid Right "conservatives" in academia, but then there aren't many thumb tacks piloting space shuttles.

Will they succeed as easily in the academy as they have in the media? Not all the same economic forces are at work there, but other favorable factors exist. Thanks to the deification of corporate business, the administrative talent left for education is weak. Schools used to be staffed by people who cared first and foremost about education, rather than the bureaucrats who weren't up to corporate competition, and there is still a residual cadre in the mix, though the tendency appears to be towards the clueless and spineless, and therefore easy marks for aggression from the loudest and richest.

Schools also seem to be more dependent on corporate money, as public funds dry up, and so even universities are becoming prey to the same lobbyist forces as dominate the government that no longer is willing to support disinterested education at any level.

Then there is the easy prey of students basically uninterested in learning anything, cynical in the exchange of going into horrendous debt to get the job qualification of a diploma, who turn their anger on their own education. Denouncing professors can be much more fun than studying, and may help the grade point if they suspect they aren't getting an automatic A. In this unnurturing cultural context, there are a surprising number of students who do deeply care about learning, the search for knowledge, the paths of inquiry and the environment of discourse, and who will sacrifice for principle. So far their immediate responses has been the chief defense in many cases, as bewildered adults chase their tails. Of course, these adults may also know how easy it is to be forced into homelessness and illness without a shred of medical care in a more vulnerable zone of the lifecycle, in this great nation of ours.

So in the face of serious problems and alarming prospects, America apparently chooses to go mad. Well, how many times did the world shatter itself in the twentieth century? Why should the twenty-first be any different? It sure can't be because we're smarter, or braver. Let's hope enough of us rise to meet the challenge. There is so much potential here.