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_ Meta Discussion _ If The People Are To Govern, Then The People Must Be Wise
Posted by: Jon Awbrey
Our Enlightenment Forerunners had the insight to see the critical flaw in all historical failures at democratic government, to wit, or not — If The People Rule, Then The People Must Be Wise.
The consequence is that equally distributed Education and Information are not just Commodities you buy so you and yours can get ahead of them and theirs — they are Essential to the intelligent functioning of government and the Public Interest. That is why we are supposed to have Universal Free Public Education. That is why we used to have a government operated postal service that enabled the free-flow of information at a nominal fee, not whatever price the market would bear.
Jon Awbrey
Posted by: lilburne
1. Education is one of the liberal arts - spit.
2. It is a lot cheaper to listen in on what the proles are up to digitally then to be opening letters
Posted by: Jon Awbrey
Will & Representation
Thomas Alva Edison had the idea of using technology to improve the representation of the People's Will in the People's Government. That promise has yet to be realized as fully as it one day must. The forces that press technology more to oppress than express the People's Will are dead set on keeping the static quo, and there will be sparks to fly before those forces are damped and grounded out.
Posted by: Peter Damian
What is the 'Peoples Will'? The average person is typified by comments on YouTube. I don't want to be subject to their Will.
The forces that press technology more to oppress than express the People's Will are dead set on keeping the static quo ...
Oh of course, 'False Consciousness'. See http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC20folder/AdornoMassCult.html
Is that a typo in the first sentence, where it says 'Mess Culture'? Sounds very Awbr-e to m-e.
Posted by: Jon Awbrey
What is the ‘Peoples Will� The average person is typified by comments on YouTube. I don't want to be subject to their Will.
The forces that press technology more to oppress than express the People's Will are dead set on keeping the static quo ...
Oh of course, ‘False Consciousnessâ€. See http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC20folder/AdornoMassCult.html
Is that a typo in the first sentence, where it says 'Mess Culture'? Sounds very Awbr-e to m-e.
That's a very good question. I was hoping someone would ask it.
It is evidently, like many of our most important values, an abstract concept that refers to an objective if somewhat elusive reality, like Arete, Beauty, Conscience, Constitution, Divinity, Evolution, Expectation, Fate, Golden Mean, Goodness, Happiness, Harmony, Higher Power, Invisible Hand, Justice, Knowledge, Liberty, Life, Love, Providence, Righteous Succession, Truth, Utility, Virtue, and Wisdom, to name just a few.
I suppose your average Wikipediot truly believes that the Wikipediot notion of Kitsch Krowd Kultur fits in here, and that suggestion is, like most Wikipediot notions, Komical in the X-treme.
Jon
Posted by: Jon Awbrey
The Logic Of Democracy
Our Nation's Founders saw the catch that decides the fate of every try at democratic government —
If The People Rule, The People Must Be Wise.
The upshot is that education and information are not just private commodities but vital public interests. Their widest distribution is essential to the wisest functioning of democratic government. And the public must provide its members with the means to do their civic duty.
— Jon Awbrey
Posted by: Jon Awbrey
Excellent letter in the Battle Creek Enquirer —
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20110628/OPINION03/106280302/We-all-benefit-from-government
I added the following comment —
The English word “govern†comes from a word in ancient Greek that means to pilot or steer a ship.
If you look at our whole society and you look at all the forces that it takes to govern it, to steer it on whatever course it takes, for good or ill, you will realize that only a small part of that governance is managed by elective officeholders. That part of the “rudder crewâ€, if you will, is what we know as our representative government, the genuinely democratic portion that is supposed to represent the People's concerns and interests to the Helm. Those are the hands that are most visible, and it is well that we keep our eye on them — whenever we catch a second to raise our heads from the oars, that is. But there are far more hands on the rudder, far less visible hands, and we owe it to ourselves and our posterity to open our other eye to what those quicker hands are about.